The yellow group represents requests or urgent alarms, including words such as APPEAL, BID, CALL, and PETITION.
The green set of words relates to vital contract issuing requisites, including ADDRESS, EMAIL, NAME, and NUMBER.The blue-set words note the kinds of lenses that work with the camera: FISHEYE, MACRO, TELEPHOTO, and ZOOM.
Purple-set words pertain to bodies of water or first letters thereof and include DRIVER, EBAY, FINLET, and FLAKE.
The NYT Connections puzzle for today gives a fine combination of wordplay and clever categories. September 12 challenges solvers with themes that blend logic, language, and a dash of humor. The yellow group is straightforward in its connections, but the purple category indulges in playful misdirection that can even trip up some seasoned players.
While creative and fun to solve, this puzzle was challenging because of the unusual balance of group difficulty. None of the groups is impossible, yet the dilemma of "to which group should this word belong?" presents a choice-laden conflict that provides rewarding "aha" moments after the realization of the correct pairing.
NYT Connections is a daily word puzzle published by The New York Times. The grid reveals a sort of word soup with 16 evocative words or phrases. Solvers must find four groups of four, all connected by a theme shared among the words in the group.
There is only one correct solution. Up to three mistakes are allowed before the game ends. Each group is color-coded:
Yellow – usually the easiest, often synonymous.
Green – medium level of difficulty, with generally straightforward themes.
Blue – these can include cultural references or be a little trickier in terms of association.
Purple – those involving wordplay, puns, or more abstract associations.
The puzzle rewards pattern recognition, general knowledge, and lateral thinking.
Here are the 16 words featured in NYT Connections today:
ZOOM, CALL, TELEPHOTO, NUMBER, EBAY, BID, EMAIL, DRIVER, ADDRESS, APPEAL, MACRO, NAME, PETITION, FLAKE, FINLET, FISHEYE
Here are NYT Connections hints for September 12 to guide today’s puzzle without revealing the full solution:
Yellow Group – Demand, Plea
Think of words linked to requests or earnest appeals.
Green Group – How to Get in Touch
Look for common pieces of contact information.
Blue Group – Make the Moment Last Longer
Each word is connected to photography and capturing images.
Purple Group – A Little Larger Than Normal
Consider bodies of water that grow when levels rise.
Need a quick clue? Here are single-word hints for today’s puzzle:
Yellow: BID
Green: EMAIL
Blue: ZOOM
Purple: EBAY
Here are the official NYT Connections answers for September 12, grouped by color:
Yellow Group – Entreaty: APPEAL, BID, CALL, PETITION
Green Group – Contact Info: ADDRESS, EMAIL, NAME, NUMBER
Blue Group – Kind of Camera Lenses: FISHEYE, MACRO, TELEPHOTO, ZOOM
Purple Group – Bodies of Water Plus Starting Letter: DRIVER, EBAY, FINLET, FLAKE
The puzzle today is tied to the intermediate-difficulty level. Anything in blue is relatively straightforward for photographers, with prominent names for lens types. The purple one is the trickiest, with a little wordplay involving geography and spelling. FINLET seems like an outcast, making people think of small bays or inlets before the connection clicks.
The greens are very typical contact words - ADDRESS and NAME may appear unrelated at first until the pattern sets in. The yellows deal with synonyms of plea or request and often get confused with communication-related words.
Today's September 12 edition of NYT Connections presents a fair-to-satisfying challenge. It rewards careful observation and a steady approach; no group is too obscure. The nice blend of straightforward synonyms, real-world knowledge, and wordplay makes it memorable.
For those building streaks, today’s game is a confidence booster while still providing a few “wait, what?” moments. It’s a perfect example of why NYT Connections hints today help keep streaks alive without spoiling the entire solution. Expect more of these thematic twists as the week wraps up, keeping the puzzle fresh and fun.