If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Friday, July 17, 2026, read on—I’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solutions to all four categories. Along the way, I’ll explain the meanings of the trickier words and we’ll learn how everything fits together. Beware, there are spoilers below for July 17, NYT Connections #1,132! Read on if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Connections game.
If you want an easy way to come back to our Connections hints every day, bookmark this page. (If you play Wordle or Strands, check out our hints for those games, too.)
Below, I’ll give you some oblique hints at today’s Connections answers. And farther down the page, I’ll reveal the themes and the answers. Scroll slowly and take just the hints you need!
Credit: Connections/NYT
The category types in today’s Connections puzzle
Here are spoiler-free hints that describe the type of each category in today’s Connections:
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Yellow category – Similar meaning.
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Green category – Related nouns.
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Blue category – Related nouns.
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Purple category – Wordplay.
Hints for the themes in today’s Connections puzzle
Here are some spoiler-free hints for the groupings in today’s Connections:
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Yellow category – The end.
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Green category – You might also see bright lights and hear loud electronic sounds alongside these things.
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Blue category – They come in the same quantity.
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Purple category – They have words that a mechanic might use hidden inside.
BEWARE: Spoilers follow for today’s Connections puzzle!
We’re about to give away some of the answers. Scroll slowly if you don’t want the whole thing spoiled. (The full solution is a bit further down.)
A heads up about the tricky parts
The four tiles with bird names in them (ROBIN HOOD, CRANE GAME, CARDINAL DIRECTIONS, and SWAN SONG) all belong in separate categories.
In ROBIN HOOD, pay attention only to “hood.”
CLASSICAL ELEMENTS refers to air, earth, water, and fire.
What are the categories in today’s Connections?
DOUBLE BEWARE: THE SOLUTION IS BELOW
Ready to learn the answers to today’s Connections puzzle? I give them all away below.
What are the yellow words in today’s Connections?
The yellow grouping is considered to be the most straightforward. The theme for today’s yellow group is GRAND FINALE and the words are: EPILOGUE, FAREWELL, LAST DANCE, SWAN SONG.
What are the green words in today’s Connections?
The green grouping is supposed to be the second-easiest. The theme for today’s green category is SEEN IN AN ARCADE and the words are: CRANE GAME, PINBALL, TICKETS, TOKENS.
What are the blue words in today’s Connections?
The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is FOUR GROUPS OF FOUR and the words are: CARDINAL DIRECTIONS, CLASSICAL ELEMENTS, SEASONS, SUITS.
What are the purple words in today’s Connections?
The purple grouping is considered to be the hardest. The theme for today’s purple category is ENDING IN PARTS OF A CAR and the words are: PLOT SPOILER, ROBIN HOOD, SATIRES, TREE TRUNK.
How I solved today’s Connections
I’m tempted to group CRANE GAME, CARDINAL DIRECTIONS, SWAN SONG, and ROBIN HOOD as phrases that start with birds (crane, cardinal, swan, robin) but they’re all in the top two rows, so it feels like a potential fakeout.
Yeah, I think ROBIN HOOD might actually go with TREE TRUNK, SATIRES, and PLOT SPOILER as phrases with car parts at their ends: hood, trunk, tires, and spoiler. 🟪
What do you think so far?
I’ll put CRANE GAME with TICKETS, TOKENS, and PINBALL as things found in an arcade. 🟩 It seems like each bird phrase will belong in a separate category.
CARDINAL DIRECTIONS could go with SEASONS, CLASSICAL ELEMENTS, and SUITS as things that come in fours. CARDINAL DIRECTIONS refers to north, south, east, and west; SEASONS refers to spring, summer, fall, and winter; CLASSICAL ELEMENTS probably refers to fire, water, earth, and air; and SUITS refers to the playing card suits of clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades. 🟦
That leaves LAST DANCE, SWAN SONG, EPILOGUE, and FAREWELL, which are all phrases for the end or finale of something. 🟨
Connections
Puzzle #1132
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How to play Connections
I have a full guide to playing Connections, but here’s a refresher on the rules:
First, find the Connections game either on the New York Times website or in their Games app (formerly the Crossword app). You’ll see a game board with 16 tiles, each with one word or phrase. Your job is to select a group of four tiles that have something in common. Often they are all the same type of thing (for example: RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, and SNOW are all types of wet weather) but sometimes there is wordplay involved (for example, BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH are all types of lists: bucket list, guest list, and so on).
Select four items and hit the Submit button. If you guessed correctly, the category and color will be revealed. (Yellow is easiest, followed by green, then blue, then purple.) If your guess was incorrect, you’ll get a chance to try again.
You win when you’ve correctly identified all four groups. But if you make four mistakes before you finish, the game ends and the answers are revealed.
How to win Connections
The most important thing to know to win Connections is that the groupings are designed to be tricky. Expect to see overlapping groups. For example, one puzzle seemed to include six breakfast foods: BACON, EGG, PANCAKE, OMELET, WAFFLE, and CEREAL. But BACON turned out to be part of a group of painters along with CLOSE, MUNCH, and WHISTLER, and EGG was in a group of things that come by the dozen (along with JUROR, ROSE, and MONTH). So don’t hit “submit” until you’ve confirmed that your group of four contains only those four things.
If you’re stuck, another strategy is to look at the words that seem to have no connection to the others. If all that comes to mind when you see WHISTLER is the painting nicknamed “Whistler’s Mother,” you might be on to something. When I solved that one, I ended up googling whether there was a painter named Close, because Close didn’t fit any of the obvious themes, either.
Another way to win when you’re stuck is, obviously, to read a few helpful hints–which is why we share these pointers every day. Check back tomorrow for the next puzzle!
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to today’s Connections.
