Today's NYT Connections Hints (and Answer) for Thursday, June 27, 2024
If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Thursday, June 27, 2024, read on—I’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solutions to all four categories. Along the way, I’ll explain the meanings of the trickier words and we’ll learn how everything fits together. Beware, there are spoilers below for June 27, NYT Connections #382! Read on if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Connections game.
If you want an easy way to come back to our Connections hints every day, bookmark this page. You can also find our past hints there as well, in case you want to know what you missed in a previous puzzle.
Below, I’ll give you some oblique hints at today’s Connections answers. And farther down the page, I’ll reveal the themes and the answers. Scroll slowly and take just the hints you need!
Credit: Connections/NYT
Hints for the themes in today’s Connections puzzle
Here are some spoiler-free hints for the groupings in today’s Connections:
- Yellow category - If you really want to find something, you’d do these things to get it.
- Green category - Ways to end communication with a lover, traditionally.
- Blue category - When a collection of people have split opinions, you might describe them using these words.
- Purple category - A fill-in-the-blank, with a word referring to a valuable metal.
BEWARE: Spoilers follow for today’s Connections puzzle!
We’re about to give away some of the answers. Scroll slowly if you don’t want the whole thing spoiled. (The full solution is a bit further down.)
A heads up about the tricky parts
MINE doesn’t go with YOURS; instead, it refers to a place where ore is harvested, for example.
WING doesn’t refer to what birds use to fly; it refers to a section of something, like the east wing of a building, for example.
LEAF doesn’t refer to something that grows from a tree branch.
What are the categories in today’s Connections?
- Yellow: PURSUIT
- Green: ROMANTIC LETTER SIGN-OFFS
- Blue: GROUP WITHIN A GROUP
- Purple: GOLD ___
DOUBLE BEWARE: THE SOLUTION IS BELOW
Ready to learn the answers to today’s Connections puzzle? I give them all away below.
What are the yellow words in today’s Connections?
The yellow grouping is considered to be the most straightforward. The theme for today’s yellow group is PURSUIT and the words are: CHASE, HUNT, QUEST, SEARCH.
What are the green words in today’s Connections?
The green grouping is supposed to be the second-easiest. The theme for today’s green category is ROMANTIC LETTER SIGN-OFFS and the words are: ALWAYS, KISSES, LOVE, YOURS.
What are the blue words in today’s Connections?
The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is GROUP WITHIN A GROUP and the words are: CAMP, PARTY, SIDE, WING.
What are the purple words in today’s Connections?
The purple grouping is considered to be the hardest. The theme for today’s purple category is GOLD ___ and the words are: BOND, LEAF, MINE, RUSH.
How I solved today’s Connections
MINE and YOURS seem to go together, but I don't immediately see any other possessive words. KISSES also seems vaguely related—Valentine words? Oh, KISSES, LOVE, YOURS, and ALWAYS are ways to sign love letters. 🟩
SEARCH and PARTY feel related, but maybe just because they're next to each other in the puzzle. PARTY, QUEST, and HUNT also seem related, if you're a video game nerd like I am. OK, it looks like HUNT, SEARCH, QUEST, and CHASE go together because they are all words referring to pursuing someone or something. 🟨 PARTY was a red herring.
LEAF is a thing that grows on trees, but it's also a unit of paper ("loose leaf paper"). CAMP is also outdoorsy, but I don't see anything else that goes with that. Maybe CAMP and PARTY go together as words referring to groups of people—that would go with SIDE and WING, too. (“I’m on his side,” or “the right wing of the Republican party,” for example.) 🟦
That leaves LEAF, MINE, RUSH, and BOND, which are probably part of a fill-in-the-blank category, because there's nothing obvious tying these together and the purple category is always a tricky one. LEAF and RUSH help me see that all four words go with “gold.” 🟪
How to play Connections
I have a full guide to playing Connections, but here’s a refresher on the rules:
First, find the Connections game either on the New York Times website or in their Games app (formerly the Crossword app). You’ll see a game board with 16 tiles, each with one word or phrase. Your job is to select a group of four tiles that have something in common. Often they are all the same type of thing (for example: RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, and SNOW are all types of wet weather) but sometimes there is wordplay involved (for example, BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH are all types of lists: bucket list, guest list, and so on).
Select four items and hit the Submit button. If you guessed correctly, the category and color will be revealed. (Yellow is easiest, followed by green, then blue, then purple.) If your guess was incorrect, you’ll get a chance to try again.
You win when you’ve correctly identified all four groups. But if you make four mistakes before you finish, the game ends and the answers are revealed.
How to win Connections
The most important thing to know to win Connections is that the groupings are designed to be tricky. Expect to see overlapping groups. For example, one puzzle seemed to include six breakfast foods: BACON, EGG, PANCAKE, OMELET, WAFFLE, and CEREAL. But BACON turned out to be part of a group of painters along with CLOSE, MUNCH, and WHISTLER, and EGG was in a group of things that come by the dozen (along with JUROR, ROSE, and MONTH). So don’t hit “submit” until you’ve confirmed that your group of four contains only those four things.
If you’re stuck, another strategy is to look at the words that seem to have no connection to the others. If all that comes to mind when you see WHISTLER is the painting nicknamed “Whistler’s Mother,” you might be on to something. When I solved that one, I ended up googling whether there was a painter named Close, because Close didn’t fit any of the obvious themes, either.
Another way to win when you’re stuck is, obviously, to read a few helpful hints–which is why we share these pointers every day. Check back tomorrow for the next puzzle!
In the New York Times' Connections game, the category labeled 'Yellow' is themed around 'PURSUIT', which includes words like CHASE, HUNT, QUEST, and SEARCH. If you're looking for ways to stay updated with Connections hints, you can bookmark this page or find past hints in the archives.
To make the most of your Connections experience, it's essential to understand the game's mechanics: select a group of four tiles that share a common theme or wordplay, and submit your answer. If you're stuck, consider looking at words that seem to have no connection to the others, as they might offer unexpected groupings. Happy solving!
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