The Sunday edition of NYT Connections arrives with puzzle #1225, serving up a grid that rewards practical thinking, a little retail knowledge, and close attention to spelling. Familiar meanings give you a foothold, but the last connection asks you to inspect the words themselves.
What Makes Connections Tick
For newcomers, NYT Connections presents 16 words that must be sorted into four thematic groups of four. The twist? You're limited to four mistakes, and the color-coded difficulty system (yellow being easiest, purple being trickiest) means surface-level connections often mislead.
Since its June 2023 launch, Connections has carved out its niche in the Times' puzzle ecosystem, standing alongside Wordle and the crossword as a daily ritual for millions of players worldwide. The game's genius lies in its red herrings, words that could fit multiple categories but belong in only one.
Today's Grid at a Glance
Here are the 16 words staring back at you in puzzle #1225:
ANGEL | BUTTER | HAZEL | DEODORANT
COCO | DYNAMITE | MISTER | FOGERTY
CHEST | INCENSE | VAPORETTO | BUREAU
OBSESSION | TRUNK | OPIUM | WARDROBE
A seemingly random collection that somehow connects into four perfect categories.
Strategic Hints (No Spoilers Yet)
Yellow Category Nudge: Picture a room being tidied before guests arrive.
Green Category Clue: Think about the physical form an item takes when you buy or use it.
Blue Category Hint: Think about products whose names promise a mood or an identity.
Purple Category Teaser: Give the opening letters a closer look.
The Full Solutions
Last chance to solve independently: answers below
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Yellow (Places To Store Clothes): BUREAU, CHEST, TRUNK, WARDROBE
BUREAU, CHEST, TRUNK, and WARDROBE belong together as places to store clothes. The storage meaning keeps the set coherent even though CHEST and TRUNK also suggest parts of the body.
Green (Things That Come In Sticks): BUTTER, DEODORANT, DYNAMITE, INCENSE
BUTTER, DEODORANT, DYNAMITE, and INCENSE all come in sticks. DEODORANT and INCENSE invite a scent-based detour toward the perfume names, but the shared physical format completes this group.
Blue (Famous Perfumes): ANGEL, COCO, OBSESSION, OPIUM
ANGEL, COCO, OBSESSION, and OPIUM are the four famous perfumes in the blue group.
The useful distinction is between fragrance names and things that carry a scent. That keeps INCENSE and DEODORANT out of this set despite their tempting connection.
Purple (Starting With Things That Cloud The Air): FOGERTY, HAZEL, MISTER, VAPORETTO
FOGERTY starts with FOG, HAZEL with HAZE, MISTER with MIST, and VAPORETTO with VAPOR. Each opening names something that clouds the air, so the connection sits inside the spelling of otherwise unrelated entries.
The Verdict
Yellow offers the clearest first foothold through its concrete storage meanings. The sharper trap sits between green and blue, where INCENSE and DEODORANT can pull attention toward fragrance before the stick connection emerges.
Purple is the streak-deciding group here. Spotting FOG inside FOGERTY gives you a useful lead, but extending that reading to HAZEL, MISTER, and VAPORETTO takes a deliberate shift toward spelling.
Reset and Repeat
Take today's opening-letter trick into tomorrow's grid as one more tool to try when meanings stop helping. Come back for another fresh set of connections and another chance to spot the detail that unlocks it.
For now, puzzle #1225 is solved. See you at midnight for the next round.