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 Tuesday:
Hey there, Connectors! I hope your week is off to a great start!
Regular readers will know that, while I’m into all kinds of music, my heart primarily lies on the heavy rock and metal part of the spectrum. That music has been part of my being since I was about 13 years old – earlier if you count all the Saturday nights I spent at home as my parents played Queen on the record player.
I played guitar for a bit and keep meaning to get back into that, but as yet I have not. However, I’ve been wondering recently if I could do something a little more productive with the silly voices and noises I make all the time to entertain my partner’s kid (and myself, let’s be honest).
So I’m thinking about learning how to do all that scream singing stuff. I’d like to learn the ropes properly, though. I’ve watched some tutorials on mouth shape and muscle control to try to gain a little insight into how it works, but I might take up lessons. I’d prefer not to damage my vocal cords. It could be fun!
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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 Wednesday, June 17 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…
- MOUTH
- CAVITY
- CLASSIC
- CALLIOPE
- IRIS
- KINDLE
- CHEEK
- ECHO
- NOOK
- LIP
- NEMESIS
- TYPEFACE
- SORTIE
- RECESS
- NERVE
- NICHE
Today’s NYT Connections Hints
And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:
- 🟨 Yellow group — make space
- 🟩 Green group — kinda cocky
- 🟦 Blue group — ajax, antigone and pandora would fit in here
- 🟪 Purple group — like survivors who are left behind in a survival movie, they band together
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 — RECESS
- 🟩 Green group — NERVE
- 🟦 Blue group — ECHO
- 🟪 Purple group — SORTIE
Today’s NYT Connections Categories
Today’s Connections groups are…
- 🟨 Yellow group — alcove
- 🟩 Green group — bodily words for attitude
- 🟦 Blue group — figures in Greek myth
- 🟪 Purple group — starting with synonyms for “ilk”
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…
My first thought after seeing KINDLE and NOOK on the board was that there was no way there’d be a group of e-readers. SORTIE stood out as well, and from there I was able to figure out the purples.
The yellows then became apparent, so I squared those away, followed by the greens.
I didn’t know what the blue connection was before submitting it. CALLIOPE was the only one I knew of as a Greek mythological figure, so that group was a default one for me today. (This is at least the fourth group of Greek mythological figures we’ve had in the history of Connections.)
That puts my streak at 472 wins in a row. 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 tomorrow’s game if you need them.
P.S. A big Francophone music festival is taking place in town at the minute. While I was checking out artists who are playing free outdoor shows, I learned about Violett Pi. I don’t think most folks will really need a translation app to figure out what “Bipolaire” is all about, lyrically. It’s funky, poppy, a little screamy and quite out there. I’m into it!
I’m not sharing the music video for this song, since it has a bunch of flashing lights. Here’s an audio-only version:
I quite enjoy this tune, “Fleur de Londres,” too. It’s more of a straightforward alt rock tune in terms of its structure. It’s catchy! I might just have to wander down and see this band tonight if the weather holds up:
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.
