NYT Connections hints today for #820 Monday, September 8, 2025

Stuck on today’s New York Times Connections puzzle (#820)? You’re in good company! These daily grids can be deceptively tricky, but we’ve got some helpful hints to guide you through Monday’s challenge. And if you’re ready for spoilers, we’ve got them, too. No shame, sometimes you just need a little boost!

What exactly is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is not your typical word game. It’s a brain teaser where you’re presented with a 4 × 4 grid containing 16 words. Your task? Find four groups of four words that share a common connection. These groups are color-coded by difficulty:

• Green = easy
  
• Yellow = moderate
  
• Blue = challenging
  
• Purple = toughest

Tips to Conquer NYT Connections

Though I’m still mastering the game, here are a few strategies that have helped me:

• Pay Attention to Feedback: If you get a group wrong, watch the message “One away” usually means you’re close!
• Shuffle to Refresh Your View: Rearranging the words can spark new insights.
• Start with the Easy Groups: The green and yellow sets are typically more obvious and can help you narrow down the rest.

Hints for Today (September 8, 2025)

• Yellow group: Words that mean nonsense.
• Green group: Verbs that imply increasing or raising when followed by “up”.
• Blue group: Fictional spies from pop culture.
• Purple group: Words you can pair with “cat” to form common phrases.

Spoiler territory ahead! Actual answers for today:

• Yellow (Nonsense): BALONEY, BULL, BUNK, RUBBISH
• Green (Increase, with “up”): CRANK, HIKE, JACK, RAISE
• Blue (Fictional Spies): ARCHER, HUNT, PEEL, POWERS
• Purple (Cat___): FISH, NAP, TAIL, WALK

My Take

A fun mix today: a warm-up with “nonsense” words made the yellow group a breeze. The “up” verbs in green were a sly but satisfying twist. Fictional spies (blue) required some pop-culture recall—especially Emma PEEL from The Avengers. And purple was clever, once “cat ___” clicked, the rest followed.

If you enjoyed today’s puzzle, make sure to check in tomorrow for more clues and answers!