Need a nudge before seeing the solution? Start with the four category hints below; the full groups and explanations follow. This is Connections game #865, for Thursday, October 23, 2025.
Hints for Connections #865
- One group describes how things are when all is well.
- One group contains words for a prize or a pool of winnings.
- Think of equipment used in different Olympic sports; one word has a badminton meaning that may be less familiar.
- Each word in the last group comes before the same word to make a familiar phrase.
Answers and explanations
PEACHY: DANDY, DUCKY, FINE, SWELL
These are informal or familiar ways to say that everything is fine or satisfactory. “Ducky” and “swell” can be less obvious if you first read them in their other senses.
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WINNINGS: KITTY, POT, PRIZE, PURSE
Each word can refer to a prize or accumulated reward. “Kitty,” “pot,” and “purse” can describe a pool of money, while “prize” names the reward itself.
PIECES OF OLYMPIC SPORTS EQUIPMENT: BALL, BIRDIE, PUCK, STONE
The words point to equipment used in Olympic sports: a ball for ball sports, a birdie (badminton shuttlecock), an ice-hockey puck, and a curling stone. “Birdie” is a tempting distraction for anyone thinking of golf.
_____ BAG: DOGGY, GO, MIXED, SWAG
Complete the phrases with “bag”: doggy bag, go bag, mixed bag, and swag bag.
The animal-word red herring
DUCKY, KITTY, BIRDIE, and DOGGY look like a set because each can bring an animal to mind. They do not form a category here: the four tiles belong to four different groups, so sorting by that surface resemblance leads away from the answers.
Rank #2
Source note
Kris Holt’s Forbes explainer for the October 23, 2025 puzzle provides the detailed groupings and word explanations: Forbes: NYT Connections answers explained for Thursday, October 23 (#865). The date, game number, and category labels are also corroborated by search-result listings from DocumentaryTube and TechRadar. These are published answer guides, not an official NYT archive confirmation.
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