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 26 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 26 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