Searching for the Connections solution for February 28, 2025? Keep reading for valuable hints, strategies, and insights into the four distinct categories. This post will also clarify some of the more challenging terms, helping to piece it all together. Be cautious—spoilers are included for NYT Connections #628 below! Dive in for clues (and the full answers) to today’s Connections challenge.

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I’ll provide you with some subtle suggestions related to today’s Connections answers, and further down, the themes and complete answers will be unveiled. Take your time scrolling through to capture only the hints you need!

Credit: Connections/NYT

Hints for Today’s Connections Groupings

Here are some spoiler-free hints regarding the themes of today’s game:

• Category Yellow: “Will you just make a choice!”

• Category Green: “Could you be a ___ and grab me a drink from the refrigerator?”

• Category Blue: Losing these could leave you puzzled or a bit eccentric.

• Category Purple: These are found in idiomatic expressions regarding the repercussions of actions.

WARNING: Spoilers Ahead for Today’s Connections!

Answers are about to be disclosed. Scroll at your own pace if you wish to avoid complete spoilers. (The full solutions are located a bit further down.)

Insights on the Challenging Aspects

WAFFLE should not be interpreted as food; it refers to the act of being indecisive.

TOOTHPASTE is a product dispensed from a tube—squeezing out too much can leave you in a bit of a predicament.

DOLL is a somewhat outdated term of endearment for a sweet person.

The purple category proved to be a little puzzling, but the other three were quite clear.

Categories for Today’s Connections

• Yellow: BE INDECISIVE

• Green: LOVELY PERSON

• Blue: LUCIDITY

• Purple: COMPONENTS OF METAPHORS FOR THINGS THAT CANNOT BE UNDONE

DOUBLE WARNING: THE ANSWERS FOLLOW

Ready to discover today’s Connections solutions? Find them outlined below.

Yellow Group Words

The yellow category is identified as the most straightforward. Its theme is BE INDECISIVE, featuring the words: HESITATE, WAFFLE, WAVER, YO-YO.

Green Group Words

The green category is the next easiest. Its theme is LOVELY PERSON, consisting of the words: ANGEL, DEAR, DOLL, PEACH.

Blue Group Words

The blue category presents a bit more of a challenge. Its theme is LUCIDITY, containing the words: MARBLES, MIND, SENSE, WITS.

Purple Group Words

The purple category is the trickiest. Its theme is COMPONENTS OF METAPHORS FOR THINGS THAT CANNOT BE UNDONE, which includes the words: BELL, EGG, GENIE, TOOTHPASTE.

Strategies for Solving Today’s Connections

Words like YO-YO, WAFFLE, WAVER, and HESITATE all pertain to indecision.

MARBLES and WITS relate to idioms associated with losing one’s mind, and MIND might fit alongside SENSE in that context.

PEACH, DOLL, ANGEL, and DEAR are all considered terms of affection.

This leaves GENIE, TOOTHPASTE, BELL, and EGG. Initially, a connection seemed fuzzy. GENIES are often depicted as blue (as seen in Aladdin), TOOTHPASTE can be blue, while blueBELLS represent a flower, and robin’s EGG blue is a lovely shade. 🟪 So much for that theory!

The correct theme relates to COMPONENTS OF METAPHORS FOR THINGS THAT CANNOT BE UNDONE: “you can’t unring a BELL,” “the GENIE can’t be returned to the bottle,” “you cannot put TOOTHPASTE back in the tube,” and “you can’t create an omelet without breaking a few EGGs.”

Connections
Puzzle #628
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Instructions for Playing Connections

A more detailed guide on playing Connections can be perused, but here’s a quick summary of the rules:

Begin by locating the Connections game either on the New York Times site or through their Games app (previously the Crossword app). You’ll encounter a game board containing 16 tiles, each displaying a word or phrase. Your mission is to find a set of four tiles that share a common theme. Often, these tiles represent the same category (e.g., RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, and SNOW all fall under types of inclement weather), though occasionally there’s wordplay involved (e.g., BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH can be categorized as types of lists such as ‘bucket list’, etc.).

After selecting four items, hit the Submit button. If correct, you’ll see the category and color reveal. (Yellow signifies the easiest category, followed by green, blue, and lastly purple.) If your selection is incorrect, you’ll have the opportunity to guess again.

A win is achieved by correctly identifying all four groups, however, if four mistakes occur before completion, the game concludes, and the answers will be shown.

Winning Strategies for Connections

To succeed at Connections, it’s crucial to note that the categories are intentionally designed to mislead. Be prepared for overlapping groups. For instance, one round included six breakfast items: BACON, EGG, PANCAKE, OMELET, WAFFLE, and CEREAL. Yet, BACON turned out to be part of a collection of painters alongside CLOSE, MUNCH, and WHISTLER; EGG was included in a collection of items that come by the dozen like JUROR, ROSE, and MONTH. Therefore, it’s wise to avoid pressing “submit” until you’ve verified your chosen group consists of exclusively those four items.

If you encounter a block, examine the words that appear unrelated to the others. For example, if WHISTLER brings to mind the famous painting “Whistler’s Mother,” you might be onto something insightful. During a past puzzle, this approach led to googling the relevance of the painter Close, who also didn’t fit in any obvious categories.

Additionally, if you find yourself in a bind, consider seeking out hints—which is why these tips are shared daily. Return tomorrow for more puzzle insights!