Thursday’s NYT Connections puzzle arrived with a deceptive calm. Sixteen words. Four groups. One shot at keeping a streak alive. But Puzzle #1117, released on July 2, 2026, turned out to be one of the more elegantly tricky entries the New York Times has served up in recent memory, with misdirection baked so deeply into the grid that players who felt confident early found themselves burning through mistakes before the board even half cleared.
The answers are below, organized from easiest to hardest, along with full explanations for every category.
Today’s 16 Words
MOCKINGBIRD, FIELD MOUSE, TOM-TOM, COURT JESTER, MIME, LOOKING GLASS, TRACK RECORD, BILLY GOAT, DIAMOND RING, SPECTACLES, DAN DAN NOODLES, COPYCAT, TALKIE, RICH TEXT, T-1000, WATER CLOSET
Yellow Group (Easiest): They Impersonate Other Things
COPYCAT, MIME, MOCKINGBIRD, T-1000
The yellow category in Puzzle #1117 asked players to identify things that impersonate or imitate something else. Three of the four answers come quickly: COPYCAT is practically the definition of imitation, MIME performs without speaking and often mirrors others, and MOCKINGBIRD famously mimics the songs of other birds.
The curveball is T-1000. For anyone who missed Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the T-1000 is the liquid-metal antagonist played by Robert Patrick, a machine that can physically impersonate any person it touches. It is a clever and completely legitimate inclusion, but it is exactly the kind of answer that separates players who got the theme cold from those who had to guess their way in.
Green Group: Old-Timey Names for Things We Still Use
LOOKING GLASS, SPECTACLES, TALKIE, WATER CLOSET
The green category rewarded vocabulary and a feel for historical language. A LOOKING GLASS is a mirror. SPECTACLES are eyeglasses. A TALKIE is what early sound films were called when audiences still marveled at hearing dialogue on screen. A WATER CLOSET is a toilet, a term still used in formal and British English contexts.
The trap here was TALKIE, which could easily have sent players toward a film or entertainment theme, and SPECTACLES, which might have felt like it belonged with theatrical or visual performance. Neither instinct would have been rewarded.
Blue Group: Starting With Nicknames
BILLY GOAT, DAN DAN NOODLES, RICH TEXT, TOM-TOM
This is where Puzzle #1117 started earning its reputation for the day. Each phrase in the blue group begins with a common nickname for a traditional given name: BILLY is short for William, DAN for Daniel, RICH for Richard, and TOM for Thomas.
BILLY GOAT is a male goat. DAN DAN NOODLES are a Sichuan dish. RICH TEXT is a document format familiar to anyone who has ever used a word processor. TOM-TOM is a type of drum. None of these obviously scream “nickname” at first glance, which is precisely the point. Players who solved yesterday’s geography-saturated puzzle and came in confident today found this blue group the most disorienting category on the board.
Purple Group (Hardest): Starting With Sports Venues
COURT JESTER, DIAMOND RING, FIELD MOUSE, TRACK RECORD
The purple category is the crown of Thursday’s puzzle and likely the one that ended the most streaks. Each phrase opens with a word that names a sports venue: COURT (basketball, tennis), DIAMOND (baseball), FIELD (football, soccer), and TRACK (athletics).
The genius of the category is that nothing in the grid signals a sports connection directly. DIAMOND RING looks like jewelry. COURT JESTER looks like a historical figure. A field mouse is an animal. TRACK RECORD is an idiom. The venue words are fully camouflaged inside phrases with no obvious athletic meaning, which is exactly what a purple category is supposed to do. It is a design consistent with the hidden-word structures that have defined some of the toughest puzzles of recent weeks.
How Did Solvers Fare?
Social media reaction to Puzzle #1117 has been notably polarized. Players who spotted the sports venue pattern early describe it as one of the most satisfying purple categories in recent puzzles. Those who committed to a sports-themed group built around COURT, DIAMOND, FIELD, and TRACK before seeing the compound-word structure found themselves one mistake deep before recovering.
The T-1000 inclusion in the yellow group also generated significant discussion online, with many players calling it the best single tile the NYT Connections team has placed in months. That reaction is consistent with a game that has grown to attract millions of daily players across desktop and mobile platforms, all chasing the same satisfying snap of a perfectly solved board.
Connections returns tomorrow with Puzzle #1118. If today’s grid tested your patience, Friday’s board will give you another shot. For more from the NYT Games daily lineup, the Strands hints and answers for today are also live.
