Working on today’s Connections? Here are gentle nudges and, if you need them, the full categories and answers for puzzle #825. If you want to play first, head to the official Connections game.

Context for difficulty: testers rated today a 2.8 out of 5 on the official Connections Companion. As usual, you’re sorting 16 words into four themed groups (yellow, green, blue, purple), with four mistakes allowed.

Spoiler-free category hints

  • Yellow: Think “of consequence.”
  • Green: Not public.
  • Blue: Units you’d find on a forex board.
  • Purple: A word that completes “Buffalo ____.”

Today’s 16 words

  • NICKEL
  • KEY
  • WON
  • MAJOR
  • PRINCIPAL
  • DOLLAR
  • PRIVATE
  • BILL
  • SOLDIER
  • PERSONAL
  • CRITICAL
  • POUND
  • INNER
  • WING
  • STERLING
  • SECRET

Categories revealed (minor spoilers)

  • Yellow: Important
  • Green: Intimate and undisclosed
  • Blue: Global currencies
  • Purple: Buffalo ____

Full answers (major spoilers)

  • Important: CRITICAL, KEY, MAJOR, PRINCIPAL
  • Intimate and undisclosed: INNER, PERSONAL, PRIVATE, SECRET
  • Global currencies: DOLLAR, POUND, STERLING, WON
  • Buffalo ____: BILL, NICKEL, SOLDIER, WING

Tips to avoid common traps

  • Watch the decoys: DOLLAR pairs cleanly with BILL in everyday use, but here BILL belongs with the Buffalo set. Similarly, POUND can read as a verb; keep it with currencies once you spot STERLING.
  • Set aside double meanings: WON looks like a past-tense verb and a currency; the presence of multiple money terms confirms the latter.
  • Sort by confidence: If “personal/private/secret” jump out, lock the green set early to reduce noise for the trickier purple.

Want to replay older boards? Use the official Connections archive.