Looking for the answer to today's Connections puzzle, the Connections answer to puzzle #391 from July 6 has exactly the same difficulty as yesterday's answer. The Connections companion rated this puzzle 3.2 out of 5 for difficulty.

We update our Connections clues and hints daily. And if the hints aren't enough, you can see all four answers along with the category title and related words. In addition, for those of you reading this in a different time zone, I've included a reflection on yesterday's puzzle, #390.

There are spoilers for connection #391. Only those who want to know the answer to today's connection should read on.

Or see our NYT Connections How to Play Guide for tips on how to solve the puzzle without our help.

While today's wordle solution guide recommends the best wordle starting words as a strategy, the Connections solution depends on identifying the categories that are connected from the 16 words. The difficulty of each category is represented by a color, with yellow being the easiest grouping and purple the most difficult. Hints are helpful as the answer is displayed after four wrong guesses.

If you need a hint to solve the groupings, here are each theme in order of difficulty:

If you read these hints, you should at least find the answer to today's connection. If not, please continue reading for larger hints. Also, if you just want the answer, scroll down further.

Here's a bigger tip: Think of childhood games and what you can use to play them as you ponder the music in your backyard, whether through science or with a partner, as you build your life.

Now, what is the answer to today's game #391 connection?

Drum roll please.

My wife and I recently had a baby, so the green category came to mind immediately.

It was only after I finished solving this category that I realized the smart phone trap set in the puzzle. But it is one of the things to keep in mind when starting this puzzle.

I used the cell phone synonym as a starting point for the other categories. Thus, I started with the yellow category with cells and quickly acquired atoms, molecules, and proteins.

Once the yellow and green categories were created, it was a coin flip to choose blue or purple first. By shifting the grid, I placed the jugs and spoons next to each other and the washboard beneath them. I immediately saw that the instruments seemed to be connected.

Purple made sense, and if the grid had been shifted differently I might have noticed it first. Dogs, freezes, phones, and prices are killing the phone traps.

I'm reading this late in the day. According to Connections Companion, the difficulty was 3.2 out of 5.

First off, I hope those of you celebrating the 4th of July had a relaxing day. I'm back at work, but for those who aren't, I hope you enjoyed the long weekend.

Maybe I've been sun-drunk since yesterday, but when I saw this connection I thought the blue category was a trap. Thus, I did it anyway. Fortunately, it worked, and I like James "Bond" and I made it through M, Moneypenny, and Q.

I'm not sure if I'll ever get to the end of the week.

I fell into the money trap because I saw the euro and the yen and tried to force a name that would lead to money. Strike one. But after that was solved, I saw desire, yen, and pine as crossword-like clues. Long was soon found.

While I was hooking up the yellow category, I was already into purple and looking for pop music. Purple quickly went downhill with Europop, K-Pop, and Power Pop. Now I'm hoping to get my hands on a Pandora mix of all of these.

The green category made me wonder how designers decide which colors fit into which category. Green is supposed to be the next hardest group after easy, which is supposed to be yellow.

"Fortune," "Mad," "Nature," "O," etc., despite having read or glanced at the covers of these magazines, I would not have found them relevant unless they were the last category. These are all titles that people have probably heard of.

Sometimes one gets lost in groupings, and today's green selection was such a case.