NYT Connections Hints, Answers for Dec. 13, 2025 (#916)

NYT Connections Hints & Answers for Dec. 13, 2025 (#916)

The NYT Connections puzzle for Dec. 13, 2025 is widely being called one of the trickiest puzzles of the year, thanks largely to a devious purple category that disguises itself as something else entirely. Many solvers initially grouped words as album titles or famous fictional characters — only to realize those assumptions were deliberate traps.

If today’s grid left you second-guessing every move, you’re not alone. Below are clean hints, followed by the full confirmed answers for all four categories.

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Today’s Connections Hints (Dec. 13, 2025)

Ranked from easiest (Yellow) to hardest (Purple):

🟨 Yellow Group Hint:

Fashion trend.

🟩 Green Group Hint:

Shh — that letter isn’t heard.

🟦 Blue Group Hint:

Gotham baseballers.

🟪 Purple Group Hint:

Famous fictional figures, with a twist.

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Today’s Connections Answers

🟨 Yellow Group — Wide-Legged Pant Styles

CULOTTE, GAUCHO, HAREM, PALAZZO

This group looks deceptively easy, but words like gaucho can easily distract players into unrelated themes.

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🟩 Green Group — Silent “T”

APOSTLE, DEPOT, MORTGAGE, POIROT

Each word contains a silent “T”, a pronunciation-based category that rewards careful phonetic thinking.

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🟦 Blue Group — New York Mets Legends

GOODEN, PIAZZA, SEAVER, STRAWBERRY

A baseball-heavy category featuring some of the most iconic players in Mets history. Sports fans likely spotted this one faster.

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🟪 Purple Group — Greek Mythological Figures Minus a Letter

AJA (Ajax), ARE (Ares), HER (Hera), HERCULE (Hercules)

The toughest category by far. Each answer is a Greek mythological figure with one letter removed, making this a classic Connections “gotcha” group.

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Expert Analysis

Today’s puzzle excels at intentional misdirection. The purple group is particularly notorious because each word still forms a valid standalone term, masking the missing-letter mechanic. This is the kind of category that separates pattern recognition from surface-level association.

Difficulty ranking for today:
Yellow → Green → Blue → Purple (extreme)

If you use the NYT Connections Bot, expect this puzzle to score lower than average — even for experienced solvers.

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FAQs

1. Why was today’s NYT Connections puzzle so hard?

The purple category used valid words that subtly removed letters from famous Greek mythological names.

2. What was the trickiest category today?

The purple group, featuring altered mythological figures, was the most deceptive.

3. What does the green group have in common?

All words contain a silent “T”.

4. How many groups are there in NYT Connections?

There are always four groups: Yellow (easy), Green, Blue, and Purple (hardest).