July 11 Edition: Insights & Solutions From The New York Times #396

Quick Links

• What Is Connections?
• Hints for Today’s Connections Groups
• Today’s NYT Connections Answers
• How Did We Solve This Connections Game?
• How Do You Guess Connections Groups?

Connections is a game from the New York Times that challenges you to find the association between words. It sounds easy, but it isn’t—Connections categories can be almost anything, and they’re usually quite specific. If you need a hand getting the answers, we’ve got you covered.

What Is Connections?

Connections is a game from the New York Times. The objective is simple: sort 16 words into groups of 4. Each group of words will be connected by some common idea or theme. That common element could be anything. We have seen everything from games that rely on the number of letters in the words to categories that require you to spot an extra letter at the end of the word. Sometimes they’re references to economics, other times they reference fairy tales. There is no telling what sort of association there will be between words.

Once you’re confident you understand the connection, select 4 words, then hit “Submit.” You have only four attempts in total, so don’t be too guess-happy.

Hints for Today’s Connections Groups

Here are a few hints for the 396th Connections game to get you started:

• Yellow: Things you buy in August or September.
• Green: A critical component.
• Blue: When something changes hands from one person to another.
• Purple: They glow and are used to give instructions.

If you still need help, the actual group names are:

• Yellow: School Supplies
• Green: Fundamental
• Blue: Transfer
• Purple: Light-Up Signs

Today’s NYT Connections Answers

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School Supplies (Yellow):

Pen, Ruler, Scissors, Tape

Fundamental (Green):

Essential, Key, Principal, Staple

Transfer (Blue):

Give, Hand, Pass, Send

Light-Up Signs (Purple):

Applause, Exit, Recording, Walk

How Did We Solve This Connections Game?

July 11th was pretty straight forward.

The first word I started with was send. That immediately made me think of mail (snail or digital) or texts. However, nothing really matched the digital idea, so I went with something more tangible. You hand or pass off goods to the next person, and that is related to send in that they all mean to “Transfer.” Give is really closely related too. I stuck those 4—send, hand, pass, and give—together, to finish out the Blue group, which was “Transfer.”

Pen, paper, scissors, and tape are all office or school supplies, no real mystery there, so I stuck them together. Yellow was “School Supplies.”

Essential, key, principal, and staple are all words that stress something’s importance, so it seemed likely they’d be together somehow. They belonged to the Green group, “Fundamental.”

That left applause, exit, recording, and walk. The only possible connection I could think of was that they’re all signs you might see in different places (especially somewhere like a studio). That wasn’t far off either, as the Purple group was “Light-Up Signs.”

How Do You Guess Connections Groups?

There is no quick, reliable way to approach Connections like there is with Wordle, since Connections isn’t algorithmic. However, there are a few things to keep in mind that can help.

1. Look for similar parts of speech. Are some words verbs and others nouns? Are some adjectives? Try mentally grouping them based on those categories and see if any other patterns jump out at you.
2. Are the words synonyms? Sometimes categories will just be synonyms for a phrase, or very close to synonyms. Don’t rely too closely on this, though. Occasionally, Connections will deliberately throw in words that are sometimes synonyms to mislead you.
3. Try saying the words. Sometimes, saying the words helps. One puzzle we saw included the words go, rate, faster, clip, pace, speed, move, commute, and hurry—all of which are obviously related to the idea of motion. However, when you say them, it becomes a little more obvious that only four (go, move, hurry, faster) are things you’d actually say to prompt someone to get moving.
4. Expect the red herring . Connections usually has words that could be plausibly, yet incorrectly, grouped together. Take the words Bud, Corona, and Light, as an example. You might instinctively see those three words together and assume they’re lumped together in a category related to beer—but they weren’t.
5. Look for distinct words. If a word on your board doesn’t have multiple meanings or can really only be used in one context, try using that word as the basis for a category.
6. Shuffle the board. Sometimes, moving words around will help you look at them in new ways.

If you didn’t solve this one, don’t feel too bad—there’s always tomorrow! And those words may align with a topic you’re interested in, giving you a leg up on the competition.