HIGHLIGHTS
- The word “Murphy” in today’s NYT Connections represents a Murphy Bed, a bed that is hinged at one end to store vertically against the wall.
- Bale in today’s NYT Connections is a large wrapped or bound bundle of paper, hay, or cotton commonly seen in a Barn.
- Account Book, Seen In A Barn, Decetives Of Kid-Lit, and Words Before “Bed” are the NYT Connection categories for May 20, 2025.
The New York Times Connections for May 20, 2025, is live now with its 16 fresh words, yet few seem to be repeated.
As per the Connections Companion, today’s difficulty is 2.5 out of 5, which seems to be quite less than yesterday’s.
Despite this average difficulty rating, you might encounter words like Murphy, Holmes, and Bale, which are quite hard to group out.
Answers For Today’s NYT Connections #709 (May 20, 2025)
Analyzing today’s NYT Connections, the first four words that crossed my mind were Ledger, Log, Record, and Register.
Each of these words seems to be related to the accounting term, where financial transactions are recorded.
So, after grouping out these account terms, I got the yellow group “Account Book”.

Holmes Meaning In NYT Connections #709
Moving on with the remaining words, I tried grouping words like Hardy, Murphy, Bale, and Holmes, thinking that they were related to entertainment industry artists like Christian Bale and Tom Hardy.
However, I was wrong on this matter, which led me to lose one life. This further led to the blue group, Decetives of Kid-Lit.

The Blue group featured words like Brown, Drew, Hardy, and Holmes, where Drew refers to the Nancy Drew.
In today’s game, Holmes refers to Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendary detective, Sherlock Holmes, whose adventures have inspired many young detective stories.
Bale Meaning In NYT Connections #709
In today’s NYT Connections, Bale didn’t refer to Christian Bale or even Gareth Bale; rather, it referred to a large bundle of goods we normally keep in the Barn.
Along with Bale, a few other words: Horse, Pitchfork, and Trough completed today’s green group “Seen In a Barn“.

Murphy Meaning In NYT Connections #709
With only four words remaining at the end, I quickly grouped them and got the purple group “Words Before Bed“.
The word “Murphy” in today’s NYT Connections didn’t have a specific meaning; rather, it represents a Murphy Bed, a bed that is hinged at one end to store vertically against the wall.

Words like Bed (a Day Bed, an item of furniture used as a bed and for lounging), Canopy (a Canopy Bed), and Water Bed are other remaining words that complete today’s Purpel group.
After getting the purple group, I was able to complete today’s NYT Connections game with the following answer;
- Account Book (Yellow): Ledger, Log, Record, Register
- Detectives Of Kid-Lit (Blue): Brown, Drew, Hardy, Holmes
- Seen In A Barn (Green): Bale, Horse, Pitchfork, Trough
- Words Before “Bed” (Purple): Water, Canopy, Murphy, Day

