Spoiler warning: This article contains today’s complete NYT Connections answers for August 16, 2025 (Puzzle #797). If you’d rather solve it yourself, use the hints first before scrolling to the solutions.
NYT Connections August 16 puzzle overview
The New York Times’ popular word game, NYT Connections, asks players to group 16 words into four categories every day. Today’s puzzle (#797) throws in a clever mix of construction terminology, slang for total defeat, paper varieties, and traits of personal grit. It’s one of those days where misdirection is heavy — words like shellac and rolling lure solvers into false paths.
Today’s 16 words
Here’s the complete word set for August 16, 2025:
TISSUE, WORK, PLUCK, CONSTRUCTION, CRUSH, CREPE, CREAM, RESOLVE, ROLLING, REPAIRS, SHELLAC, TOILET, GRIT, ROUT, UPGRADES, FORTITUDE
Hints for each group
- Yellow: Unshakable personal qualities
- Green: Things you do to improve your home
- Blue: Ways to dominate or defeat
- Purple: Types of lightweight paper
NYT Connections answers for August 16, 2025
Yellow — Intrepidity (inner strength)
FORTITUDE, GRIT, PLUCK, RESOLVE
Green — Renovations
CONSTRUCTION, REPAIRS, UPGRADES, WORK
Blue — Trounce (to defeat completely)
CREAM, CRUSH, ROUT, SHELLAC
Purple — Soft or lightweight paper
CREPE, ROLLING, TISSUE, TOILET
Solve strategy for Puzzle #797
The smartest way to crack today’s Connections is to start with the paper set. Words like tissue and toilet are obvious anchors, pulling in crepe and rolling for the purple group. From there, spot the defeat-themed verbs (cream, crush, rout, shellac) that belong in the blue group.
The construction cluster (construction, repairs, upgrades, work) is clear once you eliminate the outliers. Finally, the remaining quartet — fortitude, grit, pluck, resolve — closes the loop with the theme of resilience and character strength.
Why today’s puzzle tripped people up
Reddit and fan discussions reveal that many solvers stumbled on “shellac” — which Americans use as slang for a crushing defeat, but others only know as a type of varnish. Similarly, crepe often confused players who didn’t immediately connect it with paper.
Play more NYT games
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Together, these make The New York Times’ puzzle suite one of the most played daily games globally — with Connections now second only to Wordle in total plays.
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