If you’re looking for the Links answer for Friday, July 5, 2024, read on—I’ll share some clues, tips and strategies, and finally the solutions for all four categories. Along the way, I’ll explain the meanings of more complicated words and we’ll learn how everything fits together. Warning, there are spoilers below for July 5, NYT Connections #390! Read on if you want some hints (and then the answer) for today’s game of Connections.
If you want an easy way to get back to our Link suggestions every day, Bookmark this page. You can also find our past hints there, in case you want to know what you missed in a previous puzzle.
Below, I’ll give you some oblique hints in today’s Links answers. And further down the page, I’ll reveal the topics and answers. Move slowly and only get the hints you need!
Credit: Links/NYT
Hints about the themes in today’s Connections puzzle
Here are some spoiler-free grouping suggestions in today’s Links:
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Yellow category – A deep feeling of longing for something.
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Green category – You can buy these publications in the checkout line at the grocery store, for example.
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Blue Category – Iconic figure in a British espionage franchise.
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Purple Category – Subgenres of a fizzy, casual type of music that is often played on the radio.
WARNING: Spoilers ahead for today’s Connections puzzle!
We will provide some of the answers. Move slowly if you don’t want the whole thing to fall apart. (The full solution is just below.)
A heads up for the tricky parts
YEN and EURO are both currencies, but today they have different meanings. (I had to Google YEN, in full transparency.)
PINE is a verb and does not go with NATURE.
O doesn’t go with K.
POWER and POWER are things an ambitious person may seek, but they do not go together.
What are the categories in Today’s Links?
DOUBLE BEWARE: THE SOLUTION IS BELOW
Ready to learn the answers to today’s Connections puzzle? I give it all below.
What are the yellow words in today’s Links?
The yellow grouping is considered to be more straightforward. The theme for today’s yellow group is YEAR and the words are: DESIRE, LONG, PINE, JEN.
What are the green words in today’s Links?
The green cluster is supposed to be the second easiest. The theme for today’s green category is MAGAZINE and the words are: FATE, MADNESS, NATURE, O.
What are the blue words in today’s Links?
The blue group is the second hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is CHARACTERS IN THE BOND MOVIES and the words are: BOND, M, MONEY, Q.
What are the purple words in today’s Links?
The purple group is considered to be the most difficult. The theme of today’s purple category is WORDS THAT PRECEDED “POP” IN MUSIC GENRES and the words are: BUBBLEGUM, EURO, K, POWER.
How I Solved Today’s Links
After a quick scan, I’m seeing two possible categories: currency types and bond characters.
Bond seems easier to get, so let’s grab them: BOND, M, Q, MONEY. 🦄
EURO and JEN are the only two currencies I’m sure about, so I’ll keep looking around.
EURO and POWER might be part of a “___ TRIP” category, but I’m not sure yet.
DESIRE, PINE, and LONG seem like synonyms for wanting something, but I don’t know what else could go with that. I have a hunch that YEN and EURO may not actually be currency references, so I do some Googling and find that YEN may also refer to the merchandise. 🨶
Hmm, the last eight words are tricky: NATURE, O, FORTUNE, and MAD could all be editions, but they seem a bit inconsistent. NATURE is a scientific journal and the rest are more casual journals. Oh, maybe this IS correct, because the other four words all sound like pop genres. Let’s try. Yes!
This means that BUBBLEGUM, EURO, K and POWER are all types of pop music. 🪬
Connections Puzzle #390 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟪🟪🟪🟪
How to play Links
I have a full one guide to playing Connectionsbut here is a refresher of the rules:
First, find the Connections game either on the New York Times website or in their Games app (formerly the Crossword app). You will see a game board with 16 tiles, each with a word or phrase. Your task is to choose a group of four tiles that have something in common. Often they are all the same thing (for example: RAIN, SNOW, HAIL, and HAND are all types of wet weather), but sometimes puns are involved (for example, BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH are all types e LISTS: bucket list, guest list, and so on).
Select four items and press the Submit button. If you guessed correctly, the category and color will be revealed. (Yellow is the lightest, followed by green, then blue, then purple.) If your guess was wrong, you’ll have a chance to try again.
You win when you have correctly identified all four groups. But if you make four mistakes before you finish, it’s game over and the answers are revealed.
How to earn Links
The most important thing to know about winning Links is that groups are designed to be tricky. Expect to see overlapping groups. For example, one puzzle appeared to include six breakfast foods: bacon, eggs, pancakes, omelets, waffles, 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 coming from dozens (along with JUROR, ROSE and MONTH). So don’t hit submit until you’ve confirmed that your group of four is contained only those four things.
If you’re stuck, another strategy is to look at the words they seem to have No. connection with others. If all you think of when you see WHISTLER is the painting nicknamed “Whistler’s Mother,” you might be on to something. When I sorted it out, I ended up googling if there was a painter named Close, because Close didn’t fit any of the obvious themes.
Another way to win when you’re stuck is, of course, to read some helpful tips – that’s why we share these pointers every day. Check back tomorrow for the next puzzle!