Note: Make sure to complete today’s NYT Connections before reading further! We’ll be getting into spoilers for today’s game pretty quickly. If you need some help to complete the grid, you can find my NYT Connections hints and answers column for today via my author page.
Hey there, Connectors! Welcome to my deeper dive into today’s Connections answers. The idea behind this is to help clear things up for anyone who isn’t sure how today’s groups fit together.
If I’ve missed any red herrings or misunderstood something, let me know via email or on Discord. I don’t typically look at X or check the comments here.
I’m going to assume that you’ve already beaten today’s game. We’re going straight into spoiler territory here. So, consider this your one and only warning.
Here are today’s NYT Connections answers explained (and any red herrings I spot) for Tuesday, June 23:
Today’s NYT Connections Answers Explained
Connections – Yellow Group
Play Puzzles & Games on Forbes
🟨 dance styles (FOXTROT, MODERN, SWING, TAP)
Here are video tutorials for each dance (except for MODERN dance since I think that’s a lot broader and less specific?). Dancing is fun even though I’m not very good at it!
Connections – Green Group
🟩 in a Monopoly box (DEED, HOTEL, MONEY, TOKEN)
In Monopoly (as in life), acquiring a title DEED means you own the property it relates to. You can place a HOTEL on a property – and charge players who land on that space higher rent – after you have placed four houses on it and then pay for an upgrade.
MONEY, is of course, the currency in Monopoly. Once you run out of MONEY and sellable assets, you’re considered bankrupt and you’re eliminated from the game. A TOKEN is a game piece that you move around the board after rolling dice.
Connections – Blue Group
🟦 online content sorting options (FEATURED, POPULAR, RECENT, TRENDING)
These are all options for how to filter posts in, for instance, a social media app.
The FEATURED section might contain posts that an app’s curators think is worthy of your attention or things you want to show off. For instance, you might place professional achievements you’re proud of in the FEATURED section of your LinkedIn profile.
A POPULAR feed might show a selection of posts that others have interacted with the most over a given period of time, while a TRENDING section may focus on those that have surged in popularity. A RECENT feed, meanwhile, might just show the latest posts from people you follow, which is all I ever want. None of this algorithmic nonsense.
Connections – Purple Group
🟪 things with mantles/mantels (EARTH, EMPEROR, FIREPLACE, YANKEES)
EARTH’s mantel is a layer of rock between the crust (the relatively thin bit we live on) and the outer core. A royal mantle is a type of robe that an EMPEROR might wear.
A FIREPLACE will typically have a mantel on top that’s often used as a shelf. You might find a mantel clock here.
Mickey Mantle is a hall of famer who played with the New York YANKEES in the 1950s and ’60s. He was a 20-time All-Star and seven-time World Series champion. The YANKEES retired his jersey, number 7.
Connections – Red Herrings
I did see a few NATO phonetic alphabet words: FOXTROT, HOTEL and YANKEES (albeit without the “S”).
If you’d like to chat about today’s game of Connections and just about anything else with me and a very lovely group of people, you can do just that in our Discord community. We’d love for you to hang out with us.
I’ll be back with another set of NYT Connections hints and answers tomorrow, as well as another edition of this one, all going well. You’ll be able to find both of those on my Forbes author page when the time comes (following me there helps me out too!). As for the weekend editions of my NYT Connections hints and answers column, I’m currently doing that via my newsletter, Pastimes.











