NYT Connections answers today - here’s the solution for July 18

 The logo for NYT Connections
The logo for NYT Connections

Connections is a new puzzle game that can be played on the New York Times website. It tasks you with guessing four groups from a grid of words. These words can be sorted into groups by working out what links them together.

You get four mistakes in NYT Connections and must work out each group, one at a time. They all have different difficulties too, meaning you can slowly whittle away the options of each puzzle, making things steadily easier for yourself.

While the core puzzles that feature in Connections can be easy on some days, others can be very tricky indeed. That’s where we come in, as we've included some Connections hints and clues for today’s puzzle below. If you really can’t work things out, don’t fret, as you’ll find the answer in this article as well. Keep reading for today’s Connections hints and answers.

NYT Connections hints for July 18 (#37)

If you’re struggling with today’s Connections puzzle, don’t worry, you’ll find some hints below. We’ll start off by giving you the groups in escalating difficulty so that you can start piecing things together.

  • Marine Mammals - Yellow group

  • Bike Parts - Green group

  • Synonyms for sell - Blue group

  • Countries where ‘A’ is added - Purple group

The NYT Connections puzzle for July 18 2023
The NYT Connections puzzle for July 18 2023

NYT Connections answer for July 18 (#37)

If you still can’t work out today’s Connections solution, you’ll find the answers below:

  • Marine Mammals: Otter, Dolphin, Manatee, Seal

  • Bike parts: Spoke, Saddle, Chain, Brake

  • Synonyms for ‘sell’: Hawk, Vend, Move, Peddle

  • Countries when ‘A’ is added: Malt (Malta), Chin (China), Cub (Cuba), Tong (Tonga)

Today’s Connections puzzle was a tough one, with the hardest difficulty really stumping us for a while. By eliminating the easier categories, however, things were made much easier. It’s easy to slip up with ‘Peddle’ in this puzzle, as it can be considered a synonym for sell, as well as a bike part. Hopefully tomorrow’s puzzle is a little easier to work out, but if not, we’ll be right here with more hints for you!

How to play NYT Connections

To play NYT Connections, you ultimately need to find groups of four items that share something in common. Select these four items and press ‘Submit’ to see if you’re correct. You have four mistakes, and need to find the groups before you’ve used all of them up. Here are some category examples:

  • Fish: Bass, Flounder, Salmon Trout

  • Fire _: Ant, Drill, Island, Opal

Categories will always be more specific than things like the number of letters in the words, or broader links like names and verbs. Finally, each group is assigned a color, indicating its difficulty. From least difficult to most difficult, the colors go Yellow, Green, Blue, and then Purple. Try to guess the groups before you run out of mistakes!

Groups for Connections puzzle on July 18 2023
Groups for Connections puzzle on July 18 2023

When does NYT Connections refresh?

The daily NYT Connections puzzle will reset at midnight local time. Recently this has been happening just a few minutes past 12 AM, but by the time you wake up, there will be a new puzzle ready to go. If you want to stay up and catch it though, no one’s going to judge you.

That’s the solution to today’s NYT Connections puzzle. For more word game fun, be sure to check out our Wordle hints and answers page, which will give you some great tips on retaining your streak. There's more on Wordle too, take a look at our best Wordle starting words.