Each day’s game of NYT Connections goes live at midnight local time. Before today’s NYT Connections hints, here’s what you missed on Wednesday:
Hey there, Connectors! I hope you’ve had a lovely week so far!
Oftentimes in my line of work, I agree to an embargo and then I’ll be provided with some news in advance so I can write a story before the official announcement. This is super, super helpful! It means I don’t always have to scramble to write something quickly when there’s some unexpected breaking news.
It also means I can’t tell anyone (other than my editors) about the information before it’s announced. Sometimes, it’s about something very cool and exciting, and as much as I want to talk about it, I have to temporarily keep it to myself.
I am not the best at keeping secrets, but there’s been a fun life update I have to keep mum about for reasons I can’t get into. I’m glad I’ve had some practice with that. Besides, secrets are fun!
(Sorry for being vague. And no, this personal news has absolutely nothing to do with my partner, in case you were wondering!)
Before we start, I want to highlight the rad community we have on Discord, where we chat about Connections, the rest of the NYT games and all kinds of other stuff. It’s a lovely group of folks. You’re more than welcome to join us.
Also, my weekend editions of this column are available over on my newsletter, Pastimes. If you enjoy the intros and recommendations in my Connections columns, I publish longer pieces along similar lines on Pastimes as well. I think you’d dig them.
Today’s NYT Connections hints and answers for Thursday, June 4 are coming right up. Let’s get rolling!
NYT Connections – How To Play
Connections is a free New York Times daily word game that you can play on the NYT’s website or Games app. If you have an NYT All Access or Games subscription, you can access the Connections archive, which includes every previous game.
Connections presents you with a grid of 16 words (sometimes phrases, symbols or numbers). The aim is to arrange them into four groups of four. You don’t know how they hit together or what the category for each group is: that’s what you have to figure out.
There’s only one correct solution and there are often red herrings. You can guess incorrectly three times. A fourth wrong guess, and it’s game over.
Each group is color coded. The yellow group is usually the easiest to deduce, followed by blue, green and purple. Often, the yellow and green groups have synonyms, the blues have cultural references and the purples have some kind of wordplay involved. But this is not a hard and fast rule. Be ready for curveballs – part of the fun of Connections is in how the NYT shakes things up to keep you on your toes.
As with Wordle and similar games, it’s easy to share results with your friends using an emoji-based grid. The game tracks your progress too.
Many players take pride in having long win streaks or getting a reverse rainbow – correctly guessing the purple, blue, green and yellow groups in that order with no mistakes. That adds an extra little challenge.
Today’s NYT Connections Word List
Scroll slowly! I’ll first give you a list of today’s words, then a hint for each category. After that, I’ll reveal one word that goes into each group. Then I’ll tell you the category names, followed by the full answers.
Today’s 16 words are…
- PUBLIC
- WRITER
- SALT
- PEPPER
- OIL
- VINEGAR
- KITCHEN
- TEMPERA
- PANACHE
- GOUACHE
- RUN
- TOWN
- BEASTIE
- VERVE
- ACRYLIC
- GUSTO
Today’s NYT Connections Hints
And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:
- 🟨 Yellow group — easel does it
- 🟩 Green group — full of beans
- 🟦 Blue group — out, grandmaster and a tribe would fit in here
- 🟪 Purple group — like rider, hunter and shark
NYT Connections – One Answer Per Group
Need some extra help?
Be warned: we’re starting to get into spoiler territory.
Let’s take a look at one answer for each group.
Here we go…
- 🟨 Yellow group — GOUACHE
- 🟩 Green group — VERVE
- 🟦 Blue group — SALT
- 🟪 Purple group — KITCHEN
Today’s NYT Connections Categories
Today’s Connections groups are…
- 🟨 Yellow group — painting media
- 🟩 Green group — espirit
- 🟦 Blue group — starts of classic hip-hop groups
- 🟪 Purple group — ghost _____
Today’s NYT Connections Answers
Spoiler alert! Don’t scroll any further down the page until you’re ready to find out today’s Connections answers.
This is your last chance to look away.
This is your final warning!
Today’s Connections answers are…
BEASTIE had to be a reference to the Beastie Boys, so I was able to figure out the blues quickly. The purples were next up thanks to KITCHEN and WRITER. (I don’t really recommend looking up “ghost shark” on Wikipedia.)
After that, I tackled what turned out to be the greens. I wasn’t entirely sure what the fourth word might be, but VINEGAR made the most sense. I’ll take that.
I hadn’t heard of GOUACHE or TEMPERA before, so I got the yellows only by default today. I’m happy to extend my win streak to 459.
How did you get on this time? Here’s my grid:
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟨🟨🟨🟨
Want to know more about how everything fits together? Let’s explore today’s game in more depth in my NYT Connections Answers Explained column. You can check that out by visiting my author page.
That’s all there is to it for today’s Connections clues and answers. Be sure to check my blog tomorrow for hints and the solution for Friday’s game if you need them.
P.S. This is one of the most captivating Tiny Desk sets I’ve seen for a while. Cure for Paranoia, a hip-hop group from Dallas, won an NPR contest to appear on the show on their fourth attempt. Frontperson Cameron McCloud has the room in the palm of a hand the entire time. I love the group’s ethos too. Really great stuff.
(Please note, there’s lots of cursing in this one):
Have a great day! Stay hydrated! Be kind to yourself and each other! Call someone you love!
Please follow my blog for more NYT Connections hints and help with other word games, and even some video game news, insights and analysis. It helps me out a lot! Sharing this column with other people who play Connections would be appreciated too. You can also read my weekend editions of this column at my newsletter, Pastimes.
