NYT Connections Answers for May 12: Breaking Down Puzzle #701’s Categories and Solutions

NYT Connections Puzzle #701: Tricky Words and Surprising Links

The NYT Connections puzzle for May 12, 2025, gives fans a real run for their money. Labeled as a 3 out of 5 on the difficulty scale, today’s grid holds sixteen words and hides a few surprises. This one isn’t just about surface-level word associations; you need to look closer at meaning, context, and even physics to wrap it up.

Connections fans probably noticed overlap and possible traps right away. 'Bank' is the usual troublemaker here—fit for more than one group if you go by gut instinct instead of digging for deeper links. If you started off thinking bank belongs with ATMs and wallets, you weren’t alone. That’s exactly how the puzzle designers wanted it.

Category Breakdown: What Links These Words?

Diving into the solutions, here’s how everything lines up:

• Places to Find Paper Money: ATM, Cash Register, Tip Jar, Wallet
  These are the physical spots where you actually find or stash paper cash. While you might think a 'bank' fits, the twist is it's the ATM that actually spits out the bills.
• Rebound: Bank, Bounce, Carom, Ricochet
  Here we’re thinking about what happens when things hit a surface and change direction. This is all about physics, billiards, or even basketball. 'Bank' isn’t about cash here; it means the way a ball glances off a surface.
• Things Tracked by Web Analytics: Click, Hit, Page View, Visit
  If you’ve ever been around digital ads or website management, these words are bread and butter. Advertisers obsess over clicks and hits, but they’re not always the same thing. Page views and visits tell you how people wander around sites.
• Things You Can Do With Your Lips: Curl, Pucker, Purse, Smack
  From making a face to prepping for a kiss, these words are all about lip action. Whether you curl your lip in a sneer, pucker up, purse them together in thought, or smack them noisily, it’s all part of the same category.

This isn’t the kind of puzzle where you can just match up obvious pairs. Instead, it pushes you to separate similar meanings and resist the urge to jump on the first thing that feels familiar. Tim Mulkerin, one of the folks who tracks these puzzles in digital media, often points out how the designers use traps like this to check if you’re paying attention or just guessing.

As you tackle each new Connections puzzle, don’t be surprised if a word that fits one theme slips right into another. The game's all about those hidden, sometimes oddball relationships—exactly what makes it just tricky enough to keep players hooked day after day.