NYT Crossword Clues and Solutions for Saturday, 10th May, 2025
Alright, lemme give you the lowdown on May 10, 2025's Connections puzzle – yeah, I dug up some clues, tactics, and strategies, and will spill the beans on all four categories. Here's the skinny on everything from tricky words to how it all connects. But be warned, there are spoilers below for May 10, NYT Connections #699! Read further for hints (and then the answers) to today's Connections game.
If you wanna find this info easily every day, bookmark this page. You can also find our past hints there, in case ya missed something in a previous conundrum.
Here's some sneaky hints for today's Connections categories:
- Yellow Category - Words that come before a P.S.
- Green Category - They indicate a lack of something.
- Blue Category - What you might have after drinking a cup of coffee or a Red Bull.
- Purple Category - A fill-in-the-blank, with a word for a long, thin span of something (or a verb for a sexy, tease-y dance).
Okay, let's get down to the spoilers. Scroll slowly if you don't want the entire thing spilled:
The What's What of Today's Connections Puzzle
We're about to give you some of the answers. Slow 'n' easy scrolling, if you want to avoid the whole puzzle being spoiled. (The full answer is a bit further down.)
A Warning about the Tricky Bits
"SANS" means "without," as in "SANS serif," which describes fonts that don't have those little flourishes stuck on the ends of the letters.
"LOVE" is something you might put at the end of a letter to your old lady or fella.
"COMIC" goes with another word to describe those short stories that appear in a newspaper.
What are the categories in today's Connections, ya ask?
- Yellow: LETTER SIGN-OFFS
- Green: WITHOUT
- Blue: VIGOR
- Purple: _____ STRIP
Extra Warning: The Answer is Below
You ready to learn the answers to today's Connections puzzle? I'm gonna lay 'em all out right here:
What are the yellow words in today's Connections?
The yellow grouping is the simplest. The theme for today's yellow group is LETTER SIGN-OFFS, and the words are "BEST," "CHEERS," "LOVE," "SINCERELY."
What are the green words in today's Connections?
The green grouping is supposed to be the second easiest. The theme for today's green category is WITHOUT and the words are "ABSENT," "MINUS," "SANS," "WANTING."
What are the blue words in today's Connections?
The blue grouping is the second hardest. The theme for today's blue category is VIGOR and the words are "BEANS," "ENERGY," "PEP," "ZIP."
What are the purple words in today's Connections?
The purple grouping is considered to be the hardest. The theme for today's purple category is _____ STRIP and the words are "BACON," "COMIC," "LANDING," "SUNSET."
How I Solved Today's Connections
I wanted to pair "COMIC" with "SANS," but I think "SANS" is actually just an old school word for "without," which matches with "ABSENT," "MINUS," and "WANTING."
"CHEERS" is a toast, a shout at a football game, or a letter sign-off, like "BEST," "LOVE," and "SINCERELY."
"ZIP," "ENERGY," "BEANS," and "PEP" are all words for having energy, or being full of jump – just like ya feel after a cup of coffee or a Red Bull.
That leaves "COMIC," "LANDING," "BACON," and "SUNSET." All of those go with "strip." COMIC strip, LANDING strip, BACON strip, and SUNSET strip. Pretty darn easy today.
How to Play Connections
I have a full guide to Playing Connections, but here's the quick version:
Go find the Connections game on the New York Times website or in their Games app (formerly the Crossword app). You'll see a game board with 16 tiles, each with one word or phrase. You gotta pick a group of four tiles that have something in common. Sometimes it's all the same type of thing (like RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, and SNOW are all types of wet stuff), but other times there's wordplay involved (like BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH are all types of lists – bucket list, guest list, and so on).
Get a group together and hit the Submit button. If you guessed correctly, the category and color will be revealed. (Yellow is the easiest, followed by green, then blue, then purple.) If you guess wrong, you'll get a chance to try again.
Win when you've correctly identified all four groups. But if you mess up four times before finishing, the game's over, and the answers are revealed.
How to Win Connections
To win at Connections, remember that the groupings can be tricky. Expect 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 don't hit "submit" until you've confirmed that your group of four contains only those four things.
If you're stuck, another strategy is to focus on the words that seem to have no connection to the others. If all you can think of when you see WHISTLER is "Whistler's Mother," you're on to something. When I solved that one, I ended up googling whether there was a painter named Close, because "Close" didn't fit any of the obvious themes, either.
Another way to win when you're stuck is to read a few helpful hints – just like you're doing right now. Check back tomorrow for the next puzzle!
- To avoid spoilers for May 10, NYT Connections #699, bookmark this page for future reference as it contains hints and answers for the puzzle.
- Today's Connections puzzle categories include LETTER SIGN-OFFS in the yellow group, WITHOUT in the green group, VIGOR in the blue group, and _____ STRIP in the purple group.
- The yellow group words are BEST, CHEERS, LOVE, SINCERELY, while the green group words are ABSENT, MINUS, SANS, WANTING.
- The blue group words are BEANS, ENERGY, PEP, ZIP, all of which relate to having energy or being full of vigor.
- The purpose of the purple group words, which are BACON, COMIC, LANDING, SUNSET, is to complete a matching phrase, such as a COMIC strip, LANDING strip, BACON strip, or SUNSET strip.
- To play Connections, visit the New York Times website or their Games app and identify a group of four tiles that share a common theme or connection. Submit your answer, and if correct, the category and color will be revealed.
