Every night at the stroke of midnight, word game enthusiasts across the globe find themselves facing a familiar ritual: the unveiling of a fresh NYT Connections puzzle. Released daily by The New York Times, this quirky and clever word game has become a staple for puzzle solvers, casual gamers, and anyone who enjoys a daily test of wit. On Thursday, August 21, 2025, Connections puzzle number 802 dropped, and as always, it offered its own set of brain-teasing challenges and satisfying "aha!" moments.
For those unfamiliar, Connections presents players with a grid of 16 words. The task? Sort these words into four groups of four, based on a hidden link that binds each set together. The categories might range from the obvious—like items you can eat—to the delightfully obscure, such as phrases that rhyme or words that can be paired with a certain prefix or suffix. There’s only one correct solution, and the game is notorious for tossing in red herrings—words that could easily fit more than one group—just to keep players on their toes.
According to reporting by TechRadar and other outlets, the Connections puzzle for August 21 featured the following words: DIPSY, DREAM, CHEESE, SATELLITE DISH, LA-LA, TELETUBBY, NO-NO, YANKEE, BOO-BOO, RADIO TOWER, NEVER NEVER, FLUB, INSECT, FANTASY, and GAFFE. As with each daily puzzle, the challenge lay not just in recognizing the words, but in teasing out the subtle threads that connect them.
The game’s interface is simple but effective. Players can shuffle the word grid, make up to four mistakes before the game ends, and even receive gentle nudges when they’re just one word away from a correct group. Each group is color-coded by difficulty: yellow is typically the easiest, blue and green fall in the middle, and purple is often the trickiest—sometimes involving wordplay or cultural references that might stump even the most seasoned solver. As TechRadar notes, "It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints."
For puzzle #802, the hints for each group were as follows:
- Yellow: A clumsy mishap
- Green: Make believe kingdoms
- Blue: Linked by a receiving system
- Purple: Add a word that’s a bit like a scribble
And for those craving a little more help, one-word clues were also provided: NO-NO for yellow, FANTASY for green, SATELLITE DISH for blue, and DIPSY for purple. These hints nudged players in the right direction without giving away the game entirely.
As the clock ticked past midnight and players began to tackle the puzzle, the answers gradually emerged. The yellow group, themed "blunder," included BOO-BOO, FLUB, GAFFE, and NO-NO. These words all evoke the idea of a mistake—be it a minor mishap or a social faux pas. The green group, "lands of the imagination," brought together DREAM, FANTASY, LA-LA, and NEVER NEVER—each evoking a place that exists only in the mind or in storybooks. The blue group, "things with antenna/antennae," featured INSECT, RADIO TOWER, SATELLITE DISH, and TELETUBBY. This grouping cleverly linked living creatures and technology by way of their shared protruding appendages. Finally, the purple group, "____ doodle," included CHEESE, DIPSY, GOOGLE, and YANKEE—each forming a familiar phrase when paired with "doodle."
For some, the puzzle’s trickiest aspect was the purple group. As one columnist writing for Pastimes confessed, "I’d never heard of a DIPSY doodle, which, according to Merriam-Webster, is a term meaning 'artfully deceptive or shady manipulation,' among other things. I do love GOOGLE Doodles, which appear on the Google homepage to commemorate a special event or moment in history. YANKEE Doodle is a nursery rhyme. My streak survived and is now at 174 wins in a row."
Meanwhile, TechRadar’s reviewer described the puzzle as "easy" and achieved a perfect score. They noted the possible confusion caused by the inclusion of DIPSY and LA-LA, both names of characters from the children’s show Teletubbies. "Connections teased us with two Teletubbies, and had I not known that the missing characters were Tinky-Winky and Po I may have been tempted to cobble a quartet together with BOO-BOO and FLUB, both of which sound as if they could be rotund primary-colored aliens," the reviewer wrote, adding a touch of humor to the day’s recap.
But it wasn’t just the purple group that threw players for a loop. The blue group required thinking outside the box, connecting the dots between INSECT and RADIO TOWER—both of which, as it turns out, sport antennae. The green group, meanwhile, drew on a more whimsical set of associations, linking words that conjure up imaginary realms. "After seeing NEVER NEVER, my brain instantly went to 'land,' as in the place where Peter Pan lives. DREAM, FANTASY and LA-LA were obvious partners for that, and thus I had the greens," reported the Pastimes columnist.
Beyond the puzzle itself, the culture around NYT Connections is thriving. Communities have sprung up on platforms like Discord, where fans swap strategies, commiserate over missed streaks, and swap tips for tackling the game’s trickier categories. As one writer put it, "We have a great little community on Discord, where we chat about NYT Connections, the rest of the NYT games and all kinds of other stuff. Everyone who has joined has been lovely. It’s a fun hangout spot, and you’re more than welcome to hang out with us." The game’s social features, such as the option to share results with friends, have only fueled its popularity.
For those who want more, there’s an archive of previous puzzles available for NYT Games subscribers, allowing players to revisit old favorites or catch up on missed days. And if Connections isn’t enough, the NYT’s suite of games—including Wordle, Strands, and Quordle—offers plenty of other daily challenges.
It’s clear that NYT Connections has tapped into something special: a blend of logic, wordplay, and social fun that keeps players coming back day after day. Whether you’re in it for the streak, the satisfaction of a perfect score, or just the joy of a clever connection, there’s always another puzzle waiting at midnight.
