Today’s NYT Crossword Clues & Solution: Thursday, May 15, 2025 Edition

If you’re searching for the
Connections
For Thursday, May 15, 2025—here’s what you should know: I’ll provide several hints, advice, and tactics, followed by the answers across all four sections. Throughout this process, I will clarify any complex vocabulary and demonstrate how each piece connects with one another.

Be cautious, as there are spoilers below for May 15, NYT Connections #704!

Continue reading if you wish for some clues (followed by the solution) to today’s Connections puzzle.

If you’re looking for a simple method to revisit our Connections tips daily,
bookmark this page
You can likewise discover our earlier tips there too, should you wish to catch up on anything you might have overlooked in a prior puzzle.

Further below, I will provide some indirect clues about today’s Connections answers. Further down the page, I’ll also share the underlying themes along with the solutions themselves. Proceed carefully and only read as much as needed for assistance!

Tips for the motifs in this week’s Connections puzzle

Below are some spoiler-free clues for the categories in today’s Connections game:

Yellow category – Terms denoting someone’s evidence or rationale.
The green category includes things that fall from the sky, with only one being truly appropriate for skiing.
Blue category – Terms you could encounter on a playbill during an extended performance, probably performed in a different tongue.
Purple category – A fill-in-the-blank, with a term indicating when something is real or legitimate.

CAUTION: The rest of this post contains spoilers for today’s Connections puzzle!

We’re going to reveal some hints shortly. Proceed carefully if you prefer not to have the entire puzzle exposed prematurely. (The complete answer lies a little farther below.)

Just a warning about the challenging aspects

Today’s puzzle was quite challenging for me.

Seville and Madrid are both Spanish cities, yet they aren’t paired up anymore.

The term MADRID is combined with an additional word to create the name of a Spanish football team.

BESS is the name of a character whom Porgy aims to save. (Those familiar with opera will find this category more accessible.)

What categories are included in today’s Connections?

Yellow: RATIONALE
Green: TYPES OF SNOW
Azure: FINAL LINES FROM NOTABLE OPERATIC SHOWPIECES
Purple: REAL ___

DOUBLE BEWARE: THE SOLUTION IS BELOW

Ready to learn the answers to today’s Connections puzzle? I give them all away below.

What are the yellow words featured in today’s Connections?

The yellow category is regarded as the simplest one. Today’s theme for the yellow team is RATIONALE with associated terms being: BASIS, FOUNDATION, GROUNDS, REASON.

What are the green-colored terms in today’s Connections?

The light-green classification is intended to be the second most straightforward. For today’s light-green section, which focuses on TYPES OF SNOW, the terms are: CRUST, ICE, POWDER, SLUSH.

What are the blue-colored terms in this week’s Connections column?

The second most difficult group is colored blue. Today’s blue category revolves around THE FINAL WORDS FROM WELL-KNOWN OPERAS, with the terms being: Bess, Butterfly, Flute, Seville.

What are the violet terms highlighted in today’s Connections?

The violet cluster is regarded as the most challenging. The motif for today’s violet group is REAL ___ with the following terms: DEAL, ESTATE, MADRID, WORLD.

How I cracked today’s Connections challenge

Seville is a city in Spain, which might pair well with Madrid. I don’t notice any other Spanish cities mentioned here, though I must admit my knowledge of the country isn’t extensive, so perhaps I’ve overlooked some options.

POWDER, SLUSH, and ICE might represent different forms of snowfall. I’m uncertain about a fourth type.

BASIS, FOUNDATION, REASON, and GROUNDS appear to be appropriate terms—as they all refer to the justification for something. 🟨

I’m uncertain about how to interpret BESS.

Perhaps CRUST fits well with POWDER, SLUSH, and ICE. While I’m not completely certain why, it seems like a natural addition to their group. 🟩 Whew! It turns out that this is also a term for a specific kind of snow.

The term “real” might pair with WORLD.

Real World

It appears to be a reality show), ESTATE, and DEAL. However, I can’t identify a fourth one at the moment. Upon doing a rapid search online, it seems “Real MADRID” refers to a prominent Spanish football (or soccer, for those who prefer) team. We could go with that option. For now, these are my only suggestions. 🟪 Wow! Okay then.

This leaves us with SEVILLE, FLUTE, BESS, and BUTTERFLY. I am completely puzzled by all of this. BESS might be referring to something specific.

Porgy and Bess

, perhaps? Let’s check. 🟦 Yes, I was correct about

Porgy and Bess

These are all from the final words found in opera titles:

The Barber of Seville

,

Madame Butterfly

, and

The Magic Flute.

Today was quite challenging for me.

How to play Connections

I have a full
guide to playing Connections
, however, let me quickly recap the rules for you:

First, locate the Connections game whichever way you can.
On the New York Times homepage
or in their
Games app
(previously known as the Crossword app). When you open it, you’ll find a game board consisting of 16 tiles, where each tile contains a single word or phrase. The objective is to choose a set of four tiles that share some connection. Typically, these items belong to the same category (such as RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, and SNOW being various forms of precipitation), though occasionally the relationship might involve puns or wordplay (like how BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH can be considered different kinds of lists or concepts involving containership and ranking).

lists

: bucket list, guest list, and similar items).

Select four items and hit the Submit button. If you guessed correctly, the category and color will be revealed. (Yellow is easiest, followed by green, then blue, then purple.) If your guess was incorrect, you’ll get a chance to try again.

The game concludes and reveals the answers once you’ve made four errors before successfully categorizing all four groups accurately.

How to win Connections

The key to winning at Connections lies in understanding that the categories are intentionally perplexing. Be prepared for intersecting sets. Take this puzzle as an illustration; it appeared to feature six breakfast items: BACON, EGG, PANCAKE, OMELET, WAFFLE, and CEREAL. However, you might find that BACON actually belongs to another category altogether.
painters
Along with CLOSE, MUNCH, and WHISTLER, EGG was part of a set that typically comes in dozens (like JUROR, ROSE, and MONTH). Make sure not to click “submit” unless your quartet includes all these elements.

only

those four things.

If you’re stuck, an additional approach is to examine the terms that appear important.

no

When thinking about WHISTLER, if what immediately springs to mind is the painting commonly referred to as this nickname, then consider the connection to other aspects.
“Whistler’s Mother,”
It sounds like you could be onto something. After solving that puzzle, I even searched online to see if there was actually a painter called Close since ‘Close’ did not align with any of the clear themes present.

If you’re feeling stuck, another approach to succeed is undoubtedly by reviewing some useful tips—which is precisely why we provide these insights daily. Stay tuned for the following challenge tomorrow!

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