NYT Connections today — hints and answers for Sunday, June 30 (game #385)

NYT Connections homescreen on a phone, on a purple background
(Image credit: New York Times)

And so the weekend comes to an end with a really difficult Connections puzzle. Or is it? Well, I certainly struggled, but maybe you won't. If you do, there are hints below.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Wordle hints and answers, Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

Your Connections expert
Marc McLaren
Your Connections expert
Marc McLaren

Marc is TechRadar’s Global Editor in Chief and has been obsessed with Wordle and its ilk for more than two years. He's authored dozens of articles on the game for TechRadar, including a daily today's Wordle answer column and a detailed analysis of the most common letters in Wordle in every position. He's also played every Wordle ever and only lost once and yes, he takes it all too seriously.

NYT Connections today (game #385) - today's words

NYT Connections words for game 385 on a purple background

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

  • ASH
  • ELECTRIC
  • SAW
  • JET
  • GAS
  • CHESTNUT
  • FILTER
  • GUM
  • EBONY
  • MAXIM
  • WOOD
  • HEATER
  • PUMP
  • CHERRY
  • CHARCOAL
  • ADAGE

NYT Connections today (game #385) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

  • Yellow: A saying from the past
  • Green: Fire up the barbecue
  • Blue: Woody types
  • Purple: No bubbles without these

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #385) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

  • YELLOW: OLD SAYING
  • GREEN: GRILL FUEL SOURCES
  • BLUE: TREES
  • PURPLE: HOT TUB COMPONENTS

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #385) - the answers

NYT Connections answers for game 385 on a purple background

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #385, are…

  • YELLOW: OLD SAYING ADAGE, CHESTNUT, MAXIM, SAW
  • GREEN: GRILL FUEL SOURCES CHARCOAL, ELECTRIC, GAS, WOOD
  • BLUE: TREES ASH, CHERRY, EBONY, GUM
  • PURPLE: HOT TUB COMPONENTS FILTER, HEATER, JET, PUMP

  • My rating: Hard
  • My score: 3 mistakes

Woah! This was a tough one. A really tough one. I made three mistakes in solving it, and frankly it was a lot harder than the ones I failed last week. The problem here (for me at least) was that so many of the possible answers could have gone together. That's always (or often) a factor in Connections, of course, but today the problem was particularly pronounced.

For instance, I guessed trees first, putting CHERRY, ASH, CHESTNUT and GUM together. No dice. So I tried heat sources, with WOOD, ELECTRIC, GAS and HEATER. But wrong again. And then I thought maybe there was something about hair color: CHESTNUT, EBONY, ASH, CHERRY. But that was incorrect too.

After many minutes of deliberation, I put the 'Hot tub components' group together and solved what was supposedly the most difficult of the four. Then revisited the fuel-related answers and worked out that charcoal finished that group.

Next, I focused on ADAGE and MAXIM, which I could see must go together and which didn't fit elsewhere so easily. I thought maybe SAW might be connected, then realized that 'old chestnut' also fit, and solved the yellow group. And that left the blue trees group for me to solve by default; my missing answer earlier had been EBONY, which I knew was a type of wood so I don't know why I didn't think of it at the time.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.


Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Saturday, 29 June, game #384)

  • BLUE: PLACED DOWN LAID, PLACED, PUT, SAT
  • GREEN: CONNECT COUPLE, TIE, UNITE, WED
  • YELLOW: HOMOPHONES TO, TOO, TUE, TWO
  • PURPLE: ___FLOWER MAY, SUN, WALL, WILD

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

TOPICS
Marc McLaren
Global Editor in Chief

Marc is TechRadar’s Global Editor in Chief, the latest in a long line of senior editorial roles he’s held in a career that started the week that Google launched (nice of them to mark the occasion). Prior to joining TR, he was UK Editor in Chief on Tom’s Guide, where he oversaw all gaming, streaming, audio, TV, entertainment, how-to and cameras coverage. He's also a former editor of the tech website Stuff and spent five years at the music magazine NME, where his duties mainly involved spoiling other people’s fun. He’s based in London, and has tested and written about phones, tablets, wearables, streaming boxes, smart home devices, Bluetooth speakers, headphones, games, TVs, cameras and pretty much every other type of gadget you can think of. An avid photographer, Marc likes nothing better than taking pictures of very small things (bugs, his daughters) or very big things (distant galaxies). He also enjoys live music, gaming, cycling, and beating Wordle (he authors the daily Wordle today page).

Read more
NYT Connections homescreen on a phone, on a purple background
NYT Connections today — my hints and answers for Sunday, December 29 (game #567)
NYT Connections homescreen on a phone, on a purple background
NYT Connections today — my hints and answers for Sunday, January 5 (game #574)
NYT Connections homescreen on a phone, on a purple background
NYT Connections today — my hints and answers for Saturday, December 28 (game #566)
NYT Connections homescreen on a phone, on a purple background
NYT Connections today — my hints and answers for Monday, December 30 (game #568)
NYT Connections homescreen on a phone, on a purple background
NYT Connections today — my hints and answers for Thursday, December 26 (game #564)
NYT Connections homescreen on a phone, on a purple background
NYT Connections today — my hints and answers for Tuesday, January 28 (game #597)
Latest in Gaming
Hornet swings their weapon in mid air
Hollow Knight: Silksong could potentially launch this year and I reckon it could be a great game for an Xbox handheld
Nintendo x Seattle Mariners partnership
The Nintendo Switch 2 logo will be featured on the Seattle Mariners' baseball jerseys this season
NYT Connections homescreen on a phone, on a purple background
NYT Connections hints and answers for Friday, March 21 (game #649)
The ASSC Assassin's Creed collection.
The Assassin's Creed x Anti Social Social Club drop includes gaming merch that I wouldn't be embarrassed to wear
A image of Saros character Arjun
Housemarque’s boss is surprisingly positive about Sony’s acquisition – and it’s good news for Saros
Living room with Microsoft Xbox Series X (L) and Sony PlayStation 5 home video game consoles alongside a television and soundbar, taken on November 3, 2020.
The PS5 is currently selling faster than the PS4 did in the US, but I'm surprised to discover that the Xbox Series X and S are trailing behind Xbox One
Latest in News
Hornet swings their weapon in mid air
Hollow Knight: Silksong could potentially launch this year and I reckon it could be a great game for an Xbox handheld
ransomware avast
Ransomware attacks are costing Government offices a month of downtime on average
Cassian looking at someone off-camera from a TIE fighter cockpit in Andor season 2
Star Wars: Andor creator is taking a stance against AI by canceling plans to release its scripts, and I completely get why
Nintendo x Seattle Mariners partnership
The Nintendo Switch 2 logo will be featured on the Seattle Mariners' baseball jerseys this season
Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max Review
Siri's chances to beat ChatGPT just got a whole lot better
Acer Chromebook Plus line
Chromebooks aren't dead! Acer has just launched 7 new ChromeOS laptops aimed at students and professionals