Today's puzzle was a crossword pun with themes such as tech verbs, silly nicknames, songs, and homophones.
The most challenging group was those words that sound like synonyms for 'despicable', a tough phonetic test.
NYT Connections continues to be a fun daily addition that combines logic, language, and culture.
NYT Connections continues to be a daily brainteaser for puzzle lovers across the world. The simple 4-column with 4-row clean word grid and deceptively easy objective. Players must sort sixteen words into four secret categories-teaches a great deal about language and gives a good workout to logic and pattern recognition.
Every puzzle, including today's, continues to prove how difficult the English language can be when trying to find these hidden connections.
The July 11 edition of NYT Connections retained its inspiring cleverness. It required one to be in tune with tech trends, bird names, song allusions, and subtle homophones.. It was the perfect concoction for two people interested in language and lateral thinking.
Today’s 16 words are:
UBER, SWAN, LOVE, VIAL, GOOSE, GOOGLE, FOWL, ZOOM, YAHOO, SIREN, MIEN, DODO, PHOTOSHOP, FOLK, GOOF, and OFFAL
A 4x4 word grid with 16 words comprises the NYT Connections puzzle, with the task being to sort all of the words into groups of four depending on a link that will not be explicitly given.
Links are sometimes straightforward themselves, such as "types of flowers," while other times they may be more abstract and include something like "words that are homophones of negative adjectives."
Color coding indicates the difficulty levels of the group:
Yellow: Easiest group
Green: Medium difficulty
Blue: Challenging
Purple: Most difficult, often involving puns or wordplay
A maximum of four errors is allowed in NYT Connections. The grid can be shuffled to help identify patterns or themes.
Today's word associations come under these groups:
Yellow: Companies that have become verbs (like “Google it” or “Uber a ride”)
Green: Words describing silly people or fools
Blue: Types of songs
Purple: Homophones of words meaning "despicable"
Also Read: Wordle Answer Today for July 11, 2025 (#1483) Revealed: Hints, Strategy & Expert Walkthrough
One word per category acts as a hint to get the thematic connection:
Yellow: ZOOM
Green: GOOSE
Blue: SIREN
Purple: FOWL
Proper grouping assignments for today's Connections puzzle:
Yellow Group (Companies Used as Verbs): GOOGLE, PHOTOSHOP, UBER, ZOOM
Green Group (Silly People): DODO, GOOF, GOOSE, YAHOO
Blue Group (Types of Songs): FOLK, LOVE, SIREN, SWAN
Purple Group (Homophones for “Despicable” Words): FOWL (“foul”), MIEN (“mean”), OFFAL (“awful”), VIAL (“vile”)
For those with a technical background, the yellow category was smooth. Once informal synonyms for working from home or texting, terms like “Google” and “Zoom” are slowly becoming verbs in daily speech. The green group plunged into slang with silly names of goofy or outdated terms, like “goof” or “dodo.”
This set was a bit more subtle. Recognizing musical terms like “Swan” or “Siren” is a matter of cultural knowledge. On the other hand, the purple group showed one of NYT Connections' arguably most clever tricks: the phonetic distraction.
Words in this group, like “mien” and “vial,” don't seem related until you speak them out loud and realize they sound a lot like “mean” and “vile.”
NYT Connections, a new puzzle with a name perhaps suggesting themes of associative thought between words and ideas, consists of a very nice combination of pop culture, phonetics, and general knowledge.
The company verbs were a contemporary touch, and the homophones created a more interesting wordplay. There is always some encouragement for critical thinking and language intuition in this game. NYT Connections once again proves to be an ideal daily ritual for puzzle fanatics of all levels.
Check back tomorrow for July 12’s clues and answers, and keep your streak alive!