NYT Connections Hints August 31: Here’s how to solve the Sunday puzzle #812 | Answers revealed

Players of the New York Times’ popular word-association game woke up to a thoughtful grid on Sunday with themes that rewarded lateral thinking and precise vocabulary. Below are the NYT Connections Hints and full answers for game #812 (August 31, 2025), together with solving tips and a brief difficulty assessment to help solvers protect their streaks.

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is a daily puzzle that places 16 seemingly unrelated words into a 4×4 grid. Players must group the words into four categories of four words each. Categories are colour-coded — yellow (easiest), green, blue and purple (hardest) — and the challenge lies in spotting links that range from obvious to deliberately misleading.

NYT Connections Hints for today’s categories (August 31)

To guide solvers without giving everything away, here are the official-style NYT Connections Hints for Sunday’s puzzle, as per a report by Beebom:

• Yellow (easiest) — Condemn.
  
• Green — Things you find in a board game.
  
• Blue — Words with the same spelling but different pronunciations (heteronyms).
  
• Purple (hardest) — Fill-in: “___ sticks” (words that form common compound terms ending with “stick” or “-sticks”).
  

Answers for NYT Connections today

For readers who want the solutions, the correct groupings for August 31, as per a report by Beebom are:

• Yellow — CRITICIZE HARSHLY: BASH, BLAST, FLAME, ROAST.
  
• Green — COMMON COMPONENTS OF BOARD GAMES: BOARD, CARDS, DICE, PIECES.
  
• Blue — HETERONYMS (same spelling, different pronunciation): AXES, BASS, COORDINATE, DOES.
  
• Purple — “___ STICKS”: CHOP, DRUM, FIDDLE, FISH (yielding chopstick, drumstick, fiddlestick/fiddlesticks, fishstick).
  

How today’s NYT Connections puzzle played out

According to the solver notes accompanying the answers, the yellow and green groups fell into place relatively quickly for many players once one or two seed words were identified, for example, identifying ROAST helped narrow down the condemn cluster. The blue category, heteronyms, proved trickier: words such as BASS (fish vs. low musical tone) and DOES (plural of doe vs. auxiliary verb in certain archaic forms) require a quick shift in pronunciation thinking, which can mislead players focused only on meaning. The purple “___ sticks” set clicked into place after the remaining words were considered alongside the compound-word hint.

NYT Connections: Difficulty level and solving strategy

On a scale where 1 is easiest and 5 is hardest, today’s Connections was rated around 3 out of 5 by regular solvers: two straightforward categories balanced by two that demanded lateral or phonetic thinking.

Tips to solve NYT Connections puzzles faster, as per a Beebom report:

• Start broad: identify any obvious category first to reduce the pool of words.
  
• Listen for wordplay: the NYT often uses heteronyms, homophones, or compound-word tricks.
  
• Use the shuffle button: rearranging the grid can reveal patterns or prompt associations you might miss.
  
• Guard your guesses: you have only four category guesses — a mistaken early pick makes later rounds harder.
  

FAQs

Where can I play NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is available for free on The New York Times Games webpage and via the NYT Games app on mobile devices.

How many attempts do I get and how are categories ordered?

Players get four attempts to identify all four categories. Categories are colour-coded by difficulty: yellow (easiest), green, blue and purple (hardest). Choose guesses judiciously — a wrong pick reduces later options.