🟨 Yellow (Easiest) – Shades of blue
Clue: Think paint swatches or crayon labels.
Words: BABY, ICE, POWDER, SKY
All are commonly used to describe shades of blue .
🟩 Green (Easy) – Adjectives for sports cars
Clue: Words you’d find in a car commercial.
Words: COMPACT, FAST, SLEEK, SPORTY .
🟦 Blue (Harder) – Words before “Roger(s)”
Clue: Names or titles that frequently precede Roger.
Words: GINGER (Ginger Rogers), JOLLY (Jolly Roger), MISTER (Mister Rogers), ROY (Roy Rogers) .
Many players identified “Spice Girls” first (Sporty, Ginger, Scary, Baby), but that was a trap .
🟪 Purple (Hardest) – Disney characters + one letter
Clue: Slight letter tweaks to familiar Disney names.
Words: ABUT (Abu), BELLED (Belle), FLOUNDERS (Flounder), SCARY (Scar) .
These append a letter to iconic Disney characters: Abu (Aladdin), Belle (Beauty & the Beast), Flounder (The Little Mermaid), Scar (The Lion King).
🧩 Puzzle Summary – All 16 words
Sporty, Jolly, Ice, Ginger, Baby, Powder, Compact, Scary, Fast, Flounders, Mister, Sky, Belled, Sleek, Abut, Roy
Category Words
Shades of blue BABY, ICE, POWDER, SKY
Sports car adjectives COMPACT, FAST, SLEEK, SPORTY
Words before “Roger(s)” GINGER, JOLLY, MISTER, ROY
Disney + 1 letter ABUT, BELLED, FLOUNDERS, SCARY
💡 Pro Tips & Community Insight
Spice Girls: Many players jumped on “SPORTY, GINGER, SCARY, BABY”—a clever but incorrect trap .
Disney connection: It required cultural and letter-play awareness. The Economic Times highlighted that the Disney+letter category was the toughest and sparked lots of confusion .
Blue shenanigans: “Ice” added to initial misdirection around winter themes .
🎥 Playthrough Walkthrough
Want a guided tour of how these fit together? Check out this video highlight covering NYT Connections, Mini Crossword & Strands from July 14, 2025:
NYT Connections
