For word puzzle enthusiasts, Wednesday, September 17, 2025, brought another challenging and delightfully tricky installment of the New York Times Connections game. Puzzle #829, as reported across several outlets including Parade, CNET, and Forbes, delivered a fresh set of 16 words and four elusive groupings that had solvers scratching their heads, shuffling their grids, and, for some, seeking a little help online.
The Connections game, which has rapidly grown in popularity since its debut, is deceptively simple: players are presented with a four-by-four grid of words and must group them into four sets of four based on a hidden connection. Each group is color-coded by difficulty, with yellow being the easiest and purple the most challenging. But as many have discovered, the simplicity of the format belies the cunning of the clues—and the fiendish delight the creators take in misleading even the most seasoned wordsmiths.
According to Parade, today’s hints for the categories were as follows: “Symbol that flies on a pole,” “A literal or figurative 180° turn,” “Force tightly into a space,” and “Aussie hopper often used in kids’ titles.” These cryptic clues were echoed and expanded upon by CNET, which offered its own take: “You might have these outside your house,” “Do a 180,” “Pack in tight,” and “You might’ve watched these when you were a kid.” Each hint nudged players toward the underlying logic, but the path to the solution was anything but straightforward.
For those who braved the puzzle without assistance, the journey was marked by false starts and the occasional epiphany. One player, writing for CNET, admitted, “Seeing today’s words was a little confusing at first, until I solved green and blue. I definitely would've never guessed purple. At least I got out without making any mistakes!” The game’s design encourages experimentation: if players make a mistake, the interface offers feedback such as “One away,” prompting a careful reevaluation of choices. As CNET notes, “You get four guesses before the game is over and the answers are revealed.”
So, what were the elusive groupings for Connections #829? Let’s break them down, as revealed by all the major coverage:
Yellow Group: They’re Blowin’ in the Wind
Words: FLAG, PINWHEEL, VANE, WIND CHIME
This grouping played on the idea of objects that move or spin in the breeze. Forbes cleverly hinted at this with “Bob Dylan once told his friend where this answer was,” a nod to the song “Blowin’ in the Wind.” Items like flags and pinwheels are common sights outdoors, while vanes and wind chimes are staples of gardens and porches. As Parade summarized, these are “symbols that fly on a pole” or simply objects that catch the wind’s fancy.
Green Group: Change One’s Tune
Words: ABOUT-FACE, BACKPEDAL, FLIP-FLOP, RENEGE
This set focused on reversals or changes of opinion. The phrase “do a 180” from CNET and “ehhh, on the other hand” from Forbes both pointed to this theme. Each word describes a shift or reversal—whether literal, as in an about-face, or figurative, as in reneging on a promise. “Change one’s tune” is a clever encapsulation, and as Forbes noted, “RENEGE is one of my favorite words and the rest were easy to fit together.”
Blue Group: Cram
Words: JAM, SHOEHORN, STUFF, WEDGE
For the blue group, the connection was all about squeezing things into tight spaces. Hints included “Force tightly into a space” (Parade), “Pack in tight” (CNET), and “Shove it in there” (Forbes). Each word is a synonym or close relative of cramming—whether it’s jamming something into a bag, using a shoehorn to get your foot into a snug shoe, stuffing a suitcase, or wedging a book onto a crowded shelf. As one solver quipped in Forbes, “SHOEHORN gave that away for me.”
Purple Group: Last Words in Long-Running Children’s Show Titles
Words: KANGAROO, NEIGHBORHOOD, RAINBOW, STREET
The trickiest of the day, the purple group, drew on nostalgia and pop culture. The clue “Aussie hopper often used in kids’ titles” (Parade) and “TV for tots” (Forbes) pointed to this theme, but it wasn’t immediately obvious. The connection: each word is the last word in the title of a beloved children’s television show—Captain Kangaroo, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Reading Rainbow, and Sesame Street. Forbes explained, “That left the purples, which refer to Captain KANGAROO, Mister Rogers’ NEIGHBORHOOD, Reading RAINBOW (and also just RAINBOW for the Brits out there) and, of course, Sesame STREET.”
Beyond the puzzle itself, the day’s coverage highlighted the growing culture and community around NYT Connections. As Forbes noted, there’s now a Connections Bot that analyzes player performance, tracking statistics like win streaks and perfect scores. The Discord community is active, sharing strategies and celebrating victories. The game’s daily nature—only one puzzle per day, with a midnight reset—adds to its allure, creating anticipation and a sense of shared ritual among fans.
For newcomers, the advice is simple but effective: start with the yellow group, as those connections are usually the most obvious. Don’t be afraid to shuffle the board or step away and return with fresh eyes. And above all, embrace the challenge—after all, as one columnist wrote, “These puzzles are designed to confuse you.”
September 17’s Connections puzzle stands as a testament to the game’s clever design and enduring appeal. With its blend of wordplay, trivia, and a dash of nostalgia, it continues to captivate and confound in equal measure, drawing in solvers from around the world for a daily test of logic and lateral thinking. For those who cracked today’s code, congratulations! For everyone else, there’s always tomorrow’s puzzle—and a new set of connections waiting to be made.
