NYT Connections hints and answers for Thursday, July 31 (game #781)

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #781) - today's words

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• ROCK
• STRAW
• EYE
• NATURE
• NATIONS
• FIDDLE
• GUESS
• LAUGH
• COMING
• PARTY
• RESORT
• RESPONDER
• LADY
• SUPPER
• RAIL
• AID

NYT Connections today (game #781) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: No. 1 position
• GREEN: No. 2 position
• BLUE: No. 3 position
• PURPLE: The final position

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #781) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: FIRST ___ 
• GREEN: SECOND ___ 
• BLUE: THIRD ___ 
• PURPLE: LAST ___ 

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #781) - the answers

The answers to today's Connections, game #781, are…

• YELLOW: FIRST___ AID, LADY, NATIONS, RESPONDER
• GREEN: SECOND___ COMING, FIDDLE, GUESS, NATURE
• BLUE: THIRD___ EYE, PARTY, RAIL, ROCK
• PURPLE: LAST___ LAUGH, RESORT, STRAW, SUPPER

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• My rating: Easy
• My score: 1 mistake

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I’m annoyed that I didn’t get today’s answers in the correct order, but it wasn’t until I got the purple group that I realized this was one of Connections’ experimental days.

My mistake came in putting PARTY instead of STRAW into the LAST ____ group. At this stage I was still thinking this this was a regular game and thought the phrase was “final straw” and that "Last Party" sounded like it could be a film or a book.

Beyond this I struggled with FIRST ____. I had AID, LADY and RESPONDER locked in and then finally thought of adding NATIONS to complete the set.

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Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Wednesday, July 30, game #780)

• YELLOW: INSTRUCT COACH, DIRECT, GUIDE, TRAIN
• GREEN: MEANS INSTRUMENT, MEDIUM, ORGAN, VEHICLE
• BLUE: STARTING WITH GREEK NUMERICAL PREFIXES DIOXIDE, MONORAIL, TETRACYCLINE, TRIANGLE
• PURPLE: ANAGRAMS OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS ABUT, BULGE, GROAN, VOILA

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What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.