Not the Connections game you’re looking for? Here are the hints and solution for Sunday’s game.
If you want to hang out with a lovely bunch of folks and chat about NYT Connections, other daily puzzle games and additional fun things, join our Discord community!
Hey there, Connectors! I hope you had a terrific weekend. I’m very happy to be back with you for another weekday run of this here column.
As always, we’ll get the Monday edition started with a song that I (and hopefully you) deem to be upbeat and fun. Let’s get those endorphins and good vibes flowing!
This time around, let’s go with an all-time great pop song, “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” by Whitney Houston. It never fails to put a smile on my face and get at least my toes tapping:
Play Puzzles & Games on Forbes
Today’s NYT Connections hints and answers for Monday, July 20 are coming right up. Let’s get rolling!
How To Play Connections
Connections is a free daily New York Times game that challenges you to arrange a grid of 16 words, phrases or symbols into four groups. The categories can involve anything from simple synonyms and cultural references to words that start with homonyms for birds.
There’s only one correct answer. Connections often features red herrings and other tricks like wordplay. You can make three mistakes, but a fourth spells game over and the end of your current streak!
The categories are color coded. Yellow is supposed to be the easiest to figure out, followed by green, blue and then purple. But it’s all relative as Connections tests your knowledge and deductive reasoning skills.
You can track your stats over time and earn badges for achievements like lengthy streaks or achieving a reverse rainbow. This involves submitting the purple category first, followed by blue, green and yellow. I’m here to help players figure out which is which.
You can play Connections on the NYT website or NYT Games app. NYT subscribers can access the full archive of more than 1,100 games of Connections. Each day’s game goes live at midnight local time.
Today’s NYT Connections Word List
Scroll slowly!
After today’s Connections word list, I’ll give you a hint for each category. After that, I’ll reveal one word that goes into each group. Then I’ll reveal the categories, followed by the full answers.
Got it? Cool.
Today’s 16 words are…
- OYSTER
- MEADOW
- WISDOM
- SOUND
- BUTTON
- BUBBLE TEA
- PORTOBELLO
- MENU
- TRUMPET
- ICON
- HERALD
- SWINE
- SAKES
- BLARE
- LINK
- ALEXA
A Hint For Today’s Connections Groups
The hints for today’s Connections categories are:
- 🟨 Yellow group — tell everyone
- 🟩 Green group — make something happen, digitally
- 🟦 Blue group — like a small piece of valuable information, a type of rice or bath salts
- 🟪 Purple group — open the evening with too many of these and it may well be an early night
One Answer For Each Connections Group
Be warned: we’re starting to get into spoiler territory.
Let’s take a look at one answer for each group.
Here we go…
- 🟨 Yellow group — TRUMPET
- 🟩 Green group — MENU
- 🟦 Blue group — SWINE
- 🟪 Purple group — MEADOW
Today’s Connections Categories
Today’s Connections groups are…
- 🟨 Yellow group — announce
- 🟩 Green group — things to click
- 🟦 Blue group — associated with pearls
- 🟪 Purple group — starting with alcoholic beverages
What Is Today’s Connections Answer?
Spoiler alert! Don’t scroll any further down the page until you’re ready to find out today’s Connections answers.
This is your last chance to look away.
This is your final warning!
Today’s Connections answers are…
- 🟨 Yellow group — announce (BLARE, HERALD, SOUND, TRUMPET)
- 🟩 Green group — things to click (BUTTON, ICON, LINK, MENU)
- 🟦 Blue group — associated with pearls (BUBBLE TEA, OYSTER, SWINE, WISDOM)
- 🟪 Purple group — starting with alcoholic beverages (ALEXA, MEADOW, PORTOBELLO, SAKES)
I got the greens and yellows in short order, realizing only afterward that I’d dodged the mushroom red herring.
The only thing that made sense for me with SAKES was “sake,” so I was able to get the purples next. OYSTER and BUBBLE TEA then helped me deduce the blue category for a 505th win in a row.
How did you get on this time? Here’s my grid:
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟦🟦🟦🟦
Want to know more about how everything fits together? Let’s explore today’s game in more depth in my NYT Connections Answers Explained column right here:
Be sure to check my blog tomorrow for hints and the answer for tomorrow’s game of Connections if you need them.
P.S. I really enjoyed seeing Bloc Party the other day. They’ve been peppering in a few headline dates while supporting Muse on a North American tour and it was clear that the band really enjoyed playing in front of their own fans here. Frontman Kele Okereke sported a huge grin when the crowd loudly sang back the lyrics of this song, “Banquet.” Still a great track, two decades later:
Have a great day! Stay hydrated! Be kind to yourself and each other! Call someone you love!
Please follow my blog for more NYT Connections hints and help with other word games, and even some video game news, insights and analysis. I’d really appreciate that as it helps me out. If you share this column with others who play Connections, that would be lovely too. You can also read my weekend editions of this column and more of my writing at my newsletter, Pastimes.
