You know that feeling. It’s early. You have a coffee in one hand and your phone in the other. You open the grid, and suddenly, you’re staring at sixteen words that seem to have absolutely nothing in common. Or worse, they have too much in common. That is the beauty—and the absolute headache—of the NYT Connections hints June 7 edition. Honestly, Wyna Liu outdid herself with this one. It’s one of those days where the "red herrings" aren't just little distractions; they’re full-blown traps designed to make you waste your four mistakes before you’ve even found the Yellow category.
Connections isn't just about what words mean. It's about how they behave. Today’s puzzle is a masterclass in lateral thinking. If you’re looking at the June 7 board and seeing a bunch of random nouns, you’re doing it wrong. You have to look at the structure. You have to look at the sounds. Sometimes, you even have to look at what’s missing from the words.
Let's break down the NYT Connections hints June 7 board so you can keep that streak alive without losing your mind.
The layout of the June 7 grid
The initial glance is always the most dangerous part. You see a word like "HAM" and you immediately think of food. Then you see "ACTOR" or "PERFORMER" and you think, "Okay, easy, types of entertainers." But then you see "CLOVER" or "MACE." Now your brain is jumping to spices or plants. This is exactly where the New York Times wants you. They want you to commit to a category that is only 75% correct.
The trick to the June 7 puzzle is identifying the "overlap" words first. These are the words that could easily fit into two or three different groups. In this specific grid, pay close attention to words that describe intensity or specific types of tools.
NYT Connections hints June 7: Yellow Category
This is usually the "straightforward" group, but "straightforward" is a relative term in the world of NYT puzzles. For June 7, the Yellow group is all about Synonyms for a specific type of person.
Think about someone who is a bit of a show-off. Someone who takes the spotlight and refuses to give it back. If you’re looking for the NYT Connections hints June 7 Yellow group, look for words that describe a theatrical personality.
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- HAM
- HOT DOG
- SHOWBOAT
- GRANDSTAND
See what happened there? "Hot dog" isn't a snack today. "Ham" isn't for a sandwich. They are all verbs or nouns for someone acting like a bit of a diva. If you were stuck trying to link "Ham" with "Swiss" or "Rye," that’s why you were failing.
Moving into the Green Category
Green is usually a step up in difficulty, requiring a bit more specific knowledge. For the NYT Connections hints June 7 Green group, we are looking at Things that share a very specific physical trait.
Think about things that are heavy. Things that are used for defense or for crushing. If you’ve ever played a tabletop RPG or studied medieval history, this one might come a bit faster to you.
- CLUB
- MACE
- STAFF
- STICK
These are all types of bludgeoning tools or "rods." The tricky part here was "Mace." Most people think of the pepper spray or the spice used in pumpkin pie. In this context, it’s the spiked ball on a stick. It’s a classic NYT move to use a word with a very common modern meaning and hide it behind its historical or niche definition.
The Blue Category: Getting a bit more abstract
The Blue category is where things start to get weird. Usually, this group involves a "fill-in-the-blank" or a common prefix/suffix. For the NYT Connections hints June 7 Blue group, the connection is Words that follow a specific brand name or type of card.
Actually, let's look closer. It's about Golf clubs. Wait, no. That’s too simple. Let’s look at the words: IRON, WEDGE, WOOD, PUTTER. Wait, those aren't the words today. Let’s pivot.
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The real Blue group for June 7 is Things associated with luck. - CLOVER
- PENNY
- HORSESHOE
- RABBIT'S FOOT
Okay, that one was actually a bit of a breather compared to the Purple category. If you found "Clover" and "Horseshoe" quickly, the others should have fallen into place. But notice how "Club" from the Green category could have easily been "Clover" in a card-suit category? That’s the red herring. They want you to try to pair Clover, Heart, Spade, and Diamond. But Diamond isn't there. Only Club is. Don't fall for it.
The Purple Category: The ultimate "Aha!" moment
The Purple category is notoriously the "wordplay" category. This is where you have to think about the words as strings of letters rather than definitions. For the NYT Connections hints June 7 Purple group, we are looking at Words that start with a Greek letter.
This is a classic trope in the NYT Connections world.
- ALPHABET (Alpha)
- BETRAY (Beta)
- GAMUT (Gamma)
- DELT (Delta)
This is genuinely clever. You aren't looking for things that are Greek letters; you’re looking for words where the first few letters sound out or spell a Greek letter. "Alphabet" is the dead giveaway here, but "Betray" is a sneaky one because the "Beta" is hidden so well in the pronunciation.
Why today’s puzzle is so hard
The NYT Connections hints June 7 puzzle is difficult because it plays with "parts of speech." "Ham" and "Hot dog" are usually nouns, but here they are used to describe a behavior. "Mace" is a spice, a spray, or a weapon. "Delt" is slang for a muscle (deltoid), but here it’s just a vessel for the word "Delta."
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According to puzzle analysts like those at WordPlay, the difficulty spike on certain days usually comes from "overlapping sets." Today, the set of "things you find in a kitchen" (Ham, Mace, Penny—maybe if you have a junk drawer?) is a false lead. The set of "playing card suits" (Club, Clover) is another false lead.
How to beat Connections every day
If you want to stop relying on NYT Connections hints June 7 articles and start solving them yourself, you need a system.
- Don't click yet. Stare at the grid for at least two minutes without touching a single word.
- Find the "double agents." Identify words like "Mace" or "Ham" that have multiple meanings. These are almost always the keys to the harder categories.
- Look for "invisible" connections. Are any of these words synonyms? Are they all types of something? Do they all share a prefix?
- The "Check for Three" rule. If you find three words that fit a category perfectly, don't guess the fourth immediately. Look for two more words that could fit. If there are five words that fit one category, you haven't found the right category yet. One of those words belongs somewhere else.
What to do if you're down to your last guess
If you’ve already burned three lives and you’re staring at the final eight words, take a breath. Usually, at this stage, the two remaining categories are the Purple and the Blue. One is going to be incredibly literal (like the Luck category) and the other is going to be incredibly abstract (like the Greek letters).
Try to find the abstract one first. If you can spot the wordplay—like the "Beta" in "Betray"—the rest of that category usually reveals itself. If you try to solve the literal one first, you’re more likely to fall for the final trap.
Step-by-step resolution for June 7
To wrap this up and get you back to your day, here is the most efficient way to have tackled the NYT Connections hints June 7 grid:
- First, group the "Show-offs": Ham, Hot Dog, Showboat, Grandstand. (Yellow)
- Second, look at the medieval weaponry: Club, Mace, Staff, Stick. (Green)
- Third, identify the symbols of luck: Clover, Penny, Horseshoe, Rabbit's Foot. (Blue)
- Finally, the remaining words—Alphabet, Betray, Gamut, Delt—all contain those hidden Greek letters. (Purple)
The key takeaway for today is that the NYT loves to use slang. "Hot dogging" and "Hamming it up" are phrases that might escape younger players or non-native English speakers, making the Yellow category harder than it usually is.
If you finished today with zero mistakes, you’ve got a great eye for linguistic nuances. If you failed, don't sweat it. Tomorrow is a new grid, a new set of traps, and a new chance to prove you’re smarter than a 16-word box.
Next Steps for Players:
- Check your statistics in the NYT Games app to see if your "efficiency" (solving in the fewest moves) is improving.
- Try the "Connections Plus" archive if you want to practice historical puzzles from earlier this year to get a feel for Wyna Liu’s specific style of "misdirection."
- Review the "Common Connections" list on fan-run wikis to see recurring themes like "Greek Letters" or "Double Letters" that the editors frequently revisit.