NYT ‘Connections’ August 25: Answers and Clues for Game #441

Following on from the extraordinary success of Wordle, which The New York Times purchased in January 2022 for an undisclosed low seven figure sum, the newspaper launched Connections in 2023.
A word based game like Wordle, Connections soon built up a dedicated following from across the world with some players discussing tactics and sharing their results on social media.
The rules of Connections are simple. Each day the player is presented with 16 words, which they have to divide into four distinct categories based around common characteristics.
Each of the four categories have a separate color denoting their level of difficulty. Yellow is supposed to be the easiest followed by green, blue and then purple. The players selects four words they believe are connected and if they are correct they light up, showing the difficulty color, and are removed from the board.
However if a player guesses incorrect groups of words four times the game ends and they are defeated. There is no time limit for the game.
At any point the player can shuffle the board resulting in the 16 words being randomly repositioned.
According to Connections editor Wyna Liu, if you have five cards that all seem to belong in the same category your best move may well be to try and figure out a different category, then come back to the original one once some of the words are eliminated.
She said: “Doing so might take one of those extra cards out of contention, or at least remove a few cards from the board, making other categories easier to see.”
The answers for Sunday’s Connections puzzle will be revealed at the end of this article, so please scroll down with caution if you want to work them out yourself.
Newsweek has some hints to help you figure out today’s Connections categories.
Yellow: Associated with anger.
Green: Related to power.
Blue: Combine to make an acronym.
Purple: Activity based.
Yellow Category: HOPPING MAD
Yellow Words: BOILING, FUMING, LIVID, STEAMING
Green Category: STATUS
Green Words: POSITION, RANKING, STANDING, STATION
Blue Category: WORDS THAT MAKE UP THE ACRONYM “HVAC”
Blue Words: AIR, CONDITIONING, HEATING, VENTILATION
Purple Category: ACTIVITIES THAT INVOLVE FOLDING
Purple Words: BAKING, LAUNDRY, ORIGAMI, POKER
Did you figure it out? If so we’re very impressed, but please don’t be put off if not. One of the best things about Connections is seeing if you can improve your result over time. The next Connections puzzle will be released on Monday and Newsweek will of course also return with another round of hints and tips.