The underlying themes in today’s Connections puzzle are very apparent. However, a closer inspection reveals that there is a lot of overlap between the categories. Instead of guessing your way through the puzzle, we recommend checking out our spoiler-free hints to submit informed answers. If that doesn’t work, we’ll help you out some more by giving you one word from each category and the list of themes. Finally, the answers and their explanations will be waiting for you at the end of the page. So, without further ado, here are all the hints, clues, and answers to NYT Connections today.
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In This Article
What is Connections?
The New York Times has a thriving online word game section, with Connections being the second-most-played title behind the crown jewel, Wordle. The rules of this game are simple – you need to find 4 groups comprising 4 words each in a 16-word grid. The words in each group are united by a common theme. The Yellow group is the easiest one to spot, followed by Green, Blue, and Purple (toughest). Sometimes, there are red herrings and misdirects in the grid to throw you off your game, so don’t take your thinking cap off at any time! Ready to lock in? You can play Connections in the NYT Games app or on the NYT website.
Here’s your grid for today
- MOLD
- SPEAR
- DAPPLE
- PRINCESS
- MUSHROOM
- JOYSTICK
- SLIME
- FUNGUS
- CHEERIOS
- DINOSAUR
- FASHION
- MODEL
- GLEEK
- SHAPE
- PLUMBER
- JDATE
Hints for NYT Connections (#1,146) July 31, 2026
Let’s get you started with some general, spoiler-free hints.
- 🟡Yellow Group: Design.
- 🟢Green Group: Figures from a very popular video game.
- 🔵Blue Group: Ignore the first letter and focus on the rest of the word.
- 🟣Purple Group: The starting parts of these words are used to express happiness.
One Word Per Category (Contains Spoilers)
Can’t seem to find an in? We’ll give you one word from each category.
- 🟡Yellow Group: Fashion.
- 🟢Green Group: Dinosaur.
- 🔵Blue Group: Dapple.
- 🟣Purple Group: Cheerios.
List of Themes (Major Spoilers)
Maybe getting to know the themes among the words will help you spot them faster. Here are all the categories for today.
- 🟡Yellow Group: Construct.
- 🟢Green Group: Super Mario Figures.
- 🔵Blue Group: Fruits Plus Starting Letter.
- 🟣Purple Group: Starting With Merriments.
Answers to NYT Connections (#1,146) Today (July 31, 2026)
Close to waving the white flag? Fine, we’ll give you the answers.
- 🟡Yellow Group: Fashion, Model, Mold, Shape. (Construct)
These words are used to describe the act of building, creating, or assembling something.
- 🟢Green Group: Dinosaur, Mushroom, Plumber, Princess. (Super Mario Figures)
These things can be found in Super Mario. ‘Fungus’ refers to Super Mushroom and does not belong in this group.
- 🔵Blue Group: Dapple, Jdate, Slime, Spear. (Fruits Plus Starting Letter)
D-apple. J-date. S-lime. S-pear.
- 🟣Purple Group: Cheerios, Fungus, Gleek, Joystick. (Starting With Merriments)
Cheer-ios. Fun-gus. Glee-k. Joy-stick.
Answers to yesterday’s puzzle (#1,145, July 30, 2026)
- 🟡Yellow Group: Fair, Good, Just, Right. (Virtuous)
- 🟢Green Group: Beer Pong, Bingo, Juggling, Pool. (Activities With Multiple Balls)
- 🔵Blue Group: Carnival, Celebrity, Princess, Viking. (Cruise Lines)
- 🟣Purple Group: Dot, Mark, Money, Nose. (On The ___, To Mean ‘Precise’)
Answers to NYT Connections #1,144 (July 29, 2026)
- 🟡Yellow Group: Nail, Rivet, Screw, Staple. (Fasten)
- 🟢Green Group: Basic, Mid, Plain, Vanilla. (Nondescript)
- 🔵Blue Group: Gem, Nugget, Pearl, Word. (Units Of Wisdom)
- 🟣Purple Group: Black, Chalk, Cork, White. (____ Boards In A Classroom)
Answers to NYT Connections #1,143 (July 28, 2026)
- 🟡Yellow Group: Captain, Direct, Head, Lead. (Command)
- 🟢Green Group: Empire, Fuji, Gala, Honeycrisp. (How Do You Like Them Apples)
- 🔵Blue Group: Camper, Clarks, Converse, Crocs. (Shoe Brands Starting with ‘C’)
- 🟣Purple Group: Annapolis, Bobsled, Everest, Ottoman. (Starting With Palindromic Names)
How did other solvers do today?
NYT’s early testers rated today’s Connection puzzle 2.8 out of 5. This puts it in the medium difficulty level. Let us know how you fared in the comments!
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