Today's NYT Connections Hints (and Answer) for Sunday, July 14, 2024
If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Sunday, July 14, 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 14, NYT Connections #399! 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 - It wouldn’t feel great to get poked by one of these.
- Green category - If you’re selling something secondhand, you should describe this about it.
- Blue category - Someone asking “What do you do?” at a party wants to know about this.
- Purple category - A fill-in-the-blank, with a word describing a crunchy, protein-packed food that’s technically a fruit—though you may not think of it as one.
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
LINE and POINT are both math words, but they don’t go together today.
A TINE is one of those stabby bits at the end of a fork.
TRADE is a noun, not a verb.
FINE, LINE, TINE, and PINE are all in different categories.
What are the categories in today’s Connections?
- Yellow: SLENDER PROJECTIONS
- Green: CONDITIONS FOR COLLECTIBLES
- Blue: PROFESSION
- Purple: WORDS BEFORE “NUT”
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 SLENDER PROJECTIONS and the words are: POINT, PRONG, TINE, TIP.
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 CONDITIONS FOR COLLECTIBLES and the words are: FAIR, FINE, GOOD, MINT.
What are the blue words in today’s Connections?
The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is PROFESSION and the words are: BUSINESS, FIELD, LINE, TRADE.
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 WORDS BEFORE “NUT” and the words are: BRAZIL, BUTTER, DOUGH, PINE.
How I solved today’s Connections
BRAZIL and PINE immediately make me wonder if there’s a nuts-related category, but I don’t see what else would go with those words—DOUGH could, technically, but I don’t see a fourth just yet.
FINE, FAIR, and GOOD are all words describing the quality of something. Don’t see a fourth yet. Oh, MINT, as in “mint condition.” 🟩
POINT and LINE could go together as words related to graphing data, but I don’t see anything else to put with them.
BUSINESS, FIELD, TRADE, and LINE could go together as ways to describe one’s work (“what line of work are you in?”). 🟦
Oh, TIP, POINT, PRONG, and TINE (the name for the pointy things on a fork) all go together. 🟨
That leaves DOUGH, PINE, BUTTER, and BRAZIL, which all go with “nut.” I didn’t think of “butternut” earlier, but now it makes sense. 🟪
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!
To find the answer to the 'Connections' puzzle on July 14, 2024, head to the 'NYT Connections Answer Today' section. If you're a fan of this challenging puzzle, don't forget to bookmark our page for easy access to daily hints and solutions. For today's entertainment, try to decipher the hints from the 'Hints for the themes in today’s Connections' section. The categories for today's puzzle are 'Yellow: SLENDER PROJECTIONS', 'Green: CONDITIONS FOR COLLECTIBLES', 'Blue: PROFESSION', and 'Purple: WORDS BEFORE “NUT”'.
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