NYT 'Connections' Hints And Answers For Sunday, June 15

Hey there, Connectors! I hope you’ve had a fantastic weekend so far.

It’s race weekend here in Montreal, as the Formula 1 circus is in town. As ever, there’s a huge influx of tourists who are here to enjoy the Grand Prix and all the various festivities. I’ll be staying as far away from all of that as possible.

I used to enjoy watching F1 races but drifted away — so to speak. I do keep up with what’s going on in the sport a bit, though (that Verstappen fella seems like quite the dirty racer). I’m interested to see how the sport evolves in terms of sustainability and its shift to biofuels, which it’s supposed to shift to completely by next year. Fewer trans-Atlantic trips for North American race weekends in 2026 seems like a positive step for the environment too.

In any case, there are a lot of extra people in town right now. There are a few main areas where F1 enthusiasts congregate, so I know where to avoid going this weekend.

I’m hoping to spend a little time relaxing by the pool today if the weather holds up. I also might go and catch a free show or two at a French-language music festival that’s taking place this week, even though I won’t understand much. Whatever you’re doing, I hope you have a wonderful Sunday.

Before we begin, we have a great little community on Discord, where we chat about NYT Connections, the rest of the NYT games and all kinds of other stuff. Everyone who has joined has been lovely. It’s a fun hangout spot, and you’re more than welcome to join us.

Discord is also the best way to give me any feedback about the column, especially on the rare (or not-so-rare) occasions that I mess something up. I don’t look at Twitter much.

Today’s NYT Connections hints and answers for Sunday, June 15 are coming right up.

What Are Today’s Connections Hints?

Scroll slowly! Just after the hints for each of today’s Connections groups, I’ll reveal what the groups are without immediately telling you which words go into them.

Today’s 16 words are...

• FATHER

• LANGUAGE

• SODA

• BLAST

• SMOKING

• MUD

• ACTION

• BURST

• CRUD

• POPULAR

• FUDGE

• BREW

• ROCKET FUEL

• NUDITY

• JAVA

• CURSES

And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:

• 🟨 Yellow group — get yourself some hot bean water

• 🟩 Green group — swear without getting into trouble

• 🟦 Blue group — factors that go into offering parental guidance

• 🟪 Purple group — linked by a word that refers to something that stands out (like a color) or making a quick visit (“____ in”)

One Word For Each Connections Group

Need some extra help? 

Be warned: we’re starting to get into spoiler territory.

Let’s take a look at one word for each group.

Today’s Connections word hints are…

• 🟨 Yellow group — MUD

• 🟩 Green group — BLAST

• 🟦 Blue group — LANGAUGE

• 🟪 Purple group — FATHER

What Are Today’s Connections Groups?

Today’s Connections groups are...

• 🟨 Yellow group — slang for coffee

• 🟩 Green group — "aw, heck"

• 🟦 Blue group — considerations for movie ratings

• 🟪 Purple group — what "pop" might mean

What Are Today’s Connections Answers?

Spoiler alert! Don’t scroll any further down the page until you’re ready to find out today’s Connections answers.

This is your final warning!

Today’s Connections answers are...

• 🟨 Yellow group — slang for coffee (BREW, JAVA, MUD, ROCKET FUEL)

• 🟩 Green group — "aw, heck" (BLAST, CRUD, CURSES, FUDGE)

• 🟦 Blue group — considerations for movie ratings (ACTION, LANGAUGE, NUDITY, SMOKING)

• 🟪 Purple group — what "pop" might mean (BURST, FATHER, POPULAR, SODA)

FATHER in the top left of the grid was a clear nod to it being Father's Day today.

ROCKET FUEL and JAVA gave the game away for the yellows. No problem at all there!

I then made a mistake with my next guess. I figured that NUDITY and SMOKING would be the kinds of things you see warnings about in MPAA labels before movie trailers. ACTION made sense with those, but instead of selecting the more obvious LANUGAGE, I went for CURSES. That put me one away from a group. Curses! I amended my guess and completed the blues.

That meant CURSES had to go with the rest of greens. I put those through before the purples, for which I figured out the connection before wrapping things up. I think the meanings of those should be clear enough for the most part. Just in case, POP culture is a short way of saying "popular culture."

No perfect game because of my silly error. I'm quite pleased to take a 110th win in a row to extend my streak. Here's my grid:

🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟦🟦🟦🟩
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟪🟪🟪🟪

That’s all there is to it for today’s Connections clues and answers. I’ll be back over at Forbes for the Monday-Friday editions for the column. And if you haven’t subscribed to Pastimes already, definitely do that! It would be super sweet of you.

I’m still hoping to bring you an essay on Tuesday or Wednesday this week. I haven’t started it yet, I have to admit. I feel the need to disconnect for, like, five minutes and sit with everything that’s been going on lately. I’ll see how things go.

P.S. It's time for a more laidback song recommendation, since it's Sunday and all. "Postcards In Italy" popped up on my mega playlist the other day, so I thought I'd share it with you. It's a lovely tune from indie folk outfit Beirut's 2006 debut album Gulag Orkestar.

My theory that every song is better with a brass section is not discredited here. This track also kind of sounds like the opposite of an F1 Grand Prix to me:

Have a great day! Stay hydrated! Call someone you love!

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