NYT Connections Hints & Answers (#1135) – Today's Puzzle, July 20
Today’s NYT Connections Tip
One category hides inside the first syllable of every word.
Connections Hint for Each Word Today
Tap any word to see its Connections hint — what it means in today’s puzzle, no spoilers.
OYSTER
OYSTER Connections Hint
The shellfish that produces pearls — its pearl connection is real and intentional here.
MEADOW
MEADOW Connections Hint
A grassy field — but the first three letters contain a common alcoholic drink, and that is what matters in this puzzle.
WISDOM
WISDOM Connections Hint
As in wisdom teeth, or hard-won knowledge — here it connects to a famous phrase about pearls of wisdom.
SOUND
SOUND Connections Hint
Usually means noise, or healthy (sound advice) — here it means to publicly announce or proclaim something.
The shellfish that produces pearls — its pearl connection is real and intentional here.
BUTTON
BUTTON Connections Hint
On a shirt or a machine — in this puzzle it is specifically the clickable kind you find on a screen.
BUBBLE TEA
BUBBLE TEA Connections Hint
The Taiwanese drink with tapioca pearls at the bottom — those chewy balls are literally called pearls.
PORTOBELLO
PORTOBELLO Connections Hint
A large flat mushroom — but the first four letters spell a well-known alcoholic drink, which is the puzzle's angle.
MENU
MENU Connections Hint
A restaurant list or a dropdown on a screen — in this puzzle it is the digital navigation kind you click.
TRUMPET
TRUMPET Connections Hint
The brass instrument — and also a verb meaning to loudly announce or proclaim something, which is how it is used here.
ICON
ICON Connections Hint
A small image on a screen that you tap or click to open something — its digital interface meaning is what counts here.
HERALD
HERALD Connections Hint
To herald something is to announce it publicly, often with fanfare — the verb sense is what this puzzle uses.
SWINE
SWINE Connections Hint
Pigs — and the source of the phrase casting pearls before swine, meaning offering something valuable to those who will not appreciate it.
SAKES
SAKES Connections Hint
As in for goodness' sakes — but the first four letters spell a Japanese rice wine, and that hidden drink is the puzzle's point.
BLARE
BLARE Connections Hint
To blare is to make a loud harsh sound — and by extension to broadcast or announce something loudly and unavoidably.
LINK
LINK Connections Hint
A clickable hyperlink on a webpage — one of the four standard things you interact with in a digital interface.
ALEXA
ALEXA Connections Hint
Amazon's voice assistant — but the first three letters spell a type of beer, and that hidden drink prefix is what puts it in the hardest category.
Today’s NYT Connections Hints for All Four Categories
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Yellow Connections Hint Today
Verbs meaning to proclaim or broadcast loudly. Think: fanfare, public declaration
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Green Connections Hint Today
Things you interact with on a digital screen. Think: cursor, interface, tap
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Blue Connections Hint Today
Each one connects to pearls in a different way. Think: literal, figurative, culinary
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Purple Connections Hint Today
Each word secretly begins with an alcoholic drink. Think: hidden prefix, first syllable
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.
TRUMPET is a brass instrument, HERALD is a medieval announcer, and SOUND is what both of them make — grouping these three as music or announcement words feels completely natural. That reading is a trap for at least one of them. Each word has a claim on a different category, so do not lock all three together before you have checked every angle.
OYSTER produces pearls, BUBBLE TEA contains pearl-sized tapioca balls, and SWINE connects to the phrase casting pearls before swine — all three have a genuine pearl association. The trap is assuming a fourth word completes this group when one of these three might actually belong elsewhere, or when the fourth member is a word you have not yet connected to pearls at all.
These four words look like they have nothing in common — a field, a mushroom, a smart speaker, and a plural noun. The surface meaning of each one is a complete dead end. Strip the first few letters off each word and listen for what is hiding at the front.
BUTTON is something you press on a shirt or a machine, and MENU is a list of food options — the physical, non-digital meanings of both words feel equally valid. In this puzzle both words are being used in their digital interface sense, so resist the urge to chase the clothing or restaurant angle.
Today’s NYT Connections Answers
Today’s NYT Connections Answers Explained
ANNOUNCE
BLARE, HERALD, SOUND, and TRUMPET all mean to announce or proclaim something loudly and publicly — each word's verb sense carries the idea of making something known with force or fanfare.
- BLARE
- To blare is to make a loud, harsh noise — and by extension to broadcast or announce something so loudly it cannot be ignored.
- HERALD
- To herald something is to announce its arrival publicly, often with ceremony — historically heralds were official public announcers.
- SOUND
- To sound something — as in sound the alarm, or sound a warning — means to announce or signal it publicly.
- TRUMPET
- To trumpet something is to announce it loudly and proudly, the way a fanfare of trumpets would announce a royal arrival.
THINGS TO CLICK
BUTTON, ICON, LINK, and MENU are all standard elements of a digital interface that a user clicks or taps to navigate or trigger an action.
- BUTTON
- A clickable element on a screen — a submit button, a play button — distinct from the physical button on clothing.
- ICON
- A small image on a screen representing an app or function — you click or tap it to open something.
- LINK
- A hyperlink on a webpage — clicking it takes you to another page or resource.
- MENU
- A dropdown or navigation menu on a screen — you click it to reveal a list of options, distinct from a restaurant menu.
ASSOCIATED WITH PEARLS
BUBBLE TEA, OYSTER, SWINE, and WISDOM each connect to pearls in a distinct way — through the drink's tapioca balls, the shellfish that makes them, the biblical proverb, and the phrase pearls of wisdom.
- BUBBLE TEA
- Bubble tea contains chewy tapioca balls at the bottom that are commonly called pearls — the drink is sometimes called pearl milk tea.
- OYSTER
- Oysters are the shellfish that produce real pearls — a grain of sand irritates the oyster and it coats it in nacre to form a pearl.
- SWINE
- From the biblical phrase casting pearls before swine — meaning offering something valuable to people who will not appreciate it.
- WISDOM
- From the phrase pearls of wisdom — meaning small but valuable pieces of advice or insight, treating wisdom as something precious like a pearl.
STARTING WITH ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES
ALEXA, MEADOW, PORTOBELLO, and SAKES each begin with the name of an alcoholic drink hidden inside the word — ALE, MEAD, PORT, and SAKE respectively.
- ALEXA
- ALEXA starts with ALE — a type of beer — followed by XA, making the drink invisible unless you are looking for it.
- MEADOW
- MEADOW starts with MEAD — an alcoholic drink made from fermented honey — followed by OW, disguising it as a simple nature word.
- PORTOBELLO
- PORTOBELLO starts with PORT — a fortified wine from Portugal — followed by OBELLO, making it look like nothing more than a mushroom variety.
- SAKES
- SAKES starts with SAKE — Japanese rice wine — followed by S, and the whole word reads naturally as the plural of sake meaning purpose or benefit.
What Makes Today’s NYT Connections Puzzle Tricky?
TRUMPET, HERALD, OYSTER, MEADOW, BUBBLE TEA, and ALEXA share a grid with BUTTON, ICON, and WISDOM — a collision of tech vocabulary, nature words, fanfare terms, and things that feel vaguely thematic but resist obvious grouping.
The editor's sharpest trick is hiding a category inside the opening syllables of four words — the words look completely normal on the surface, and nothing flags them as containers for something else.
Harder than a Monday usually feels — one group is genuinely satisfying once it clicks, but the hidden-prefix category will stump most players until they hear the penny drop.
How to Use Connections Hints
Everyone playing NYT Connections puzzle gets stuck at a different point. Some players can’t figure out a single word. Others have three groups solved and can’t find the fourth. Where you are stuck determines which connection hint you need. So if you are stuck in today’s puzzle, find your situation in the sections below, use the recommended Connections hint, and continue solving. You don’t need to reveal more than what gets you past the point where you are stuck.
A word in the puzzle has an unfamiliar meaning
Some words in today’s NYT Connections puzzle are uncommon. Connections editor Wyna Liu often uses words with specific or less familiar meanings, particularly in the green, blue, and purple categories. If you don’t know what a word means, you cannot 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. Each word opens a small card with its puzzle-specific connections 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. These category-level clues are the most useful hints for connections that aren’t coming together from word meanings alone.
Use the Category Hint. It points you toward the theme of a category without revealing the category name or which words belong to it. In the All Hints section, tap “Yellow Category Hint” first. Read it before revealing anything else. Yellow is the easiest category by design.
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. If you’re unsure, don’t guess yet — a wrong guess costs you one of your four mistakes.
Use the Category Name. It reveals the exact name of the category without showing you which words belong to it. If your group belongs to that category, guess with confidence. If it doesn’t, you’ve saved a mistake. In the All Hints section, tap “Yellow Category Name” — or whichever colour you are testing. The name appears immediately below the hint.
One word seems to fit more than one group
You have built a group of four words but one word in it could also fit somewhere else. NYT Connections editor Wyna Liu deliberately places misleading words on the board that seem to fit multiple categories. These are the most common source of wrong guesses in today’s connections puzzle.
Use the Traps and Misdirects Hints. It identifies the specific misleading words in today’s puzzle and explains why they don’t belong where you think they do. Go to the Traps and Misdirects section and look for the word that is 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 all four words that belong to it.
Use the Word Reveal. It uncovers one masked word at a time without revealing the full group. This is the most precise connection hint available — it gives you exactly one word without touching the rest of the puzzle. In the All Hints section, find the colour category you have identified. Tap “Category Words” to open the reveal panel, then tap “Reveal word 1” — one word at a time until your group is complete.
One mistake left with two groups unsolved
You have one mistake remaining and two groups unsolved. If you guess wrong here, the game ends and NYT reveals all the answers automatically.
Do not guess yet. Use the Category Name for both remaining groups first. If the category names still don’t resolve it, use the Word Reveal to uncover one or two words causing the split. In the All Hints section, tap the Category Name for both remaining colours. If that is still not enough, tap “Category Words” and reveal one word at a time until the correct split is clear.
You want today’s answers without solving the puzzle
Use the Answers section. It shows all four category names and the four words that belong to 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 tells you exactly what connects the words in each category and why each individual word belongs there. This is particularly useful for the purple category, where the connection is almost never straightforward. Go to the Answer Explanation section.
