If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Monday, June 9, 2025, read on—I’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solutions to all four categories. Along the way, I’ll explain the meanings of the trickier words and we’ll learn how everything fits together. Beware, there are spoilers below for June 9, NYT Connections #729! Read on if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Connections game.
If you want an easy way to come back to our Connections hints every day, bookmark this page. (If you play Wordle and Strands, check out our hints for those games, too.)
Below, I’ll give you some oblique hints at today’s Connections answers. And farther down the page, I’ll reveal the themes and the answers. Scroll slowly and take just the hints you need!
Credit: Connections/NYT
Hints for the themes in today’s Connections puzzle
Here are some spoiler-free hints for the groupings in today’s Connections:
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Yellow category – Seen in a dropdown menu.
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Green category – If something is in high demand, do these.
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Blue category – Mafia words.
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Purple category – Encouraging words, but they’re missing a piece.
BEWARE: Spoilers follow for today’s Connections puzzle!
We’re about to give away some of the answers. Scroll slowly if you don’t want the whole thing spoiled. (The full solution is a bit further down.)
A heads up about the tricky parts
FAMILY, ORDER, and GENUS might make you think of animal classifications, but those words don’t go together today.
GENUS is missing a letter.
PASTE is what you might do after hitting copy or cut.
What are the categories in today’s Connections?
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Yellow: KEYBOARD SHORTCUT COMMANDS
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Green: SECURE IN ADVANCE
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Blue: CRIME ORGANIZATION
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Purple: SPELLING BEE RANKS MINUS A LETTER
DOUBLE BEWARE: THE SOLUTION IS BELOW
Ready to learn the answers to today’s Connections puzzle? I give them all away below.
What are the yellow words in today’s Connections?
The yellow grouping is considered to be the most straightforward. The theme for today’s yellow group is KEYBOARD SHORTCUT COMMANDS and the words are: PASTE, PRINT, QUIT, SAVE.
What are the green words in today’s Connections?
The green grouping is supposed to be the second-easiest. The theme for today’s green category is SECURE IN ADVANCE and the words are: BOOK, ORDER, REQUEST, RESERVE.
What are the blue words in today’s Connections?
The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is CRIME ORGANIZATION and the words are: CREW, FAMILY, RING, SYNDICATE.
What are the purple words in today’s Connections?
The purple grouping is considered to be the hardest. The theme for today’s purple category is SPELLING BEE RANKS MINUS A LETTER and the words are: GENUS, GOO, MAZING, SLID.
How I solved today’s Connections
FAMILY, GENUS, and ORDER could go together as animal taxonomy words, but I don’t see a fourth.
ORDER, RESERVE, and SAVE could go together.
SYNDICATE, CREW, RING, and FAMILY could go together as words associated with criminal groups. Let’s start there. 🟦
MAZING is a weird one. It looks like A would go at the front to make “amazing,” but I don’t see others that are like that. Oh, maybe GENUS goes with it as another positive word missing a letter (genius). GOO (good) could also fit.
What do you think so far?
Ah, I bet BOOK is the one that fits with ORDER, RESERVE, and SAVE. “One away.” Dang. REQUEST might be the one that goes in there.
Maybe SAVE goes with PRINT, PASTE, and QUIT as computer commands. 🟨
OK, so RESERVE, REQUEST, BOOK, and ORDER go together. 🟩
That means SLID is the one that goes with MAZING, GOO, and GENUS. Oh, it needs an O to make “solid.” 🟪 Ah, so it’s not just positive words, it’s ranks associated with NYT’s other game, Spelling Bee. That’s a tough one.
Connections Puzzle #729 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟩🟩🟨🟩 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟪🟪🟪🟪
How to play Connections
I have a full guide to playing Connections, but here’s a refresher on the rules:
First, find the Connections game either on the New York Times website or in their Games app (formerly the Crossword app). You’ll see a game board with 16 tiles, each with one word or phrase. Your job is to select a group of four tiles that have something in common. Often they are all the same type of thing (for example: RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, and SNOW are all types of wet weather) but sometimes there is wordplay involved (for example, BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH are all types of lists: bucket list, guest list, and so on).
Select four items and hit the Submit button. If you guessed correctly, the category and color will be revealed. (Yellow is easiest, followed by green, then blue, then purple.) If your guess was incorrect, you’ll get a chance to try again.
You win when you’ve correctly identified all four groups. But if you make four mistakes before you finish, the game ends and the answers are revealed.
How to win Connections
The most important thing to know to win Connections is that the groupings are designed to be tricky. Expect to see overlapping groups. For example, one puzzle seemed to include six breakfast foods: BACON, EGG, PANCAKE, OMELET, WAFFLE, and CEREAL. But BACON turned out to be part of a group of painters along with CLOSE, MUNCH, and WHISTLER, and EGG was in a group of things that come by the dozen (along with JUROR, ROSE, and MONTH). So don’t hit “submit” until you’ve confirmed that your group of four contains only those four things.
If you’re stuck, another strategy is to look at the words that seem to have no connection to the others. If all that comes to mind when you see WHISTLER is the painting nicknamed “Whistler’s Mother,” you might be on to something. When I solved that one, I ended up googling whether there was a painter named Close, because Close didn’t fit any of the obvious themes, either.
Another way to win when you’re stuck is, obviously, to read a few helpful hints–which is why we share these pointers every day. Check back tomorrow for the next puzzle!
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Connections.
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