If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Saturday, July 13, 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 13, NYT Connections #398! 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 - Big.
Green category - Like a person, but not quite.
Blue category - Words to describe the impression of something.
Purple category - These words all have a letter in common that’s not actually pronounced aloud.
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
There’s no fairytale category with CASTLE, WITCH, MONSTER, and GIANT. Two of those words do belong to another category, however.
AVATAR and TITANIC are both movies directed by James Cameron, but they don’t belong together today. AVATAR refers more generally to the idea of an external representation or digital version of a person (which is where the movie gets its title).
LOOK and LISTEN don’t belong together.
What are the categories in today’s Connections?
Yellow: ENORMOUS
Green: EMBODIMENT
Blue: COME ACROSS AS
Purple: SILENT “T”
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 ENORMOUS and the words are: GIANT, MAMMOTH, MONSTER, TITANIC.
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 EMBODIMENT and the words are: AVATAR, CHARACTER, FIGURE, PERSONA.
What are the blue words in today’s Connections?
The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is COME ACROSS AS and the words are: APPEAR, LOOK, SEEM, SOUND.
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 SILENT “T” and the words are: CASTLE, HUSTLE, LISTEN, WITCH.
How I solved today’s Connections
I’m tempted to pair AVATAR with TITANIC because they are both movies directed by James Cameron, but I don’t see any other movie titles of his on the board.
Oh, AVATAR probably goes with CHARACTER, PERSONA, and FIGURE—all of these words describe facsimiles or entities. 🟩 Yes, EMBODIMENT is a much better word for that, thank you NYT.
GIANT, MONSTER, WITCH, and CASTLE are all fairytale-type words, but they seem like a bit of a random assortment of words—one is a place, three are evil characters. Instead, let’s try MONSTER with TITANIC, GIANT, and MAMMOTH, because all are words that can be used to describe something large. 🟨
Of the remaining words, it looks like SOUND, SEEM, LOOK, and APPEAR could go together, because they are all words one might use when describing the impression something left upon them. 🟦
That leaves CASTLE, HUSTLE, WITCH, and LISTEN. Hmm. Do these all have silent Ts? 🟪 Yay.
Connections Puzzle #398 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟪🟪🟪🟪
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!