Spoiler warning: This is a historical guide to NYT Connections game #659, dated Monday, March 31, 2025—not today’s puzzle. Read the category nudges first, then scroll to the clearly labeled full solution when you’re ready.
Category hints for Connections #659
Use these nudges in order, from broadest to most specific:
- Think of past-tense actions related to food.
- Look for words or phrases that add information to a statement.
- Consider services available at a banking machine.
- For the last group, each answer forms a word when placed before “PLAY.”
The 16 words on the board
FORE, WORD, DEPOSIT, TOO, PUT AWAY, SCREEN, ATE, BALANCE, BESIDES, HORSE, TRANSFER, TO BOOT, HAD, AS WELL, TOOK IN, WITHDRAWAL
Full answer reveal
Spoilers below: The solution groups the 16 words into four sets of four.
| Color | Category | Answers |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow | CONSUMED | ATE, HAD, PUT AWAY, TOOK IN |
| Green | ALSO | AS WELL, BESIDES, TO BOOT, TOO |
| Blue | ATM OPTIONS | BALANCE, DEPOSIT, TRANSFER, WITHDRAWAL |
| Purple | _____PLAY | FORE, HORSE, SCREEN, WORD |
Why the purple words fit
Each word precedes “play” to make a compound: foreplay, horseplay, screenplay, and wordplay.
How Connections works
Connections asks players to sort 16 words into four groups of four that share a common feature. Players can make up to four mistakes before the game ends, according to TechRadar’s March 30, 2025 guide. For this puzzle, the four links range from synonyms and add-on phrases to banking functions and a word-building pattern.
Rank #2
Sources and date
TechRadar’s guide, published March 30, 2025, and Parade’s guide, published March 31, 2025, both identify this as game #659 for Monday, March 31, 2025, and report the same four categories and memberships. These are secondary answer guides, not an official NYT archive: TechRadar and Parade.
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