Understanding Today’s Connections Puzzle
If you’re looking for clues to today’s Connections answers, you’re not alone. The puzzle for July 19, game #769, is a bit more challenging than yesterday’s, with a difficulty rating of 2.8 out of 5. Each day, we update this article with hints and tips to help you uncover all four answers so you can keep your streak going. If the clues aren’t enough, we also provide the full list of answers below, along with the category titles and corresponding words.
For those who might be reading this in a different time zone, we’ve included a reflection on yesterday’s puzzle, game #768, just in case.
Hints for Solving Today’s Puzzle
Solving Connections requires identifying connecting categories among 16 words. Each category has a difficulty level represented by a color: yellow is the easiest, and purple is the most challenging. Once you make four mistakes, the answers will be revealed, so hints can be very helpful.
Today’s puzzle includes the following words:
- Tack
- Tap
- Rap
- Snap
- Leo
- Brad
- Spike
- Don
- Nail
- Well
- Mic
- Pass
- Spring
- Punt
- Pin
Based on the order of difficulty, here are the themes of each group:
- Yellow (Easiest): Sources of drinking water
- Green: Things you can do with a football
- Blue: Sharp fasteners
- Purple (Most challenging): Starts of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
A larger hint to help you solve the puzzle is: “Turtles drinking while watching sharp football.”
Today’s Connections Answers
Drumroll, please… Here are the answers for today’s puzzle:
- Sources of drinking water: Rain, spring, tap, well
- Things you can do with a football: Pass, punt, snap, spike
- Sharp fasteners: Brad, nail, pin, tack
- Starts of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Don, Leo, Mic, Rap
Mid-tier puzzles like this one often have more obvious traps that can trip you up if you’re not paying attention. One such trap was the idea of famous actors or Hollywood types, which initially led me astray. However, thinking about the names of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles helped me identify the correct group.
Yesterday’s Connections Answers
For those who missed yesterday’s puzzle, here are the answers for game #768, which had a difficulty rating of 2.5 out of 5:
- Sequence: Run, series, streak, string
- Pick up on: Catch, note, see, spot
- Yoga backbends: Bridge, cobra, cow, wheel
- Electric ____: Blanket, eel, guitar, slide
I made a few mistakes while solving this puzzle. Initially, I thought “see, spot, note, catch” were part of the yellow group, but they actually belonged to the green group. Once I realized the connection with “electric eel,” it became easier to find the other words in the purple group.
Tips for Winning at Connections
There are two main strategies for playing Connections: either solve the answers as you go or focus on the hardest group first—purple. For either approach, don’t be afraid to use the shuffle button, especially if you’ve solved a set but aren’t sure if it’s the purple group. Shuffling the grid can help you isolate your solved quartet.
For the purple group, expect to see common patterns such as missing letters, homophones, or specific prefixes and suffixes. It can also be helpful to look for these types of connections when solving.
If you’re not focusing on the purple group specifically, start by looking for smaller connections. For example, if you notice “Riddler” and “Joker,” you might recognize them as Batman villains. From there, it becomes easier to find other related groups.
Watch out for traps. Sometimes, the most obvious sets are actually misleading. If you come across a group that seems too easy, take a second look around the grid to ensure it’s not part of a different category.
Finally, if you’re new to the game, check out our guide on how to play Connections for more detailed instructions.
