Find the links between the words to win today’s Link game.
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The NYT Connections daily game airs live at midnight local time. Before today’s NYT Connections tips, here’s what you missed on Thursday:
Hello, Connectors! The weekend is coming, so let’s make sure you get there with yours Connections stripe in one piece.
Today marks the game 1,111 from Connections. Game 2,222 should be on July 11, 2029, in case you were wondering. I don’t really want to talk about it, though. I am very upset with Scotland’s performance in the men’s World Cup so far.
Despite a dismal performance against Brazil on Wednesday night, there is still a chance Scotland can progress to the next round. It all depends on other results from the last round of group stage matches. In all honesty, we don’t really deserve it. We beat Haiti by one goal when they were the better team and Morocco and Brazil had the measure for us.
I will say it, though. At this point, given how bad we were, the funniest result would be Scotland winning the World Cup. Go ahead, make me laugh.
Before we get started, I want to highlight the rad community we have on Discordwhere we talk Connectionsthe rest NYT games and all kinds of other things. They are a wonderful group of people. You are more than welcome to join us.
Play puzzles and games at Forbes
Also, my weekend editions of this column are available in my newsletter, Hobby. If you like introductions and suggestions on my Connections columns, I post longer pieces along similar lines Hobby also. I think you’ll dig them.
Today’s NYT Connections hints and answers for Friday June 29th coming soon. Let’s roll!
NYT Links – How to Play
Connections it’s free New York Times daily word game you can play on NYTthe Games website or app. If you have a NYT All Access or Games subscription, you can access Connections file, which includes every previous game.
Connections presents you with a grid of 16 words (sometimes phrases, symbols or numbers). The goal is to sort them into four groups of four. You don’t know how they hit together or what the class is for each team: that’s what you have to figure out.
There is only one correct solution and there are often red herrings. You can guess wrong three times. Fourth wrong guess, and it’s game over.
Each group is color coded. The yellow group is usually the easiest to gather, followed by blue, green and purple. Often, yellow and green groups have synonyms, blues have cultural references, and purples involve some sort of wordplay. But this is not a hard and fast rule. Be ready for curveballs – part of the fun Connections is in how the NYT shakes things up to keep you on your toes.
As with me Wordle and similar games, it’s easy to share results with your friends using an emoji-based grid. The game also tracks your progress.
Many players pride themselves on having long winning streaks or having a reverse rainbow – correctly guessing the purple, blue, green and yellow teams with this streak without mistakes. This adds an extra little challenge.
Today’s Connections NYT word list
Scroll slowly! I will first give you a list of today’s words and then a hint for each category. After that, I’ll reveal a word that goes to each group. Then I will tell you the names of the categories and the full answers will follow.
Today’s 16 words are…
- STRONG TASTE
- CHIP
- COMMISSION
- PINK
- VALLEY
- REMAKE
- SPLINTER
- NUT
- HOLLOW
- TREE
- CANYON
- BRONZER
- NUT
- DINGLE
- LOG
- PRETZEL
Today’s NYT Connections Tips
And the hints for today Connections groups are:
- 🟨 Yellow team — these might not go quietly into the night… or into your mouth
- 🟩 Green team — how much would a chock chock do if he could squish it?
- 🦄 Blue team – a kind of Great Depression that most of us would be okay with
- 🟪 Purple group — like sunrise or sunset, there is more shadow than usual
NYT Links – One answer per group
Need some extra help?
Attention: we are starting to enter spoiler area.
Let’s take a look at one answer for each group.
So let’s go…
- 🟨 Yellow team — NUT
- 🟩 Green team — Board of Directors
- 🦶 Blue team — DALE
- 🟪 Purple Team — TANG
Today’s NYT Link Categories
Today’s Connections the teams are…
- 🟨 Yellow team — crunchy snack
- 🟩 Green group — various amounts of wood
- 🦶 Blue group — low-lying areas
- 🟪 Purple group — colors plus a letter
Today’s NYT Connections Answers
Spoiler alert! Don’t scroll down the page until you’re ready to learn today’s Connections answers.
This is your last chance to look away.
This is your last warning!
Today’s Connections the answers are…
Link Answers for June 26, 2026
Screenshot by Kris Holt
The cartoon rodent red herring immediately tripped me up. Rats! At least I understood that meant CHIP had to go with the yellows and SPLINTER had to go with the greens.
From there, I felt the blues were pretty clear, leaving the purples for the win. BRONZER and PINKY made this category not too difficult to understand. But for that irresistible red herring, I would have had a regular rainbow to extend my streak to 481 wins.
How did you do this time? Here is my grid:
🟪
🨟🨟
🟩
🦟
🟪🟪
Gosh, there’s not much to write out there thanks to the category title, so I guess I’ll have to skip the Answer Explanations column again today.
I will say that the red herring I saw was CHIP, DALE (as in chipmunks Chip ‘n’ Dale), PINKY (a mouse in Pinky and the Brain) and SPLINTER (a mutant rat from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles).
That’s it for my current daily run Connections hint and answer columns here. I’ll be back with you for more shenanigans on Monday. In the meantime, you can read my weekend editions of this column in my newsletter, Hobby.
PS I really like mashups when done well, and this is a really well done mashup. It may, in fact, be the ultimate mashup.
If you’ve ever wanted to hear a load of artists injected with KC and the Sunshine Band’s “That’s The Way I Like It” (albeit with some profanity), this is the only mashup you’ll ever need. It’s so much fun and a great way to start the weekend:
Good day! Stay hydrated! Be kind to yourself and each other! Call someone you love!
Please follow my blog for more NYT links hints and help with other word games and even some video game news, information and analysis. It helps me a lot! Share this column with other people playing Connections will also be appreciated.
