NYT Connections puzzle #840 is for Sunday, September 28, 2025. If you want a nudge before seeing the solution, start with the four spoiler-light hints below; the complete groups and tiles are behind a clear spoiler break.
Hints for Connections #840
These spoiler-light clues were published by third-party answer guides; they are not established as official NYT hints.
- Give security.
- A bug in the system.
- Something to chew on.
- Football badges.
All Things How offered alternative nudges: “Support,” “Be careful on your computer,” “Blow a bubble,” and “Are you ready for some football?”
Spoilers: September 28 answers
The four categories and their tiles are:
| Color | Category | Tiles |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow | BACKING | AEGIS, GUARD, PROTECTION, SHIELD |
| Green | MALICIOUS SOFTWARE | BACKDOOR, TROJAN HORSE, VIRUS, WORM |
| Blue | GUM BRANDS | EXTRA, ICE BREAKERS, ORBIT, TRIDENT |
| Purple | N.F.L. TEAM LOGOS | BUFFALO, FLEUR-DE-LIS, HORSESHOE, LIGHTNING BOLT |
Why the tiles fit
BACKING
AEGIS, GUARD, PROTECTION, and SHIELD can all mean support, protection, or defense. AEGIS and SHIELD are particularly direct signals.
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MALICIOUS SOFTWARE
BACKDOOR, TROJAN HORSE, VIRUS, and WORM are types of software threats.
GUM BRANDS
EXTRA, ICE BREAKERS, ORBIT, and TRIDENT are names of gum brands.
N.F.L. TEAM LOGOS
The tiles point to logo imagery rather than team names: BUFFALO refers to the Buffalo Bills, FLEUR-DE-LIS to the New Orleans Saints, HORSESHOE to the Indianapolis Colts, and LIGHTNING BOLT to the Los Angeles Chargers.
What made this set tricky
One reviewed guide writer, TechRadar contributor Johnny Dee, rated the puzzle “Hard” and recorded his own result as “Fail.” That is his personal assessment, not an official difficulty rating or a measure of how other players performed. He noted tempting overlaps, including mythology associations and the horseshoe tile. As a matter of category structure, BACKING is more readily approached through synonym recognition, while the gum brands and NFL logo imagery rely more on recognizing specific names or visual associations; that is an observation about these groups, not a measured difficulty ranking.
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The date, puzzle number, categories, and tile assignments are corroborated by three editorial answer guides: TechRadar, Try Hard Guides, and All Things How. The answer key is supported by those independent guides rather than an official NYT puzzle archive.
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