Monday, July 28 Hints And Answers (#778)
Find the links between the words to win today’s game of Connections.
Each day’s game of NYT Connections goes live at midnight local time. Before we get to today’s Connections hints and answers, here are Sunday’s:
Hey there, Connectors! Welcome to the start of a new week! I’m very happy to be back with you for another weekday run of this here column.
By now you may know the drill: I very much like to kick off the Monday edition of the column with a fun, upbeat song. I really hope it helps put a smile on your face. Or, if you already have one there, maybe the tune can fill your heart with joy. I definitely don’t like to put any pressure on myself.
This time around, I’m going with a song for a band I saw in my hometown on Friday night with my dad. It was part of a festival show that should have cost £62.50 ($84) for one ticket, but he got two for £10 ($13.50) each instead. He can’t keep getting away with this. “This” being his uncanny ability to score great discounts or freebies. Anyway, we both enjoyed The Fratellis, and this is their biggest hit:
Before we begin, we have a great little community on Discord, where we chat about NYT Connections, the rest of the NYT games and all kinds of other stuff. Everyone who has joined has been lovely. It’s a fun hangout spot, and you’re more than welcome to hang out with us.
Discord is also the best way to give me any feedback about the column, especially on the rare (or not-so-rare) occasions that I mess something up. I don’t look at the comments or Twitter much. You can also read my weekend editions of this column at my new newsletter, Pastimes.
Today’s NYT Connections hints and answers for Monday, July 28 are coming right up.
How To Play Connections
Connections is a free, popular New York Times daily word game. You get a new puzzle at midnight every day. You can play on the NYT’s website or Games app.
You’re presented with a grid of 16 words. Your task is to arrange them into four groups of four by figuring out the links between them. The groups could be things like items you can click, names for research study participants or words preceded by a body part.
There’s only one solution for each puzzle, and you’ll need to be careful when it comes to words that might fit into more than one category. You can shuffle the words to perhaps help you see links between them.
Each group is color coded. The yellow group is usually the easiest to figure out, blue and green fall in the middle, and the purple group is usually the most difficult one. The purple group often involves wordplay.
Select four words you think go together and press Submit. If you make a guess and you’re incorrect, you’ll lose a life. If you’re close to having a correct group, you might see a message telling you that you’re one word away from getting it right, but you’ll still need to figure out which one to swap.
If you make four mistakes, it’s game over. Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen with the help of some hints, and, if you’re really struggling, today’s Connections answers. As with Wordle and other similar games, it’s easy to share results with your friends on social media and group chats.
If you have an NYT All Access or Games subscription, you can access the publication’s Connections archive. This includes every previous game of Connections, so you can go back and play any of those that you have missed.
Aside from the first 60 games or so, you should be able to find our hints Google if you need them! Just click here and add the date of the game for which you need clues or the answers to the search query.
What Are Today’s Connections Hints?
Scroll slowly! Just after the hints for each of today’s Connections groups, I’ll reveal what the groups are without immediately telling you which words go into them.
Today’s 16 words are…
- TRACE
- INITIAL
- SIGN
- ORIGINAL
- STAMP
- BUDDY
- SILENT
- DATE
- RECORD
- EVIDENCE
- PRIMARY
- COIN
- FIRST
- COMIC
- CULT
- HINT
And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:
- 🟨 Yellow group — before the others
- 🟩 Green group — like a clue or signal
- 🟦 Blue group — one of many in a perhaps-valuable (but certainly meaningful) bunch
- 🟪 Purple group — linked by a series of still images arranged to create the illusion of movement
One Word For Each Connections Group
Need some extra help?
Be warned: we’re starting to get into spoiler territory.
Let’s take a look at one word for each group.
Today’s Connections word hints are…
- 🟨 Yellow group — INITIAL
- 🟩 Green group — TRACE
- 🟦 Blue group — RECORD
- 🟪 Purple group — SILENT
What Are Today’s Connections Groups?
Today’s Connections groups are…
- 🟨 Yellow group — foremost
- 🟩 Green group — indication
- 🟦 Blue group — item in a collection
- 🟪 Purple group — _____ movie
What Are Today’s Connections Answers?
Spoiler alert! Don’t scroll any further down the page until you’re ready to find out today’s Connections answers.
This is your final warning!
Today’s Connections answers are…
- 🟨 Yellow group — foremost (FIRST, INITIAL, ORIGINAL, PRIMARY)
- 🟩 Green group — indication (EVIDENCE, HINT, SIGN, TRACE)
- 🟦 Blue group — item in a collection (COIN, COMIC, RECORD, STAMP)
- 🟪 Purple group — _____ movie (BUDDY, CULT, DATE, SILENT)
A very fast solve for me today as we kick off the new week. The blues were super straightforward for the most part. I did wonder for a second if EVIDENCE might actually be part of the group since that is also something that one would collect, but my initial hunch proved to be correct.
Speaking of the word INITIAL, I had no issues with the yellows either. The same went for the greens.
I wondered if the purple connection might be “night” as in SILENT Night and DATE night, but CULT and BUDDY didn’t really fit the bill. Of course they had to be linked by “movie!” How did I not get that? Honestly… Anyway, my hint for this group was a reference to something I found quite amusing several years ago.
A perfect game extends my streak to 152 wins. Can I make it to 200? We’ll find out (relatively) soon enough! Here’s my grid for today:
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟪🟪🟪🟪
That’s all there is to it for today’s Connections clues and answers. Be sure to check my blog tomorrow for hints and the solution for Tuesday’s game if you need them.
P.S. I’ve recommended the catchy-as-heck “Apt.” by Bruno Mars and Rosé before, but this live version popped up in my YouTube feed and I loved it, so here we are. Psy (he of “Gangnam Style” megafame) held an edition of his Summer Swag concert series in Incheon, South Korea, earlier this month. Rosé appeared as a surprise guest to sing the song with him.
I absolutely adore the crowd here. The energy is off the scale. Korean audiences are something else:
Have a great day! Stay hydrated! Be kind to yourself and each other! Call someone you love!
Please follow my blog for more coverage of NYT Connections and other word games, and even some video game news, insights and analysis. It helps me out a lot! Sharing this column with other people who play Connections would be appreciated too. You can also read my weekend editions of this column at my new newsletter, Pastimes.