NYT Connections hint (Mon, 13 Jul)

Monday is the hardest day of the week. If your brain is a little worn out from a long day at work, let us do the heavy lifting for you.

Here, we've got subtle hints and full answers for today's puzzle, so you can extend that streak for another day.

Click here to play today's NYT Connections puzzle!

Connections hint for Monday 13th July

Here are your Connections hints for today:

• 🟨 Yellow hint: Someone's in the hot seat.
• 🟩 Green hint: Easy to carry or pull.
• 🟦 Blue hint: Famous fictional felines.
• 🟪 Purple hint: Affection starts here.
• Extra hint 1: One group hides words inside others.
• Extra hint 2: Every group except purple has at least one word containing the letter 'L'

If you need a bit more help, tap the spoiler text below to reveal one word belonging to each group:

• 🟨 Yellow: Grill
• 🟩 Green: Bucket
• 🟦 Blue: Tom
• 🟪 Purple: Kisser

Spoiler warning! Today's Connections groups are revealed just below!

Today's Connections groups revealed

If you need an even bigger clue to figure out today's Connections puzzle, below we'll reveal the four correct Connections groups - the themes which link together each set of four words in the Connections grid.

Here are the Connections groups for today:

• 🟨 Yellow: Interrogate
• 🟩 Green: Things with Handles
• 🟦 Blue: Fictional Cats
• 🟪 Purple: Starting with Smooches

Now that you know the themes for the various different Connections in today's puzzle, see if you can solve it! If not, check below for the full answer.

Spoiler warning! Today's Connections answer lies ahead!

Connections answer today

Here is the answer to today's Connections puzzle on Monday, 13th July:

• 🟨 Yellow: Interrogate (Examine, Grill, Pump, Question)
• 🟩 Green: Things with Handles (Bucket, Drawer, Mug, Umbrella)
• 🟦 Blue: Fictional Cats (Figaro, Puss, Salem, Tom)
• 🟪 Purple: Starting with Smooches (Bussin, Kisser, Peckish, Smackdown)

This puzzle combined everyday vocabulary with pop-culture and some of that classic Connections wordplay. The purple category was the hardest, hiding synonyms for a kiss at the beginning of each word. It's hard enough to sort categories out when you've got the whole word available. It can all start unravelling when you have to find words inside others!

Let us know in the comments below how you found today's puzzle! Here's my grid:

🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟪🟦
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟦🟦🟦🟦

Congratulations if you got today's Connections answer right, with or without the help of our handy hints above! And if you didn't succeed today, don't worry - a new Connections puzzle is released every day at midnight, so you can try again tomorrow, just like with Wordle!