NYT Connections puzzle #744, released Tuesday, June 24, 2025, asks you to sort 16 words into four groups. Start with the hints below if you want to solve it yourself; the complete categories and answers follow afterward.
Hints for Connections #744
Each clue points to one category. The groups are color-coded in the game, from yellow (typically easiest) to purple (typically trickiest).
- Yellow: Think of a word for severe or behaviorally tough—a parent who never yields might be described this way.
- Green: Think of natural protection or an outer layer around a plant seed or fruit.
- Blue: Think of items that appear at the beginning of a movie or television program.
- Purple: Think geometry and objects with different dimensions.
The 16 words
SOLID, POD, CAST, STUDIO, PLANE, STERN, HULL, FIRM, TITLE, LINE, TOUGH, SHELL, HUSK, DIRECTOR, POINT, RIGID.
Answers for June 24, 2025
| Color | Category | Words |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow | Strict | FIRM, RIGID, STERN, TOUGH |
| Green | Botanical coverings | HULL, HUSK, POD, SHELL |
| Blue | Seen in opening credits | CAST, DIRECTOR, STUDIO, TITLE |
| Purple | Objects in 0-, 1-, 2- and 3-dimensional space | POINT, LINE, PLANE, SOLID |
How to solve the trickiest overlaps
Keep SOLID separate from the strictness group
SOLID can mean firm or rigid, which makes it tempting to group with FIRM, RIGID, STERN and TOUGH. But the purple category uses the geometry sequence point, line, plane, solid: objects in zero-, one-, two- and three-dimensional space.
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Read HULL in the plant sense
HULL may suggest the body of a boat, and STERN can reinforce that association. For this puzzle, HULL belongs with HUSK, POD and SHELL as a plant covering; STERN instead joins the words meaning strict.
Use the category’s organizing principle
The blue group is about opening credits, not movie-making in general: CAST, DIRECTOR, STUDIO and TITLE can all be seen there. Testing each possible group against one clear meaning—and noticing the dimensional progression in the purple set—helps separate the intended connections from plausible decoys.
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Where to play
Connections is available on the New York Times website and in the NYT Games app. The puzzle archive is associated with an NYT Games subscription; access can depend on the current subscription offering and region. The guides covering this puzzle reported no material statistics for game #744.
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