If youre looking for the Connections answer for Sunday, March 30, 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 March 30, NYT Connections #658! 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. You can also find our past hints there as well, in case you want to know what you missed in a previous puzzle.

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!

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

Yellow category - Not too high, not too lowright in the middle.

Green category - Stuff you might see on a coin or in a government building.

Blue category - It takes some powerhouse singers to pull off the roles associated with these words.

Purple category - They pair with the same three-letter ending to create new 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 partsDespite all the golf terms on the board (PAR, EAGLE, BIRDIE, DOLLY), there is no golf category today.

PAR, however, does refer to a figure to measure your performance in comparison to others.

SPOKES might make you think of a wheel, but if you add something to the end of it, you get a word for someone who represents a company or brand.

If you were going to greet someone named DOLLY, you might say Hello, DOLLY! Are there any other elements of musical titles you see on the board? (This one's tough if you're not familiar with Broadway.)

What are the categories in todays Connections?Yellow: AVERAGE

Green: PICTURED ON THE U.S. GREAT SEAL

Blue: PROPER NOUNS IN BROADWAY MUSICAL TITLES THAT ARE SPOKEN PHRASES

Purple: ___MAN

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 AVERAGE and the words are: MEAN, NORM, PAR, STANDARD.

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 PICTURED ON THE U.S. GREAT SEAL and the words are: ARROWS, EAGLE, OLIVE BRANCH, SHIELD.

What are the blue words in todays Connections?The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for todays blue category is PROPER NOUNS IN BROADWAY MUSICAL TITLES THAT ARE SPOKEN PHRASES and the words are: BIRDIE, DOLLY, KATE, YANKEES.

What are the purple words in todays Connections?The purple grouping is considered to be the hardest. The theme for todays purple category is ___MAN and the words are: BOGEY, CRAFTS, GENTLE, SPOKES.

How I solved todays ConnectionsHmm, OK, I see a couple potential themes right away: American iconography, things you whack in sports, and words referring to an average.

Lets start with MEAN, STANDARD, PAR, and NORM, which all refer to a baseline or average. Nice.

OK, now lets try ARROWS, OLIVE BRANCH, SHIELD, and EAGLE, which are all on the American seal.

Next, I think BIRDIE, BOGEY, and DOLLY go together. BIRDIE is the name of the thing you whack in badmintonits also called a shuttlecock. Oh, its also the name of when you get one stroke under par in golf. Ah, and a BOGEY is when you get one stroke over par. DOLLY is slang for scoring 8 on one hole (its apparently a crude reference to Dolly Partons chest, if you turn the 8 sideways).

What do you think so far? Post a comment. Im glad I didnt notice the golf theme earlier, as PAR and EAGLE (another golf term, apparently) would have really thrown me off.

I think this golf thing might be a dead end, actually. DOLLY, BIRDIE, and KATE stick out to me as names that are in famous musicals: Hello, Dolly!; Bye Bye Birdie; and Kiss Me, Kate. Maybe YANKEES is a reference to Damn Yankees, another musical. Oh, and the titles are all spoken phrases. Phew, that was a tough one!

That leaves CRAFTS, SPOKES, GENTLE, and BOGEY. Hmm. CRAFTS makes me think of arts and CRAFTS, SPOKES makes me think of parts of a wheel. Im not really sure here. Lets see. ___ MAN? Oh, so BOGEYman is a reference to the ooky-spooky monster kids are afraid ofthe other three are more straightforward titles.

Dang, today was tough.

Connections Puzzle #658 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!