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 you’ve had a great week so far!

The tremendous Phoebe Bridgers recently announced a major tour, and fans won’t have access to their phones during the concerts. Given how things went during some warm-up shows, it’s likely that attendees’ phones will be sealed inside a Yondr pouch, which will only be opened when they leave the concert hall. They can also step onto the concourse to use their phone at any time.

The idea here is to prevent fans from recording the shows and to actually pay attention to the performers. The glare of phone screens can be distracting to artists as well.

Some folks have complained about Bridgers’ stance, given how expensive concert tickets are these days. They want a digital memento, something to share with their social media followers. I love this approach, though.

At a show I went to recently, I captured a few short videos, solely so I could share a few “I was there!” moments on Instagram. I kind of regret capturing those. I’m probably never going to look at them again. There are so many professionally shot photos and videos of the band available for me to revisit instead. I enjoyed the show immensely and wish I’d just kept my phone in my pocket.

Concerts are a deeply human form of entertainment and they’re relatively AI-proof. I (like many other people) spend almost every other waking minute looking at a screen, so it feels important to stay completely in the moment during shows. I’ll try to stick to simply taking a photo of the marquee showing the artist’s name outside the venue.

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 Tuesday, June 16 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.

  • BLACK SWAN
  • EARRINGS
  • BASKETBALL
  • COURT
  • GREEN GODDESS
  • SUITE
  • UNICORN
  • RANCH
  • BLUE MOON
  • BLUE CHEESE
  • RED TAPE
  • PERFECT STORM
  • RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS GEAR
  • ENTOURAGE
  • CAESAR
  • RETINUE

Today’s NYT Connections Hints

And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:

  • 🟨 Yellow group — they help bring everything together
  • 🟩 Green group — helping hands
  • 🟦 Blue group — you don't see those too often
  • 🟪 Purple group — ain't it something, they're born to hula

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 — RANCH
  • 🟩 Green group — RETINUE
  • 🟦 Blue group — UNICORN
  • 🟪 Purple group — RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS GEAR

Today’s NYT Connections Categories

Today’s Connections groups are...

  • 🟨 Yellow group — creamy salad dressings
  • 🟩 Green group — attendants
  • 🟦 Blue group — rare things, idiomatically
  • 🟪 Purple group — what "hoops" might refer to

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...

We didn’t get a funky game yesterday for Connections edition #1,100. I think this one makes up for that a bit.

GREEN GODDESS and CAESAR made the yellows clear enough to me out of the gate. I struggled for momentum after that, though.

After taking a break and coming back to the game with fresh eyes, COURT and ENTOURAGE gelled together. SUITE made sense there. I didn't know what RETINUE meant, but I took a gamble and lucked out for the greens.

I initially thought of BLACK SWAN and BLUE MOON as movies. Once I considered how UNICORN might relate to those, the blue category made sense. (PERFECT STORM is a movie as well, actually.)

That left the purples for a 471st win in a row. I had no idea what linked those terms until I submitted them. I'm annoyed I didn't figure that one out!

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. My purple hint today was a reference to both hula hoops and a lyric from song called "Born To Hula." Josh Homme initially recorded that for a project named Gamma Ray between Kyuss breaking up and the formation of Queens of the Stone Age.

The first recorded version of the song has a dry, scuzzy tone similar to the one Homme used in Kyuss. QOTSA later re-recorded "Born To Hula" as a B-side for a single. I very much enjoy both versions:

P.P.S. I’ve recommended a few QOTSA tracks in the column recently. I'm now kinda tempted to do a daily track-by-track thing for Songs for the Deaf , which is my favorite album.

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 .