Connections hint today: Solve puzzle #867 with Oscar winners, watch features

NYT Connections puzzle #867 arrives on October 25, 2025 with a challenging Best Actor-winning biopics category. This puzzle mixes entertainment trivia with word connections for players. The purple difficulty tier tests your movie knowledge today. Success requires recognizing patterns across four distinct groupings.

What Made Today’s Puzzle Tricky

Connections #867 tests knowledge across entertainment, technology, and wordplay simultaneously. The purple category specifically demands familiarity with Academy Award-winning biographical films. Players must recognize actor names hidden within movie titles.

This puzzle’s trickiness lies in overlapping word meanings. A single word might fit multiple categories conceptually. The blue group (confer synonyms) includes words like accord, award, grant, vest. These words function as both actions and nouns, creating deliberate confusion for solvers.

“Finding the connections between words requires stepping back and considering multiple meanings,” reports the New York Times Games editorial team.

Breaking Down the Four Groups Today

Yellow group (easiest) asks players to identify swindling synonyms. The correct words are fleece, hose, hustle, and shaft. These terms describe conning someone out of money.

Category	Difficulty	Words
Swindle	Yellow	Fleece, Hose, Hustle, Shaft
Digital Watch Features	Green	Alarm, Date, Light, Stopwatch
Confer	Blue	Accord, Award, Grant, Vest
Best Actor Biopics	Purple	Capote, Lincoln, Milk, Ray

Green group (moderate) highlights specific functions available on timepieces. Alarm, date, light, and stopwatch are all practical watch features you’ll find. These terms represent capabilities beyond simply telling time.

Blue group (challenging) uses words meaning “to confer” or “to discuss.” However, the connection turns clever here. These four words also function as synonyms for giving something. Accord, award, grant, and vest work both ways linguistically.

Solving the Hollywood Challenge

Purple demands cinema expertise. Film titles that won Best Actor Oscars require recognizing movie names containing actor surnames. Capote featured Philip Seymour Hoffman. Lincoln starred Daniel Day-Lewis. Milk showcased Sean Penn. Ray highlighted Jamie Foxx‘s performance.

Entertainment knowledge becomes key here. Players unfamiliar with 2000s biographical cinema face real difficulty. The puzzle tests multiple skill sets simultaneously: vocabulary, memory, and cultural literacy. This layered approach keeps Connections engaging across different player backgrounds.

Solving strategy matters too. Start with yellow’s obvious swindling terms. Move to green’s watch functions. Then attempt blue’s tricky confer meanings. Leave purple for last when fewer words remain. This methodical approach reduces mistake penalties significantly.

Why Hollywood Biopics Dominate

Oscar-winning biographical films recently dominated entertainment conversations. These movies celebrate real-life achievements through cinematic storytelling. The Academy loves rewarding performances portraying actual historical figures and cultural icons daily.

• Capote examined writer Truman Capote‘s complex personality
• Lincoln explored Abraham Lincoln‘s presidency
• Milk honored activist Harvey Milk‘s legacy
• Ray celebrated musician Ray Charles‘s brilliance
• Each film won Academy Awards for supporting performances

The Psychology Behind Word Game Success

Connections puzzles exploit how our brains categorize information differently. A word like grant could mean permission, money, or discussion. This semantic flexibility creates beautiful complexity. Players must recognize which meaning applies specifically here.

Mental flexibility separates successful solvers from frustrated ones. Sometimes stepping away briefly helps. Fresh perspectives reveal connections your tired brain previously missed. The best strategy combines pattern recognition with linguistic knowledge seamlessly.

Ready to tackle tomorrow’s Connections puzzle? The game resets daily at midnight ET. Each new puzzle brings fresh challenges combining entertainment, wordplay, and pattern recognition. Happy solving!

Sources

• Mashable – Daily NYT Connections hints and answers
• The New York Times – Official puzzle companion and editorial guidance
• TechRadar – Gaming solutions and puzzle commentary

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