NYT Connections Answer & Hints for August 22, 2025 — Puzzle #803

Stuck on today’s Connections? Below you’ll get an intro, full definitions for every word, hints, category titles, one sample word per category, and the complete solution.

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About Today’s Connections Puzzle

Puzzle #803 (published August 22, 2025) brings together political history, Hollywood names, poker variants, and ’90s movie references. The purple group in particular is a playful language trap.

Definitions of the 16 Words

Alphabetical order, to avoid hinting at groupings:

Word	Short definition
ADAMS	John Adams (2nd U.S. President) or John Quincy Adams (6th); surname means “son of Adam.”
AMY	A personal name; here from the 1997 movie Chasing Amy.
CHEVY CHASE	American comedian/actor; “chase” is a verb meaning to pursue.
CHRISTOPH WALTZ	Actor known for films like Inglourious Basterds; “waltz” is a ballroom dance (verb: to dance or move casually).
DRAW	A form of poker where players may discard and replace cards; verb “to draw” means to pull or sketch.
FORD	Gerald Ford, 38th U.S. President; noun “ford” is a shallow river crossing, verb “to ford” is to cross.
GEOFFREY RUSH	Actor known for Shine, Pirates of the Caribbean; “rush” is a verb to hurry or surge.
GRANT	Ulysses S. Grant, 18th U.S. President; “grant” means to bestow or allow.
JOHN MALKOVICH	Actor; used in the 1999 film Being John Malkovich (gerund + proper noun title).
LAS VEGAS	Major city in Nevada; appears in film title Leaving Las Vegas.
OMAHA	Variant of poker game where each player receives four hole cards.
PRIVATE RYAN	Character in Saving Private Ryan (1998); appears after gerund “Saving.”
STRIP	A type of poker (strip poker); “strip” as verb means to remove clothing/layers.
STUD	Poker variant where some cards are dealt face up; “stud” can also mean a nail, or slang for attractive man.
TOM CRUISE	Actor; “cruise” is a verb meaning to travel at a steady speed, often by ship.
WASHINGTON	George Washington, 1st U.S. President; surname also refers to the U.S. capital city.

General Hints

One set is surnames of past U.S. Presidents.
Another features famous actors with verb last names.
One category is all about poker variants.
The last group: proper nouns appearing after gerunds in ’90s movie titles.

Category Titles

🟨 U.S. Presidents
🟩 Actors whose last names are verbs
🟦 Kinds of Poker
🟪 Proper nouns after gerunds in ’90s movie titles

One Word From Each Category

🟨 WASHINGTON
🟩 CHEVY CHASE
🟦 OMAHA
🟪 AMY

Full Solution

NYT Connections #803 — Full Groups

🟨 U.S. Presidents → ADAMS, FORD, GRANT, WASHINGTON
🟩 Actors whose last names are verbs → CHEVY CHASE, CHRISTOPH WALTZ, GEOFFREY RUSH, TOM CRUISE
🟦 Kinds of Poker → DRAW, OMAHA, STRIP, STUD
🟪 Proper nouns after gerunds in ’90s movie titles → AMY, JOHN MALKOVICH, LAS VEGAS, PRIVATE RYAN

The poker set may have looked easy, but that “gerund + movie” theme is a classic purple trap!

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