NYT Connections Hints & Answers — Tuesday, May 20, 2025 (#709)
Puzzle #709. 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 Tuesday, May 20, 2025 (puzzle #709) is: YELLOW — ACCOUNT BOOK: LEDGER, LOG, RECORD, REGISTER. GREEN — SEEN IN A BARN: BALE, HORSE, PITCHFORK, TROUGH. BLUE — DETECTIVES OF KID-LIT: BROWN, DREW, HARDY, HOLMES. PURPLE — WORDS BEFORE “BED”: CANOPY, DAY, MURPHY, WATER.
Today's 16 words
The grid exactly as NYT laid it out for Tuesday, May 20, 2025. Nothing below this point is spoiled until you open it.
LEDGER
DAY
BROWN
HORSE
WATER
HARDY
LOG
MURPHY
BALE
DREW
CANOPY
RECORD
TROUGH
REGISTER
HOLMES
PITCHFORK
How hard is Connections #709?
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 Tuesday, May 20, 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 book.
green(a little trickier, but still direct) A group united by what they ARE, not by wordplay — think about barn.
blue(where the misdirection usually starts) A group united by what they ARE, not by wordplay — think about lit.
purple(the wordplay group, and almost always the last to fall) A group united by what they ARE, not by wordplay — think about bed.
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.
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Common questions
What is the NYT Connections answer for Tuesday, May 20, 2025?
The NYT Connections answer for Tuesday, May 20, 2025 (puzzle #709) is: YELLOW — ACCOUNT BOOK: LEDGER, LOG, RECORD, REGISTER. GREEN — SEEN IN A BARN: BALE, HORSE, PITCHFORK, TROUGH. BLUE — DETECTIVES OF KID-LIT: BROWN, DREW, HARDY, HOLMES. PURPLE — WORDS BEFORE “BED”: CANOPY, DAY, MURPHY, WATER.
What is the purple group in Connections #709?
The purple (hardest) group is "WORDS BEFORE “BED”": CANOPY, DAY, MURPHY, WATER.
What is the easiest group in today's Connections puzzle?
The yellow group is the most straightforward: "ACCOUNT BOOK" — LEDGER, LOG, RECORD, REGISTER. Solving it first removes four words from the grid.
What number is today's Connections puzzle?
Tuesday, May 20, 2025 is NYT Connections puzzle #709. 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.