NYT Connections Hints & Answers (#1146) – Today's Puzzle, July 31
Today’s NYT Connections Tip
One category hides inside another category's words.
Connections Hint for Each Word Today
Tap any word to see its Connections hint — what it means in today’s puzzle, no spoilers.
MOLD
MOLD Connections Hint
To give something its shape by pressing it into a form — the crafty verb sense, not the fuzzy stuff that grows on old bread.
SPEAR
SPEAR Connections Hint
Hides a fruit inside it with a single extra letter at the front — the added S is what turns the fruit into a weapon.
DAPPLE
DAPPLE Connections Hint
A word for a spotted or mottled marking, with a fruit tucked inside once you strip away the first letter.
PRINCESS
PRINCESS Connections Hint
The royal who keeps getting rescued in a certain video game franchise — a figure, not just a title.
MUSHROOM
MUSHROOM Connections Hint
A power-up that makes a famous plumber grow — in this puzzle it is a game icon, not a fungus.
JOYSTICK
JOYSTICK Connections Hint
Starts with a short word that means delight or merriment — the happy word comes first, the stick follows.
SLIME
SLIME Connections Hint
A citrus fruit hides inside with just one extra letter added at the very front.
FUNGUS
FUNGUS Connections Hint
Its first three letters spell a word for good times or enjoyment — then the rest of the word tags along.
CHEERIOS
CHEERIOS Connections Hint
A breakfast cereal whose name begins with a word of approval and high spirits.
DINOSAUR
DINOSAUR Connections Hint
A green companion creature from the Super Mario games — sounds prehistoric, but it belongs to a gaming group.
FASHION
FASHION Connections Hint
Used as a verb it means to make or construct — think 'fashioned from scraps', not the clothing industry.
MODEL
MODEL Connections Hint
To shape or form something, like working with clay — the act of building a representation.
GLEEK
GLEEK Connections Hint
Begins with a four-letter word that means joy or mirth — the fun part is right at the start.
SHAPE
SHAPE Connections Hint
To give form to something — a plain verb that means to make or build.
PLUMBER
PLUMBER Connections Hint
The day job of a certain red-capped video game hero — the most human-sounding entry in its group.
JDATE
JDATE Connections Hint
Contains a fruit that is also a romantic outing, with a single letter added up front.
To give something its shape by pressing it into a form — the crafty verb sense, not the fuzzy stuff that grows on old bread.
Today’s NYT Connections Hints for All Four Categories
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Yellow Connections Hint Today
Four verbs that all mean to make or build something. Think: Think: crafting, forming, creating
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Green Connections Hint Today
Characters and icons from the Super Mario universe. Think: Think: Nintendo, mustachioed hero
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Blue Connections Hint Today
Each word contains a fruit with one letter added at the start. Think: Think: fruit names hiding inside
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Purple Connections Hint Today
Each word begins with a synonym for happiness or fun. Think: Think: cheer, glee, joy, fun
Traps & Misdirects Hints for Today’s Connections Puzzle
Today’s Connections puzzle includes words intentionally placed to misdirect you into wrong groups. These traps and misdirects hints reveal which words are designed to mislead, so you don’t burn your 4 allowed mistakes on deliberate decoys.
MUSHROOM is a fungus, FUNGUS is the biological kingdom, and SLIME is the goo you associate with mold and damp corners — so a nature-and-science group feels airtight. That reading is wrong. Each of these words belongs to a completely different category in this puzzle, and none of them end up grouped together.
These three are all things you meet in Super Mario games, which makes them feel like the obvious core of one group — but the fourth Mario figure is hiding behind a job title, not a creature or a royal. Lock in these three and go hunting for another fantasy creature and you will miss it.
SPEAR is a weapon, MOLD shapes things, and SHAPE is literally about form — a weapons-and-forms cluster feels plausible. That connection is a dead end. SPEAR is doing something completely different here, and MOLD and SHAPE are in the same group but for a reason that has nothing to do with physical form.
GLEEK sounds like a fandom portmanteau, JOYSTICK is a game controller, and JDATE is a dating site — they look like a random modern-culture grab bag with no shared thread. Look more carefully at how each word starts: the connection is not what these words mean but what they begin with.
Today’s NYT Connections Answers
Today’s NYT Connections Answers Explained
CONSTRUCT
FASHION, MODEL, MOLD, and SHAPE all share a verb meaning — to construct, form, or make something — a sense that hides behind each word's more familiar noun identity.
- FASHION
- To fashion something means to make or construct it — as in 'she fashioned a tool from wire'. The verb sense is older than the clothing-industry noun.
- MODEL
- To model something is to shape or form it, the way you model clay into a figure — the act of constructing a representation.
- MOLD
- To mold something is to shape it by pressing it into a form — the verb sense meaning to construct, not the fungus.
- SHAPE
- To shape something is to give it form — 'shape the dough into a ball'. A direct synonym for the other three words in the group.
SUPER MARIO FIGURES
DINOSAUR, MUSHROOM, PLUMBER, and PRINCESS are all figures from the Super Mario franchise — Yoshi the dinosaur, the power-up mushroom, Mario the plumber, and Princess Peach.
- DINOSAUR
- Yoshi is Mario's green dinosaur companion — a central Super Mario figure across many games in the series.
- MUSHROOM
- The Super Mushroom is Mario's classic power-up item that makes him grow — one of the most recognisable symbols in the franchise.
- PLUMBER
- Mario himself is a plumber by trade — his job title is the defining fact about him, making PLUMBER the sneakiest entry in this group.
- PRINCESS
- Princess Peach is the royal figure Mario repeatedly rescues — the princess role is a core archetype of the Super Mario story.
FRUITS PLUS STARTING LETTER
DAPPLE, JDATE, SLIME, and SPEAR each hide a fruit inside them — the fruit name with one extra letter added at the very beginning: D+APPLE, J+DATE, S+LIME, S+PEAR.
- DAPPLE
- D + APPLE — the fruit apple sits inside DAPPLE with the letter D added at the front.
- JDATE
- J + DATE — the fruit date sits inside JDATE with the letter J added at the front; JDATE is also a dating website, which is the surface disguise.
- SLIME
- S + LIME — the citrus fruit lime sits inside SLIME with the letter S added at the front.
- SPEAR
- S + PEAR — the fruit pear sits inside SPEAR with the letter S added at the front; the weapon meaning is the deliberate misdirect.
STARTING WITH MERRIMENTS
CHEERIOS, FUNGUS, GLEEK, and JOYSTICK each begin with a word that means merriment or happiness — CHEER, FUN, GLEE, and JOY — with the rest of the word appended after.
- CHEERIOS
- Begins with CHEER — a word meaning merriment or enthusiastic approval — followed by IOS; CHEERIOS is the breakfast cereal brand.
- FUNGUS
- Begins with FUN — a word meaning merriment or enjoyment — followed by GUS; the biological meaning of fungus is the surface disguise.
- GLEEK
- Begins with GLEE — a word meaning merriment or delight — followed by K; GLEEK is also slang for a fan of the TV show Glee, which layers the misdirect.
- JOYSTICK
- Begins with JOY — a word meaning merriment or happiness — followed by STICK; a joystick is a gaming or aircraft control device.
What Makes Today’s NYT Connections Puzzle Tricky?
MUSHROOM, FUNGUS, and SLIME look like a biology cluster, SPEAR pulls in as a weapon, and CHEERIOS and GLEEK point nowhere obvious — the board's real structure is hiding inside the words themselves.
The editor's sharpest trick is that several words here contain a hidden shorter word — a fruit plus one letter — and spotting that internal structure is the only way to unlock one full group.
This is a genuinely devious puzzle: the green group hides a job title instead of a character, the purple group only makes sense once you stop reading full words and start reading their first syllables, and the blue group is built entirely from fruit hidden inside other words.
How to Use Connections Hints
Players get stuck at different points in the NYT Connections puzzle. Some struggle with a single word. Others have three groups solved and can’t find the fourth. Where you are stuck determines which connection hint you need. Find your situation below, use the recommended hint, and keep solving. Reveal only as much as you need to get past the point where you are stuck.
A word in the puzzle has an unfamiliar meaning
Some words in today’s puzzle are uncommon or are used in an unusual sense, especially in the harder categories. If you don’t know what a word means, you can’t reliably place it in a group.
Use the Word Hint. It tells you what the word means in the context of today’s puzzle. Tap any word directly on the board above to see its hint.
No groups are forming after reading all sixteen words
The connection between words is often not obvious from their meanings alone — categories are built around themes that require a specific angle to see.
Use the Category Hint. It points you toward the theme of a category without revealing its name or words. In the All Hints section, tap the colour hint first and read it before revealing anything else.
You have a possible group but aren’t ready to guess
You think four words belong together but you’re not confident enough to guess. A wrong guess costs one of your four mistakes.
Use the Category Name. It reveals the exact name of the category without showing its words. If your group matches, guess with confidence; if not, you’ve saved a mistake.
One word seems to fit more than one group
Today’s board contains deliberately misleading words that seem to fit several categories. These are the most common source of wrong guesses.
Use the Traps and Misdirects Hints. They identify the misleading words and explain why they don’t belong where they seem to. Go to the Traps section and find the word bothering you.
You know the category but can’t find all four words
You have identified the theme of a category but can’t find every word that belongs to it.
Use the Word Reveal. It uncovers one masked word at a time without revealing the full group. In the All Hints section, open the category and reveal words one at a time until your group is complete.
One mistake left with two groups unsolved
You have one mistake remaining and two groups unsolved. A wrong guess ends the game and reveals everything.
Do not guess yet. Reveal the Category Name for both remaining groups first. If that doesn’t resolve it, use the Word Reveal on one or two words causing the split.
You want today’s answers without solving the puzzle
Use the Answers section. It shows all four category names and the words in each one. Go to the Answers section.
The puzzle is over but a category still doesn’t make sense
You can see the four groups and their words but the connection between them isn’t clear.
Use the Answer Explanation. It explains what connects the words in each category and why each word belongs there. Go to the Answer Explanation section.
