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Need a nudge on NYT Connections game #661? Start with the spoiler-free hints below, then open the clearly labeled answer key when you’re ready. This archived puzzle was published Wednesday, April 2, 2025; Connections releases a new board at midnight in each time zone, so the date can refer to different puzzles depending on when and where you play.
Hints for Connections #661
Try to find the four groups before reading the answer key. Each hint points toward a category without naming all four words.
- Yellow: Think of a sudden idea, whim, or spontaneous activity.
- Green: Look for words meaning a kind or classification.
- Blue: These share the surname Williams.
- Purple: Each word becomes a proper noun whose pronunciation differs from its ordinary-word pronunciation.
Answers for Wednesday, April 2, 2025
Spoilers below: the complete categories and their four words follow.
Yellow — Caprice
FANCY, IMPULSE, LARK, WHIM. Each can describe a sudden or fanciful impulse.
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Green — Ilk
KIND, LIKE, SORT, TYPE. Each can refer to a category or type.
Blue — Williamses
HANK, ROBIN, TENNESSEE, VENUS. Each is the name of a person with the surname Williams.
Rank #2
Purple — Words pronounced differently as proper nouns
HERB, JOB, NICE, READING. Read as proper nouns, these are a person named Herb, the biblical figure Job, the French city Nice, and a place named Reading. Their proper-noun pronunciations differ from the ordinary-word readings.
Why the purple group is easy to miss
The board invites overlapping interpretations: a word may appear to fit a plausible everyday category even though its intended connection depends on reading it as a name or place. Here, the proper-noun readings bring HERB, JOB, NICE, and READING together. Shuffling the board can help expose relationships that are harder to spot when the words remain in their original positions.
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Connections asks you to sort 16 words into four groups of four. A wrong guess costs a life; after four mistakes, the game is over. If you want to preserve attempts, test whether a possible group has exactly four members and check for words that could belong to a different category before submitting.
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