NYT Connections Hints October 22: Today’s Puzzle #864 Answers and Breakdown

The NYT Connections hints for October 22 have been released, and puzzle #864 brings a fun mix of everyday words and tricky associations. Players found the purple group surprisingly easy today, with clever wordplay across the board. Here’s a full look at the hints, themes, and final answers for today’s Connections challenge.

Created by The New York Times Games team, Connections is a daily logic puzzle that challenges players to group 16 words into four sets of related terms. Today’s game was balanced — easy yellow, mid-difficulty blue and green, and a surprisingly direct purple category.

October 22 NYT Connections Hints

Here are the official hints for today’s puzzle, ranked by difficulty:

• Yellow group hint: Bills you pay monthly.
• Green group hint: Adjust accordingly.
• Blue group hint: They go marching, one by one.
• Purple group hint: Duplicate.

These clues give players a good starting point. The yellow category is the most straightforward, while the purple one uses a playful phrase structure pattern.

NYT Connections Answers for October 22, 2025 (#864)

The full solutions for today’s puzzle are listed below, including each color-coded group and its shared theme.

Yellow group – Utilities: Electric, Gas, Telephone, Water.

Green group – Adapt to fit one’s needs: Fashion, Mold, Shape, Tailor.

Blue group – Kinds of ants: Army, Carpenter, Fire, Pharaoh.

Purple group – Copy ____: Cat, Pasta, Right, Writer.

The “Copy ____” category earned praise for its creativity. Unlike many purple groups that rely on obscure puns or wordplay, this one focused on familiar phrases such as “copycat” and “copywriter.”

Connections Strategy and Tips

For new players, experts recommend several strategies for solving puzzles like today’s:

• Say the words out loud to hear potential phrases.
• Shuffle the board to reset your mental grouping bias.
• Look for word stems or shared expressions like “copy” or “electric.”
• Avoid overthinking early guesses — the easiest group usually stands out immediately.

The NYT Connections #864 puzzle is one of the more balanced recent games. Players who started with “electric” or “gas” likely found the yellow group first before piecing together the trickier purple clues.

Final thought: The October 22 puzzle offered a perfect mix of logic and language fun. With utilities, adaptation, insects, and duplication as themes, the day’s challenge reminded solvers why Connections remains one of The New York Times’ most addictive daily puzzles.

FYI (keeping you in the loop)-

Q1: What are the NYT Connections hints for October 22?

The hints are: Bills you pay monthly, Adjust accordingly, They go marching one by one, and Duplicate.

Q2: What are the NYT Connections answers for October 22, 2025?

The answers are Utilities, Adapt to fit one’s needs, Kinds of ants, and Copy ____.

Q3: Which was the hardest category today?

The purple “Copy ____” category was tricky for some, but easier than usual according to many players.

Q4: Who creates the NYT Connections puzzle?

The puzzle is developed by The New York Times Games team, the same team behind Wordle and the Mini Crossword.

Q5: How can I improve at solving NYT Connections?

Focus on spotting phrases, practice daily, and use the shuffle feature to get a fresh perspective on the board.