Searching for the Connections solution for Monday, March 24, 2025? Continue reading to discover valuable hints, strategies, and ultimately the answers across all four categories. This post will also clarify the meanings of some of the more complex terms, helping everything come together. Caution: Spoilers await for March 24, NYT Connections #652! If you’re looking for clues (and the final solution), keep scrolling.

To easily revisit our daily Connections hints, bookmark this page. Here, you can also explore previous hints if you want to catch up on what you might have missed in earlier puzzles.

Below are some subtle hints for today’s Connections game answers. Further down, the themes and answers will be unveiled. Take your time and only grab the hints you need!

Credit: Connections/NYT

Hints for Today’s Connections Themes

Here are some spoiler-free tips regarding the groupings for today’s Connections:

• Yellow category – Oh, that smells bad.

• Green category – The opposite of variable.

• Blue category – These rankings usually show language and violence levels you can expect.

• Purple category – They share a common word, but that word has varying meanings in each case.

WARNING: Spoilers Ahead!

Details of some answers will be disclosed shortly. Proceed with caution if you prefer to avoid any spoilers. (The complete solutions are located further down.)

Caution for the Tricky Sections

While RIPE may remind you of fruit that’s fit for consumption, it can also refer to something that has aged unpleasantly, such as an armpit after a lengthy workout. Isn’t language fascinating?

For gamers, today’s blue category will be quite familiar—video game advertisements typically display these ratings at their conclusion.

When the term EARTH is mentioned, consider its layers that lead down to the center, including components like the mantle and crust. What are these collectively known as?

Today’s Connections Categories

• Yellow: BAD-SMELLING

• Green: UNFLUCTUATING

• Blue: VIDEO GAME AUDIENCES, ACCORDING TO ESRB RATINGS

• Purple: LAYERED OBJECTS

DOUBLE WARNING: Solutions Ahead

Curious about today’s Connections answers? They are detailed below.

Yellow Words in Today’s Connections

The yellow category is viewed as the easiest, with the theme being BAD-SMELLING. Its components are: FOUL, RANK, RIPE, SOUR.

Green Words in Today’s Connections

The green category is regarded as the second-easiest, centered around the theme UNFLUCTUATING. Its terms include: CONSTANT, LEVEL, STABLE, UNIFORM.

Blue Words in Today’s Connections

The blue category is recognized as moderately challenging, revolving around the theme VIDEO GAME AUDIENCES, ACCORDING TO ESRB RATINGS. The words are: ADULTS ONLY, EVERYONE, MATURE, TEEN.

Purple Words in Today’s Connections

The purple grouping is deemed the most difficult, focusing on the theme LAYERED OBJECTS. The included words are: EARTH, HENHOUSE, ONION, PHOTOSHOP.

Playing Connections: An Overview

A full guide to Connections is available, but here’s a quick recap of the rules:

Start by accessing the Connections game either on the New York Times site or through their Games app (formerly the Crossword app). You’ll encounter a game board comprising 16 tiles, each featuring a word or phrase. Your task is to select a set of four tiles that share a commonality. Sometimes these will all belong to the same category (for instance: RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, and SNOW represent wet weather), while at other times, you may need to consider wordplay (like BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH being types of lists: bucket list, guest list, etc.).

After choosing four items, press the Submit button. If your selection was correct, the category and color will be displayed. (Yellow is easiest, progressing from green to blue and finally purple.) If the guess is incorrect, you get another chance.

You achieve victory by correctly identifying all four groups. However, if you make four mistakes before succeeding, the game concludes, and the answers are shown.

Tips for Winning Connections

To excel in Connections, bear in mind that the groupings are intentionally designed to be challenging. Anticipate overlapping groups. For example, consider a puzzle that involved six breakfast items: BACON, EGG, PANCAKE, OMELET, WAFFLE, and CEREAL. BACON surprisingly fit into a collection of artists alongside CLOSE, MUNCH, and WHISTLER, while EGG was grouped with items that come in dozens (including JUROR, ROSE, and MONTH). Therefore, do not hit “submit” until you have confirmed that your quartet contains only those four elements.

If feeling stuck, consider focusing on the words that seem disconnected from the rest. Should WHISTLER evoke thoughts of the famous painting known as “Whistler’s Mother,” it may indicate a connection. One past solution required researching whether there was a painter named Close, as Close didn’t fit the apparent themes either.

When at an impasse, another approach is to consult a few helpful hints, which is why these tips are shared daily. Be sure to check back for the next puzzle!