If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Tuesday, July 16, 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 16, NYT Connections #401! 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 - When you wake up on the wrong side of the bed.
Green category - Not set in stone just yet.
Blue category - Theatre nerds will spot this one quickly.
Purple category - A fill-in-the-blank, with a common (but maybe slightly old-fashioned) first name for men.
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
Something PRELIMINARY may only last a SHORT time, but those words don’t fit together today. Today, SHORT refers to the communication style of someone who might be feeling frustrated.
PIPER and FIDDLER don’t go together.
PILOT doesn’t refer to a person who flies a plane—instead, think of it as a reference to the first episode of a new television show.
What are the categories in today’s Connections?
Yellow: IN A BAD MOOD
Green: EXPERIMENTAL
Blue: STARTS OF BROADWAY MUSICALS
Purple: PETER ___
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 IN A BAD MOOD and the words are: CROSS, SHORT, SURLY, TESTY.
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 EXPERIMENTAL and the words are: EXPLORATORY, PILOT, PRELIMINARY, TRIAL.
What are the blue words in today’s Connections?
The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is STARTS OF BROADWAY MUSICALS and the words are: FIDDLER, JERSEY, KINKY, MERRILY.
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 PETER ___ and the words are: PAN, PARKER, PIPER, RABBIT.
How I solved today’s Connections
PAN makes me think of a negative review—as in, “critics universally PANned the film adaptation of Cats”—but it also is a cooking implement and it could also be paired with the name “Peter," like the boy who's friends with Tinkerbell. RABBIT also goes with “Peter,” so I think that may be the route here. Yep, “Peter” also goes with PIPER and PARKER. (Peter Parker is Spider-Man’s secret identity.) 🟪
CROSS is a word meaning “angry” or “frustrated,” and it looks like that would fit with SHORT, SURLY, and TESTY, which all basically mean the same thing. 🟨
PILOT is a word referring to an initial iteration of something, like a pilot of a TV show or a pilot program, and that would fit with TRIAL, EXPLORATORY, and PRELIMINARY. 🟩
That leaves MERRILY, KINKY, FIDDLER, and JERSEY, which are all the first words in Broadway shows: Merrily We Roll Along, Kinky Boots, Fiddler on the Roof, and Jersey Boys. 🟦
Connections Puzzle #401 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟦🟦🟦🟦
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!