NYT Connections Answers Explained: Friday, July 17
Note: Make sure to complete today’s NYT Connections before reading further! We’ll be getting into spoilers for today’s game pretty quickly. If you need some help to complete the grid, you can find my NYT Connections hints and answers column for today via my author page.
Hey there, Connectors! Welcome to my deeper dive into today’s Connections answers. The idea behind this is to help clear things up for anyone who isn’t sure how today’s groups fit together.
If I’ve missed any red herrings or misunderstood something, let me know via email or on Discord. I don’t typically look at X or check the comments here.
I’m going to assume that you’ve already beaten today’s game. We’re going straight into spoiler territory here. So, consider this your one and only warning.
Here are today’s NYT Connections answers explained (and any red herrings I spot) for Friday, July 17:
Today’s NYT Connections Answers Explained
Connections – Yellow Group
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🟨 grand finale (EPILOGUE, FAREWELL, LAST DANCE, SWAN SONG)
I’m not quite sure EPILOGUE quite fits here? As I understand it, that often takes place after the climax/grand finale of a story. But I think the rest work effectively as synonyms.
Connections – Green Group
🟩 seen in an arcade (CRANE GAME, PINBALL, TICKETS, TOKENS)
A CRANE GAME is also known as a claw machine. It requires you to move a claw that, when you press a button, will drop and close its pincers. The hope is that it will grab a prize that it carries over to the prize bin for you to collect. Oftentimes, the claw grabs something, only for it to mysteriously lose its grip when it retracts. Hmm…
You may insert TOKENS into arcade machines to play them (in lieu of cash). Some games offer TICKETS as a reward. The more TICKETS you have, the better the prize you can claim from the prize counter.
Connections – Blue Group
🟦 four groups of four (CARDINAL DIRECTIONS, CLASSICAL ELEMENTS, SEASONS, SUITS)
These refer to:
- CARDINAL DIRECTIONS > north, south, east and west
- CLASSICAL ELEMENTS > air, earth, fire and water
- SEASONS > spring, summer, autumn/fall and winter
- SUITS > hearts, spades, diamonds and clubs (i.e. playing cards)
Connections – Purple Group
🟪 ending in parts of a car (PLOT SPOILER, ROBIN HOOD, SATIRES, TREE TRUNK)
These refer to:
- PLOT SPOILER > spoiler
- ROBIN HOOD > hood
- SATIRES > tires
- TREE TRUNK > trunk (what folks in the U.K. would call a “boot”)
Connections – Red Herrings
Four of the terms start with birds: CRANE GAME, CARDINAL DIRECTIONS, SWAN SONG and ROBIN HOOD
There are also several story/TV show elements: EPILOGUE, PLOT SPOILER, SATIRES and SEASONS
If you’d like to chat about today’s game of Connections and just about anything else with me and a very lovely group of people, you can do just that in our Discord community. We’d love for you to hang out with us.
I’ll be back with another set of NYT Connections hints and answers tomorrow, as well as another edition of this one, all going well. You’ll be able to find both of those on my Forbes author page when the time comes (following me there helps me out too!). As for the weekend editions of my NYT Connections hints and answers column, I’m currently doing that via my newsletter, Pastimes.