NYT Connections for June 9, 2026, puzzle #1094, was tricky because the hardest group depended on slang rather than straight definitions. The purple category looked scattered until the words were read through a musician’s vocabulary.

The main traps came from double meanings. Keys could point toward passwords, degree and exponent looked like a math pair, while angel and dove could pull solvers toward a religious grouping instead of the cleaner innocence theme.
NYT Connections June 9 Hints
Yellow hint: Think of pure, gentle or blameless images.
Sharper clue: These are classic symbols of innocence.
Trap to avoid: Do not stop at a religious connection. The group is broader than that.
Green hint: These are things people are expected to keep hidden.
Sharper clue: Revealing one could ruin privacy, security, suspense or timing.
Trap to avoid: Keys may look tempting here, but this group is about information or surprises being revealed.
Blue hint: Look just above the normal text line.
Sharper clue: The connection is typography and notation, not only mathematics.
Trap to avoid: Do not group only degree and exponent as math terms. The full set needs marks that can appear in superscript.
Purple hint: Think like a band member.
Sharper clue: These are casual names musicians may use for instruments.
Trap to avoid: Do not read axe, bone, keys and skins literally.
Today’s NYT Connections Answers
Yellow Group
Green Group
Blue Group
Purple Group
Today’s puzzle rewarded solvers who separated surface meanings from usage-based meanings. The cleanest path was likely solving Yellow and Green first, then realizing Blue was about superscript notation before saving the musician slang for last.
After finishing, players can also use the NYT Connections Bot to review their score, streak and solve pattern. For official gameplay and post-game analysis, players can visit the New York Times Connections page.














