Look, we’ve all been there. You open the New York Times Games app, coffee in hand, feeling like a genius, and then you see the December 6 grid. It looks like a random pile of magnetic poetry fallen off a fridge. Your brain starts making links that aren't there. Is that a theme? No. Is that a red herring? Probably. Finding the right connections hint dec 6 isn't just about knowing vocabulary; it’s about outsmarting the editor, Wyna Liu, who loves to lead us down a garden path of false associations.
The December 6 puzzle is a classic example of "lateral thinking" versus "literal thinking."
Sometimes the words are parts of a whole. Other times, they share a prefix. Occasionally, they’re just things you’d find in a very specific, very dusty corner of a hardware store. If you’re staring at your screen right now and the "Submit" button feels like a trap, take a breath. You aren't bad at this. The puzzle is designed to be a linguistic obstacle course.
The December 6 Grid Logic
When you're digging for a connections hint dec 6, the first thing you have to do is identify the overlap. This specific puzzle leans heavily on words that function as different parts of speech. You might see a word that looks like a verb, but in the context of the category, it’s actually a noun.
Wait.
Don't just click things. That’s how you lose your lives by 9:00 AM.
Expert players—the ones who post those perfect squares on social media without a single mistake—usually look for the "Purple" category first. Why? Because the Purple category is usually the most abstract. It involves wordplay or "____ [Word]" structures. If you can eliminate the hardest group first, the rest of the board collapses into place like a house of cards. For December 6, keep an eye out for words that don't seem to have a physical connection but sound similar or share a hidden linguistic root.
📖 Related: A Little to the Left Calendar: Why the Daily Tidy is Actually Genius
Why Today’s Red Herrings Are So Cruel
The NYT team knows exactly what they’re doing. They put two words that belong to "Types of Fruit" and then two words that look like fruit but are actually tech companies or slang terms. In the connections hint dec 6 search, many users get tripped up by the "Blue" and "Green" categories. These are usually the mid-tier difficulty levels.
One category today involves synonyms for a specific type of movement. If you see words that imply "shaking" or "vibrating," you're on the right track, but be careful. Not every word that means "move" belongs together. One might be part of a "Musical Terms" group, while the others are "Earthquake Descriptors." This is the nuance that separates a win from a "Next Time!" screen.
Honestly, the December 6 puzzle feels like it was designed to punish people who rush. It's a slow-burn grid.
Breakdown of the Four Categories
If you want the raw data without the fluff, here is how the logic breaks down for the December 6 categories. We aren't going to give you a boring list. We're going to talk through the "why."
The Yellow Category is almost always the most straightforward. Think "Direct Synonyms." For Dec 6, this group focuses on words that mean "to irritate" or "to bother." It’s the kind of stuff you’d say when your younger brother won't leave you alone. Simple. Direct.
The Green Category usually requires a bit more specialized knowledge. Today, it focuses on things that are "curved" or "arc-shaped." If you’re looking at the grid and seeing things that remind you of a bow or a crescent, you've found your Green group.
👉 See also: Why This Link to the Past GBA Walkthrough Still Hits Different Decades Later
Then we get to the Blue Category. This is where it gets spicy. Blue today involves "parts of a specific object." Think about things you might find on a car or a piece of clothing. If you see words like "pocket" or "liner," you're getting warm. But again, look out for the overlap! A "pocket" could also be a verb in billiards. Don't fall for it.
Finally, the Purple Category. This is the "A-ha!" moment. For the connections hint dec 6, the purple group is often "Words that start with a body part" or "Words that follow a specific color." Today’s theme is about hidden words within the words. It’s tricky. It’s mean. It’s classic NYT.
How to Get Better at Connections Long-Term
Stop guessing. Seriously.
If you have one life left and two possible options, walk away. Close the tab. Go do some laundry. When you come back with "fresh eyes," the connection often jumps out at you. This is a documented cognitive phenomenon. Your brain continues to process the patterns in the background—a process called incubation.
Also, read more. Not just news. Read fiction, read technical manuals, read 19th-century poetry. The broader your vocabulary, the less likely you are to be stumped by a word like "AGATE" or "PICA."
Actually, let's talk about the "Almost There!" message. If you get that pop-up, it means you have three out of four words correct. In the connections hint dec 6 grid, this usually happens because of a very clever crossover word. If you get this message, look at the four words you selected. One of them definitely belongs in another category. Swap the most "versatile" word for something else on the board.
✨ Don't miss: All Barn Locations Forza Horizon 5: What Most People Get Wrong
The Strategy for Success
To beat the December 6 puzzle, you need to categorize every word on the board before you click a single one.
- Identify the "multi-use" words. (Words that can be both a noun and a verb).
- Group the obvious synonyms.
- Look for the "Word _____ " or " _____ Word" connections.
- Check for "Words within words" (like "Small" inside "Smallish").
If you can’t find four groups, look for three and see what’s left over. The "leftover" strategy is a valid way to solve the Purple category, even if you don't actually understand the connection until the game tells you at the end.
Connections is a game of ego. It wants you to feel smart, then it wants to humble you. The December 6 puzzle is a heavy dose of humility if you aren't paying attention to the subtle shifts in meaning.
Actionable Steps for Today’s Puzzle
If you are still stuck on the connections hint dec 6, here is your immediate game plan:
- Look for the "Irritation" words first. They are the easiest to clear and will get four words off the board quickly.
- Check for "Curved" shapes. This helps narrow down the physical objects in the grid.
- Isolate the words that don't seem to mean anything together. These are almost certainly your Purple category. Look for a common prefix like "SUB-" or "TRI-."
- Double-check the Blue category for "Part of a Jacket." This is a common theme that pops up every few months and often catches people off guard.
Once you’ve cleared the board, take a second to look at the categories you missed. Understanding the editor's logic today will make you much faster tomorrow. The NYT Games section is as much about learning the "voice" of the creator as it is about the words themselves.