NYT Connections #761, dated Friday, July 11, 2025, challenged players with company names used as verbs, words for a silly person, phrases ending in “song,” and a homophone-based purple group. This is a historical answer guide—the puzzle is not today’s current game.
Looking for the NYT Connections answers from July 11, 2025? This historical guide covers Connections puzzle #761, published on Friday, July 11, 2025. The puzzle is no longer today’s game, but the clues and solution remain useful if you are working through the archive.
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Spoiler warning: The hints below become progressively more specific, and the complete category answers appear after the spoiler break.
Quick hints for Connections #761
- Yellow: Four words are company or service names that people also use as verbs.
- Green: Four words can describe someone foolish or ridiculous.
- Blue: Four words can pair with song.
- Purple: Four words sound like negative adjectives describing something bad or despicable.
The July 11, 2025 Connections board
Before looking at the answer key, the 16 words in puzzle #761 were:
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UBER, SWAN, LOVE, VIAL, GOOSE, GOOGLE, FOWL, ZOOM, YAHOO, SIREN, MIEN, DODO, PHOTOSHOP, FOLK, GOOF, OFFAL
More specific clues
Yellow group
Think of brand names and services that have moved into everyday speech as action words. The four words are not grouped simply because they relate to technology.
Green group
These words can be used as nouns for a foolish, silly, ridiculous, or uncultured person.
Blue group
Put the same word after each entry. The result is a familiar type or expression involving a song.
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Purple group
Say the words aloud. Their spellings are different from the negative adjectives they suggest, but their pronunciations point toward the connection.
Warning: full answers below
NYT Connections answers for July 11, 2025
| Color | Category | Words |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow | Companies that have become verbs | GOOGLE, PHOTOSHOP, UBER, ZOOM |
| Green | Silly person | DODO, GOOF, GOOSE, YAHOO |
| Blue | Kinds of songs | FOLK, LOVE, SIREN, SWAN |
| Purple | Homophones of synonyms for “despicable” | FOWL, MIEN, OFFAL, VIAL |
Yellow: Companies that have become verbs
GOOGLE, PHOTOSHOP, UBER, ZOOM
Each entry is a company, brand, or service name that is also commonly used as a verb:
- Google: to search for information online.
- Photoshop: to digitally edit or alter an image, even when the editing was not necessarily done in Adobe Photoshop itself.
- Uber: to obtain or provide a ride through the service, in informal usage.
- Zoom: to take part in a video meeting using the platform, also in informal usage.
The key is the linguistic pattern: these names have become everyday action words. The group does not depend on all four products belonging to exactly the same type of technology company.
Green: Silly person
DODO, GOOF, GOOSE, YAHOO
All four words can refer to a foolish, ridiculous, or silly person:
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- Goof can mean a foolish or clumsy person.
- Goose can be used informally for a silly or foolish person.
- Yahoo can describe a rude, uncultured, or boisterous person and fits the puzzle’s broader “silly person” grouping.
GOOSE is especially distracting because it also appears to belong with the bird-related words on the board. In Connections, a word can have several plausible associations, but only one set should survive after considering the remaining entries.
Blue: Kinds of songs
FOLK, LOVE, SIREN, SWAN
Add song to each word:
- Folk song
- Love song
- Siren song
- Swan song
This group rewards looking for a shared phrase rather than treating every word as a standalone subject. Folk song and love song are familiar musical categories, while siren song and swan song are established expressions with literary or figurative associations.
Purple: Homophones of synonyms for “despicable”
FOWL, MIEN, OFFAL, VIAL
The most difficult group relies on sound rather than direct meaning. Each board entry sounds like a negative adjective:
| Board word | Sounds like | Meaning suggested |
|---|---|---|
| FOWL | foul | bad, offensive, or morally wrong |
| MIEN | mean | unkind or morally bad |
| OFFAL | awful | very bad or unpleasant |
| VIAL | vile | despicable or morally repugnant |
The spellings are intentionally different. FOWL is a bird or bird meat, MIEN refers to a person’s appearance or manner, OFFAL refers to animal organs or waste parts used as food, and a VIAL is a small container. Their pronunciations create the purple connection.
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- Several words suggest birds: GOOSE, SWAN, and FOWL can pull attention toward a false animal category. DODO can add to that temptation, but it belongs with the words describing a silly person.
- The song group is not immediately visible: LOVE, SIREN, and SWAN become much clearer when paired with song. Their individual meanings can send solvers in unrelated directions.
- The purple group changes spelling: FOWL, MIEN, OFFAL, and VIAL are connected by homophones, so matching definitions alone will not reveal the group.
- The yellow group mixes different services: GOOGLE, PHOTOSHOP, UBER, and ZOOM are a search engine, image-editing brand, ride service, and video-conferencing platform. Their shared feature is how people use the names as verbs.
These are solving observations based on the word relationships, not claims about the puzzle editor’s private construction process.
How NYT Connections works
Connections asks players to divide 16 words into four groups of four. Each group has a common connection, and the four categories are traditionally shown by difficulty colors: yellow is generally the most straightforward, followed by green, blue, and purple. A word may appear to fit more than one group, so players must identify the intended set of four rather than stop at the first plausible association.
After completing a puzzle, the NYT Games experience can show player statistics. Connections is available through the NYT Games website and related app platforms; access details and account requirements can vary by product and region.
Want more Connections puzzles?
If you enjoy the daily game, the official Connections: Find the Common Threads in 100+ Puzzles of Wit and Wordplay offers more than 100 additional category-matching puzzles for offline play. It is a separate physical puzzle collection, not a replay of the July 11, 2025 online game. Check the retailer listing for current availability and pricing before buying.
Frequently Asked Questions
What were the NYT Connections answers for July 11, 2025?
The four categories were Companies that have become verbs; Silly person; Kinds of songs; and Homophones of synonyms for “despicable.”
What number was the July 11, 2025 Connections puzzle?
The puzzle was Connections #761, published on Friday, July 11, 2025.
Why are FOWL, MIEN, OFFAL, and VIAL connected?
FOWL sounds like foul, MIEN sounds like mean, OFFAL sounds like awful, and VIAL sounds like vile.
The Bottom Line
The solution to historical NYT Connections puzzle #761, dated July 11, 2025, is: GOOGLE, PHOTOSHOP, UBER, ZOOM for companies that became verbs; DODO, GOOF, GOOSE, YAHOO for silly person; FOLK, LOVE, SIREN, SWAN for kinds of songs; and FOWL, MIEN, OFFAL, VIAL for homophones of synonyms for “despicable.”
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