NYT Connections hints and answers for Saturday, October 25

Hey there, Connectors! Welcome to the weekend!

I love that I'm wired to be curious by nature. I wouldn't be leading the life I am now, doing the work I do otherwise. So I really do like when something unexpected comes along that sparks my interest.

I've enjoyed pro wrestling all my life and I practiced Taewkondo for several years, but I've never really cared to watch combat sports. Just not my thing. If I'm with other people who want to watch a boxing match, sure, I’ll join in, but I don't really care otherwise.

However, I learned this week about a kickboxer named Mona Kimura who has an absolutely fascinating fighting style. She's an accomplished boxer but it's her footwork that's really impressive. She uses kicks like other fighters use jabs, to maintain distance while scoring hits. The speed, power and accuracy of her kicks is something else, and her balance is off-the-scale incredible.

Again, kickboxing usually isn't one of my areas of interest. Something in that realm would have to be really remarkable for it to first catch my attention and then for me to share it with you lot.

I'm a big fan of whenever an athlete develops a new and effective style for their sport. But I mainly just think it's great to be curious and have an open mind:

(I probably could have turned this into a separate Pastimes post but hey, we're here now.)

Before we begin, we have a great little community on Discord, where we chat about NYT Connections, the rest of the NYT games and all kinds of other stuff. Everyone who has joined has been lovely. It’s a fun hangout spot, and you’re more than welcome to join us.

Discord is also the best way to give me any feedback about the column, especially on the rare (or not-so-rare) occasions that I mess something up. I don’t look at Twitter much.

Today’s NYT Connections hints and answers for Saturday, October 25 are coming right up.

What Are Today’s Connections Hints?

Scroll slowly! Just after the hints for each of today’s Connections groups, I’ll reveal what the groups are without immediately telling you which words go into them.

Today’s 16 words are...

• DATE

• VEST

• LIGHT

• SHAFT

• RAY

• FLEECE

• ALARM

• LINCOLN

• GRANT

• MILK

• HOSE

• AWARD

• HUSTLE

• STOPWATCH

• ACCORD

• CAPOTE

The level one hints for today’s Connections groups are:

• 🟨 Yellow group — scam

• 🟩 Green group — Marty McFly had one

• 🟦 Blue group — you earned this

• 🟪 Purple group — when stars find success by keeping it real(ish)

One Word For Each Connections Group

Be warned: we’re really starting to get into spoiler territory.

Let’s take a look at one word for each group.

Today’s Connections word hints are…

• 🟨 Yellow group — HOSE

• 🟩 Green group — DATE

• 🟦 Blue group — ACCORD

• 🟪 Purple group — MILK

What Are Today’s Connections Groups?

Need some extra help?

Today’s Connections groups are...

• 🟨 Yellow group — swindle

• 🟩 Green group — digital watch features

• 🟦 Blue group — confer

• 🟪 Purple group — Best Actor-winning biopics

What Are Today’s Connections Answers?

Spoiler alert! Don’t scroll any further down the page until you’re ready to find out today’s Connections answers.

This is your final warning!

Today’s Connections answers are...

• 🟨 Yellow group — swindle (FLEECE, HOSE, HUSTLE, SHAFT)

• 🟩 Green group — digital watch features (ALARM, DATE, LIGHT, STOPWATCH)

• 🟦 Blue group — confer (ACCORD, AWARD, GRANT, VEST)

• 🟪 Purple group — Best Actor-winning biopics (CAPOTE, LINCOLN, MILK, RAY)

Boo, I got caught out by a red herring. I saw a bunch of movies and went for it. I included HUSTLE and lucked out, but I was one away from a group. (SHAFT could been a red herring too.)

After looking at my selections again, I realized that three of them had Best Actor-winning performances. RAY was then the obvious (at least to me) movie to swap in.

I remember seeing a very short clip of Philip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote many months before the Oscars and knew he would win. Still sad he's no longer with us. What an incredible actor.

Anyway, HUSTLE then had to go with the rest of the yellows. VEST and GRANT made me think of stock awards given to company employees, so that got me the blues. I thought the greens might have been phone features, but sure, digital watch works as well!

I found out the other day that there's a special-edition Back to the Future Casio watch. It's so cool! I like that the BTTF references are relatively subtle, but if you know, you know.

Chalk up a 238th win in a row on the board for your chum, Kris. How did you get on?

Here's my grid for today:

🟪🟪🟨🟪 
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🟨🟨🟨🟨 
🟦🟦🟦🟦 
🟩🟩🟩🟩

That’s all there is to it for today’s Connections clues and answers. Be sure to subscribe to my newsletter for hints and the solution for Sunday’s game if you need them.

P.S. An old friend recently posted a video of seeing this band live, so I've been meaning to recommend this track. The Kooks were a staple of the indie sleaze movement of the 2000s and early 2010s. I'd almost forgotten how good “Naive” is:

Have a great day! Stay hydrated! Be kind to yourself and each other! Call someone you love!

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