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 highlights, here’s what you missed on Sunday:
Hello, Connectors! Welcome to the start of a new week! I’ve missed hanging out with you here, so I’m very happy to be back for another daily installment of this column that I really enjoy doing.
As always on Monday, I start the party with a fun, upbeat song. The idea with this is to help lift your mood and start the week on a positive note. Bonus points for anyone who sings and dances a little.
I don’t think I bring enough funk to the column party. I’m going to start trying to make up for it now with Dazz Band’s “Let It Whip”:
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.
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.
Play puzzles and games at Forbes
Today’s NYT Connections hints and answers for Monday 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 NYTof the 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…
- WOOFER
- CRIMINAL
- INHALE
- GROOT
- BOARD
- MAGNET
- SNARF
- CONE
- TRICKSTER
- CRUSH
- CABINET
- STRUCK
- NUDIBRANCH
- MISCREANT
- I DRINK A LOT
- VILLAINOUS
Today’s NYT Connections Tips
And the hints for today Connections groups are:
- 🟨 Yellow team — once they didn’t get along
- 🟩 Green team — wolf down
- 🟦 Blue group — they convert signals into waves
- 🟪 Purple team — people who like spoilers can skip right to the end of a story
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 — APADIS
- 🟩 Green Team — INHALE
- 🦄 Blue Team — CONE
- 🟪 Purple group — STRUNK
Today’s NYT Link Categories
Today’s Connections the teams are…
- 🟨 Yellow team – old troublemakers
- 🟩 Green Team — eat with gusto
- 🦶 Blue group — parts of a speaker
- 🟪 Purple group — ending in parts of a tree
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 29, 2026
Screenshot by Kris Holt
I wondered for a minute if we could have a Marvel character team with GROOT and ROGUE, but that idea was dispelled once I got to NUDIBRANCH, which is one of the most purple code words I’ve ever seen in this game. GROOT was a clear match for this, along with EMBARK and STRUNK. (These refer to branch, root, bark, and trunk.)
WOOFER updated me on speaker components for the blues. At the time I was 50-50 on what the yellows and greens would be, but I managed to get the second first for my first reverse rainbow in years. This brings my current streak to 484.
How did you do this time? Here is my grid:
🟪🟪
🦟
🟩
🨟🨟
I don’t have much room for an Answers Explained column today, as the category titles pretty much take care of things at a high level. However, I saw two kinds of red herrings.
ROGUE, GROOT and CRUSH are Marvel characters. MAGNET is almost Magneto. There are also WOOFER and RUFFIAN, which start with sounds a dog makes.
That’s all there is for today Connections clues and answers. Be sure to check my blog tomorrow for tips and the solution for tomorrow’s game if you need them.
PS I can’t believe I didn’t know about this until it popped up in my YouTube recommendations recently. A few months before, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy and Hayley Williams appeared The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to perform a duet of “Ffunny Ffrends” by Unknown Mortal Orchestra.
It’s very good. Of course it would be with these two. The biggest surprise for me was Williams busting out a theremin solo. This ruled. I also love Tweedy’s half-moon guitar:
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. You can also read my weekend editions of this column in my newsletter, Hobby.
