These are the hints and answers for the New York Times Connections puzzle published Friday, July 11, 2025, game #761. Start with the four spoiler-safe clues below; the category names and full word groups follow a clear spoiler warning.
Hints for Connections #761
Use these clues before looking at the answers:
- You use these frequently.
- You’re funny.
- Belt out.
- Sounds like it could be a negative word.
Category names
Spoilers ahead: The category labels below reveal the themes, but not yet the complete groups.
- Companies that have become verbs
- Silly person
- Kinds of songs
- Homophones of synonyms for “despicable”
Answers for July 11, 2025
Full spoiler warning: The four groups and all 16 answers are below.
| Category | Words |
|---|---|
| Companies that have become verbs | GOOGLE, PHOTOSHOP, UBER, ZOOM |
| Silly person | DODO, GOOF, GOOSE, YAHOO |
| Kinds of songs | FOLK, LOVE, SIREN, SWAN |
| Homophones of synonyms for “despicable” | FOWL (foul), MIEN (mean), OFFAL (awful), VIAL (vile) |
Why the bird words can mislead
SWAN, GOOSE, FOWL, and DODO all suggest birds, which can make them look like a natural set. TechRadar’s writer reported first trying those four together; in the published solution, however, GOOSE and DODO belong with “Silly person,” SWAN is a kind of song, and FOWL sounds like “foul.” TechRadar’s July 10, 2025 guide to the July 11 puzzle lists the board and solution.
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How the final category works
The last group uses sound-alikes rather than the spellings of the negative words themselves: FOWL sounds like foul, MIEN like mean, OFFAL like awful, and VIAL like vile. Parade and TechRadar publish the same four groupings. Parade’s July 11, 2025 puzzle guide also gives the four clues above.
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