X

Hint for July 3, #388 Connections is to Watch Out For the Yellow Category

The purple category is usually the toughest, but in the Connections No. 388, for July 3, the yellow category brought some heat.

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, and generational studies Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
See full bio
Gael Cooper
2 min read
New York Times Connections word game

In search of today's Connections answers? You've found them.

 James Martin/CNET

Connections was kind of all over the place today. The blue category was easy and made me hungry, but the other three were all over the map, especially the yellow category. Anyone else get Dodgeball vibes from one of the purple answers, even though there's another, more traditional meaning? Read on for hints and answers for the July 3 Connections puzzle.

And do you also play Wordle? We've got today's Wordle answer and hints too.

We've also got today's answer and some general tips for Strands, a new game from the Times that's just moved out of beta and into the NYT's Games app.

Read more: NYT Connections Could Be the New Wordle: Our Hints and Tips

Hints for today's Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today's Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest, yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Envision or conceive.

Green group hint: Actual.

Blue group hint: Bake it and slice it.

Purple group hint: Baseball pitchers might get this one.

Answers for today's Connections groups

Yellow group: Develop, as ideas.

Green group: Tangible.

Blue group: Kinds of cake

Purple group: Things you can throw, in metaphors.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today's Connections answers?

The yellow words in today's Connections

The theme is develop, as ideas. The four answers are brainstorm, ideate, spitball and workshop.

The green words in today's Connections

The theme is tangible. The four answers are concrete, material, real and solid.

The blue words in today's Connections

The theme is kinds of cake. The four answers are birthday, crumb, marble and pound.

The purple words in today's Connections

The theme is things you can throw, in metaphors. The four answers are curveball, party, tantrum and wrench.

How to play Connections

Playing is easy. Winning is hard. Look at the 16 words and mentally assign them to related groups of four. Click on the four words you think go together. The groups are coded by color, though you don't know what goes where until you see the answers. The yellow group is the easiest, then green, then blue, and purple is the toughest. Look at the words carefully, and think about related terms. Sometimes the connection has to do with just a part of the word. Once, four words were grouped because each started with the name of a rock band, including "Rushmore" and "Journeyman."