NYT Connections Hints and Answers Today — Wednesday, February 25, 2026 (Puzzle #990)
NYT Connections Hints are live for puzzle #990, and today's board is a layered mix of caregiving language, academic vocabulary, celebrity first names, and hidden wordplay. The puzzle leans accessible compared to earlier this week, but the purple category carries a tricky twist that can catch even experienced solvers off guard. Here is your full NYT Connections hints guide for February 25.
How NYT Connections Works Before You Start
NYT Connections challenges players to sort 16 words into four groups of four, each sharing a hidden common thread. Each group carries a different difficulty level — yellow is easiest, green a little harder, blue often quite tough, and purple usually the most difficult. Players are allowed up to four mistakes total, and the final group can always be solved by process of elimination if needed.
NYT Connections Hints — The 16 Words for Puzzle #990
Today's 16 words on the NYT Connections board are: NAPKIN, COOK, BABY, PRINCIPAL, DEAN, NURSE, KEY, MOTHER, BASIC, ALKALINE, HARDEN, FOSTER, DIATRIBE, PRIMARY, BROWN, DECLAN. At first glance, several of these words look like they could belong together — and that is exactly the trap. Do not rush your first grouping.
NYT Connections Hints by Category — No Full Spoilers
Here are soft nudges for each color group to keep your streak alive without giving everything away.
The Yellow category nudges you to think about nurturing roles and caregiving positions. The Green category asks you to consider foundational or essential concepts in education. The Blue category hints at surnames that double as common English words. The Purple category is the dramatic twist — focus on words that end with sounds suggesting family relationships hidden inside them.
NYT Connections Answers — Full Spoilers Below
Stop here if you still want to solve NYT Connections puzzle #990 yourself.
The Yellow group is CARE FOR, made up of BABY, FOSTER, MOTHER, and NURSE — all verbs or roles related to nurturing and caregiving. The Green group is ELEMENTARY, containing BASIC, KEY, PRIMARY, and PRINCIPAL — all synonyms for fundamental or first in importance.
The Blue group covers JAMESES — famous people named James — with BROWN, COOK, DEAN, and HARDEN filling those four slots. The Purple group is the sneakiest: it requires spotting hidden family words tucked inside longer words, and ALKALINE, DIATRIBE, DECLAN, and NAPKIN all conceal a family relationship within their letters.
What Made NYT Connections Puzzle #990 Tricky
A common pitfall today was grouping DEAN, PRIMARY, and PRINCIPAL together as leader-based words, which felt logical on the surface but led solvers astray. DECLAN was also a trap — it resembles "deacon" and one author named Declan James made the Blue category look plausible before solvers caught themselves.
Today's board felt balanced but layered. One category leaned on common phrases, another on education vocabulary, one on well-known public figures sharing a first name, and the last required spotting a hidden letter pattern. It was the kind of puzzle where early confidence could quickly turn into second-guessing.
NYT Connections Puzzle #991 Drops Tonight
NYT Connections resets at midnight ET. Puzzle #991 goes live tonight, and you can return here for a fresh set of NYT Connections hints the moment it drops. If you are still looking to sharpen your game, the best strategy is always to start with the group that feels most obvious and work outward — never assume a word belongs where it first appears to fit.
