[ad_1]
If you are looking for the Connections Answer for Sunday, July 7, 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 trickiest words and we’ll learn how it all fits together. Warning, there are spoilers below for NYT Connections #392 from July 7! Read on if you want some clues (and then the answer) about today’s Connections game.
If you want an easy way to come back to our Connections tips every day, Bookmark this page. You can also find our past clues there, in case you wanted to know what you missed in a previous puzzle.
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!
Credits: Connections/NYT
Hints for today’s Connections puzzle themes
Here are some spoiler-free hints about the groupings in today’s Connections:
Yellow Category – What happens when water or ice is exposed to extreme temperatures, for example.
Green Category – If you need someone to take over for you, you can call on one of these.
Blue Category – If you want to tease a friend about their 9-5 job, you can refer to them using one of these words for their job title.
Purple Category – Fans of this pop diva, colloquially known as “Lambs,” will figure this category out pretty quickly.
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
HERO, MELT, and SUB are all types of sandwiches, but that’s not a category today.
You may see a few words on the board that remind you of TV shows (HACK, SUIT, HERO), but that’s not a category today – two of the aforementioned words, however, belong in the same category.
What are the categories in today’s Connections?
Yellow: CHANGE STATES OF MATTER
Green: REPLACEMENT
Blue: ARGAN NAMES FOR PROFESSIONS
Violet: MARIAH CAREY’S NUMBER ONE HITS
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 CHANGING STATES OF MATTER and the words are: CONDENSE, FREEZE, MELT, VAPORIZE.
What are the green words in today’s Connections?
The green group is supposed to be the second easiest. The theme of today’s green category is REPLACEMENT and the words are: ALTERNATIVE, RELIEF, COVER, SUB.
What are the blue words in today’s Connections?
The blue group is the second most difficult. Today’s blue category theme is ARGAN NAMES OF PROFESSIONS and the words are: COPPER, HACK, SHRINK, SUIT.
What are the purple words in today’s Connections?
The purple group is considered the most difficult. The theme for today’s purple category is MARIAH CAREY NUMBER ONE HITS and the words are: FANTASY, HERO, HONEY, SOMEDAY.
How I Solved Today’s Connections
COPPER and HONEY are both rich, earthy colors, but I don’t think they’re a category.
SUB and HERO sound like sandwich names to me, and it goes with MELT, but I don’t see a fourth. Let’s keep looking.
Oh, maybe ALTERNATE is a name for someone who steps in when the main person (like a contest winner or juror) can’t be there – that would go with BACKUP, SUB, and maybe COVER? 🟩
It seems like FREEZE, MELT, SHRINK, and CONDENSE could go together as words referring to shrinking or altering states of matter. It could also go with VAPORIZE, so let’s see if we can eliminate anything. Actually, come to think of it, SHRINK doesn’t really fit with those other four—it seems more casual and less technical. 🟨
There could potentially be a category “TV SHOWS, SINGULAR”, with HEROES (Hero), TO HACK (Tips), and COSTUME (Costumes), but I don’t see a fourth one.
Maybe HACK, SUIT, SHRINK and COPPER go together as slang terms for white collar jobs. 🟦
That leaves FANTASY, HERO, HONEY, and SOMEDAY. Aren’t FANTASY and HERO both Mariah Carey song names? I had this idea before, but thought it was a dumb idea. A quick Google search confirms that the other two are also Mariah Carey songs. Let’s see. 🟪 Hooray!
Connections Puzzle #392 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟪🟪🟪🟪
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!