You’ve been there. It’s early, the coffee hasn’t quite kicked in yet, and you’re staring at a 4x4 grid of words that seem to have absolutely nothing in common. Or worse, they have too much in common. That’s the beauty and the absolute frustration of the NYT Connections June 7 puzzle.
Whether you’re looking back at the 2024 classic or the more recent 2025 iteration, June 7th seems to be a date where the editors at the New York Times decide to get a little "creative" with their difficulty spikes. Honestly, looking at the data from the NYT Connections Bot, people struggle with these mid-year grids way more than they’d like to admit.
The NYT Connections June 7 Breakdown
If you’re here because you’re stuck or just want to relive the "aha!" moment (or the "oh come on!" moment), let’s look at what went down.
In the 2025 version of the puzzle, the themes were a wild mix of fitness, music, and seasonal wordplay. It’s a classic example of how the game uses "overlap" to mess with your head. You see a word like "Strain" and your brain immediately goes to the gym—alongside words like "Breathe" or "Stretch." But wait. In this grid, "Strain" belonged to the Blue category, which was all about types of ditties or melodies.
Talk about a bait-and-switch.
The 2025 Groups (Puzzle #727)
- Yellow (Tips for Working Out Safely): BREATHE, HYDRATE, REST, STRETCH.
- Green (Establish): FOUND, INSTITUTE, LAUNCH, START.
- Blue (Ditty): AIR, NUMBER, SONG, STRAIN.
- Purple (Spring ___): CHICKEN, EQUINOX, FLING, ONION.
That Purple category? "Spring ___" is such a staple of NYT Connections, yet it still catches people off guard. "Spring Onion" and "Spring Fling" are easy enough, but "Spring Chicken" always feels like a reach when you’re down to your last two lives.
Why the June 7 2024 Puzzle Was a Different Beast
Let’s rewind. If you're looking at the NYT Connections June 7, 2024 archives (Puzzle #362), the vibe was totally different. Wyna Liu and the team went heavy on synonyms and professional jargon.
The struggle here wasn't necessarily "obscure" words. It was the fact that so many words functioned as both nouns and verbs.
The 2024 Categories
- Dream Up (Yellow): CONCEIVE, ENVISION, IMAGINE, PICTURE.
- Thin Covering (Green): COAT, FILM, LAYER, SKIN.
- Remove, as Crumbs (Blue): BRUSH, FLICK, SWEEP, WIPE.
- Verbs for a Software Engineer (Purple): CODE, DEVELOP, HACK, PROGRAM.
What’s fascinating about this particular day is the "red herring" with the word FILM. Most people see FILM, DEVELOP, and PICTURE and immediately think "Photography!" It’s a trap. A classic, mean-spirited, beautiful trap. In this puzzle, FILM was a "Thin Covering," DEVELOP was for the "Software Engineer," and PICTURE was part of "Dream Up."
If you fell for the photography link, don't feel bad. Everyone did.
Strategies for These Mid-Year Grids
Look, playing Connections isn't just about knowing what words mean. It's about knowing how the editors think. By June, the puzzle usually moves away from the simpler "types of fruit" categories and starts leaning into more abstract connections.
The Power of the Shuffle
Seriously. Hit that shuffle button. Our brains are hardwired to find patterns in what we see first. If "FILM" and "DEVELOP" are sitting right next to each other, you’re going to assume they’re a pair. Shuffling breaks that spatial bias. It’s basically a mental reset button.
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Identify the "Leakers"
A "leaker" is a word that fits into three or four different potential categories. On June 7th puzzles, words like "START" or "CODE" are notorious for this. If you find a word that seems too perfect for a category, pause. Look for its twin. If there are five words that fit "Establish," one of them is a spy.
Beyond the Grid: Why We’re Obsessed
There is a specific kind of dopamine hit that comes from solving the Purple category first. It makes you feel like a genius for about five minutes. But even if you fail—and let's be real, we've all had those "Zero for Four" days—it's the communal experience that keeps us coming back.
Checking the Reddit threads for NYT Connections June 7 shows a community of people all getting tricked by the same "Spring Chicken" or "Software Engineer" puns. It's a shared language of frustration and triumph.
Actionable Tips for Your Next Game
- Say the words out loud. Sometimes the phonetic connection is the key, especially in Purple categories that involve homophones or "Words that sound like..."
- Ignore the colors. Don't try to find the "Easy" one first. Just find any group of four that absolutely has no fifth wheel.
- Save the "Fill-in-the-blank" for last. These are usually the Purple categories. If you have four words left and you can't see the link, try putting a word before or after them (like "Spring" or "Table").
Next time you open the app, remember that the grid is designed to make you second-guess your first instinct. Take a breath, hydrate (like the 2025 Yellow category suggests), and don't let the red herrings get the best of you.
Review the archive of past June puzzles to spot the recurring "blank" patterns.
Practice identifying words that serve as both nouns and verbs to avoid falling for the part-of-speech traps.