NYT Connections Answer & Hints for September 12, 2025 — Puzzle #824

Stuck on today’s Connections? Below you’ll find the full word list, quick definitions for every word, gentle hints, the exact category titles, a single “nudge” word from each group, and the complete solution.

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About Today’s Connections Puzzle

Puzzle #824 (published September 12, 2025) mixes pleas/requests, contact info, camera lenses, and a clever wordplay set where a leading letter + body of water forms each word.

Today’s 16 Words

ZOOM, CALL, TELEPHOTO, NUMBER
EBAY, BID, EMAIL, DRIVER
ADDRESS, APPEAL, MACRO, NAME
PETITION, FLAKE, FINLET, FISHEYE

Definitions of the 16 Words

Alphabetical order so the table doesn’t hint at groupings:

Word	Short definition
ADDRESS	Location details for a person/place; also an email or web address.
APPEAL	A serious request or plea; also, to ask a higher authority to review a decision.
BID	An offer (often at auction) to buy something for a stated price.
CALL	To phone someone; also, to announce or predict an outcome; a plea.
DRIVER	Someone who drives; here used for wordplay: D + river.
EBAY	Online marketplace; here fits the pattern E + bay.
EMAIL	Electronic mail; a standard method of contacting someone.
FISHEYE	Ultra-wide camera lens that creates a strong hemispherical view.
FLAKE	A thin piece that has come off; slang: an unreliable person; here F + lake.
FINLET	A small fin on certain fish; here matching the pattern F + inlet.
MACRO	Close-up photography/lens used to capture tiny subjects at large scale.
NAME	The word(s) by which a person or thing is known; contact detail.
NUMBER	A numeral; also a phone number—key contact information.
PETITION	A formal written request signed by many people.
TELEPHOTO	A long-focal-length lens that magnifies distant subjects.
ZOOM	To move quickly; in photography, to change focal length with a zoom lens.

General Hints

One set is all about asking for something in different ways.
Another is the details people share so you can reach them.
One group is a tour of common camera lenses.
The last group hides a **starting letter + body of water** inside each word.

Category Titles

🟨 Entreaty → words for a plea/request
🟩 Contact info → details that identify/reach a person
🟦 Kinds of camera lenses
🟪 Bodies of water + starting letter (wordplay)

One Word From Each Category

🟨 BID
🟩 EMAIL
🟦 TELEPHOTO
🟪 EBAY

Full Solution

NYT Connections #824 — Full Groups

🟨 Entreaty → APPEAL, BID, CALL, PETITION
🟩 Contact info → ADDRESS, EMAIL, NAME, NUMBER
🟦 Kinds of camera lenses → FISHEYE, MACRO, TELEPHOTO, ZOOM
🟪 Bodies of water + starting letter → DRIVER (D+river), EBAY (E+bay), FINLET (F+inlet), FLAKE (F+lake)

That purple wordplay is a sneaky one—spotting BAY/LAKE/INLET/RIVER after removing the first letter makes the whole set click.

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