Working on today’s Connections? Puzzle #858 is live for Thursday, October 16, 2025. If you want to play first, open the game on the New York Times site at nytimes.com/games/connections. Testers rated today’s difficulty at 2.3 out of 5.
Today’s 16 words (game #858)
| TART | PIKE | SOUR | BREAD |
| SPLIT | CRUMBLE | BOAT | SKATE |
| SLUG | CROSS | CRISP | CHAR |
| SORE | FLUKE | PRICKLY | COBBLER |
Light hints (no spoilers)
- Yellow: Think classic baked fruit sweets.
- Green: Words for feeling irritable or touchy.
- Blue: Creatures you might catch on a line.
- Purple: Common phrases that start with “banana.”
Want a nudge toward each group without giving the whole set away? Here’s one word that belongs in each:
| Yellow | TART |
| Green | SOUR |
| Blue | FLUKE |
| Purple | BOAT |
Connections answers for October 16 (#858)
| Category | Group name | Answers (four) |
|---|---|---|
| 🟨 Yellow | Fruit desserts | COBBLER, CRISP, CRUMBLE, TART |
| 🟩 Green | Crabby | CROSS, PRICKLY, SORE, SOUR |
| 🟦 Blue | Fish | CHAR, FLUKE, PIKE, SKATE |
| 🟪 Purple | Banana ____ | BOAT, BREAD, SLUG, SPLIT |
Why these sets work
- Fruit desserts: All four are names of baked fruit dishes commonly seen in pies-and-puddings territory.
- Crabby: Each can describe someone irritable or in a bad mood.
- Fish: All are fish names you’ll encounter in freshwater or saltwater.
- Banana ____: Each completes a familiar two-word phrase with “banana.”
If you’re protecting a streak, use the yellow and blue groups as anchors; they’re the most concrete today. Save the purple “banana ____” set for last if you’re torn between food and idiom pairings.
