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The New York Times Connections puzzle for Friday, July 11, 2025, is game #761. For a spoiler-safe solve, start with the category clues below; the complete groups and all 16 answers appear farther down.
How to play today’s Connections
Connections is a free daily New York Times word game. At midnight, you receive 16 words and must arrange them into four groups of four according to a shared link. Yellow is usually the easiest group, blue and green are intermediate, and purple is generally the hardest because it often depends on wordplay. An incorrect group costs one life; the puzzle ends after four mistakes.
You can play on the NYT website or in the Games app. An All Access or Games subscription is required for the archive of previous puzzles.
Spoiler-safe hints for Friday, July 11
These clues move from broad category to a useful anchor word. Stop at any level if you want to keep solving on your own.
The Tool Desk
Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →| Color | Category hint | Anchor word |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow | Brands or companies used as verbs | ZOOM |
| Green | A silly person | GOOSE |
| Blue | Types of songs | SIREN |
| Purple | Words that sound like synonyms for “despicable” | FOWL |
The main trap
Several tiles suggest birds, but they do not belong to one bird-themed group. GOOSE and DODO describe a silly person, SWAN fits the song category, and FOWL belongs to the purple homophone group. Separating those misleading associations is the key to this grid.
The 16 words in game #761
The board contains:
- UBER
- SWAN
- LOVE
- VIAL
- GOOSE
- FOWL
- ZOOM
- YAHOO
- SIREN
- MIEN
- DODO
- PHOTOSHOP
- FOLK
- GOOF
- OFFAL
Answers and explanations
Yellow — COMPANIES THAT HAVE BECOME VERBS
GOOGLE, PHOTOSHOP, UBER, ZOOM
Each began as a company or brand name and is commonly used as a verb: to google information, photoshop an image, uber somewhere, or zoom with someone.
Rank #2
Green — SILLY PERSON
DODO, GOOF, GOOSE, YAHOO
All four can describe a foolish or silly person. “Yahoo” is used here as an informal noun, not as the company name.
Blue — KINDS OF SONGS
FOLK, LOVE, SIREN, SWAN
Folk song and love song are familiar forms. A siren song is a song associated with a siren, while a swan song is a final performance or work.
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A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11Purple — HOMOPHONES OF SYNONYMS FOR “DESPICABLE”
FOWL, MIEN, OFFAL, VIAL
Read aloud, each tile sounds like a word meaning morally bad or extremely unpleasant: fowl sounds like “foul,” MIEN like “mean,” offal like “awful,” and vial like “vile.” Forbes notes that MIEN is a somewhat literary word for a person’s outward manner or demeanor, which can make that tile less familiar.
A practical reveal strategy
If you are solving with someone else or publishing clues for readers, progressive reveals preserve the challenge better than showing every answer at once:
| Reveal stage | What to show | Best use |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Four color-coded category hints | Readers who want a nudge without losing the solve |
| 2 | One anchor word per category | Readers who have identified a possible group but need confirmation |
| 3 | Full category names | Readers stuck on the connection itself |
| 4 | All four words in each group | Readers checking the completed puzzle |
Date and puzzle identity
This Friday puzzle is July 11, 2025, and is identified as game #761. July 11, 2026 falls on a Saturday, so the year matters when searching for this specific set of clues and answers.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
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