TodayHint

Connections July 21, 2026: Hints & Answers (#1224)

edited by Wyna Liu.

Recap

The puzzle required grouping terms into categories like fashion items, computer additions, theater components, and words starting with a specific prefix.

The sixteen tiles

The sixteen tiles as dealt. Reveal a group below to tint and caption its tiles here.

MUSICGRAMDRIVERVISIONTUBECROPBOOKAPPORCHESTRATIONEXTENSIONTANKKINESISPROMPTERHALTERLYRICSPLUGIN

Connections hints, one rung at a time

Six rungs, softest first. The recap above already named the groups, so this ladder is here for anyone replaying the board fresh rather than as a spoiler shield.

  1. Four one-line nudges, one per group

    The softest hint there is.

    Yellow
    Fashion items
    Green
    Computer additions
    Blue
    Theater components
    Purple
    Prefix meanings
  2. What linked each group, described

    Still no titles and no tiles named.

    Yellow group

    These terms describe various types of upper-body garments

    Green group

    These are types of files or code added to software

    Blue group

    These elements come together to create a complete musical performance

    Purple group

    These words all start with a prefix related to distance or transmission

  3. Board facts

    Counted off the sixteen printed tiles.

    Sixteen tiles, four groups of four, ordered yellow → green → blue → purple from most to least obvious. Every tile was a single word.

    Tiles
    16 across 4 groups
    Longest tile
    13 characters
    Shortest tile
    3 characters
    Multi-word tiles
    0
    Back to the sixteen tiles
  4. The trap on this board

    Which tiles pulled in two directions.

    Some cards could fit into multiple categories at first glance, consider 'BOOK' and 'VISION' carefully, as they relate to different concepts entirely.

  5. The four category titles

    Half the answer.

    Yellow
    KINDS OF TOPS
    Green
    SOFTWARE DOWNLOADS
    Blue
    ELEMENTS OF A MUSICAL
    Purple
    TELE___
  6. One tile from each group

    The anchor most people misplaced, matched to its title.

    Yellow — KINDS OF TOPS
    TUBE
    Green — SOFTWARE DOWNLOADS
    EXTENSION
    Blue — ELEMENTS OF A MUSICAL
    ORCHESTRATION
    Purple — TELE___
    KINESIS
    Open the full groupings

Every Connections group from that board

All four groups, folded. Opening one tints its four tiles above and captions them with the category name.

  • Yellow group · 4 tiles

    KINDS OF TOPS

    CROP, HALTER, TANK, TUBE. The yellow group, KINDS OF TOPS, includes CROP, HALTER, TANK, TUBE.

  • Green group · 4 tiles

    SOFTWARE DOWNLOADS

    APP, DRIVER, EXTENSION, PLUGIN. The green group, SOFTWARE DOWNLOADS, consists of APP, DRIVER, EXTENSION, PLUGIN.

  • Blue group · 4 tiles

    ELEMENTS OF A MUSICAL

    BOOK, LYRICS, MUSIC, ORCHESTRATION. The blue group, ELEMENTS OF A MUSICAL, comprises BOOK, LYRICS, MUSIC, ORCHESTRATION.

  • Purple group · 4 tiles

    TELE___

    GRAM, KINESIS, PROMPTER, VISION. The purple group, TELE___, features GRAM, KINESIS, PROMPTER, VISION.

This board by the numbers

Puzzle
(#1224) · Tuesday, July 21, 2026
Tiles
16 in a 4 × 4 grid
Groups
4, yellow to purple
Multi-word tiles
0
Longest tile
ORCHESTRATION
Mistakes allowed
4 before the board locked

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