Waking up to a fresh grid on Tuesday, September 23, 2025, felt like walking into a trap. If you’re anything like me, you probably opened the NYT Games app with your morning coffee, expecting a gentle slide into the work weight, only to find yourself staring at sixteen words that seemed to have absolutely nothing in common. Or, worse, they had too much in common.
Connections is a psychological game as much as a linguistic one. Wyna Liu and the editorial team at The New York Times have spent years perfecting the art of the "red herring," and today’s puzzle is a masterclass in misdirection. You see a word. You think you know its partner. You’re wrong.
The NYT Connections Sept 23 2025 board relies heavily on what linguists call semantic flexibility. That’s just a fancy way of saying a word can mean two totally different things depending on who’s looking at it. Today, the overlap between the "Yellow" category (the easy stuff) and the "Purple" category (the "wait, what?" stuff) is razor-thin.
Breaking Down the Sept 23 Grid
Let's look at what we're actually dealing with here. The grid features words like HAM, CLUTCH, PROPS, and STAGE. At first glance, your brain screams "Theater!" You’ve got a stage, you’ve got props, and you’ve got a ham—an actor who overdoes it. It feels right. It feels safe.
It's a lie.
In the NYT Connections Sept 23 2025 puzzle, HAM belongs somewhere else entirely. This is where the game gets brutal. If you wasted your first two guesses trying to link theater terms, you're now sweating with only two mistakes left. The actual grouping for these words involves slang for praise or support. Think about it: when you give someone "props," you're giving them credit. When you "clutch" something in a high-stakes moment, you're performing under pressure.
The "Yellow" category today—the most straightforward one—actually focuses on COLLECTIVE NOUNS FOR ANIMALS. We’re talking about a PRIDE of lions or a SCHOOL of fish. It’s basic, but the puzzle-makers tucked these words next to others that could easily be part of a "Self-Esteem" group or an "Education" group.
Why the Purple Category is Ruining Lives Today
The "Purple" category is always the wildcard. Usually, it follows a "Words that start with..." or "Blank _____" format. For the NYT Connections Sept 23 2025 edition, the trick involves RADIO PHONETIC ALPHABET variations or internal hidden words.
Honestly, the difficulty spike on Tuesdays is a real phenomenon. Monday puzzles are generally the "entry drug" to get you hooked for the week, but by Tuesday, the editors start testing your lateral thinking. They want to see if you can detach a word from its primary definition.
Take the word LEAD. Is it a heavy metal? Is it the starring role in a play? Or is it what you do when you’re winning a race? Today, it’s none of those. It’s part of a group involving PENCIL PARTS. You have the lead, the eraser, the ferrule (that metal bit holding the eraser), and the wood. If you didn't know the word "ferrule," you were basically guessing in the dark.
The Science of the "Aha!" Moment
There is a genuine neurological reason why we get so frustrated with this game. When we see a pattern, our brain releases a tiny hit of dopamine. When that pattern turns out to be a red herring—like the theater trap in today’s NYT Connections Sept 23 2025 puzzle—the "prediction error" in our midbrain fires off. It feels like a physical itch.
Research from the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience suggests that solving insights-based puzzles requires a shift in the right hemisphere of the brain. You have to move away from "focused" thinking (drilling down on one meaning) to "diffuse" thinking (letting your mind wander to odd associations).
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If you're stuck, the best thing you can do is literally look away. Walk to the fridge. Pet the dog. When you come back, your brain has often "reset" its primary associations, allowing you to see that HAM isn't an actor; it's a type of radio enthusiast or a specific cut of meat.
Common Pitfalls in Today's Puzzle
- Over-committing to the first theme: Just because four words could be about the ocean doesn't mean they are.
- Ignoring word length: Sometimes the connection is purely structural.
- Forgetting slang: The NYT loves modern vernacular. If you aren't hip to how Gen Z uses "clutch," you're going to struggle with the Green or Blue categories.
The word KIND is another snake in the grass today. Is it a synonym for "type"? Or is it an adjective describing someone nice? In the context of the NYT Connections Sept 23 2025 board, it’s tucked into a category about TAXONOMY, sitting alongside GENUS, SPECIES, and ORDER.
Tactical Advice for Tomorrow
Don't let today's defeat get to you. Every time you fail a Connections puzzle, you're actually training your brain to recognize the specific "voice" of the editor. You start to learn their tricks.
Next time you see a word that has a very obvious, very loud meaning—like STAGE—don't click it immediately. Pause. Look for three other words that fit that meaning. Then, look for a fifth word that also fits. If there are five words that fit a theme, that theme is a trap. The editors always include an extra word to force you to find the more nuanced secondary grouping.
If you're looking to improve your stats, start reading more varied sources. The NYT draws from cooking, tech, sports, and Broadway. The more diverse your "mental library," the fewer times you'll be blindsided by a category like "Parts of a Violin" or "Types of Pasta Shapes."
How to Solve the Rest of the Week
- Shuffle the board: Use the "Shuffle" button constantly. It breaks the visual associations the editors purposefully set up.
- Focus on the outliers: Find the weirdest word on the board—something like FERRULE—and work backward from there.
- Say it out loud: Sometimes hearing the word helps you catch a pun that your eyes missed.
The NYT Connections Sept 23 2025 puzzle was a bear, but it's a reminder of why we play. It's that fleeting, glorious second when the last four words bounce into place and you realize you weren't crazy after all—the words were just hiding in plain sight.
Actionable Insights for Puzzle Success
To dominate the rest of this week's puzzles, change your approach to the "Purple" category. Instead of looking for what the words are, look for what can be added to them. If you see words like "Sun," "Fire," and "Back," don't look for a solar theme; look for the word "Fly" (Sunfly, Firefly, Backfly). This lateral shift is usually the difference between a perfect score and a "Phew!"
Also, keep a running list of "NYT Favorites." They love words about:
- Palindromes
- Homophones (Knight/Night)
- Units of measurement (especially obscure ones)
- Silent letters
Study the categories you missed today. If it was the "Collective Nouns" group, spend five minutes looking up what a group of crows or rhinos is called. You'll likely see one of those pop up again before the year is out.