NYT ‘Connections’ July 31: Clues and Answer for Game #416

Whether you’re a daily Connections player or this is your first time out, Newsweek has some hints and tips to help you out with Wednesday’s edition of the game.

After being launched by The New York Times in June last year, Connections quickly became an online sensation. The brainteaser is now the newspaper’s second-most-played game, behind only fellow word-based puzzle Wordle.

For the uninitiated, Connections challenges players to uncover threads connecting a series of words. Instructions on how to play the game are below. Clues for each category and the answers for today’s puzzle are toward the end of the article, so scroll with caution if you want to figure it out for yourself.

How to Play ‘Connections’

Connections asks players to group 16 words into four categories based on their associations.

Each category is color-coded to indicate its difficulty level: yellow for the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. The puzzles are rarely straightforward, often incorporating homophones, wordplay, and other techniques to keep players on their toes.

The uniting themes span a wide range of topics, from movie franchises to body parts. Once you have figured out one group, those words are removed from the grid. However, players get only four guesses. Each incorrect guess adds to your mistake tally, and after four wrong answers, it’s game over.

Explaining why the game has four difficulty levels, Times puzzle editor Wyna Liu said she toyed with different ways to make Connections more of a challenge.

“There would have to be a mix of categories for the game to feel challenging and satisfying,” she said in the Times. “Some categories might be defined by their use of wordplay—palindromes, homophones, adding or dropping letters and words—rather than the literal meanings of the words on the cards.”

However, the familiarity of the words used, and how often they pop up in contemporary life, are also difficulty factors, although less-common words aren’t used only in the harder categories. “Item overlap,” where one word can be linked to multiple categories, is another way Connections tests players.

“Caution was needed when including items that might stand out in the grid since they would invite immediate scrutiny,” Liu said.

‘Connections’ #416 Clues for Wednesday, July 31

Here are today’s hints to help you figure out the latest Connections categories.

Yellow: The answers in this category relate to having a sore throat.

Green: These words describe different aspects of a hand.

Blue: Different types of a common alcoholic beverage.

Purple: These answers all make sense when they follow a word that relates to France.

‘Connections’ #416 Answers for Wednesday, July 31

Yellow Category: RASPY

Yellow Words: Gruff, Hoarse, Husky, Rough

Green Category: FINGERS

Green Words: Little, Middle, Pointer, Ring

Blue Category: ALE STYLES

Blue Words: Amber, Porter, Sour, Stout

Purple Category: FRENCH _____

Purple Words: Bulldog, Fry, Horn, Kiss

Did you guess the answers correctly? If so, congratulations. If you didn’t, there is no need to worry, as there will be another opportunity to crack Connections tomorrow. One of the best things about the puzzle is seeing if you can improve your score over time.

Connections is released at midnight in your local time zone and Newsweek will be back tomorrow with another round of hints and tips.