Waking up to a grid of sixteen words can feel like a personal attack. Honestly, it's the coffee-first-puzzle-second rule that usually keeps my streak alive, but some mornings the New York Times just chooses violence. Today is one of those days. If you're scouring the web for a Connections hint July 9, you've probably already stared at the screen long enough for the words to start floating. It happens to the best of us. This puzzle isn't just about what you know; it's about how your brain decides to categorize the world when it's under pressure.
Solving Connections is a weirdly psychological exercise.
Wyna Liu, the associate puzzle editor at the NYT, is notorious for using "red herrings." These are words that look like they belong together but are actually toxic traps designed to eat up your four mistakes. You see three types of fruit and one word that could be a fruit, and suddenly you're down to two lives before you've even found the "Easy" yellow category. It’s brutal. But there’s a logic to it. Always.
Why today's grid is tripping everyone up
The July 9 puzzle relies heavily on words that function as different parts of speech. This is a classic NYT move. When you see a word like "SQUASH," your brain immediately goes to the sport or the vegetable. But it could also be a verb meaning to crush. If you aren't looking at every single word through three different lenses—noun, verb, adjective—you're going to get stuck.
A solid Connections hint July 9 involves looking for synonyms that aren't immediately obvious. Sometimes the connection isn't a "thing" but a "sound" or a "hidden word." For instance, have you noticed how often they use words that can be preceded by the same specific noun? Think "Apple ____" or "Mountain ____." If you're looking at the grid today and seeing words that feel unrelated, try adding a prefix to them in your head.
The difficulty curve usually moves from Yellow (straightforward) to Green, Blue, and finally Purple (tricky/wordplay). Most people fail because they try to force the Purple category first. Don't do that. It's a trap. Find the most boring, most obvious connection first to clear the board.
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Breaking down the logic of the July 9 categories
Let's get into the weeds of how this specific day's puzzle is built. You've got a mix of things that might seem like they belong in a kitchen, but they're actually about something else entirely. It's that classic "semantic shift" that makes Connections so addictive and infuriating at the same time.
If you're looking for a gentle nudge: check the verbs. There’s a group of words today that all describe the act of making something smaller or more compact. If you can find four words that basically mean "to press down," you've probably unlocked the Green or Yellow group.
Then there's the inevitable "culture" category. The NYT loves their theater, their literature, and their classic cinema. If you see words that look like they could be related to a specific hobby—say, knitting or carpentry—be careful. Often, three of them are real, and the fourth is a decoy. The real fourth word is usually something much more abstract.
The art of the "One-Away"
Nothing induces panic quite like the "One away!" pop-up. It’s the game’s way of saying "You’re so close, yet so far." On July 9, the red herrings are particularly sticky.
I’ve found that when you get that message, the best thing to do is walk away. Literally. Go get a glass of water. Your brain gets "stuck" on a specific association—like thinking "Bank" and "River" must go together—and it takes a physical reset to see that "Bank" actually belongs with "Incline" and "Slope."
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Strategies for future-proofing your game
Most experts (and yes, there are "Connections experts" now) suggest a few specific tactics for days like July 9.
- The Shuffle Button is your friend. Use it. Often. Our eyes tend to read left-to-right, top-to-bottom. By shuffling, you break the accidental associations your brain made just because two words were sitting next to each other.
- Say the words out loud. This sounds silly, but hearing the word can trigger a different part of the brain. "Lead" (the metal) sounds different than "Lead" (to guide), but they look identical on the screen.
- Look for the "Purple" word early. Usually, one word in the grid is so weird it has to be part of the wordplay category. If you find "Spatula" and there are no other kitchen tools, it’s probably part of a "Words that start with a musical note" category (S-patula... no, that doesn't work, but you get the point).
The July 9 reveal: What you actually need to know
If you are at your wit's end and just need the answers to save your streak, here is the breakdown of the groupings for today’s puzzle.
Yellow Category: Common Synonyms
These are the bread and butter of the puzzle. Today, these words revolve around the idea of "compressing" or "packing."
- CRUSH
- MASH
- PRESS
- SQUASH
Green Category: Related Objects
This group is usually about things you’d find in a specific place. For July 9, it’s all about things that have "steps" or "levels."
- LADDER
- STAIRS
- SCALE
- HIERARCHY
Blue Category: Specific Classifications
This one is a bit more niche. It’s looking for words that share a very specific definition or belong to a certain set of "types."
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- KIND
- SORT
- TYPE
- NATURE (as in "of that nature")
Purple Category: Wordplay and Hidden Links
This is the one that ruins lives. The connection today is "Words that follow 'FOOT'."
- BALL
- HILL
- LOCK
How to handle the "Spilled Milk" of a lost streak
Losing a 50-day streak over a Connections hint July 9 search feels like a minor tragedy. But honestly, the game is designed to be lost occasionally. The NYT doesn't want everyone winning every day; they want you coming back because you're annoyed you missed it.
If you missed the "FOOT" connection, don't beat yourself up. "Footlock" is a bit of a stretch for some, especially if you aren't into wrestling or certain types of knots. And "Foot-nature" obviously isn't a thing, so once you've narrowed it down to those last four, the category reveals itself anyway. That's the secret: you don't actually have to solve Purple. You just have to solve Yellow, Green, and Blue. Purple is the "leftovers" category.
Actionable steps for your next grid
To stop being a victim of the red herrings, change your workflow tomorrow. Instead of clicking the first four words you see, try to find five words that fit a category. If you find five, you know at least one of them is a decoy. Identify the decoy before you commit your first guess.
- Identify the outliers. Find the weirdest word on the board and try to build a category around it first.
- Verify the parts of speech. Check if a word can be both a noun and a verb. If it can, it's likely a bridge between two different categories.
- Use the "Newspaper Test." Does this word appear in a headline? If "Scale" appears, is it about a fish, a map, or a musical sequence?
- Slow down. The NYT doesn't track your time for the "official" solve. There is no prize for finishing in thirty seconds, but there is a lot of frustration in losing because you clicked too fast.
Start by looking at the board tomorrow and immediately identifying two words that seem like they belong together but have very different definitions. That’s usually where the puzzle makers are hiding the "trap" that catches 80% of players. If you can avoid that, you're already ahead of the curve.