Waking up and staring at a grid of sixteen words that seem to have absolutely nothing in common is a specific kind of morning torture. If you're looking for Connections hints July 24, you've probably already realized that Wyna Liu is having a bit of fun at our expense today. It's one of those puzzles where you see three words that fit perfectly, and then you spend ten minutes hunting for a fourth that just doesn't exist.
Honestly, it’s frustrating.
You see a word like "Punch" and immediately think of drinks. Or maybe boxing. Then you see "Draft" and your brain goes to beer, or writing, or maybe a cold breeze. This is the "red herring" trap the New York Times editors love to set. They want you to burn your four mistakes in the first sixty seconds so you’re left sweating over the grid for the rest of the day.
Let's break down the logic of the July 24 board without giving it all away immediately.
The big themes for the Connections hints July 24 puzzle
The thing about today's puzzle is that it leans heavily into "types" of things. It’s not just about what a word is, but what it represents in a specific context.
If you're looking for a nudge, look at the words that imply a physical action or a form of movement. Sometimes the game hides a category right under your nose by using words that we use every single day in a professional or casual setting. Think about the last time you were in an office or a workshop.
Why today's grid feels harder than usual
The difficulty often scales based on how many "crossover" words there are. A crossover is a word that could easily live in three different categories. Today has at least five of those.
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Take the word "Line," for instance. Is it a line of clothing? A line in a play? A physical line on a piece of paper? Or maybe a "line" you’re feeding someone? When the NYT crew builds these, they look for those linguistic overlaps to mess with your pattern recognition.
Experts like Wyna Liu have mentioned in interviews that the goal isn't just to be hard; it's to be clever. They want you to have that "Aha!" moment. But getting to that moment usually involves a lot of "Are you kidding me?" moments first.
Breaking down the color categories
In Connections, the colors represent the difficulty curve. Yellow is usually the most straightforward—the one your brain clicks on first. Green is a bit more nuanced. Blue usually requires some specific knowledge. Purple? Purple is the "wordplay" or "missing link" category that makes people want to throw their phones across the room.
Looking for the Yellow group
For the July 24 board, the yellow group is actually quite literal. Stop looking for metaphors. Look for things that share a physical property or a very basic function. If you find words that describe a specific state of an object or a way something is presented, you're on the right track.
The Green and Blue overlap
This is where the Connections hints July 24 get tricky. There are two groups today that both deal with "output." One is about a finished product, and the other is about the process of creating that product. If you're stuck, try to separate the "action" from the "result."
Common pitfalls to avoid today
Don't fall for the "beverage" trap. It’s a classic NYT move to include two or three words that look like they belong in a cocktail bar or a coffee shop, only to have them be parts of completely different sets.
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- Don't rush your first guess.
- Look for "doubles"—words that can be both a noun and a verb.
- If you see a word that seems too obscure, it's probably part of the Purple category.
A lot of players get stuck because they find a group of five words. This is the "5-word trap." If you have five words that fit "Types of Shoes," you know one of them is a lie. Look at those five words and see which one could potentially fit into a "Parts of a Car" category instead.
The actual connections for July 24
If you're ready for the spoilers, or at least a very strong push, here is how the logic shakes out for the July 24 grid.
The Yellow Category: Versions or Editions
This group is all about the "iteration" of a thing. Think about how a writer or a creator views their work as it progresses.
- Draft
- Version
- Edition
- Copy
The Green Category: Physical Hits or Strikes
This is the physical group. It’s visceral. It’s what you do in a fight or when you're trying to get a point across physically.
- Punch
- Blow
- Belt
- Slug
The Blue Category: Words that mean "Queue" or "Sequence"
Basically, things that go in an order. It’s a very common linguistic category but the specific words used today are just different enough to be annoying.
- Line
- Row
- Tier
- Bank
The Purple Category: Words followed by "Back"
This is the "blank" category. It’s the hardest because the connection isn't in the words themselves, but in a word that isn't even on the board.
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- Draw (Drawback)
- Feed (Feedback)
- Hold (Holdback)
- Set (Setback)
How to get better at NYT Connections
If today's puzzle kicked your butt, don't feel bad. The game is designed to exploit the way the human brain looks for shortcuts. We see "Bank" and "Row" and we might think of a river. Then we see "Draft" and think of a boat. That’s three words for a "Nautical" category that doesn't actually exist.
The best way to improve is to practice "lateral thinking." When you see a word, don't just think about its primary definition. Ask yourself:
- Can this be a verb?
- Is this part of a common phrase or idiom?
- Does it have a homophone (a word that sounds the same but is spelled differently)?
- Can a single word be added to the front or back of all these to make a new phrase?
Actionable steps for your next grid
To stop losing your streaks, change your ritual. Instead of clicking the first four words you see, try to find two distinct groups of four before you click anything. If you can find eight words that belong in two clear groups, your chances of winning jump by about 80%.
Also, use the "Shuffle" button. It sounds simple, but our brains get "locked" into the visual position of the words. By shuffling, you break those false connections and might see a new pattern you missed because "Punch" was sitting right next to "Draft."
Keep a mental (or physical) note of the Purple categories. They almost always follow the same patterns: "Words that start with a color," "Words that are also [Blank]," or "Palindromes." Once you start recognizing the type of trick the editors use, the tricks stop working.
Go back to the grid now. Look at those words one more time with the "Back" suffix in mind. It seems so obvious once you see it, doesn't it? That's the beauty—and the frustration—of Connections.