If youre looking for the Connections answer for Friday, November 21, 2025, read onIll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solutions to all four categories. Along the way, Ill explain the meanings of the trickier words and well learn how everything fits together. Beware, there are spoilers below for November 21, NYT Connections #894! Read on if you want some hints (and then the answer) to todays Connections game.

If you want an easy way to come back to our Connections hints every day, bookmark this page. (If you play Wordle, Strands, or Quordle, check out our hints for those games, too.)

Below, Ill give you some oblique hints at todays Connections answers. And farther down the page, Ill reveal the themes and the answers. Scroll slowly and take just the hints you need!

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Credit: Connections/NYT The category types in todays Connections puzzleHere are spoiler-free hints that describe the type of each category in todays Connections:

Yellow category - Related nouns

Green category - Related nouns

Blue category - Related nouns/pop culture

Purple category - Wordplay

Hints for the themes in todays Connections puzzleHere are some spoiler-free hints for the groupings in todays Connections:

Yellow category - Body accessories.

Green category - Do you have a vodka preference, or is well OK?

Blue category - Character descriptors.

Purple category - They start with mealtime words.

BEWARE: Spoilers follow for todays Connections puzzle!Were about to give away some of the answers. Scroll slowly if you dont want the whole thing spoiled. (The full solution is a bit further down.)

A heads up about the tricky partsAWARENESS RIBBON describes those looping ribbon pins that raise awareness for causes such as breast cancer research.

GRUMPY OLD MAN is a rude (but accurate) way to describe the protagonist of Up.

A SCREWDRIVER is made with vodka and orange juice.

What are the categories in todays Connections?Yellow: THINGS WORN ON LAPELS

Green: COCKTAILS

Blue: PIXAR PROTAGONISTS

Purple: STARTING WITH SYNONYMS FOR EAT

DOUBLE BEWARE: THE SOLUTION IS BELOWReady to learn the answers to todays Connections puzzle? I give them all away below.

What are the yellow words in todays Connections?The yellow grouping is considered to be the most straightforward. The theme for todays yellow group is THINGS WORN ON LAPELS and the words are: AWARENESS RIBBON, BOUTONNIRE, LAPEL PIN, LAVALIER.

What are the green words in todays Connections?The green grouping is supposed to be the second-easiest. The theme for todays green category is COCKTAILS and the words are: COSMOPOLITAN, GREYHOUND, SCREWDRIVER, SEA BREEZE.

What are the blue words in todays Connections?The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for todays blue category is PIXAR PROTAGONISTS and the words are: CLOWNFISH, GRUMPY OLD MAN, RACECAR, TALKING DOLL.

What are the purple words in todays Connections?The purple grouping is considered to be the hardest. The theme for todays purple category is STARTING WITH SYNONYMS FOR EAT and the words are: BOLT CUTTER, CHOW MEIN, SCARF RING, WOLF EEL.

How I solved todays ConnectionsThis is an odd board! RACECAR could be on the board because its a palindrome. Are there any others? Nope!

AWARENESS RIBBON (like a breast cancer ribbon or a ribbon for some other social cause), BOUTONNIRE, LAPEL PIN, and LAVALIER could all be accessories worn on the chest or near the clavicle. SCARF RING might also fit there, so Ill wait.

What is GRUMPY OLD MAN about? It makes me think of Scrooge, so maybe theres some kind of Christmas story theme?

What do you think so far? COSMOPOLITAN, GREYHOUND, RACECAR, and SCREWDRIVER could all be cocktail names. Hmm, one away. Oh I think sidecar is the cocktail, not RACECAR. SEA BREEZE is also the name of a cocktail, so lets try that. I think these are all vodka cocktails, too.

I wonder if SCARF RING, CHOW MEIN, and WOLF EEL go together because they all start with words for eating voraciously: scarf, chow, wolf. BOLT CUTTER seems to be the only one that fits with those.

OK, now I can try LAPEL PIN, LAVALIER, AWARENESS RIBBON, and BOUTONNIRE.

That leaves TALKING DOLL, RACECAR, CLOWNFISH, and GRUMPY OLD MAN. Ah, those are all protagonists of Pixar movies: TALKING DOLL is Woody from Toy Story, RACECAR is Lightning McQueen from Cars, CLOWNFISH is Marlin from Finding Nemo, and GRUMPY OLD MAN is Carl from Up.

Connections Puzzle #894 How to play ConnectionsI have a full guide to playing Connections, but heres a refresher on the rules:

First, find the Connections game either on the New York Times website or in their Games app (formerly the Crossword app). Youll see a game board with 16 tiles, each with one word or phrase. Your job is to select a group of four tiles that have something in common. Often they are all the same type of thing (for example: RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, and SNOW are all types of wet weather) but sometimes there is wordplay involved (for example, BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH are all types of lists: bucket list, guest list, and so on).

Select four items and hit the Submit button. If you guessed correctly, the category and color will be revealed. (Yellow is easiest, followed by green, then blue, then purple.) If your guess was incorrect, youll get a chance to try again.

You win when youve correctly identified all four groups. But if you make four mistakes before you finish, the game ends and the answers are revealed.

How to win ConnectionsThe most important thing to know to win Connections is that the groupings are designed to be tricky. Expect to see overlapping groups. For example, one puzzle seemed to include six breakfast foods: BACON, EGG, PANCAKE, OMELET, WAFFLE, and CEREAL. But BACON turned out to be part of a group of painters along with CLOSE, MUNCH, and WHISTLER, and EGG was in a group of things that come by the dozen (along with JUROR, ROSE, and MONTH). So dont hit submit until youve confirmed that your group of four contains only those four things.

If youre stuck, another strategy is to look at the words that seem to have no connection to the others. If all that comes to mind when you see WHISTLER is the painting nicknamed Whistlers Mother, you might be on to something. When I solved that one, I ended up googling whether there was a painter named Close, because Close didnt fit any of the obvious themes, either.

Another way to win when youre stuck is, obviously, to read a few helpful hintswhich is why we share these pointers every day. Check back tomorrow for the next puzzle!

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Connections.