Looking for today's Connections answer for puzzle #411 from July 26, which has the same difficulty level as yesterday's answer. The difficulty level for this puzzle on Connections Companion is 2.6 out of 5.

We update our Connections clues and hints daily. And if the hints aren't enough, you can see all four solutions along with the category title and related words. In addition, for those of you reading this in a different time zone, I have included a reflection on yesterday's puzzle, #411.

There are spoilers for Connections 411. Only those who want to know the answer to today's Connections should read on.

Alternatively, 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 starting word in Wordle as the strategy, the Connections solution requires you to identify 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 will help as the answer is displayed after four wrong guesses.

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

If you read these hints, you should at least be able to 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. Tap on the d-pad during the score campaign.

Now for the answer to today's game #411 connection.

Drum roll please.

Despite having the same difficulty level as yesterday's puzzle, this one was easier.

Perhaps due to the political noise of the presidential election, which seems to have been going on since 2020, the green category immediately pinged with back, champion, endorse, and support.

I thought the yellow category might be a trap with down, left, right, and up, but I rolled the dice to be sure and was rewarded.

For some reason, I got stuck on the word ding, and my thinking on the last two categories went haywire. It took me longer than I would like to admit to actually lining up the con, ding, minus, and strike for the blue category.

Purple became a memorization fill for base, liar, lute, and cymbal. I liked this, but it is my least favorite type of purple category. I think I am looking for narrative connections, not linguistic connections. If I can tell myself something like a story, I can more easily see the connections in my head

I'll read this later in the day. According to the Connection Companion, the difficulty level was 2.6 out of 5.

Yesterday's puzzle had a lot of trap words and was easy, but today's puzzle had about two, one of which made me angry.

There are no traps in the yellow category to get things started. Clay, papyrus, parchment, and wax are all types of writing materials.

The gift/gift trap caught me a bit, but other than that there is no specific match. Before filling the green category with anchors, hosts, moderates, and gifts, I spent a lot of time taking strikes in the blue category. I had the talent, the intuition, and the flair. Indeed, faculty makes sense. Especially in a game where colloquialisms are regularly used, gift is a more appropriate term.

After taking strikes in the blue category and becoming increasingly annoyed, I switched to purple and took burritos, gifts, mummies, and sprains. Surely those are all wrapped things.

I am writing today's guide about an hour after I solved it and I still find myself annoyed by the faculty. I would rather watch a horror movie with Josh Hartnett and Usher than deal with this word in this category.