The New York Times’ popular word-grouping game Connections is back with a new challenge for Sunday, July 5, testing players on categories ranging from breakfast staples to credit card tiers. Puzzle number 1120 arrived at midnight local time, continuing the game’s run as one of the Times’ most played daily offerings alongside Wordle, Strands and the Mini Crossword.
Connections asks players to sort 16 words into four hidden groups of four, each tied to a shared theme. The game is color-coded by difficulty, with yellow representing the most straightforward category, green and blue offering moderate challenges, and purple reserved for the trickiest connections, which often rely on wordplay, double meanings or cultural references. Players are allowed four incorrect guesses before the puzzle ends, adding an element of risk to each selection.
Sunday’s edition, according to solvers and puzzle trackers who published the grid shortly after its release, drew particular attention for blending everyday financial vocabulary with a chemistry-adjacent twist in its hardest category. The 16 words presented to players were: WIN, OATS, GREEN, WIRE, WEST, CARD, WITH, HONEY, GOLD, TUNGSTEN, CHECK, SEEDS, CASH, PLATINUM, NUTS and CENTURION.
For players looking for a nudge before jumping straight to the solutions, puzzle trackers circulated a set of hints tied to each category without giving away the exact groupings. The yellow category hint pointed players toward something that “goes great with yogurt,” a reference to common toppings and mix-ins found in breakfast bowls. The green category was hinted at with the phrase “checkout method,” directing solvers toward standard ways to pay for goods and services. The blue category hint, “not accepted everywhere,” alluded to a specific brand’s tiered card offerings that aren’t universally supported by merchants. The purple category, traditionally the puzzle’s most difficult, was hinted at with a reference to “number 74 on the periodic table,” a nod to the letter W’s connection to a particular chemical element.
For those ready for the full answers, puzzle number 1120 broke down into the following four groups:
The yellow category, the easiest of the day, was titled “Granola Ingredients” and included the words HONEY, NUTS, OATS and SEEDS. The grouping reflected common components found in granola and similar breakfast mixes, making it an accessible entry point for most solvers tackling the grid.
The green category, “Payment Methods,” grouped together CARD, CASH, CHECK and WIRE. These four words represented standard ways consumers and businesses transfer money, a category that puzzle trackers noted was likely to trip up some players who initially considered other words, such as GOLD or PLATINUM, as potential fits given their financial associations.
The blue category, “Amex Card Types,” was made up of CENTURION, GOLD, GREEN and PLATINUM. This grouping referenced the various tiers offered by American Express, a detail that puzzle coverage described as particularly rewarding for players familiar with credit card rewards programs, since several of those same words could plausibly have fit into other categories on the board.
The purple category, traditionally the most conceptually demanding, was titled “What ‘W’ Might Stand For” and included TUNGSTEN, WEST, WIN and WITH. The connection drew on the fact that the letter W serves as an abbreviation or symbol across different contexts: it is the chemical symbol for tungsten on the periodic table, a common abbreviation for “west” on maps and compasses, and shorthand for both “win” and “with” in various forms of casual writing and record-keeping.
Puzzle commentary published alongside the answers noted that Sunday’s grid rewarded players with financial literacy and casual familiarity with granola ingredients, while the purple category’s link between a chemical element and a directional abbreviation created what several trackers described as a particularly tricky homophone-style trap. Players who initially grouped GOLD and PLATINUM with GREEN under a colors-based theme, rather than recognizing them as American Express card tiers, were among those most likely to lose a guess early in their attempt.
According to the Times’ own guidance on solving Connections, successful players tend to follow a handful of consistent strategies. Starting with the most straightforward, tightly defined categories — such as colors, numbers or clearly related objects — tends to build early momentum. Players are also encouraged to consider alternate uses or double meanings for individual words, since Connections puzzles are constructed specifically to include overlap between categories. Additionally, solvers are advised to watch for patterns in word endings or shared letters, and to remain flexible when an initial grouping doesn’t pan out, since misdirection is a deliberate feature of the game rather than an accident.
Connections is edited by Wyna Liu, the Times’ puzzle editor, who has built a reputation among regular players for constructing categories that intentionally overlap with one another. That approach was on display again in Sunday’s puzzle, where the presence of GOLD, GREEN and PLATINUM created plausible but incorrect pairings for players who didn’t immediately recognize the American Express connection.
Beyond the standard Connections puzzle, the Times also published a sports-themed version of the game on Sunday, known as Connections: Sports Edition, marking its 650th installment. That edition asked players to sort 16 sports-related terms into categories covering European soccer, National Basketball Association point guards, hockey equipment and a wordplay-based grouping tied to professional sports franchises based in Washington, D.C. Hints for that edition pointed players toward “protective gear for players on ice,” “primary ball handlers in the NBA,” “football organizations across the pond,” and “teams from the District,” giving solvers a general sense of each category before revealing the full answers.
Since its launch in June 2023, Connections has grown into one of the Times’ most widely played digital games, trailing only Wordle in popularity among the publication’s puzzle offerings. A new puzzle is released daily at midnight in each player’s local time zone, meaning solvers in different parts of the world are often working through different numbered puzzles at any given moment. Tomorrow’s edition, puzzle number 1121, is set to go live at midnight, continuing the daily cycle for millions of players who have made the word-grouping game part of their regular routine.
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