If you are looking for the Connections Answer for Friday, July 5, 2024, keep reading – I’ll share some hints, tips and strategies, and finally the solutions for all four categories. Along the way, I’ll explain the meaning of the most difficult words and we’ll learn how it all fits together. Warning, there are spoilers below for NYT Connections #390 from July 5! Read on if you want some clues (and then the answer) about today’s Connections game.
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Below, I’ll give you some oblique hints about today’s Connections answers. And further down the page, I’ll reveal the themes and answers. Scroll slowly and pick up just the hints you need!
Hints for today’s Connections puzzle themes
Here are some spoiler-free hints about today’s Connections groupings:
- Yellow Category – A deep feeling of wanting something.
- Green Category – You could buy these publications at the checkout of your grocery store, for example.
- Blue Category – Iconic characters from a British spy franchise.
- Purple Category – Subgenres of a type of bubbly, laid-back music often played on the radio.
WARNING: Spoilers for today’s Connections puzzle!
We are about to reveal some answers to you. Scroll down slowly if you don’t want to spoil everything. (The full solution is a little further down.)
A warning about delicate parts
YEN and EURO are both currencies, but they have different meanings today. (I had to Google YEN, full disclosure.)
PIN is a verb, and does not go with NATURE.
O doesn’t go with K.
POWER and FORTUNE are things an ambitious person might seek, but they don’t go together.
What are the categories in Today’s Connections?
- Yellow: YEARN
- Green: MAGAZINES
- Blue: CHARACTERS IN THE BOND FILMS
- Violet: WORDS THAT PRECEDE “POP” IN MUSIC GENRES
ATTENTION: THE SOLUTION IS BELOW
Ready to find out the answers to today’s Connections riddle? I’ll reveal them below.
What are the yellow words in today’s Connections?
The yellow group is considered the simplest. The theme of today’s yellow group is YEARN and the words are: DESIRE, LONG, PINE, YEN.
What are the green words in today’s Connections?
The green group is supposed to be the second easiest. Today’s green category theme is MAGAZINES and the words are: FORTUNE, MAD, NATURE, O.
What are the blue words in today’s Connections?
The blue group is the second most difficult. Today’s blue category theme is CHARACTERS IN BOND FILMS and the words are: BOND, M, MONEYPENNY, Q.
What are the purple words in today’s Connections?
The purple group is considered the most difficult. The theme of today’s purple category is WORDS THAT PRECEDE “POP” IN MUSIC GENRES and the words are: BUBBLEGUM, EURO, K, POWER.
How I Solved Today’s Connections
After a quick analysis, I see two potential categories: currency types and Bond characters.
Bond’s seems easier to get, so let’s grab them: BOND, M, Q, MONEYPENNY. ?
EURO and YEN are the only two currencies I’m sure of, so I’ll keep looking.
EURO and POWER might be part of a “___ TRIP” category, but I’m not sure yet.
DESIRE, PINE and LONG seem to be synonyms for desiring something, but I don’t see what could possibly go with that. I have a feeling that YEN and EURO might not really be references to currency, so I do some googling and find out that YEN can also refers to desire. ?
Hmm, the last eight words are tricky: NATURE, O, FORTUNE, and MAD could all be publications, but they seem a bit mismatched. NATURE is a science journal, and the others are more casual magazines. Oh, maybe East That’s right, because the other four words all sound like pop genres. Let’s try. ? Yay!
This means that BUBBLEGUM, EURO, K and POWER are all types of pop music.
How to play Connections
I have a full tank guide to playing Connectionsbut here is a reminder of the rules:
First, find the Connections game either on the New York Times website or in their Game application (formerly the Crossword app). You’ll see a game board with 16 tiles, each with a word or phrase. Your job is to select a group of four tiles that have something in common. Often, they’re all the same type (for example: RAIN, ICE, HAIL, and SNOW are all types of wet weather) but sometimes there’s a play on words involved (for example, BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH are all types of lists(to-do list, guest list, etc.).
Select four items and press the Submit button. If you guess correctly, the category and color will be revealed. (Yellow is easiest, followed by green, then blue, then purple.) If your guess is incorrect, you’ll have the opportunity to try again.
You win when you correctly identify all four groups. But if you make four mistakes before you finish, the game ends and the answers are revealed.
How to gain connections
The most important thing to know about winning Connections is that the groupings are designed to be tricky. Expect to see groups overlap. For example, one puzzle appeared to include six breakfast foods: BACON, EGG, PANCAKE, OMELETTE, WAFFLE, and CEREAL. But BACON turned out to be part of a group of painters with CLOSE, MUNCH and WHISTLER, and EGG was part of a group of things that come in dozens (along with JUROR, ROSE and MONTH). So don’t hit “submit” until you’ve confirmed that your group of four contains only these four things.
If you get stuck, another strategy is to look at words that seem to have No connection with others. If all that comes to mind when you see WHISTLER is the painting nicknamed “Whistler’s Mother” you may be right. When I solved this problem, I ended up googling if 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, of course, to read some helpful tips. That’s why we share these tips every day. Come back tomorrow for the next puzzle!