Today’s Connections grid is one of the easiest we’ve seen in a while. If you’re struggling with it, maybe you just need to be nudged in the right direction. Our spoiler-free hints will do just that. We’ll also give you one word from each category and the list of themes if you’re unable to get the answers from the hints. Finally, you will find the answers and their explanations at the bottom of the page. So, without further ado, here are all the hints, clues, and answers to NYT Connections today (#1,136, July 21, 2026).
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In This Article
What is Connections?
After Wordle, Connections is the New York Times’ most popular word game. The rules are simple. You need to find words with a common theme and group them into 4 groups of 4. The 16-word grid is designed with an increasing level of difficulty. The Yellow group is the easiest to spot, followed by Green, Blue, and Purple. The misdirects and red herrings can trip you up, but they also make the puzzle more fun. You can play Connections in the NYT Games app or on the NYT website.
Here’s your grid for today
- MUSIC
- GRAM
- DRIVER
- VISION
- TUBE
- CROP
- BOOK
- APP
- ORCHESTRATION
- EXTENSION
- TANK
- KINESIS
- PROMPTER
- HALTER
- LYRICS
- PLUGIN
Hints for NYT Connections (#1,136) July 21, 2026
Let’s get you started with some general, spoiler-free hints.
- 🟡Yellow Group: Upper body clothing.
- 🟢Green Group: What you’d install on a phone or PC.
- 🔵Blue Group: Parts of a Broadway show.
- 🟣Purple Group: These words have the same prefix.
One Word Per Category (Contains Spoilers)
Can’t seem to find an in? We’ll give you one word from each category.
- 🟡Yellow Group: Crop.
- 🟢Green Group: App.
- 🔵Blue Group: Book.
- 🟣Purple Group: Gram.
List of Themes (Major Spoilers)
Maybe getting to know the common themes among the words will help you spot them faster. Here are all the categories for today.
- 🟡Yellow Group: Kinds Of Tops.
- 🟢Green Group: Software Downloads.
- 🔵Blue Group: Elements Of A Musical.
- 🟣Purple Group: Tele___.
Answers to NYT Connections (#1,136) Today (July 21, 2026)
Close to waving the white flag? Fine, we’ll give you the answers.
- 🟡Yellow Group: Crop, Halter, Tank, Tube. (Kinds Of Tops)
Today’s Yellow group was pretty self-explanatory. These are all different kinds of tops.
- 🟢Green Group: App, Driver, Extension, Plugin. (Software Downloads)
These things are used in phones and PCs to carry out specific tasks.
- 🔵Blue Group: Book, Lyrics, Music, Orchestration. (Elements Of A Musical)
The book contains the spoken dialogue and stage directions of the musical. It gives structure to the musical. The lyrics are the words to the songs. The orchestration produces the music.
- 🟣Purple Group: Gram, Kinesis, Prompter, Vision. (Tele___)
Telegram, Telekinesis, Teleprompter, Television.
Answers to yesterday’s puzzle (#1,135, July 20, 2026)
- 🟡Yellow Group: Blare, Herald, Sound, Trumpet. (Announce)
- 🟢Green Group: Button, Icon, Link, Menu. (Things To Click)
- 🔵Blue Group: Bubble Tea, Oyster, Swine, Wisdom. (Associated With Pearls)
- 🟣Purple Group: Alexa, Meadow, Portobello, Sakes. (Starting With Alcohol Beverages)
Answers to NYT Connections #1,134 (July 19, 2026)
- 🟡Yellow Group: Breaker, Fuse, Relay, Switch. (Circuit Components)
- 🟢Green Group: Connect, Join, Pair, Sync. (Digital Coupling Verbs)
- 🔵Blue Group: Drain, Flush, Refill, Swirl. (Things Toilets Do)
- 🟣Purple Group: Game, Long, Poker, Straight. (___ Face Expressions)
Answers to NYT Connections #1,133 (July 18, 2026)
- 🟡Yellow Group: Carry, Double Dribble, Goaltend, Travel. (Commit A Basketball Violation)
- 🟢Green Group: Attitude, Mind, Opinion, View. (Belief)
- 🔵Blue Group: Health, Lives, Score, Time. (Things Tracked In Video Games)
- 🟣Purple Group: Culture, Fly, Quiz, Tart. (Words After ‘Pop’)
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How did other solvers do today?
NYT’s early testers rated today’s Connection puzzle 1.8 out of 5. This puts it in the easy difficulty level. Let us know how you fared in the comments!
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