NYT Connections Hints Today: Answers for June 21, 2025

Connections Hints

Connections is one of the most popular word games from The New York Times, that has drawn the public interest. The goal is to identify “common threads between words”. Like Wordle, Connections resets at midnight. And while some puzzles are tough, others can be surprisingly easy or moderate. To help you tackle the challenge, we’ve provided some helpful tips and strategies.

The New York Times game Connections tests your skill at identifying word links. It may seem simple, but it’s not—connection categories are typically very precise and can be nearly anything. We can help you if you need help finding the answers.

Today’s Difficulty

Today's Connections Hints

Yellow Group
Heavily built
Green Group
Corporation
Blue Group
Made from the same fruit
Purple Group
Nations

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Today's Connections Categories

Stocky
Yellow Group
Company
Green Group
Apple Products
Blue Group
Starts of European countries
Purple Group

🚨 Spoiler Alert!

Scroll down only if you’re ready to see today’s Connections answers. If you’re still working on the puzzle, we recommend checking out the hints above first!

Today’s NYT Connections Answers

Stocky
Yellow Group
SOLID, SQUAT, STOUT, THICK
Company
Green Group
CONCERN, FIRM, HOUSE, OUTFIT
Apple Products
Blue Group
BRANDY, BUTTER, CIDER, SAUCE
Starts of European countries
Purple Group
GERM, LUXE, MALT, PORT

Yesterdays's NYT Connections Hints & Answers

Group & CategoryHintAnswers
🟨 Yellow – Items in a sewing kitNeeded for patchworkBUTTON, NEEDLE, SCISSORS, THREAD
🟩 Green – Capture on videoVideographyFILM, RECORD, SHOOT, TAPE
🟦 Blue – Pro wrestling icons, with "The"WWE legendsHITMAN, ROCK, SNAKE, UNDERTAKER
🟪 Purple – Wax ___They're made of the same materialMUSEUM, PAPER, POETIC, SEAL

What is NYT Connections?

Connections is a word game by The New York Times, where the goal is to sort 16 words into groups of four. Each group of words is connected by a common theme or concept—which could be just about anything. We've seen categories based on word length, added letters, and even obscure themes. Occasionally, they make reference to fairy tales, and other times, to economics. It is impossible to predict the type of relationship that will exist between words.

Connections

The daily word game from the NYT has gone viral on social media. Wynn Liu, an associate puzzle editor, is credited by the Times with helping to develop the new word game and introducing it to the Games section of the publication. Players of Connections must group four words that have a common element. Connections may be played on mobile devices and web browsers.

How to play Connections?

The New York Times daily word game Connections is well liked and free. Every day at midnight, a new puzzle is given to you. You may play on the Games app or the NYT website. A grid of sixteen words is shown to you. Your job is to identify the connections between them and sort them into four groups of four. The categories may consist of clickable products, research study participant names, or words that are followed by a body part.

Each puzzle has a single answer, and you must use caution when using terms that could fall under more than one category. The words can be rearranged to help you see connections between them.

Color-coding is used for each group. Blue and green are in the middle, the purple group is typically the hardest to identify, and the yellow group is typically the easiest. Wordplay is a common practice among the purple group.

Category ColorDifficulty
🟨 YellowEasy
🟩 GreenNormal
🟦 BlueHard
🟪 PurpleVery Hard

Choose four words that you believe complement each other, then click Submit. You will lose a life if you get the wrong answer. You may receive a notification indicating that you are one word away from having the correct group, but you will still need to choose which one to change.

The game is over if you commit four blunders. With the aid of some pointers and, if you are having a tough time, today's Connections answers, let us make sure that doesn't happen. Sharing results with your friends on social media and in-group conversations is simple, just like with Wordle and other games of a similar nature.

You can view the NYT Connections archive if you have a subscription to All Access or Games. You can go back and play any of the Connections games you missed because this includes every previous game.

How to use our NYT Connections Hints

We provide fresh Connections hints every day that provide you with just enough details to help you figure out today’s puzzle independently. Our daily suggestions are thoughtfully written to improve your Connections gaming experience for the current task. Here's how to use our hints:

Start with the Quick Hints

These short, friendly clues give you a gentle push in the right direction. They offer a simple description of each group’s theme without giving too much away, making them perfect for when you just need a little boost to get started.

Check the Category Names

Still unsure? The category titles can give you a clearer picture of the themes. They don’t spoil the puzzle, but they do give you more context to help your brain make the right connections.

Look at the Full Answers

At the end of the table, we list all the words sorted into their correct groups. Use this part only if you’re totally stuck or want to double-check your solution — it’s the last resort if you want to keep the challenge alive.

Game Rules

  • Number of groups: Out of the 16 provided words, identify four groups of four related words. 
  • Correct answers: After submission, correct combinations will be locked. 
  • Mistake limit: You have four chances to make mistakes; 
  • Group composition: Each group contains four related words; 
  • Word selection: Click on a word to select it, and click again to deselect it.

Tips and Tricks to Play Connections 

Even while it might seem simple, you could spend up to an hour attempting to figure out the puzzle or tearing your hair out trying to figure out how words relate to one another. See the top NYT Connections tips and techniques below for some much-needed assistance in that area.

Brush up Your Trivia & Vocab

The fact that Connections depends on the player knowing trivia and having a strong vocabulary is both its best and worst feature. This encompasses more than simply trivia, though; it also includes knowledge of popular culture. If you play this game against someone who knows very little about trivia, they probably will not be able to identify the common denominators.

A recent puzzle that grouped the names of horror directors serves as an illustration. Therefore, we advise improving your general and pop culture knowledge to stay up to date if you wish to swiftly make connections between the words.

Look Closely Before Grouping

Although creating connections between words might appear simple, it will not get you very far. This is due to the puzzle's design, which incorporates terms from multiple categories simultaneously. Therefore, even if you could believe that terms like Saw and Carpenter belong together in the same category, the latter may be a reference to the 2000s horror film. Do you see what we mean? These kinds of unclear terms are common and will cause you to stumble. 

Look Closely Before Grouping

We recommend spending some time considering the precise relationship between these words in order to get past this obstacle. Check to see if looking at the other words helps. Only press the submit button if you are certain of your selection.

Use Your Tries Wisely

Connections only allows you to try four times, as opposed to Wardle’s generous six opportunities. This gives you one chance to guess each group. We do not need to explain why the game is difficult. Therefore, we strongly advise that you handle your four attempts with extreme caution.

Use Your Tries Wisely

This entails reading the text carefully and only clicking "Submit" when it seems appropriate. Do not rush since the puzzle will reset after you have used up all of your attempts.

Shuffle, Shuffle, Shuffle

Wynn Liu, the game's editor, revealed in a recent Q&A session that the first word placement is deliberate and intended to deceive the solvers. For this reason, the game features a convenient Shuffle button that rapidly rearranges every phrase. When you are considering a few words, the shuffle button may also aid you in refreshing your recollection in addition to altering that initial placement.

Shuffle

Therefore, pressing the shuffle button as if it were a debt is one of the top game tips and tactics. It could be the key to solving your puzzle.

You may easily master the Connections game by playing it in this manner. Check out our comprehensive NYT Connections database, which is linked at the beginning, if you are still having trouble cracking the game and need even more assistance.

It’s Okay to Use Hints

I get it — sometimes you don’t want to use hints because your ego’s as tall as Mount Everest. Trust me, I’ve been there. But NYT Strands isn’t your average word puzzle — it can really push you to the edge. So if you find yourself completely stuck, don’t hesitate to tap that hint button. It’s there to help!

As mentioned earlier, hints will highlight one of the key theme words in blue. To uncover the Spangram faster, try guessing some unrelated words — every wrong guess gets you closer to a helpful hint!

Be Consistent

It gets easier the more you do it, just like anything else in life. Thankfully, this also holds true for NYT Strands. To get a strong grasp of the game, I advise you to play NYT Strands daily and return to it frequently. You will use fewer and fewer clues as you play it more and more, and eventually the puzzle will become automatic.

Now, I would strongly advise informing your friends about the game if you enjoy it as much as I do. As usual, if you need a little assistance, you can look over our daily Strands answers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Connections Hints are daily clues we provide to help you solve the NYT Connections puzzle. Our hints variety from understated clues to more specific category names, designed to assist you without treating the entire puzzle.

We update our Connections hints daily to match the current NYT Connections puzzle. Fresh hints are available each day to help you with that day's challenge.

No, our hints are not official NYT hints. We create these hints independently to assist players who might need a little extra help with the daily Connections puzzle.

We recommend starting with the quickest hints and only progressing to more revealing hints if you're truly stuck. This approach helps maintain the challenge and enjoyment of solving the puzzle largely on your own.

Since NYT Connections is a completely free game, the answer is yes.

Fortunately, playing older NYT Connections games is quite simple. To replay any day, just go to the Connections archives and select it!