If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Thursday, March 27, 2025, read on—I’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solutions to all four categories. Along the way, I’ll explain the meanings of the trickier words and we’ll learn how everything fits together. Beware, there are spoilers below for March 27, NYT Connections #655! Read on if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s 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, I’ll give you some oblique hints at today’s Connections answers. And farther down the page, I’ll reveal the themes and the answers. Scroll slowly and take just the hints you need!
Hints for the themes in today’s Connections puzzle
Here are some spoiler-free hints for the groupings in today’s Connections:
Yellow category - If you see someone in the audience getting a little misty-eyed, the performers probably did this to them.
Green category - When someone calls out the right answer, you might say these things.
Blue category - It’s the stuff you use to pay for other stuff.
Purple category - They all pair with the same five-letter beginning to describe something very, very small.
BEWARE: Spoilers follow for today’s Connections puzzle!
We’re about to give away some of the answers. Scroll slowly if you don’t want the whole thing spoiled. (The full solution is a bit further down.)
A heads up about the tricky parts
BINGO and CHIP have nothing to do with betting or games. BINGO is a verbal exclamation.
GREEN describes the color of American currency, and it’s also sometimes used as shorthand for money itself.
MOVE is a verb that doesn’t refer to physical movement, but rather emotional movement—as in, “the songs of Celine Dion always MOVE me to tears.”
WAVE goes with a certain prefix, turning into the name of a kitchen appliance.
CHIP, SCRATCH, and DING do not go together. None of them refer to superficial damage.
What are the categories in today’s Connections?
Yellow: AFFECT
Green: YOU GOT IT!
Blue: SLANG FOR MONEY
Purple: OBJECTS WITH THE PREFIX “MICRO-”
DOUBLE BEWARE: THE SOLUTION IS BELOW
Ready to learn the answers to today’s Connections puzzle? I give them all away below.
What are the yellow words in today’s Connections?
The yellow grouping is considered to be the most straightforward. The theme for today’s yellow group is AFFECT and the words are: MOVE, REACH, SWAY, TOUCH.
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 YOU GOT IT! and the words are: BINGO, CORRECT, DING, RIGHT.
What are the blue words in today’s Connections?
The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is SLANG FOR MONEY and the words are: CHANGE, GREEN, PAPER, SCRATCH.
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 OBJECTS WITH THE PREFIX “MICRO-” and the words are: CHIP, PHONE, SCOPE, WAVE.
How I solved today’s Connections
PHONE, WAVE, DING, and REACH could all be ways to get in touch with someone, but those seem a bit too different from each other. I’ll keep that in my back pocket for now.
CHIP, SCRATCH, and DING could be words for superficial damage. I don’t see an obvious fourth.
SCOPE and REACH could be oral care brands.
BINGO and CHIP could be Las Vegas-type words.
OK, maybe MOVE, CHANGE, TOUCH, and SWAY are all verbs for poignant, emotionally affective things. “One away.”
Maybe there’s another category about moving something in the right direction, with CORRECT, CHANGE, and RIGHT.
OK, so maybe I’ll try MOVE, TOUCH, SWAY, and REACH for the emotional category. 🟨
Ah, maybe RIGHT, CORRECT, DING, and GREEN are all affirmative signals. “One away” again. Oh, BINGO is definitely in there somewhere. I’ll get rid of GREEN since that’s more of a visual thing and the others are all verbal proclamations. 🟩 All right, making progress.
GREEN is an odd one. It could mean “go,” or it could refer to someone who’s new or inexperienced. It could also be part of a fill-in-the-blank, like “GREEN light” or “GREEN thumb.” It could also be a symbol for envy.
SCOPE and PHONE could both go with the “tele-” prefix, but I don’t see any others like that.
PHONE and GREEN could both go with the word “book.” Hmm, this is a toughie.
GREEN and PAPER could both go with “back”—GREENback is slang for U.S. money and a PAPERback is a type of book with a flexible cover. SCRATCH could arguably work with “back” too, as in “you SCRATCH my back, I SCRATCH yours.” Maybe CHANGE works, as in “CHANGE back into your clothes.” WAVE would work there too.
Ah, I think I finally have it: CHIP, SCOPE, PHONE, and WAVE all go with the “micro-” prefix. 🟪
That leaves SCRATCH, PAPER, CHANGE, and GREEN. Let’s see if my “back” theory was correct. 🟦 Well, sort of, but not really. I guess they’re all just slang terms for money. I’ve never heard of money being referred to simply as SCRATCH, so I think that threw me off the trail. Oh well, I got there eventually.
Connections Puzzle #655 🟨🟨🟨🟦 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟦 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟦🟦🟦🟦
How to play Connections
I have a full guide to playing Connections, but here’s 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). You’ll 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, you’ll get a chance to try again.
You win when you’ve 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 Connections
The 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 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 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 “Whistler’s 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 didn’t fit any of the obvious themes, either.
Another way to win when you’re stuck is, obviously, to read a few helpful hints–which is why we share these pointers every day. Check back tomorrow for the next puzzle!
