Today’s NYT Connections wall (puzzle #898 for November 25, 2025) leans playful rather than punishing, but there are a couple of traps that can burn through your four mistakes if you’re not paying attention.
Today's Connections #898 word list
Here are all 16 tiles you see on the board today:
| Today's words (898) |
|---|
| MICKEY MOUSE |
| BUG BITE |
| HAPPY MEAL |
| BARBIE DREAMHOUSE |
| LOTTERY TICKET |
| GLAD-HAND |
| RINKY-DINK |
| MERRY-GO-ROUND |
| CHERRY BLOSSOM |
| TRIVIAL |
| SUNNY-SIDE UP |
| CALAMINE LOTION |
| VINYL RECORD |
| FLAMINGO |
| TWO-BIT |
| YOUR HEAD |
The grid mixes slang insults, soothing medicine, nostalgic toys, fast food, and a bit of physical comedy. The trick is to resist bundling things that “feel” similar and instead look for what they literally share.
Connections #898 category overview
As always, there are four groups of four, color‑coded by difficulty:
| Color | Category title | Theme summary |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow | SMALL-TIME | Slang for something unimportant, low‑quality, or trivial |
| Green | THINGS THAT ARE PINK | Objects commonly associated with the color pink |
| Blue | THINGS YOU CAN SCRATCH | Items you literally scratch, often with your hands or nails |
| Purple | STARTING WITH OPTIMISTIC WORDS | Multi‑word phrases whose first word is GLAD, HAPPY, MERRY, or SUNNY |
Yellow group – SMALL-TIME
| Answer | How it fits “SMALL-TIME” |
|---|---|
| MICKEY MOUSE | In slang, a “Mickey Mouse” operation or job is amateurish, trivial, or not to be taken seriously. |
| RINKY-DINK | Informal term for something cheap, shoddy, or insignificant. |
| TRIVIAL | Directly means unimportant, minor, or of little value. |
| TWO-BIT | Old slang suggesting something is low‑value or second‑rate, literally “worth only two bits.” |
The yellow group is mostly about tone and attitude. These are all dismissive ways to describe a task, person, or organization. “MICKEY MOUSE” might tempt you into a cartoon‑related group if you’re not careful, but its slang meaning is the relevant one here.
Green group – THINGS THAT ARE PINK
| Answer | Why it’s in the pink set |
|---|---|
| BARBIE DREAMHOUSE | Barbie’s signature plastic mansion is heavily associated with bright pink branding. |
| CALAMINE LOTION | Classic calamine lotion is characteristically pale pink due to iron oxide. |
| CHERRY BLOSSOM | These springtime flowers are famously light pink in color. |
| FLAMINGO | Flamingos are known for their pink plumage, often used as a visual shorthand for the color. |
This is the category where memory can trip you up. CALAMINE LOTION may not immediately register as pink if you haven’t used it recently, and BARBIE DREAMHOUSE is a brand‑driven association more than a literal paint swatch on the tile. Once you pair one or two obvious pink items with these, the pattern locks in.
Blue group – THINGS YOU CAN SCRATCH
| Answer | Scratch connection |
|---|---|
| BUG BITE | An itchy bite is something you physically scratch (even if you’re not supposed to). |
| LOTTERY TICKET | Scratch‑off lottery tickets are designed to be scratched to reveal numbers or symbols. |
| VINYL RECORD | Records can be scratched accidentally, or intentionally by DJs for a “scratching” effect. |
| YOUR HEAD | You scratch your head when it itches or when you’re puzzled. |
The word “itch” is the cleanest way to find this group. BUG BITE and YOUR HEAD share that bodily itch, while LOTTERY TICKET and VINYL RECORD bring in “scratch” in a more mechanical sense. That mix of literal and figurative scratching is classic blue‑tier misdirection; it looks obvious in hindsight, but easy to overlook on a first pass.
Purple group – STARTING WITH OPTIMISTIC WORDS
| Answer | Optimistic first word | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| GLAD-HAND | GLAD | Begins with “GLAD,” suggesting good cheer, even if the action can feel insincere. |
| HAPPY MEAL | HAPPY | Starts with “HAPPY,” the emotion the meal is meant to evoke for kids. |
| MERRY-GO-ROUND | MERRY | Begins with “MERRY,” a word tied to joy and celebration. |
| SUNNY-SIDE UP | SUNNY | Starts with “SUNNY,” a word often used metaphorically for optimism and positivity. |
The purple set is all about the first word in each phrase: GLAD, HAPPY, MERRY, and SUNNY. Each one reads as positive, cheerful, or hopeful before the rest of the phrase even lands. That’s why you won’t see “BARBIE DREAMHOUSE” here despite its upbeat tone; it doesn’t start with that explicit optimistic adjective.
How to logically solve today’s grid without guessing
If you want to reconstruct the solve path without brute‑forcing groups, the safest order is:
| Step | Group | Reason to start here |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | SMALL-TIME (Yellow) | The slang insults stand out from everything else once you notice TWO-BIT and TRIVIAL. |
| 2 | STARTING WITH OPTIMISTIC WORDS (Purple) | GLAD‑, HAPPY‑, MERRY‑, and SUNNY‑ prefixed phrases are visually obvious on the board. |
| 3 | THINGS THAT ARE PINK (Green) | With distractions removed, PINK objects line up cleanly; CALAMINE LOTION is the only mildly sneaky one. |
| 4 | THINGS YOU CAN SCRATCH (Blue) | The final four automatically form the scratch group by elimination. |
Working in this order minimizes red herrings:
- Avoid cartoon traps. MICKEY MOUSE looks like it should join other “fun” items, but its insult meaning is the giveaway.
- Separate “happy” vibes from literal HAPPY. HAPPY MEAL belongs with GLAD-HAND, MERRY-GO-ROUND, and SUNNY-SIDE UP, not with toys, kids, or food.
- Use color only when it’s explicit. Once you lock in BARBIE DREAMHOUSE and FLAMINGO as pink, CALAMINE LOTION and CHERRY BLOSSOM fall into place.
- Let process of elimination finish the job. When three categories are correct, the last four tiles will define the final theme even if it didn’t jump out at first.
With #898 out of the way, the pattern for the day is clear: a light difficulty rating, some nostalgic imagery, and wordplay that leans more on cultural phrases than on deep trivia. If you kept your mistakes under four, your streak is safe and tomorrow’s wall is waiting at the New York Times Games site.
