So, you’ve opened your phone, looked at the 16-word grid for the July 8 puzzle, and thought, "Wyna Liu, what are you doing to me today?" It happens to the best of us. Connections is that rare beast of a game that can make you feel like a genius at 7:00 AM and a complete novice by 7:05. If you're struggling with the July 8 board, specifically game #393, you aren't alone. Honestly, today’s mix is a classic example of how the New York Times uses semantic overlap to mess with your head.
The beauty—and the frustration—of Connections lies in the red herrings. You see a word like HAUNT and your brain immediately goes to ghosts, spirits, and things that go bump in the night. Then you see SPIRIT sitting right there. It’s a trap. A total, deliberate trap. If you fell for it, don't beat yourself up; that’s exactly what the puzzle is designed to do.
NYT Connections Hints July 8: Breaking Down the Categories
Before we get into the actual answers, let's talk strategy. Today’s puzzle leans heavily on verbs that don't look like verbs and hidden patterns that require you to look inside the words rather than at their definitions.
The Yellow Category: A Little Help From My Friends
The easiest group today—at least according to the game’s internal logic—is about guidance. Think about what you’d give someone if they were struggling with a task (or this very puzzle). It’s not a physical object, but a piece of information.
- POINTER
- SUGGESTION
- TIP
- TRICK
This is the "Bit of Advice" group. Most people snag this one first because the words are fairly synonymous in a workplace or hobbyist context. If you’re a regular at the gym or a pro at a specific video game, you’re always looking for that one little TRICK or TIP to level up.
The Green Category: Digging Deep
This one is all about internal strength. Resilience. That "never say die" attitude.
👉 See also: Why 4 in a row online 2 player Games Still Hook Us After 50 Years
- GRIT
- RESOLVE
- SPIRIT
- WILL
This is the "Fortitude" group. Notice how SPIRIT is here? This is where people get tripped up. While SPIRIT can mean a ghost, in this context, it refers to your "fighting spirit." It’s that intangible quality that keeps you going when things get tough. GRIT is another great word here—think of the Angela Duckworth "Grit" study or just a gritty protagonist in a noir film.
The Tricky Transitions: Blue and Purple
Now we’re getting into the weeds. The blue and purple categories for July 8 are where the real drama happens.
The Blue Category: Hanging Out
The blue category today is "Spend Time At." It’s basically what you do when you’re a "regular" somewhere.
- FREQUENT
- HAUNT
- PATRONIZE
- VISIT
This is where the "HAUNT" red herring from earlier finally finds its home. We often think of a ghost haunting a house, but a person can haunt a coffee shop or a library. The word PATRONIZE is the real star here. Most of us use it to mean "talking down to someone," but its older, more literal meaning is simply to be a patron of a business. If you patronize a local bookstore, you’re just shopping there.
Also, watch out for FREQUENT. On this board, it’s a verb (to frequent a bar), not an adjective (a frequent occurrence). This shift in parts of speech is a classic Wyna Liu move.
✨ Don't miss: Lust Academy Season 1: Why This Visual Novel Actually Works
The Purple Category: The "Aha!" Moment
Purple is almost always the "meta" category. It’s not about what the words mean; it’s about how they are constructed. For July 8, the theme is "Words Ending in Numbers."
- CANINE (Ends in NINE)
- FREIGHT (Ends in EIGHT)
- OFTEN (Ends in TEN)
- OZONE (Ends in ONE)
Honestly, this is the kind of category that you either see in three seconds or don't see for three hours. CANINE is usually the giveaway. If you see "nine" tucked in there, you start looking for other numbers. OZONE is the hardest one to spot because "one" is such a common letter combination, but once you see FREIGHT and OFTEN, the logic clicks into place.
How to Beat the Red Herrings
If you're still playing and haven't hit "Submit" yet, remember that the NYT Games team loves to group words that could belong together but don't.
Today’s big decoy was the "Spooky" theme: HAUNT, SPIRIT, maybe even OZONE if you’re thinking about ethereal things. But if you try to submit those, you'll burn through your four lives faster than you can say "Game Over."
Another potential trap was the "Dog" connection. CANINE, POINTER, and maybe GRIT (like a dog’s grit?). It doesn't quite work, but your brain wants it to. When you feel stuck like that, try to see if any of those words have a secondary, completely different meaning. Does the word work as a verb? Does it contain another word inside it?
🔗 Read more: OG John Wick Skin: Why Everyone Still Calls The Reaper by the Wrong Name
Solving the July 8 Connections Without Losing Your Mind
The trick to winning at Connections isn't just knowing a lot of words; it’s being able to compartmentalize them. When you see WILL, don't just think of a legal document. Think of "willpower." Think of the name "Will." Think of the future tense verb.
If you’re down to your last mistake, the best thing you can do is walk away for ten minutes. Fresh eyes are the most powerful tool in your puzzle-solving arsenal. When you come back, the hidden "ONE" in OZONE might just jump out at you.
To wrap this up and get you back to your morning, here’s a quick recap of the groups for July 8 (Puzzle #393):
- Bit of Advice (Yellow): Pointer, Suggestion, Tip, Trick.
- Fortitude (Green): Grit, Resolve, Spirit, Will.
- Spend Time At (Blue): Frequent, Haunt, Patronize, Visit.
- Words Ending in Numbers (Purple): Canine, Freight, Often, Ozone.
Now that you've got the logic down, take a second to look at tomorrow’s grid with a more critical eye toward verbs and hidden suffixes. You'll be spotting those purple categories before your first cup of coffee in no time. If you’re a fan of Wordle or Strands, keep that same energy here—it’s all about pattern recognition and refusing to take the bait on the first obvious connection you see.