If you’re staring at a stubborn 4×4 board, today’s Connections is built around tidy, everyday themes with one pop‑music curveball. The four sets you’re sorting: car types, houseplant essentials, words that mean “astonish,” and a quartet of Madonna tracks. If you’d like a soft push before you commit, the table below offers clue‑style nudges for each group. Prefer certainty? The solved categories are listed afterward.

How NYT Connections works (quick refresher)

You’re matching 16 words into four clean sets of four. Each set shares a single theme, and only one exact grouping is valid. You can shuffle the grid to reframe patterns and you get up to four mistakes before the game ends. Groups resolve in color order from easiest to hardest (yellow, green, blue, purple), and you can share your color grid after you finish.

To play on the web or mobile browser, open the official game page at nytimes.com/games/connections.

Gentle hints for today’s four groups (no spoilers)

Category theme What to look for Clue‑style nudge
Car types Common “[blank] car” pairings You might ride one at the fair; a circus gag packs too many inside; the heist standby; a sporty two‑door built for speed.
Houseplant essentials Ingredients or stages plants need to exist and grow Where roots take hold; the dry component before it becomes a plant; the non‑negotiable wet part; the tiny beginning.
Words meaning “astonish” Verbs that convey shocking or overwhelming someone To metaphorically drop someone to the ground; to overwhelm or jolt; to shake violently (often figurative); to stun or outrage.
Madonna hits Song titles spanning early and later eras A jubilant early dance‑floor call; a moody, string‑laden ballad; a sun‑drenched holiday‑themed single; a later anthem about sound and rhythm.

Tip: If two words clearly pair, park them together and scan for a second pair that completes the set. For the verb cluster, read each one as an action being done to you — that often makes the grouping click.

Today’s NYT Connections categories (Oct 5, 2025)

  • Car types
  • Houseplant essentials
  • Words that mean “astonish”
  • Madonna hits

Note: The color difficulty assigned to each group varies by puzzle; use the hints above to anchor your first two sets, then resolve the trickier pair.

Why these sets fit together

Two of today’s groups are classic pattern prompts — fill‑in‑the‑blank car compounds and basic plant needs — that reward quickly scanning for shared contexts. The verb set is tighter: the meanings overlap in impact, not usage, which is why reading them as actions helps. The songs set asks you to zoom out from language to pop culture; hum a few choruses and the four titles surface together.

Strategy to finish clean

  • Solve the most obvious foursome first to reduce noise on the board.
  • Shuffle after each solve; fresh placement breaks unhelpful visual groupings.
  • Guard your strikes on the verbs — they’ll look loosely compatible across groups.
  • If you spot three sure matches, don’t guess the fourth blindly; verify it doesn’t belong more cleanly elsewhere.

If you’re still mid‑solve, take one more pass with the clue nudges. If you’ve cleared it, share your grid and keep the streak alive tomorrow.