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Connections is a game from the New York Times that challenges you to find the association between words. It sounds easy, but it isn’t—Connections categories can be almost anything, and they’re usually quite specific. If you need a hand getting the answers, we’ve got you covered.
What Is Connections?
Connections is a game from the New York Times. The objective is simple: sort 16 words into groups of 4. Each group of words will be connected by some common idea or theme. That common element could be anything. We have seen everything from games that rely on the number of letters in the words to categories that require you to spot an extra letter at the end of the word. Sometimes they’re references to economics, other times they reference fairy tales. There is no telling what sort of association there will be between words.
Once you’re confident you understand the connection, select 4 words, then hit “Submit.” You have only four attempts in total, so don’t be too guess-happy.
Hints for Today’s Connections Groups
Here are a few hints for the 411th Connections game to get you started:
Base, Liar, Loot, Symbol
How Did We Solve This Connections Game?
July 26th came pretty easily. I immediately noticed down, left, right, and up were basic terms we use to describe directions, andold cheat codes. They were in the Yellow group, “Basic Directions.”
Support and endorse can be synonyms when they’re both taken to mean “Advocate for.” With that definition in mind, champion (as a verb) and back both seem to work, too. They were in the Green group, which was literally “Advocate For.”
The word con often means downside or drawback, so I started looking for synonyms. Ding, minus, and strike were really the only ones that fit, though liar did make me doubt which definition of con was in use. They belonged to the Blue group, “Drawback.”
That left base, liar, loot, and symbol. I went through the usual list of suspects for Purple (like missing or added words or letters) without success. After sitting on it, I eventually realized that the words are also synonyms for musical instruments. Both bass and cymbal are pretty common instruments, but both a lute (loot) and a lyre (liar) are significantly less common in the modern era.
How Do You Guess Connections Groups?
There is no quick, reliable way to approach Connections like there is with Wordle, since Connections isn’t algorithmic. However, there are a few things to keep in mind that can help.
If you didn’t solve this one, don’t feel too bad—there’s always tomorrow! And those words may align with a topic you’re interested in, giving you a leg up on the competition.
