Today's Connections Hints & Answers For July 17, 2024 (Puzzle #401)

Sometimes you might feel inhibited and like all your skills have been inhibited, but there are lots of ways to recover and get back in the game. There are tougher puzzles than others on certain days, and today there are some interesting red herrings that might lead to a few false guesses. However, if you look closely, you can see past the creator's tricks.

If you feel like you have a puzzle itch to scratch, you can try out the daily puzzle that tests your image-building skills as opposed to your word or category-building ones. This means you will be creating the boundaries of the picture by connecting dots to create smaller geometrical shapes that create a larger overall picture. It is very satisfying and a great way to scratch any remaining puzzle itch your fingers may have.

Wordle, the popular word-guessing game hosted by The New York Times, has over 1,700 words remaining as possible solutions.

If you want a few hints before we start spoiling answers, there are some that might make it easier for you to guess the rest on their own:

If you still want some hints but do not want the full answers spoiled, the box below features the actual category names. This should make it easier to parse out which words are red herrings and which words you want to put together.

BUILDINGS AROUND TOWN

HINDER

ANIMAL GROUP NAMES

STARTS OF U.S. PRESIDENTS

BUILDINGS AROUND TOWN

BANK

LAUNDROMAT

POST OFFICE

SUPERMARKET

This category is easy once you spot it but hard if you consider all the words that could or could not be in it. There are 3-4 words that have to do with laundry depending on your intepretation in this puzzle, and none of them belong together in a single category.

SCHOOL also looks like it could belong here, but it will not be used until the second to last one. Instead, you are left with BANK, LAUNDROMAT, POST OFFICE, and SUPERMARKET as buildings you can see around town.

HINDER

CHECK

CURB

HAMPER

INHIBIT

HAMPER is the laundry-related word in this category