Stuck on NYT Connections puzzle #790 from Saturday, August 9, 2025? Below you will find gentle hints for each color group first, then the full solution further down, so you can stop scrolling as soon as you have enough help. After the answers there is a short strategy guide that works on any day’s grid.
How Connections works, in 30 seconds
Each day the New York Times Games team publishes a grid of 16 words. Your job is to sort them into four groups of four that share a hidden link. You can make four mistakes before the game ends. Groups are color coded by difficulty once solved: yellow is the most straightforward, then green, then blue, and purple is usually the trickiest, often built on wordplay rather than meaning. The puzzle launched in June 2023, which is why the August 9, 2025 grid carries number 790.
Hints for Connections #790 (no spoilers)
Start with these nudges. Each one points at the theme without naming a word.
Think about what you get at the end of an effort, from a farm, a factory or an investment.
Things that make people laugh, sorted by type. One of them needs a door.
Film titles where love meets the afterlife, vampires or the unexplained.
Put a yellow vegetable in front of each word.
Still stuck? Here is a slightly bigger push: one blue title is a 1990 Patrick Swayze drama, and one green word is often paired with a parent.
Answers for Connections #790, August 9, 2025
Spoilers start here. These are the four groups and the words that belonged in each.
| Color | Theme | Words |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow | Result | Fruit, Product, Return, Yield |
| Green | Kinds of jokes | Dad, Inside, Knock knock, Practical |
| Blue | Movies with supernatural romance | Casper, Ghost, Let Me In, Twilight |
| Purple | Corn ___ | Maze, Muffin, Silk, Syrup |
Why this grid was tricky
The traps in #790 came from words that fit more than one theme. Fruit looks like it might join a food group with muffin and syrup, and both sit comfortably next to breakfast items. Ghost could have passed for a spooky word rather than a film title, and Casper works as a ghost character too, which made the blue group feel like a horror category until you notice that every title is a love story with a supernatural twist.
The purple group is a classic Connections move. Maze, muffin, silk and syrup have nothing in common as objects. The link only appears when you add the same word in front: corn maze, corn muffin, corn silk and corn syrup. Once yellow, green and blue were locked in, the last four had to belong together, which is often the easiest way to crack purple.
Strategy that works on any Connections puzzle
Daily answers change, but the habits that lead to perfect games do not. These are the approaches experienced players lean on.
- Read all 16 words before you click. Say each one out loud. Many purple groups rely on sound, spelling or hidden words that only jump out when you slow down.
- Look for the red herring. The editors usually plant five or six words that seem to fit an obvious theme when only four belong. If you spot five candidates, find the one that has a second job elsewhere.
- Try fill in the blank patterns. Test common words such as fire, corn, back, sun or house before and after each tile. That is how groups like corn ___ reveal themselves.
- Solve the clearest group first, not the yellow one. Lock in whichever set you are surest about. Every correct group removes four words and makes the rest easier.
- Use shuffle. The shuffle button rearranges tiles and breaks the visual patterns your brain keeps falling into.
- Treat your mistakes as a budget. With four strikes, it is fine to spend one on a smart guess late in the game, but never guess early when three groups are still open.
FAQ
What number was the August 9, 2025 Connections puzzle?
It was puzzle #790. Connections numbers go up by one each day since the game launched in June 2023.
Which group is usually the hardest?
Purple. It tends to use wordplay such as hidden words, homophones or a shared word that goes before or after each answer, as with the corn group in this puzzle.
Is Connections free to play?
Yes. The daily Connections grid is free on the New York Times Games website and in the NYT Games app. A Games subscription adds other puzzles and extra features.
Is there a way to review how well I played?
Yes. The Times offers a Connections Bot that scores your finished game and comments on your guesses, and registered players can track stats such as win rate and streaks.
The verdict
Connections #790 rewarded patience: the yellow and green groups fell quickly, the film titles needed a second look, and the corn words only made sense once everything else was cleared. Carry the fill in the blank trick into tomorrow’s grid and purple will feel a lot less mysterious.
Updated October 2026: verified hints and answers for Connections #790 plus an evergreen strategy guide for any puzzle.
Featured photo: Glen Carrie on Unsplash.
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