NYT Connections hint (Tue, 16 Jun)

Looking for some Connections hints to help with today's puzzle on Tuesday, 16th June? It only takes one bad day to lose that Connections streak, after all. Unless, of course, you use our Connections guides!

Hints? Answers? We've got them all so you can customize your level of assistance. So, pick up those puzzles and let's get solving!

How to play Connections

Connections is one of the most popular (and challenging) daily puzzle games published by the New York Times (owners of Wordle). The aim of Connections is to group the 16 words of the day into four groups, where each group of four words has a common theme.

For instance, the words "Hook", "Nana", "Peter", and "Wendy" are all Peter Pan characters. Or to take another example, "Action", "Ballpark", "Go", and "Stick" are all words which commonly come just before the word "Figure". These are the kinds of Connections you'll need to make to solve the puzzle.

Your job is to figure out what these themes are that connect the various words together - but be wary, because a lot of the time there are deceptive red herring connections placed purely to throw you off! To win the game, you have to find all four Connections without making 4 mistakes. On your fourth mistake, the game is over and the answer is revealed automatically.

Each of the four groups in each day's Connections puzzle is also assigned a different colour, which represents how easy or difficult the Connection is to find. These colours are: Yellow (Easiest), Green (Easy), Blue (Medium), and Purple (Hardest).

Click here to play today's Connections puzzle!

Connections hint: Today's Connections words

Below you'll find various hints for today's Connections. Each of the below hints will make it progressively easier for you to solve today's puzzle. First we'll reveal the words in today's Connections, followed by our Connections hint for each group. Then we'll reveal one word inside each group, followed by the groups themselves; and finally, at the bottom of this page, we'll reveal the answers to today's Connections puzzle. Here are the 16 Connections words for today:

• BLACK SWAN
• EARRINGS
• RED TAPE
• PERFECT STORM
• RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS GEAR
• ENTOURAGE
• BASKETBALL
• GREEN GODDESS
• BLUE MOON
• BLUE CHEESE
• CAESAR
• COURT
• RANCH
• RETINUE
• SUITE
• UNICORN

Connections hint for Tuesday 16th June

Here are your Connections hints for today:

• Yellow hint: Rich, creamy, and healthy! Well, mostly.
• Green hint: The masses.
• Blue hint: Almost mythical.
• Purple hint: Context is everything.
• Extra hint 1: One group is connected by a single word with multiple meanings.
• Extra hint 2: Every group has at least one word containing the letter 'R'

If you need a bit more help, tap the spoiler text below to reveal one word belonging to each group:

• Yellow: Blue Cheese
• Green: Suite
• Blue: Blue Moon
• Purple: Basketball

Spoiler warning! Today's Connections groups are revealed just below!

Connections hints: All of today's Connections groups

If you need an even bigger clue to figure out today's Connections puzzle, below we'll reveal the four correct Connections groups - the themes which link together each set of four words in the Connections grid.

Here are the Connections groups for today:

• Yellow: Creamy Salad Dressings
• Green: Attendants
• Blue: Rare Things, Idiomatically
• Purple: What "Hoops" Might Refer To

Now that you know the themes for the various different Connections in today's puzzle, see if you can solve it! If not, check below for the full answer.

Spoiler warning! Today's Connections answer lies ahead!

Connections answer today

Here is the answer to today's Connections puzzle on Tuesday, 16th June:

• Yellow: Creamy Salad Dressings (Blue Cheese, Caesar, Green Goddess, Ranch)
• Green: Attendants (Court, Entourage, Retinue, Suite)
• Blue: Rare Things, Idiomatically (Black Swan, Blue Moon, Perfect Storm, Unicorn)
• Purple: What "Hoops" Might Refer To (Basketball, Earrings, Red Tape, Rhythmic Gymnastics Gear)

I was already hungry before starting this puzzle, but at least I know what I'm having for lunch, now! The green goddess salad is my favorite, actually. And so is saving your Connections streak! Hopefully I was able to do just that with these handy hints today.

Congratulations if you got today's Connections answer right, with or without the help of our handy hints above! And if you didn't succeed today, don't worry - a new Connections puzzle is released every day at midnight, so you can try again tomorrow, just like with Wordle!