Today's NYT Connections Hints (and Answer) for Monday, July 29, 2024
If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Monday, July 29, 2024, read on—I’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solutions to all four categories. Along the way, I’ll explain the meanings of the trickier words and we’ll learn how everything fits together. Beware, there are spoilers below for July 29, NYT Connections #414! Read on if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Connections game.
If you want an easy way to come back to our Connections hints every day, bookmark this page. You can also find our past hints there as well, in case you want to know what you missed in a previous puzzle.
Below, I’ll give you some oblique hints at today’s Connections answers. And farther down the page, I’ll reveal the themes and the answers. Scroll slowly and take just the hints you need!
Credit: Connections/NYT
Hints for the themes in today’s Connections puzzle
Here are some spoiler-free hints for the groupings in today’s Connections:
- Yellow category - Where sports are played.
- Green category - Places you navigate to using Google Maps, maybe.
- Blue category - These are all associated with the same word, though it has different meanings.
- Purple category - These all have a similar structural element related to water.
BEWARE: Spoilers follow for today’s Connections puzzle!
We’re about to give away some of the answers. Scroll slowly if you don’t want the whole thing spoiled. (The full solution is a bit further down.)
A heads up about the tricky parts
I found today’s puzzle to be pretty tricky.
SOLFEGE is the word referring to the mnemonic device for learning musical notes—do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do.
FISH and WHALE don’t go together.
COURT and JUSTICE don’t go together.
BOWL and TEAPOT don’t go together.
What are the categories in today’s Connections?
- Yellow: STADIUMS
- Green: STREET SUFFIXES
- Blue: ASSOCIATED WITH SCALES
- Purple: THINGS WITH SPOUTS
DOUBLE BEWARE: THE SOLUTION IS BELOW
Ready to learn the answers to today’s Connections puzzle? I give them all away below.
What are the yellow words in today’s Connections?
The yellow grouping is considered to be the most straightforward. The theme for today’s yellow group is STADIUMS and the words are: ARENA, BOWL, COLISEUM, DOME.
What are the green words in today’s Connections?
The green grouping is supposed to be the second-easiest. The theme for today’s green category is STREET SUFFIXES and the words are: ALLEY, COURT, DRIVE, LANE.
What are the blue words in today’s Connections?
The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is ASSOCIATED WITH SCALES and the words are: FISH, JUSTICE, LIBRA, SOLFEGE.
What are the purple words in today’s Connections?
The purple grouping is considered to be the hardest. The theme for today’s purple category is THINGS WITH SPOUTS and the words are: FOUNTAIN, GUTTER, TEAPOT, WHALE.
How I solved today’s Connections
The very first thing I do is Google SOLFEGE, and I learn that it’s the name for the mnemonic device used to remember the notes in a scale—do, re, mi, and so on. What an interesting choice for this puzzle.
Putting that aside, I notice that there are several words relating to performance or sports venues: BOWL, COURT, ARENA, DOME, and COLISEUM. My gut is telling me BOWL doesn’t belong because that’s more associated with the name of the event (like Super Bowl) rather than the location it takes place. So let’s try COURT, ARENA, DOME, and COLISEUM. Nope, “one away.”
The more I look at this puzzle, the more themes I see emerging, and I’m not quite sure where to focus my attention. I see a court-themed category in COURT, JUSTICE, and LIBRA (which is symbolized by the scales of justice); a spout/water-themed category in FISH, WHALE, FOUNTAIN, TEAPOT; a road-themed category in DRIVE, LANE, and COURT; and a space-between category in GUTTER and ALLEY. That’s exhausting.
I think I’m going to try the water category first, because it’s the only one that has four picks and I need more information: FISH, WHALE, FOUNTAIN, TEAPOT. “One away” again. Maybe GUTTER actually should be there instead of FISH, because that would make it a category of things from which water flows. 🟪 Phew!
Oh, SOLFEGE and FISH go together because they’re both associated with scales. I bet JUSTICE and LIBRA also fit with that. 🟦
It looks like COURT, ALLEY, DRIVE, and LANE go together as words associated with street names. 🟩
That leaves COLISEUM, BOWL, DOME, and ARENA, which are all sports complexes. 🟨 A frustrating start, but we got there!
How to play Connections
I have a full guide to playing Connections, but here’s a refresher on the rules:
First, find the Connections game either on the New York Times website or in their Games app (formerly the Crossword app). You’ll see a game board with 16 tiles, each with one word or phrase. Your job is to select a group of four tiles that have something in common. Often they are all the same type of thing (for example: RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, and SNOW are all types of wet weather) but sometimes there is wordplay involved (for example, BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH are all types of lists: bucket list, guest list, and so on).
Select four items and hit the Submit button. If you guessed correctly, the category and color will be revealed. (Yellow is easiest, followed by green, then blue, then purple.) If your guess was incorrect, you’ll get a chance to try again.
You win when you’ve correctly identified all four groups. But if you make four mistakes before you finish, the game ends and the answers are revealed.
How to win Connections
The most important thing to know to win Connections is that the groupings are designed to be tricky. Expect to see overlapping groups. For example, one puzzle seemed to include six breakfast foods: BACON, EGG, PANCAKE, OMELET, WAFFLE, and CEREAL. But BACON turned out to be part of a group of painters along with CLOSE, MUNCH, and WHISTLER, and EGG was in a group of things that come by the dozen (along with JUROR, ROSE, and MONTH). So don’t hit “submit” until you’ve confirmed that your group of four contains only those four things.
If you’re stuck, another strategy is to look at the words that seem to have no connection to the others. If all that comes to mind when you see WHISTLER is the painting nicknamed “Whistler’s Mother,” you might be on to something. When I solved that one, I ended up googling whether there was a painter named Close, because Close didn’t fit any of the obvious themes, either.
Another way to win when you’re stuck is, obviously, to read a few helpful hints–which is why we share these pointers every day. Check back tomorrow for the next puzzle!
After discovering the themes and answers for today's NYT Connections, you might want to bookmark this page for easy access to future hints. Moreover, if you're struggling with the word associations in the blue category, remember that all words are associated with SCALES, although they have different meanings. [nyt connections answer today, entertainment]
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