If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Wednesday, July 17, 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 17, NYT Connections #402! 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 - Got an errand to run, brb.
Green category - Words for cutting down on a behavior.
Blue category - Words for not just one animal, but many of them all together.
Purple category - These words all relate to important figures in the history of the United States—kind of.
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
SCHOOL does not refer to a place where a child gets an education.
HAMPER does not refer to something you’d take to a LAUNDROMAT.
NIX doesn’t go with INHIBIT, and WASHING doesn’t go with LAUNDROMAT.
Today’s puzzle has quite a lot of overlapping words—that is, words that could be paired together in multiple ways. Be careful.
What are the categories in today’s Connections?
Yellow: BUILDINGS AROUND TOWN
Green: HINDER
Blue: ANIMAL GROUP NAMES
Purple: STARTS OF U.S. PRESIDENTS
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 BUILDINGS AROUND TOWN and the words are: BANK, LAUNDROMAT, POST OFFICE, SUPERMARKET.
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 HINDER and the words are: CHECK, CURB, HAMPER, INHIBIT.
What are the blue words in today’s Connections?
The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is ANIMAL GROUP NAMES and the words are: PACK, PRIDE, SCHOOL, SWARM.
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 STARTS OF U.S. PRESIDENTS and the words are: BIDE, CART, NIX, WASHING.
How I solved today’s Connections
LAUNDROMAT, POST OFFICE, SUPERMARKET, and SCHOOL all stick out because they are all buildings or public locations, but if I really think about it, I’m not actually totally sure what connects those things—a SCHOOL and a POST OFFICE are both government buildings, but a SUPERMARKET and a LAUNDROMAT aren’t. I smell a red herring, so I’m going to keep looking just in case.
PRIDE is an odd one—coming off of June, I think about Pride Month, but it also refers to a group of lions. If I think about it through that lens, it fits with PACK, SWARM, and SCHOOL, which are also terms for large groupings of various animals. 🟦
CURB, NIX, and INHIBIT all refer to reducing or cutting back on something. What else? Oh, HAMPER. The proximity to LAUNDROMAT confused me. “One away,” you say? Rude. Oh, I suppose CHECK could fit too. Let’s keep looking.
BIDE is an odd one—I think about “biding one’s time,” but I also can’t help but see the similarity to the name of President Biden. Is it possible that it could go with WASHING, NIX, and CART, which are also the starts of presidents’ names? (Washington, Nixon, Carter.) 🟪 Cool!
That leaves CHECK, CURB, INHIBIT, and HAMPER as that other category I flubbed earlier. 🟩
And finally, we have POST OFFICE, LAUNDROMAT, SUPERMARKET, and BANK, which are all public places one might go on an errand. 🟨
Connections Puzzle #402 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟩🟩🟪🟩 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟨🟨🟨
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!