Context:

The NYT Connections puzzle for October 20, 2025, presents a challenging yet engaging opportunity for players to identify common threads between words, with a particular focus on chemistry in today's edition. Players must group 16 words into four categories, each featuring unique themes, such as afflictions and periodic table symbols, while adhering to a limit of four mistakes to complete the game successfully. This daily word game, credited to associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu, has gained popularity on social media due to its interactive nature, allowing players to share their results much like Wordle. Hints are provided for each puzzle to help players navigate the complexities, including color-coded groupings that indicate difficulty levels. The solution for today’s puzzle reveals categories and corresponding words, encouraging players to return tomorrow for new challenges and additional hints.

Dive Deeper:

• Connections is a popular word game from the New York Times that challenges players to find commonalities among 16 given words, divided into four specific categories. Each round of the game resets at midnight, presenting fresh puzzles that become progressively more difficult, akin to Wordle's format.

• The game encourages social interaction by allowing players to share their results on social media platforms, which has contributed to its virality and popularity among users. The mechanics of the game involve grouping words and removing correct sets from the board, while players have a limited number of mistakes they can make.

• Today's puzzle features categories related to afflictions, constellations, chemistry symbols, and different types of corn, showcasing a wide range of topics. Players are provided with hints for each category, indicating the nature of the words to be grouped, thereby enhancing the problem-solving experience.

• Each color-coded group signifies different levels of difficulty, with yellow being the easiest. This design allows players to strategize their guesses effectively, utilizing the clues provided to form connections between the words.

• The solution for today's Connections puzzle has been disclosed, revealing the correct groupings for each category, which includes words such as 'BUGBEAR' and 'BIG BEAR.' The game is designed to be both fun and educational, prompting players to think critically about language and associations.