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If you are looking for the Connections Answer for Friday, July 12, 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 #397 from July 12! 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!
Hints for today’s Connections puzzle themes
Here are some spoiler-free hints about today’s Connections groupings:
- Yellow Category – When you leave the classroom, you can head to one of these secondary locations.
- Green Category – Words associated with Las Vegas.
- Blue Category – These words all refer to the same (fairly common) bird.
- Purple Category – Another bird related category, oddly enough, but this one is a category to complete.
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
GRAY does not go with BLACK and RED. (In the US, the color is usually spelled “gray,” which is a clue.)
BLACK, CHOCOLATE, and GOLD are all words you might associate with a LAB (as in “Labrador”), but these four words belong in different categories.
SILLY and ODD are not in the same category.
What are the categories in Today’s Connections?
- Yellow: SCHOOL FACILITIES
- Green: PARIS AT ROULETTE
- Blue: ASSOCIATED WITH “DOVE”
- Violet: ___ GOOSE
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 SCHOOL FACILITIES and the words are: AUDITORIUM, GYMNASIUM, LABORATORY, LIBRARY.
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 ROULETTE BETTING and the words are: BLACK, EVEN, ODD, RED.
What are the blue words in today’s Connections?
The blue group is the second most difficult. Today’s blue category theme is ASSOCIATED WITH “DOVE” and the words are: CHOCOLATE, PEACE, PIGEON, SOAP.
What are the purple words in today’s Connections?
The purple group is considered the most difficult. Today’s purple category theme is ___ GOOSE and the words are: GOLDEN, GREY, MOTHER, SILLY.
How I Solved Today’s Connections
I notice that the word GREY is spelled out in the British manner. In the United States, it is usually spelled “gray.” Is this an oversight or a clue? Let’s see.
Let’s start with the simplest categories. LIBRARY and AUDITORIUM stand out as potential partners, and it seems like LABORATORY and GYMNASIUM could also be a good fit: they’re all common spaces in a school. ?
Oh, GOLDEN and SILLY help me understand what GREY is for: it’s a “___ GOOSE” category. (Grey Goose, as in vodka.) MOTHER completes the category. ?
It seems that BLACK, RED, EVEN and ODD are words associated with a game of roulette. ?
That leaves PIGEON, PEACE, SOAP, and CHOCOLATE. These are all words associated with the word “dove.” A PIGEON is also called a dove, a dove is a symbol of PEACE, and the Dove brand makes both SOAP and CHOCOLATE. ?
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!