NYT Connections Hints & Answers — Saturday, May 17, 2025 (#706)
Puzzle #706. Start with a gentle nudge and work down — the full answers are at the bottom, hidden until you ask for them.
Just tell me the answer
The NYT Connections answer for Saturday, May 17, 2025 (puzzle #706) is: YELLOW — MEMBER OF A KINGDOM IN TAXONOMY: ANIMAL, BACTERIA, FUNGUS, PLANT. GREEN — GRADUATED INSTRUMENTS: BEAKER, PROTRACTOR, RULER, SYRINGE. BLUE — KINDS OF PENGUINS: CHINSTRAP, EMPEROR, KING, MACARONI. PURPLE — “E” THINGS: COMMERCE, MAIL, SCOOTER, SIGNATURE.
Today's 16 words
The grid exactly as NYT laid it out for Saturday, May 17, 2025. Nothing below this point is spoiled until you open it.
MACARONI
ANIMAL
KING
MAIL
RULER
SCOOTER
PLANT
EMPEROR
BEAKER
BACTERIA
COMMERCE
SYRINGE
FUNGUS
SIGNATURE
CHINSTRAP
PROTRACTOR
How hard is Connections #706?
Easy30/100
• Four clean, meaning-based categories with little overlap.
Where to start: Every category here is meaning-based, so group by topic first and use the four-per-group constraint to settle any word that could go two ways.
Connections hints for Saturday, May 17, 2025
Four levels, each giving away a little more. Open only as many as you need.
yellow(the most straightforward group — start here) A group united by what they ARE, not by wordplay — think about taxonomy.
green(a little trickier, but still direct) A group united by what they ARE, not by wordplay — think about instruments.
blue(where the misdirection usually starts) A group united by what they ARE, not by wordplay — think about penguins.
purple(the wordplay group, and almost always the last to fall) A group united by what they ARE, not by wordplay — think about things.
yellow4 things that belong to the same real-world set — the link is meaning, not spelling.
green4 things that belong to the same real-world set — the link is meaning, not spelling.
blue4 things that belong to the same real-world set — the link is meaning, not spelling.
purple4 things that belong to the same real-world set — the link is meaning, not spelling.
yellowOne member is
greenOne member is
blueOne member is
purpleOne member is
yellow
green
blue
purple
NYT Connections answers for Saturday, May 17, 2025
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Common questions
What is the NYT Connections answer for Saturday, May 17, 2025?
The NYT Connections answer for Saturday, May 17, 2025 (puzzle #706) is: YELLOW — MEMBER OF A KINGDOM IN TAXONOMY: ANIMAL, BACTERIA, FUNGUS, PLANT. GREEN — GRADUATED INSTRUMENTS: BEAKER, PROTRACTOR, RULER, SYRINGE. BLUE — KINDS OF PENGUINS: CHINSTRAP, EMPEROR, KING, MACARONI. PURPLE — “E” THINGS: COMMERCE, MAIL, SCOOTER, SIGNATURE.
What is the purple group in Connections #706?
The purple (hardest) group is "“E” THINGS": COMMERCE, MAIL, SCOOTER, SIGNATURE.
What is the easiest group in today's Connections puzzle?
The yellow group is the most straightforward: "MEMBER OF A KINGDOM IN TAXONOMY" — ANIMAL, BACTERIA, FUNGUS, PLANT. Solving it first removes four words from the grid.
What number is today's Connections puzzle?
Saturday, May 17, 2025 is NYT Connections puzzle #706. Connections launched on 12 June 2023 with puzzle #1, and a new puzzle is published every day.
What time does a new NYT Connections puzzle come out?
A new Connections puzzle unlocks at midnight in your own local time zone, so the changeover happens at a different moment around the world. The puzzle itself is the same for everyone on a given date.