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 Monday:

Hey there, Connectors! I hope your week is off to a great start.

I had an extremely busy, work-filled weekend before another busy day on Monday with Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference getting underway. I am not complaining, because being busy is good and getting to write about games and interesting tech for a living is something I can never take for granted. I am very much looking forward to taking a break this weekend, though.

Scotland beat Bolivia 4-0 with a good performance in one last pre-World Cup warmup game, so I am happy about that! Can’t wait for our first game of the tournament on Saturday.

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.

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Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase

Today’s NYT Connections hints and answers for Tuesday, June 9 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.

  • ASTERISK
  • AXE
  • ANGEL
  • SURPRISE
  • SECRET
  • TRADEMARK
  • BONE
  • DOVE
  • DEGREE
  • PASSWORD
  • LAMB
  • KEYS
  • BABE
  • SKINS
  • EXPONENT
  • SPOILER

Today’s NYT Connections Hints

And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:

  • 🟨 Yellow group — they did nothing wrong
  • 🟩 Green group — keep it to yourself
  • 🟦 Blue group — they never come down to the ground
  • 🟪 Purple group — gear heads often take 'em to the bridge

NYT Connections – One Answer Per Group

Be warned: we’re starting to get into spoiler territory.

Let’s take a look at one answer for each group.

  • 🟨 Yellow group — DOVE
  • 🟩 Green group — SURPRISE
  • 🟦 Blue group — EXPONENT
  • 🟪 Purple group — BONE

Today’s NYT Connections Categories

Today’s Connections groups are...

  • 🟨 Yellow group — symbols of innocence
  • 🟩 Green group — things you’re not supposed to reveal
  • 🟦 Blue group — things represented in superscript
  • 🟪 Purple group — slang for musical instruments

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...

The deodorants got me good. AXE, SECRET, DOVE and DEGREE did not form a group or even close to one. Red herring, you win this time.

Anyway, I got the greens first. No problem there. TRADEMARK made me think of the symbol, which led me toward the blues.

AXE, KEYS and SKINS opened up the door for the purples, but it took me a moment to recognize that BONE (i.e. trombone) was the fourth word. That left the yellows, for which I figured out the connection.

My streak keeps on ticking with a 464th win 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. I don’t really like to repeat these recommendations, but it's been almost a year since I've used this song and it's very fitting given the green group. "The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret" is a top-five Queens of the Stone Age song for me. The marimba in it makes me think of Scooby-Doo:

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 .