NYT Connections June 20 is officially here, and honestly, it’s one of those puzzles that makes you want to throw your phone across the room before immediately picking it back up to try one more guess. If you’ve been staring at the 16-word grid for twenty minutes wondering how on earth "Snake" and "Rock" could possibly coexist without a nature theme, you aren't alone. Puzzles like this are exactly why Wyna Liu has become a household name for word nerds.
The June 20 board is a masterclass in the "one away" notification.
The Hook, Line, and Sinker of Today’s Logic
Every day at midnight, the New York Times drops a new challenge. The rules are basically hardcoded into our morning routines now: find four groups of four. Yellow is the easy win. Green is the "I see where this is going" category. Blue is usually a bit more abstract, and Purple? Purple is the one where you need a degree in semiotics or a very specific obsession with 90s pop culture.
For the June 20, 2025 puzzle, the red herrings are out in full force. You might see "Thread" and "Needle" and think you have a sewing theme. You're right. But then you see "Record" and "Tape" and think maybe it’s about physical media. The overlap is where the frustration lives.
Breaking Down the June 20 Categories
If you're stuck, let's just get into the meat of it.
Yellow: Items in a Sewing Kit
This is the "straightforward" one, though I use that term loosely.
- Button
- Needle
- Scissors
- Thread
Kinda simple, right? Most people snag this first. But wait—did you try to put "Tape" here? Like tape measure? That’s the trap. Don't fall for it.
Green: Capture on Video
This one feels very "digital creator era," though some of the words are a bit old school.
- Film
- Record
- Shoot
- Tape
This is where "Tape" actually lives. It’s a verb here, not a noun sitting in your junk drawer. Seeing "Film" and "Record" together usually tips people off, but "Shoot" can be a bit of a wildcard if you’re thinking about photography instead of cinematography.
Blue: Pro Wrestling Icons (with "The")
Okay, this is where it gets fun. If you didn't grow up watching the WWE (or WWF, for us old-timers), this might have been a total guess.
- Hitman (Bret Hart)
- Rock (Dwayne Johnson)
- Snake (Jake Roberts)
- Undertaker (Mark Calaway)
Think about it. The Hitman. The Rock. The Snake. The Undertaker. It’s a genius category because "Rock" and "Snake" are such common nouns that they fit into dozens of fake themes.
Purple: Wax ____
The dreaded purple category. This one is a "fill in the blank" style, which is notoriously the hardest to spot because you aren't looking at what the words are, but what they follow.
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- Museum (Wax museum)
- Paper (Wax paper)
- Poetic (Wax poetic)
- Seal (Wax seal)
Honestly, "Poetic" is the word that usually breaks people's brains here. "Wax poetic" is such a specific idiom that if you don't know it, you're basically guessing until the purple tiles turn over.
How to Actually Win at Connections
Don't just click words. That’s the fastest way to lose your four lives and end up looking at the answers in shame.
Instead, try to find "crossover" words. In the NYT Connections June 20 puzzle, "Tape" is the ultimate crossover. It fits in sewing, it fits in office supplies, and it fits in video. When you see a word that fits in three places, ignore it. Focus on the words that can only mean one thing. "Undertaker" is a very specific word. Unless the theme is "Jobs You Don't Want," it's almost certainly a proper noun or a specific reference.
Another tip? Say the words out loud. Sometimes your brain catches a rhythmic connection—like "The Rock" and "The Snake"—that your eyes missed while scanning the grid.
The Strategy for Tomorrow
If today's puzzle beat you, don't sweat it. The beauty of the NYT game suite is that there is always a fresh start at midnight.
- Look for the "The" words. Many categories rely on a prefix or suffix.
- Verify the fourth word. If you have three words that fit perfectly, don't guess the fourth. Look at the remaining 13 words and see if any of them also fit. If "Tape" and "Scissors" both fit the sewing theme, you need to find which one is required elsewhere.
- Use the shuffle button. Seriously. Sometimes just moving the tiles around breaks the mental loop you're stuck in.
The NYT Connections June 20 puzzle proved that even "easy" categories like sewing can be tricky when the "hard" categories use common nouns as decoys.
Next Steps for You:
Check your stats in the NYT Games app. If your "Perfect" streak is still alive, go brag on Twitter (or X, whatever). If you failed today, go play Strands or the Mini Crossword to get your confidence back before tomorrow's grid drops.