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NYT Connections puzzle #842 for Tuesday, September 30, 2025, groups its 16 words into unnatural mannerisms, words from the famous woodchuck tongue twister, cartoon birds, and words ending with number homophones. Hints appear first, followed by the category names and complete answer.
Hints for Connections #842
These clues are ordered from broadest to most revealing. Stop when you have enough to finish the grid.
- Yellow: Think of Tina Belcher’s characteristic delivery.
- Green: Say the relevant words three times fast.
- Blue: Look for animated characters of the avian variety.
- Purple: The words sound as if they end with numbers.
Today’s Connections answers
| Color | Category | Words |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow | Unnatural, as mannerisms | AWKWARD, STIFF, STILTED, WOODEN |
| Green | Words in a famous tongue twister | CHUCK, COULD, WOOD, WOODCHUCK |
| Blue | Cartoon birds | FOGHORN, SCROOGE, WOODSTOCK, WOODY |
| Purple | Ending with number homophones | CLASSICS, CREATE, GUTHRIE, THEREFORE |
Why each group works
Yellow: Unnatural, as mannerisms
AWKWARD, STIFF, STILTED and WOODEN can all describe affected, rigid or unnatural speech and behavior. “Wooden” is especially useful as a deceptive overlap because it also appears in the tongue-twister group.
Green: Words in a famous tongue twister
CHUCK, COULD, WOOD and WOODCHUCK come from the familiar line, “How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?” The puzzle uses the words themselves rather than asking you to complete the sentence.
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Blue: Cartoon birds
FOGHORN points to Foghorn Leghorn, SCROOGE to Scrooge McDuck, WOODSTOCK to the Peanuts bird, and WOODY to Woody Woodpecker.
Purple: Ending with number homophones
CLASSICS ends with a sound like “six,” CREATE with “eight” or “ate,” GUTHRIE with “three,” and THEREFORE with “four” or “for.” This is a sound-based category, so read the endings aloud rather than looking only at spelling.
How the puzzle works
Connections gives you 16 words and asks you to sort them into four groups of four. The difficulty colors run from yellow (easiest) to green, blue and purple (hardest), and you can make up to four incorrect guesses. The game is available to play free through the New York Times Games site. A new puzzle refreshes at midnight in the player’s local time zone, according to All Things How.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.A safer solving order
- Start with the obvious character names: FOGHORN, SCROOGE, WOODSTOCK and WOODY.
- Read the remaining words aloud to hear the number endings in the purple set.
- Identify the woodchuck sentence words, taking care not to use WOODEN, which belongs to yellow.
- Use the remaining descriptive terms for the yellow group.
Parade published this as game #842 on September 30, 2025. TechRadar and All Things How independently reported the same categories and 16 answers.
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