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.

July 31’s unsorted Connections words.

Hints for Today’s Connections Groups

Here are a few hints for the 416th Connections game to get you started:

How Did We Solve This Connections Game?

July 31st was an average game.

I first spotted Blue, Ale Styles, by pure luck.Porter, sour, and stout just spontaneously jumped out at me, and amber was the only other word that could possibly fit.

Gruff, hoarse, husky, and rough were obvious synonyms for “Raspy,” which was actually the name of the Yellow group.

July 31’s words sorted into groups.

Little, middle, pointer, and finger all wound up in a line after I shuffled a few times, and the only thing they could really be was “Names of fingers.” That was pretty close: Green was just “Fingers.”

That left bulldog, fry, horn, and kiss. As usual, the key was the missing word, in this case, “French.” French bulldog, french fry, french horn, and french kiss are all distinct terms. They were in the Purple group, “French _____.”

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.