Spoiler warning: The full answers for the August 28, 2025, NYT Connections puzzle appear below. This guide covers the historical Thursday puzzle, game #809—not the current puzzle.
Dek: Need help with NYT Connections #809? Here are progressively stronger clues and the complete answers for Thursday, August 28, 2025.
Spoiler warning: The complete answers to the Thursday, August 28, 2025, NYT Connections puzzle appear below. Stop after the hint sections if you want to keep solving on your own.
This is a historical guide to NYT Connections puzzle #809, not the current August 12, 2026 puzzle. Connections presents 16 words and asks you to divide them into four groups of four. Each group has a shared connection, and you can make up to four mistakes. The groups progress from yellow, the most straightforward, to purple, the most difficult. Contemporaneous coverage identified this puzzle as game #809 and recorded the following grid and solution.
The 16 words in Connections #809
Here is the complete August 28 grid:
- CYBERSPACE
- KETTLE
- ROCK
- SNARE
- STEEL
- MAKESHIFT
- WEB
- WATER
- ICECAPS
- NET
- CUP
- DIAMOND
- TANGLE
- TEABAG
- CANTAB
- NAILS
Progressive hints for August 28, 2025
These clues become more specific as you go. If you want to preserve the challenge, start with the first set and reveal the next only when you need it.
Yellow-group hint
Places where something—or someone—can get caught.
Green-group hint
Items or ingredients used to make tea.
Blue-group hint
Words associated with something being hard or tough.
Purple-group hint
Words that end with the name of a keyboard key.
Stronger category clues
If the broad hints are not enough, the four group ideas are:
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- Yellow: Places to get trapped
- Green: Used for tea
- Blue: Associated with hardness
- Purple: Ending with keyboard keys
NYT Connections answers for August 28, 2025
Yellow: PLACES TO GET TRAPPED
NET, SNARE, TANGLE, WEB
A net and a snare can be deliberately used as traps. A web can catch insects, while a tangle is something that can ensnare or obstruct whatever becomes caught in it. The shared idea is not simply “things on the internet”: these are traps or entanglements.
Green: USED FOR TEA
CUP, KETTLE, TEABAG, WATER
These four form the most practical group in the puzzle. A kettle heats the water, a teabag supplies the tea, and a cup holds the finished drink. The category is deliberately broad: it combines equipment, an ingredient or tea container, liquid, and serving vessel.
Blue: ASSOCIATED WITH HARDNESS
DIAMOND, NAILS, ROCK, STEEL
Diamond is famous for its exceptional hardness. Rock and steel commonly suggest hard, durable materials, while nails are hard metal objects used to fasten materials. The group is based on association with hardness rather than on all four words being the same type of thing.
Purple: ENDING WITH KEYBOARD KEYS
CANTAB, CYBERSPACE, ICECAPS, MAKESHIFT
The final portions of these words are names of keyboard keys:
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| Word | Ending | Keyboard key |
|---|---|---|
| CANTAB | TAB | Tab |
| CYBERSPACE | SPACE | Space |
| ICECAPS | CAPS | Caps |
| MAKESHIFT | SHIFT | Shift |
This is the puzzle’s most abstract connection. The words do not need to describe computers or keyboards as a whole; they only need to end with a keyboard-key name. “Caps” refers to the Caps Lock key, while “Space,” “Shift,” and “Tab” are familiar key labels.
Why this puzzle can be misleading
The biggest red herring is the apparent internet group. CYBERSPACE, NET, and WEB immediately look as though they belong together. But only NET and WEB fit the yellow group, alongside SNARE and TANGLE. CYBERSPACE must be saved for the purple group because it ends in SPACE.
There is also some potential confusion in the hardness category. STEEL can seem like it belongs with KETTLE because kettles may be made from steel, but KETTLE is needed for the tea group. Once CUP, KETTLE, TEABAG, and WATER are recognized as a complete set, STEEL is more naturally paired with DIAMOND, ROCK, and NAILS.
A sensible solving path is to begin with the tea group, then look at the obvious trap-related words. After those eight words are removed, the remaining material makes the hardness and keyboard-ending groups easier to separate.
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Difficulty judgments are subjective, and The New York Times does not make these outside assessments an official difficulty score. TechRadar described the puzzle as hard and reported making one mistake during its solve. The Economic Times characterized it as moderately difficult, noting that the yellow and green groups were more approachable than the blue and purple groups.
The different assessments make sense: the tea group is concrete, but the purple category requires players to inspect the ends of unusual-looking words. The internet-related red herring also makes the puzzle easier to misread before the keyboard-key pattern appears.
Complete solution at a glance
| Color | Category | Words |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow | Places to get trapped | NET, SNARE, TANGLE, WEB |
| Green | Used for tea | CUP, KETTLE, TEABAG, WATER |
| Blue | Associated with hardness | DIAMOND, NAILS, ROCK, STEEL |
| Purple | Ending with keyboard keys | CANTAB, CYBERSPACE, ICECAPS, MAKESHIFT |
That is the complete solution for the August 28, 2025, Connections game, puzzle #809. The answer set is historical and does not change, even though the game’s access rules, interface, and subscription terms may change over time.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Frequently Asked Questions
What are the NYT Connections answers for August 28, 2025?
NYT Connections puzzle #809 groups NET, SNARE, TANGLE, and WEB as places to get trapped; CUP, KETTLE, TEABAG, and WATER as things used for tea; DIAMOND, NAILS, ROCK, and STEEL as words associated with hardness; and CANTAB, CYBERSPACE, ICECAPS, and MAKESHIFT as words ending with keyboard keys.
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Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →What is the purple category in Connections #809?
The purple group is based on word endings: CANTAB ends in TAB, CYBERSPACE ends in SPACE, ICECAPS ends in CAPS, and MAKESHIFT ends in SHIFT.
What was the red herring in the August 28, 2025 Connections puzzle?
The main trap is an apparent internet-related group involving CYBERSPACE, NET, and WEB. CYBERSPACE actually belongs in the purple group because it ends with SPACE, while NET and WEB join SNARE and TANGLE in the yellow group.
The Bottom Line
Bottom line: Connections #809 groups the words into traps (NET, SNARE, TANGLE, WEB), tea items (CUP, KETTLE, TEABAG, WATER), hard materials or objects (DIAMOND, NAILS, ROCK, STEEL), and words ending in keyboard-key names (CANTAB, CYBERSPACE, ICECAPS, MAKESHIFT).
Quick Recap
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