NYT Connections Hints and Answers for Thursday, October 9, 2025 (#851)

Need a nudge for the Thursday, October 9, 2025, NYT Connections puzzle? Puzzle #851 has groups about made-up things, rocks, news article features, and figures from classic video games. The hints below start gently; the full groupings are farther down.

Hints for Connections #851

These clues move from least to most revealing. Pause after each one if you want to solve the groups yourself.

#	Preview	Product	Price
1		Connections: Find the Common Threads in 100+ Puzzles of Wit and Wordplay (New York Times Games...	$20.99	Buy on Amazon
2		Puzzle Mania!: Wordle, Connections, Spelling Bee, Minis and More! (New York Times Games Books)	$26.60	Buy on Amazon
3		4 Connections Puzzle Book: 200 Puzzles, A challenging game to generate four groups of four words...	$9.99	Buy on Amazon
4		Connections Puzzles Book: A challenging game to generate four groups of four words that share...	$9.99	Buy on Amazon
5		Connections Puzzles Book: 500 Puzzles, A challenging game to generate four groups of four words that...	$12.99	Buy on Amazon

1. Made up.
2. Agate is one.
3. Journalism-related items.
4. Think Pac-Man or Donkey Kong.

Answers for Thursday, October 9, 2025

Spoilers below: the four complete groups are listed here.

Yellow: Fantasy

• FANCY
• FICTION
• FIGMENT
• INVENTION

Green: Kinds of rocks

• FLINT
• LIMESTONE
• MARBLE
• SLATE

Blue: News article features

• CAPTION
• DATELINE
• LEDE
• PHOTO

Purple: Title figures in classic video games

• GORILLA
• HEDGEHOG
• PLUMBER
• PRINCESS

How the clues point to the groups

• “Made up” suggests fantasy, which collects FANCY, FICTION, FIGMENT, and INVENTION.
• Agate is a kind of rock, pointing to FLINT, LIMESTONE, MARBLE, and SLATE.
• The journalism clue signals parts or features of a news article, including the spelling LEDE.
• Pac-Man and Donkey Kong evoke classic game characters; the group is GORILLA, HEDGEHOG, PLUMBER, and PRINCESS.

The answers and puzzle number are reported by Parade and independently corroborated by the NYT Connections & Wordle answer page.

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