The NYT Connections puzzle for 22 November 2025 brought together four clusters of related words, each forming a clean category within the familiar 16-word grid. Today’s mix leaned on food references, idioms, and occupational clues, giving solvers a lively variety of patterns. Below you’ll find structured hints followed by all four answer groups.

NYT Connections Puzzle Overview: 22 November 2025

Today’s puzzle blended recognizable themes with a few trickier associative jumps. The grid leaned on tropical ingredients, small quantities, nautical terminology, and a set of expressions that complete a shared phrase. Many solvers likely spotted one or two groups quickly, while others required a closer look to catch the more abstract pairings.

NYT Connections Hints: 22 November 2025

Category 1:
  • Think of ingredients often found in Southeast Asian markets.
  • One is notoriously pungent.
  • Another is technically a gourd used as a vegetable.
  • All thrive in warm, humid climates.
Category 2:
  • Each relates to a very small amount.
  • Could describe a tiny measure of effort or substance.
  • Often used casually in speech.
  • None of them exceed a modest amount.
Category 3:
  • All terms can refer to someone at sea.
  • Some are nicknames, some are roles.
  • One involves cleaning duties aboard a ship.
  • Another is a classic maritime slang term.
Category 4:
  • Each completes a common phrase ending with “deal.”
  • One is legal, one romantic.
  • One suggests something unfiltered.
  • Another can imply a high-stakes situation.

NYT Connections Answers: 22 November 2025

Here are the answers, grouped by category.

Category 1:
Category 2:
Category 3:
Category 4:

Conclusion & Quick Strategy Tip

Today’s puzzle balanced straight-forward food classifications with trickier idiomatic pairings, making the solving experience both approachable and satisfying. If you struggled with the phrase completions, you weren’t alone. For future puzzles, try grouping words by testing which ones frequently appear in common expressions—this often reveals hidden category patterns quickly.