Tim Mulkerin is a freelance writer, editor, and social media manager who has been working in digital media and the tech world since 2016.
If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Friday, November 21, 2025, read on — I’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solutions to all four categories. Along the way, I’ll explain the meanings of the trickier words and we’ll learn how everything fits together. Beware, there are spoilers below for November 21, NYT Connections #894! Read on if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Connections game.
If you want an easy way to come back to our Connections hints every day, bookmark this page. (If you play Wordle, Strands, or Quordle, check out our hints for those games, too.)
Below, I’ll give you some oblique hints at today’s Connections answers. And farther down the page, I’ll reveal the themes and the answers. Scroll slowly and take just the hints you need!
Here are spoiler-free hints that describe the type of each category in today’s Connections:
Here are some spoiler-free hints for the groupings in today’s Connections:
We’re about to give away some of the answers. Scroll slowly if you don’t want the whole thing spoiled. (The full solution is a bit further down.)
AWARENESS RIBBON describes those looping ribbon pins that raise awareness for causes such as breast cancer research.
GRUMPY OLD MAN is a rude (but accurate) way to describe the protagonist of Up.
A SCREWDRIVER is made with vodka and orange juice.
Ready to learn the answers to today’s Connections puzzle? I give them all away below.
The yellow grouping is considered to be the most straightforward. The theme for today’s yellow group is THINGS WORN ON LAPELS and the words are: AWARENESS RIBBON, BOUTONNIÈRE, LAPEL PIN, LAVALIER.
The green grouping is supposed to be the second-easiest. The theme for today’s green category is COCKTAILS and the words are: COSMOPOLITAN, GREYHOUND, SCREWDRIVER, SEA BREEZE.
The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is PIXAR PROTAGONISTS and the words are: CLOWNFISH, GRUMPY OLD MAN, RACECAR, TALKING DOLL.
The purple grouping is considered to be the hardest. The theme for today’s purple category is STARTING WITH SYNONYMS FOR “EAT” and the words are: BOLT CUTTER, CHOW MEIN, SCARF RING, WOLF EEL.
This is an odd board! RACECAR could be on the board because it’s a palindrome. Are there any others? Nope!
AWARENESS RIBBON (like a breast cancer ribbon or a ribbon for some other social cause), BOUTONNIÈRE, LAPEL PIN, and LAVALIER could all be accessories worn on the chest or near the clavicle. SCARF RING might also fit there, so I’ll wait.
What is GRUMPY OLD MAN about? It makes me think of Scrooge, so maybe there’s some kind of Christmas story theme?
COSMOPOLITAN, GREYHOUND, RACECAR, and SCREWDRIVER could all be cocktail names. Hmm, “one away.” Oh I think “sidecar” is the cocktail, not RACECAR. SEA BREEZE is also the name of a cocktail, so let’s try that. I think these are all vodka cocktails, too. 🟩
I wonder if SCARF RING, CHOW MEIN, and WOLF EEL go together because they all start with words for eating voraciously: scarf, chow, wolf. BOLT CUTTER seems to be the only one that fits with those. 🟪
OK, now I can try LAPEL PIN, LAVALIER, AWARENESS RIBBON, and BOUTONNIÈRE. 🟨
That leaves TALKING DOLL, RACECAR, CLOWNFISH, and GRUMPY OLD MAN. Ah, those are all protagonists of Pixar movies: TALKING DOLL is Woody from Toy Story, RACECAR is Lightning McQueen from Cars, CLOWNFISH is Marlin from Finding Nemo, and GRUMPY OLD MAN is Carl from Up. 🟦
I have a full guide to playing Connections, but here’s a refresher on the rules:
First, find the Connections game either on the New York Times website or in their Games app (formerly the Crossword app). You’ll see a game board with 16 tiles, each with one word or phrase. Your job is to select a group of four tiles that have something in common. Often they are all the same type of thing (for example: RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, and SNOW are all types of wet weather) but sometimes there is wordplay involved (for example, BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH are all types of lists: bucket list, guest list, and so on).
Select four items and hit the Submit button. If you guessed correctly, the category and color will be revealed. (Yellow is easiest, followed by green, then blue, then purple.) If your guess was incorrect, you’ll get a chance to try again.
You win when you’ve correctly identified all four groups. But if you make four mistakes before you finish, the game ends and the answers are revealed.
The most important thing to know to win Connections is that the groupings are designed to be tricky. Expect to see overlapping groups. For example, one puzzle seemed to include six breakfast foods: BACON, EGG, PANCAKE, OMELET, WAFFLE, and CEREAL. But BACON turned out to be part of a group of painters along with CLOSE, MUNCH, and WHISTLER, and EGG was in a group of things that come by the dozen (along with JUROR, ROSE, and MONTH). So don’t hit “submit” until you’ve confirmed that your group of four contains only those four things.
If you’re stuck, another strategy is to look at the words that seem to have no connection to the others. If all that comes to mind when you see WHISTLER is the painting nicknamed “Whistler’s Mother,” you might be on to something. When I solved that one, I ended up googling whether there was a painter named Close, because Close didn’t fit any of the obvious themes, either.
Another way to win when you’re stuck is, obviously, to read a few helpful hints-which is why we share these pointers every day. Check back tomorrow for the next puzzle!
