If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Sunday, July 7, 2024, read on—I’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solutions to all four categories. Along the way, I’ll explain the meanings of the trickier words and we’ll learn how everything fits together. Beware, there are spoilers below for July 7, NYT Connections #392! Read on if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Connections game.
If you want an easy way to come back to our Connections hints every day, bookmark this page. You can also find our past hints there as well, in case you want to know what you missed in a previous puzzle.
Below, I’ll give you some oblique hints at today’s Connections answers. And farther down the page, I’ll reveal the themes and the answers. Scroll slowly and take just the hints you need!
Hints for the themes in today’s Connections puzzle
Here are some spoiler-free hints for the groupings in today’s Connections:
Yellow category - What happens when water or ice are exposed to extreme temperatures, for example.
Green category - If you need someone to take over for you, you might call on one of these.
Blue category - If you wanted to tease a friend for their nine-to-five job, you might refer to them using one of these words for their job title.
Purple category - Fans of this pop diva, colloquially known as “Lambs,” will get this category pretty quickly.
BEWARE: Spoilers follow for today’s Connections puzzle!
We’re about to give away some of the answers. Scroll slowly if you don’t want the whole thing spoiled. (The full solution is a bit further down.)
A heads up about the tricky parts
HERO, MELT, and SUB are all types of sandwiches, but that’s not a category today.
You might see some words on the board that remind you of television shows (HACK, SUIT, HERO), but that isn’t a category today—two of the aforementioned words do belong to the same category, though.
What are the categories in today’s Connections?
Yellow: CHANGE STATES OF MATTER
Green: REPLACEMENT
Blue: SLANGY NAMES FOR PROFESSIONS
Purple: MARIAH CAREY NUMBER ONE HITS
DOUBLE BEWARE: THE SOLUTION IS BELOW
Ready to learn the answers to today’s Connections puzzle? I give them all away below.
What are the yellow words in today’s Connections?
The yellow grouping is considered to be the most straightforward. The theme for today’s yellow group is CHANGE STATES OF MATTER and the words are: CONDENSE, FREEZE, MELT, VAPORIZE.
What are the green words in today’s Connections?
The green grouping is supposed to be the second-easiest. The theme for today’s green category is REPLACEMENT and the words are: ALTERNATE, BACKUP, COVER, SUB.
What are the blue words in today’s Connections?
The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is SLANGY NAMES FOR PROFESSIONS and the words are: COPPER, HACK, SHRINK, SUIT.
What are the purple words in today’s Connections?
The purple grouping is considered to be the hardest. The theme for today’s purple category is MARIAH CAREY NUMBER ONE HITS and the words are: FANTASY, HERO, HONEY, SOMEDAY.
How I solved today’s Connections
COPPER and HONEY are both rich, earth-toned colors, but I don’t think that’s a category.
SUB and HERO make me think of names for sandwiches, and that goes with MELT—but I don’t see a fourth one. Let’s keep looking.
Oh, maybe ALTERNATE is a noun for someone who steps in when the primary person (like a contest winner or a juror) can’t be there—that would go with BACKUP, SUB, and maybe COVER? 🟩
It looks like FREEZE, MELT, SHRINK, and CONDENSE might go together as words that refer to reduction in size, or alterations in states of matter. That could also go with VAPORIZE, though, so let’s see if we can eliminate something. Actually, on second thought, SHRINK doesn’t quite fit with those other four—it feels more casual and like less of a technical term. 🟨
There could potentially be a “TV SHOWS, IN THE SINGULAR” category, with HERO (Heroes), HACK (Hacks), and SUIT (Suits), but I don’t see a fourth.
Maybe HACK, SUIT, SHRINK, and COPPER go together as slang terms for white-collar jobs. 🟦
That leaves FANTASY, HERO, HONEY, and SOMEDAY. Aren’t FANTASY and HERO both the names of Mariah Carey songs? I had that inkling before, but I thought it was a silly idea. A quick Google confirms that the other two are Mariah Carey songs, too. Let’s see. 🟪 Yay!
Connections Puzzle #392 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟪🟪🟪🟪
How to play Connections
I have a full guide to playing Connections, but here’s a refresher on the rules:
First, find the Connections game either on the New York Times website or in their Games app (formerly the Crossword app). You’ll see a game board with 16 tiles, each with one word or phrase. Your job is to select a group of four tiles that have something in common. Often they are all the same type of thing (for example: RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, and SNOW are all types of wet weather) but sometimes there is wordplay involved (for example, BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH are all types of lists: bucket list, guest list, and so on).
Select four items and hit the Submit button. If you guessed correctly, the category and color will be revealed. (Yellow is easiest, followed by green, then blue, then purple.) If your guess was incorrect, you’ll get a chance to try again.
You win when you’ve correctly identified all four groups. But if you make four mistakes before you finish, the game ends and the answers are revealed.
How to win Connections
The most important thing to know to win Connections is that the groupings are designed to be tricky. Expect to see overlapping groups. For example, one puzzle seemed to include six breakfast foods: BACON, EGG, PANCAKE, OMELET, WAFFLE, and CEREAL. But BACON turned out to be part of a group of painters along with CLOSE, MUNCH, and WHISTLER, and EGG was in a group of things that come by the dozen (along with JUROR, ROSE, and MONTH). So don’t hit “submit” until you’ve confirmed that your group of four contains only those four things.
If you’re stuck, another strategy is to look at the words that seem to have no connection to the others. If all that comes to mind when you see WHISTLER is the painting nicknamed “Whistler’s Mother,” you might be on to something. When I solved that one, I ended up googling whether 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, obviously, to read a few helpful hints–which is why we share these pointers every day. Check back tomorrow for the next puzzle!