News

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Saturday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Saturday, July 11 (game #1126).

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• PARTY
• NERD
• MAD
• STONE
• DOT
• DEN
• PIP
• STUDY
• PHO
• SPREE
• SLEEP
• PIT
• RUNT
• SAC
• SEED
• REPEAT

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: Vital part of plants
• GREEN: Singular confections
• BLUE: Campus motto
• PURPLE: City syllables

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: REPRODUCTIVE PART OF FRUIT
• GREEN: BIT OF FRUIT FLAVORED CANDY
• BLUE: VERBS IN A COLLEGE LIFE SLOGAN
• PURPLE: STARTS OF U.S. CAPITALS

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

The answers to today's Connections, game #1127, are…

• YELLOW: REPRODUCTIVE PART OF FRUIT: PIP, PIT, SEED, STONE
• GREEN: BIT OF FRUIT FLAVORED CANDY: DOT, NERD, RUNT, SPREE
• BLUE: VERBS IN A COLLEGE LIFE SLOGAN: PARTY, REPEAT, SLEEP, STUDY
• PURPLE: STARTS OF U.S. CAPITALS: DEN, MAD, PHO, SAC

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 2 mistakes

For anyone based outside of the US, like me in the UK, this game had an added layer of difficulty thanks to Connections’ fondness for candy brands and state capitals.

By now, of course, I should be fully aware of the many varieties of candies — some of which admittedly have travelled beyond the US to cause dental issues around the world — but compressed dextrose delight SPREE is not one I have heard of.

Somehow, though, I floundered my way through with just two mistakes.

• YELLOW: CIRCUS EQUIPMENT: CANNON, STILTS, TRAPEZE, UNICYCLE
• GREEN: UNDISTURBED, AS WATER: CALM, FLAT, GLASSY, STILL
• BLUE: "TOY STORY" CHARACTERS: BO PEEP, JESSIE, SLINKY, WOODY
• PURPLE: DOUBLE LETTERS APPEARING IN THAT LETTER'S ALPHABETICAL:
• POSITION AARDVARK, BOCCE, EBBING, TWIDDLE

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

• AI security report sparks lawsuit after startup denies cybercrime accusations
• MeetingTV challenges Koi over allegedly inaccurate automated threat analysis
• Missing evidence becomes central issue in cybersecurity report dispute

MeetingTV has filed a lawsuit against Palo Alto Networks and its subsidiary Koi Security over a recent blog post which alleges the latter's AI system generated false claims connecting the video conferencing startup to a Chinese espionage campaign.

Court documents describe the publication as reckless reliance on an automated analytical tool without adequate human verification.

The lawsuit alleges that Koi relied heavily on its proprietary Wings analytical platform, which generated false links between MeetingTV and a cybercrime group called DarkSpectre, and according to court documents, the startup claims the system created unsupported connections that were presented as evidence of criminal activity.

MeetingTV founder Michael Robertson said the report relied on information that appeared to come from an AI tool without sufficient human verification.

"The false attributions were the direct product of Koi’s unsupervised reliance," the lawsuit stated, referring to the alleged dependence on automated analysis.

The disputed report connected MeetingTV’s Zoomcorder service to a campaign involving a browser extension named Twitter X Video Downloader.

However, the lawsuit claims the extension did not exist and that Koi failed to provide evidence supporting its technical connection.

MeetingTV alleges that this missing component formed the foundation of Koi’s argument linking the company to the wider malware campaign.

The startup also claims Koi did not contact the company before publishing the report or provide an opportunity for clarification.

After the report appeared online, multiple security companies and service providers blocked MeetingTV’s domains, classifying them as malicious infrastructure.

The company claims these actions affected access to its services and damaged its reputation among customers and partners.

Koi Security later removed references to MeetingTV’s Zoomcorder product from the report, though the startup argues the damage continued afterward.

Palo Alto Networks, which acquired Koi Security in April, acknowledged awareness of the lawsuit while defending Koi’s cybersecurity research process.

The company said Koi’s work reflects efforts to identify threats and expects the dispute to follow the legal process.

However, MeetingTV argues that automated security analysis requires stronger oversight before conclusions are shared publicly.

AI systems already produce incorrect information and many even warn users of this possibility, so their outputs should never be presented as verified fact.

Security researchers increasingly rely on automated tools to process large volumes of data, yet verifying those conclusions remains a persistent and unresolved challenge.

Should MeetingTV's claims hold up under judicial scrutiny, the dispute could prompt closer examination of how AI-generated threat reports are produced and reviewed.

The advice therefore is simple: conclusions from AI-assisted analysis should be painstakingly verified, especially when errors could cause serious harm to an individual or company.

Via The Register