Players tackling today’s NYT Connections puzzle for December 10, 2025 (#913) encountered a challenging set of word groupings, with the purple category proving especially tricky. If you struggled to sort the words into their correct themes, you’re not alone—today’s puzzle required careful attention to subtle meanings and category overlaps.
The New York Times continues to engage puzzle lovers with its growing suite of brain games, and Connections remains one of the most played daily challenges. The latest addition, the Connections Bot, helps players analyze their results and track winning streaks, adding a new competitive layer to the experience.
Here is a full breakdown of today’s hints and solutions.
Today’s Connections Hints
As usual, the puzzle offered four color-coded difficulty levels. Here were the clues to guide solvers:
Yellow Group Hint: Gosh!
Green Group Hint: Mimic.
Blue Group Hint: Like a chocolate bar.
Purple Group Hint: Second-to-last letter.
These clues pointed toward expressions of surprise, imitation, candy-related terms, and interpretations of the letter Y.
Today’s Connections Answers
If you want the solution set in one place, here are the completed categories for today’s puzzle.
Yellow Group – “My goodness!”
Words used as exclamations of surprise or shock.
dear
gracious
heavens
mercy
This group contained commonly used expressions that appear in moments of disbelief or alarm—a straightforward category for many players.
Green Group – Imitation
Words describing copies or fakes.
copy
dummy
dupe
fake
This category required recognizing both nouns and verbs associated with mimicking or replicating something.
Blue Group – Confection
Words associated with candy or sweet treats.
candy
lolly
sucker
sweet
Although simple at first glance, this category challenged players who connected words like “sucker” to unrelated meanings.
Purple Group – What “Y” Might Mean
The trickiest set of the day focused on meanings or uses of the letter Y.
why
year
yellow
yes
This required thinking outside literal definitions. Each word begins with Y, but also represents something “Y” might stand for in various contexts—such as abbreviations or initialisms.
Puzzle Difficulty and Player Tools
Today’s purple group caused the most confusion, continuing a pattern where late-week puzzles lean more abstract. Many players turned to the Connections Bot, now available on NYT Games, to evaluate their performance and receive detailed feedback on streaks, strengths, and missteps.
As Connections grows in popularity, the game’s ability to mix straightforward themes with obscure associations keeps players challenged and entertained.
With today’s puzzle solved, fans can look forward to tomorrow’s set of categories and another chance to stretch their lateral thinking skills.
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