Today's NYT Connections Clues and Solutions for Monday, June 10, 2024

NYT Connections Pointers (and Solution) for Monday, June 10, 2024: A Redirect

If you're searching for the solution to Monday, June 10, 2024's Connections puzzle, I'll provide you with clues, tips, and strategies and, eventually, the answers to all four categories. Get ready to discover the meanings of puzzling words and to uncover how everything comes together. But beware, there are spoilers ahead for June 10's NYT Connections #365! Continue reading if you're interested in some hints (and the answer) to today's Connections game.

To easily access our hints every day, bookmark this page. You can also find our previous hints here if you want to view a summary of past puzzles.

Here are some sneak peeks at today's Connections puzzle's themes:

Yellow category: What represents the main component?
Green category: Unexpectedly complex.
Blue category: Visual aids to help you record things to keep in mind or complete.
Purple category: One word could be the meaning of all the words in this group.

Warning: Spoilers Below for Today's Connections Puzzle!

We're about to reveal some solutions. Move slowly if you don't want everything spoiled. (The complete response is a little further down.)

A Note on Tricky Words

BULLET is not about bullets used in ammunition. It's about "bullet points" or marks like dots.

BAROQUE is a style of art from the seventeenth century, though it's also used to describe words like "fussy," "decorative," or "detailed."

HYBRID and HYPHEN are not paired together, and neither are CRUX and CRUCIFIX.

What are the categories in today's Connections?

Yellow: ESSENCE
Green: FACETS
Blue: SYMBOLS USED IN MAKING LISTS
Purple: CROSS

EXTRA WARNING: The Solution is Below

Are you ready to uncover the answers to today's Connections puzzle? I'll give them all away next.

What are the yellow words in today's Connections?

The yellow grouping is believed to be the simplest. The theme of today's yellow group is CORE, and the words are: CRUX, ESSENCE, HEART, SUBSTANCE.

What are the green words in today's Connections?

The green grouping is thought to be the second-easiest. The theme for today's green category is COMPLICATED and the words are: BAROQUE, COMPLEX, ELABORATE, INVOLVED.

What are the blue words in today's Connections?

The blue grouping is the second-most challenging. The theme for today's blue category is SYMBOLS USED IN MAKING LISTS and the words are: ARROW, BULLET, CHECKBOX, HYPHEN.

What are the purple words in today's Connections?

The purple grouping is seen as the most challenging. The theme for today's purple category is WHAT "CROSS" COULD MEAN and the words are: ANGRY, BETRAY, CRUCIFIX, HYBRID.

How I Solved Today's Connections

COMPLEX, INVOLVED, ELABORATE, and BAROQUE stand out as words related to things with a lot of decoration or detail. 🟩

ARROW and HEART lead me to think there's a symbol category, but I see that HEART actually aligns with ESSENCE, CRUX, and SUBSTANCE as words that describe the central significance of something. 🟨

Next, I notice that HYPHEN, CHECKBOX, ARROW, and BULLET are all familiar icons found in lists, such as on to-do lists. 🟦 This group is definitely about symbols used in making lists.

That leaves HYBRID, ANGRY, BETRAY, and CRUCIFIX. I can't determine what connects them. I try to find hidden words ("fix" and "bet") or a blanks-filling-in word idea, but I can't come up with anything.

Finally, after a short break for a coffee refill, the revelation comes to me: the word "cross" is a synonym for these words. 🟪

Initially, locate the Connections game which can be found on the New York Times site or the Games app (formerly Crossword app). You'll observe a board with 16 tiles, each containing a word or phrase. Your mission is to pick a quartet of tiles that share something in common. They may all be the same type of entity (e.g., RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, and SNOW are forms of wet weather), but sometimes wordplay is involved (for instance, BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH are various types of lists: bucket list, guest list, and so on).

Choose four items and press Submit. If your choice is correct, the category and color will be shown. (Yellow is easiest, followed by green, then blue, and finally purple.) If your guess was inaccurate, you'll receive another attempt.

You win when you've successfully identified all four groups. However, if you make four errors before concluding, the game ends and the correct answers are shown.

Strategies for Winning Connections

The primary aspect to understand for winning Connections is that the groupings are made to be deceptive. Expect to encounter overlapping groupings. For example, one puzzle had six breakfast foods: BACON, EGG, PANCAKE, OMELET, WAFFLE, and CEREAL. But BACON was part of a group of painters along with CLOSE, MUNCH, and WHISTLER, and EGG was in a group of things that come in twelves (together with JUROR, ROSE, and MONTH). Hence, ensure your group of four solely includes those four elements before hitting "submit".

When stumped, another strategy is to examine the words that seem to have no connection to the others. If the only thought that comes to mind when you see WHISTLER is the painting titled "Whistler's Mother," you might be on the right track. When I solved that one, my answer was discoversing that Close is a painter, as Close didn't seems to correlate with any evident themes.

Yet another method to win when you're struggling is to read a set of useful guidance - like the tips we share daily. Return tomorrow in order to unravel the next puzzle!