TodayHint

Connections July 31, 2026: Hints & Answers (#1233)

edited by Wyna Liu.

Recap

The puzzle featured four groups of four words each, requiring solvers to find connections between them. The categories ranged from construction terms to video game characters, fruit names, and words starting with joyful terms.

The sixteen tiles

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

MOLDSPEARDAPPLEPRINCESSMUSHROOMJOYSTICKSLIMEFUNGUSCHEERIOSDINOSAURFASHIONMODELGLEEKSHAPEPLUMBERJDATE

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
    Building terms
    Green
    Iconic characters
    Blue
    Fruit names
    Purple
    Joyful starts
  2. What linked each group, described

    Still no titles and no tiles named.

    Yellow group

    These words relate to creating or designing something, often used interchangeably in various contexts.

    Green group

    These terms evoke a popular video game franchise, featuring recognizable characters and items.

    Blue group

    These words are names of fruits or related terms, possibly connected through their starting letters.

    Purple group

    These words begin with terms associated with happiness or merriment, linking them together.

  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
    8 characters
    Shortest tile
    4 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, particularly those related to common objects or terms that could apply to more than one theme, like 'model' or 'mushroom'.

  5. The four category titles

    Half the answer.

    Yellow
    CONSTRUCT
    Green
    SUPER MARIO FIGURES
    Blue
    FRUITS PLUS STARTING LETTER
    Purple
    STARTING WITH MERRIMENTS
  6. One tile from each group

    The anchor most people misplaced, matched to its title.

    Yellow — CONSTRUCT
    MOLD
    Green — SUPER MARIO FIGURES
    PRINCESS
    Blue — FRUITS PLUS STARTING LETTER
    SPEAR
    Purple — STARTING WITH MERRIMENTS
    FUNGUS
    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

    CONSTRUCT

    FASHION, MODEL, MOLD, SHAPE. The yellow group, 'CONSTRUCT', consists of 'FASHION', 'MODEL', 'MOLD', 'SHAPE', all related to building or designing.

  • Green group · 4 tiles

    SUPER MARIO FIGURES

    DINOSAUR, MUSHROOM, PLUMBER, PRINCESS. The green group, 'SUPER MARIO FIGURES', includes 'DINOSAUR', 'MUSHROOM', 'PLUMBER', 'PRINCESS', all referencing characters or items from the Super Mario series.

  • Blue group · 4 tiles

    FRUITS PLUS STARTING LETTER

    DAPPLE, JDATE, SLIME, SPEAR. The blue group, 'FRUITS PLUS STARTING LETTER', comprises 'DAPPLE', 'JDATE', 'SLIME', 'SPEAR', connected through their relation to fruits and starting letters.

  • Purple group · 4 tiles

    STARTING WITH MERRIMENTS

    CHEERIOS, FUNGUS, GLEEK, JOYSTICK. The purple group, 'STARTING WITH MERRIMENTS', features 'CHEERIOS', 'FUNGUS', 'GLEEK', 'JOYSTICK', all starting with words associated with joy or merriment.

This board by the numbers

Puzzle
(#1233) · Friday, July 31, 2026
Tiles
16 in a 4 × 4 grid
Groups
4, yellow to purple
Multi-word tiles
0
Longest tile
DINOSAUR
Mistakes allowed
4 before the board locked

More Connections

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Try the other two puzzles