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Today’s puzzle mixed language, emotions, geography, and clever phrase-based wordplay into four distinct categories.
The yellow and green groups were easier to identify, while the blue category tested knowledge of African currencies.
The purple group required recognizing common words that follow ‘strip’ in familiar phrases.
The New York Times Connections puzzle is back with another brain teaser, challenging players to sort 16 words into four hidden groups. Today’s grid blends Spanish family terms, expressions linked to crying, African currencies, and a clever phrase-completion category. Several words can fit multiple interpretations, making this puzzle more deceptive than it first appears.
If you’re stuck, the spoiler-free hints below will guide you before revealing the complete answers.
Here is one representative word from each category:
Yellow Category: MADRE
Green Category: MIST
Blue Category: RAND
Purple Category: MALL
Additional clues for today’s groups include:
Yellow Category: Think of family members in Spanish.
Green Category: These go with ‘up’ to indicate crying begins.
Blue Category: Currency in use in Africa.
Purple Category: Fill in this phrase: Strip ____
Still stuck? Try today’s category titles:
Yellow Category: Spanish Family Members
Green Category: Start to Cry With ‘Up’
Blue Category: African Currencies
Purple Category: Strip ____
The yellow category consists of words that are family members in Spanish. The green category consists of verbs that go with ‘up’ to show becoming emotional. The blue category is African currencies, and the purple category is familiar phrases starting with the word ‘strip.’
The complete solutions for the July 25, 2026 puzzle are:
Yellow List: Spanish Relatives
ABUELA
HIJO
MADRE
PRIMO
Green List: Start to Cry With ‘Up’
CHOKE
MIST
TEAR
WELL
Blue List: African Currencies
KWANZA
LEONE
NAIRA
RAND
Purple List: Strip _____
CLUB
MALL
POKER
STEAK
Today’s Connections game from the NYT was a good combination of language skills, geographical knowledge, and word play through phrases. The Spanish family members and emotions were not too difficult to figure out, but the African currencies would have required more general knowledge. ‘Strip ___’ phrase would have definitely appealed to people who are familiar with compound words.
