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 9:
Today’s NYT Connections Answers Explained
Connections – Yellow Group
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🟨 symbols of innocence (ANGEL, BABE, DOVE, LAMB)
BABE here is a baby. I think we’re all covered otherwise.
Connections – Green Group
🟩 things you’re not supposed to reveal (PASSWORD, SECRET, SPOILER, SURPRISE)
Thanks for mostly taking care of this for me, category title! A SPOILER is a plot point in a movie, TV show, novel, game etc that would “spoil” the surprise or suspense should the viewer, reader or player know about it in advance. Like what Rosebud is in Citizen Kane.
Connections – Blue Group
🟦 things represented in superscript (ASTERISK, DEGREE, EXPONENT, TRADEMARK)
Superscript is text or a symbol that sits above the normal line of text. In this case, these refer to:
- ASTERISK > *
- DEGREE > °, the symbol used to denote temperatures or degrees in a gradient or angle
- EXPONENT > ², ³, ⁿ and so on. In mathematics, these are used to raise a base number to a power by denoting how many times it is multiplied by itself. So 4³, for instance, would be 4x4x4, which equals 64
- TRADEMARK > ™, used to signify that a word, phrase, symbol etc has been trademarked
Connections – Purple Group
🟪 slang for musical instruments (AXE, BONE, KEYS, SKINS)
These refer to:
- AXE > guitar (most commonly, but it can be used to refer to any instrument in jazz, apparently)
- BONE > trombone
- KEYS > keyboard or piano
- SKINS > drums
Connections – Red Herrings
AXE, SECRET, DOVE and DEGREE are all types of deodorant.
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.