If youre looking for the Connections answer for Saturday, September 13, 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 September 13, NYT Connections #825! 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 - Synonyms.

Green category - Synonyms.

Blue category - Related nouns.

Purple category - Fill in the blank.

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

Yellow category - Not optional.

Green category - Something you wouldnt share willy-nilly.

Blue category - Used to pay for stuff.

Purple category - They go with a livestock word.

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 partsMAJOR and PRIVATE do not go together.

WON does not refer to being victorious. Its a word of particular importance to South Korea.

BILL does not refer to money. It goes with a word to describe a famous figure of the Old West.

What are the categories in todays Connections?Yellow: IMPORTANT

Green: INTIMATE AND UNDISCLOSED

Blue: GLOBAL CURRENCIES

Purple: BUFFALO ___

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 IMPORTANT and the words are: CRITICAL, KEY, MAJOR, PRINCIPAL.

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 INTIMATE AND UNDISCLOSED and the words are: INNER, PERSONAL, PRIVATE, SECRET.

What are the blue words in todays Connections?The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for todays blue category is GLOBAL CURRENCIES and the words are: DOLLAR, POUND, STERLING, WON.

What are the purple words in todays Connections?The purple grouping is considered to be the hardest. The theme for todays purple category is BUFFALO ___ and the words are: BILL, NICKEL, SOLDIER, WING.

How I solved todays ConnectionsMAJOR and PRIVATE could be military ranks. I dont think SOLDIER is technically a rank, though.

KEY, MAJOR, CRITICAL, and STERLING could all be words for things that are essential. Oops, one away. Oh, I think STERLING might fit better with other currencies. Lets try PRINCIPAL instead of STERLING.

Next, STERLING, NICKEL, BILL, POUND, and DOLLAR could all be currency words. Ill need to eliminate one, but Im not sure which yet.

What do you think so far? Lets try PRIVATE, PERSONAL, INNER, and SECRET.

If I get rid of all the money words, Im left with WON, SOLDIER, and WING. That feels like a fill in the blank category. Hard WON, West WING, WON out, right/left WING. Hmm.

Oh, now that I look at it, I think WON might actually be the word for the South Korean currency. That would fit with DOLLAR, STERLING, and POUND. WON is a better fit than NICKEL or BILL because those are terms for materials/types of currency rather than country currency names.

That leaves SOLDIER, WING, NICKEL, and BILL. Im not sure about this one. Oh, they all go with buffalo. OK!

Connections Puzzle #825 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.