The NYT Connections puzzle for Friday, July 3, 2026, is live, and puzzle number 1118 is giving solvers a run for their money. If your streak is on the line and you are not ready to give up your guesses just yet, here are hints, category breakdowns, and the complete answers for today’s grid.
Connections, the daily word association game from The New York Times, asks players to sort sixteen words into four hidden groups of four. The catch is that several words look like they could fit more than one category, and the puzzle’s editor, Wyna Liu, is known for planting decoys that trip up even seasoned solvers. Players get four mistakes before the game ends, so a careful first guess matters more than a fast one.
Today’s Categories, Without Giving Away the Answers
Before jumping to the solutions, here is a gentle nudge for each of the four groups in today’s puzzle.
The yellow group, typically the easiest, revolves around a cluster of words describing a pleasant emotional state. Think joy, contentment, and warmth.
The green group leans nostalgic. These are phrases people used decades ago to say something was impressive or cool, the kind of slang that shows up in retro sitcoms.
The blue group is about negative social interactions, specifically things nobody wants to receive from another person. If you have ever been on the receiving end of an awkward silence or an unfair delay, you already know the vibe.
The purple group, as usual, is where the wordplay lives. This one hinges on pronunciation rather than meaning. Every answer sounds like the letter “T” when said aloud, which is exactly the kind of misdirection Connections fans have come to expect from Liu’s puzzle construction.
Today’s Connections Answers for July 3 (#1118)
Spoilers ahead. If you want to keep solving on your own, stop scrolling now.
Yellow Group – Positive Feelings: BLISS, FELICITY, HAPPINESS, WARM FUZZIES
Green Group – Retro Expressions of Approval: COOL BEANS, FAR OUT, GROOVY, RIGHT ON
Blue Group – Bad Things to Give Someone: COLD SHOULDER, DIRTY LOOK, HARD TIME, RUNAROUND
Purple Group – What Things Pronounced “T” Might Refer To: GOLF ACCESSORY, GOSSIP, HOT DRINK, SHIRT
The purple group is the standout twist in today’s puzzle. Each answer represents something that, when spoken, sounds identical to the letter T: a tee (golf accessory), tea (hot drink or gossip, depending on how you read it), and a tee shirt. It is a classic Liu-style homophone trap, and it is likely where most players lost a guess or two today.
Why Connections Keep Growing
Since its official launch in 2023, Connections has become one of the Times’ most played daily games, sitting alongside Wordle, Strands, and the Mini Crossword as a staple of the paper’s Games app. Part of the appeal is its bite-sized format. A single round rarely takes more than a few minutes, but the difficulty curve, especially in the purple category, gives it enough bite to keep dedicated solvers coming back every morning.
Today’s puzzle is a solid example of that design philosophy. The yellow and green groups are approachable enough for newer players, while the blue and purple groups reward the kind of lateral thinking longtime fans have trained for. Puzzle communities on social media were already comparing notes on the “T” category within minutes of the puzzle resetting at midnight local time, with several solvers admitting they mistakenly grouped “shirt” with clothing-adjacent words before the pronunciation twist clicked.
How to Play If You Are New
Connections resets every day at midnight in your local time zone, and the puzzle is free to play on the NYT Games app or website. Players select four words they believe share a connection and submit the group. A correct guess locks in that category and reveals its theme. An incorrect guess costs one of four total lives, and getting a group “one away” from correct triggers an on-screen hint. The game ends either when all four groups are solved or when a player runs out of guesses.
For solvers chasing a long streak, today’s puzzle is a useful reminder to check for wordplay before locking in a guess that seems obvious. As always, tomorrow brings a fresh grid, a fresh set of categories, and another chance to keep the streak alive.
