Looking for today's Connections answer for puzzle #393 from July 8, which is considerably easier than yesterday, the Connections Companion gives this puzzle a difficulty rating of 23 out of 5

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, #392

There are spoilers for connection #393 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 only want to know the answer, scroll down further

There is an even bigger clue Instead, think of a local watering hole and the chatter you might overhear there

So, the answer to today's game #393 connection is

Drumroll, please

I was almost thrown off by the obvious link between spirit and haunt, but this time the Connection crew was different: brainstorming other uses for haunt, the words patronize and visit jumped out at me

Green was next I quickly connected grit and resolve Then the spirit returned and I realized they weren't talking about the kind in the sheets chasing Scooby-Doo The only one left was Will, which, as it turns out, was not referring to a person's will See, there are a lot of spooky words in today's puzzle (cargo is an honorable mention)

Yellow was then immediately recognizable, as were suggestion, tip, and trick; Pointer made me think of a dog breed, but once I figured out the other three, another meaning came to mind

The Purple category was downright diabolical today With only four words left, I still had no idea how they were related until this category came up Each word ends with a number, such as caNINE, frEIGHT That alone is a lot of work, and then I even found ozone Ozone A word that is not even pronounced like a number That sucks, Connection Crew Sue for emotional damage

I'm reading this late in the day According to the Connections companion, the difficulty level was 42 out of 5

This 42 rating is no joke The words suit, hero, and evaporation brought visions of Superman to mind, but that was a red herring I had forgotten that evaporation is not just for laser eyes But when the definitions I had learned in high school science class came back to me, the other three in yellow, condensation, freezing, and thawing, felt right

Green was a bit simpler First, I understood the connection between alternate and backup, which led to sub, and it took me a while to realize that the fourth was cover (I guess I hadn't fully freed myself from the superhero thought process yet)

The blue then came together nicely Once it became clear that the suit was not emblazoned spandex, but boring Wall Street stuff, the shrink immediately jumped to attention Hack came after that, but was the fourth and again struggled The yellow category got me thinking about science, so it took me a moment to remember that copper means something other than what pennies are made of

Purple was filled in by rote memorization, which worked out great for me since the only Mariah Carey song I knew off the top of my head was "All I Want for Christmas Is You"