NYT Connections today — hints and answers for Sunday, June 9 (game #364)

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

The weekend comes to an end with another Connections puzzle. This one is rather approachable, but that doesn't necessarily make it easy for everyone. If you need help, you'll find some 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 Strands expert
Marc McLaren
Your Strands 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 #364) - today's words

NYT Connections words for game 364 on a purple background

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

  • SALTY
  • PEPPER
  • BAKED
  • CAKE
  • SPRINKLE
  • ONION
  • BITTER
  • EARTH
  • SWEET
  • SCATTER
  • COUCH
  • UPSET
  • HOT
  • PLYWOOD
  • SORE
  • STREW

NYT Connections today (game #364) - hint #1 - group hints

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

  • Yellow: What are your emotions?
  • Green: Dotted about
  • Blue: Strata
  • Purple: Chips!

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 #364) - hint #2 - group answers

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

  • YELLOW: FEELING SOME TYPE OF WAY
  • GREEN: THROW HERE AND THERE
  • BLUE: ___ POTATO
  • PURPLE: THINGS WITH LAYERS

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

NYT Connections today (game #364) - the answers

NYT Connections answers for game 364 on a purple background

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #364, are…

  • YELLOW: FEELING SOME TYPE OF WAY BITTER, SALTY, SORE, UPSET
  • GREEN: THROW HERE AND THERE PEPPER, SCATTER, SPRINKLE, STREW
  • BLUE: ___ POTATO BAKED, COUCH, HOT, SWEET
  • PURPLE: THINGS WITH LAYERS CAKE, EARTH, ONION, PLYWOOD

  • My rating: Easy
  • My score: Perfect

One thing I like about Connections is the way the NYT's fiendish puzzle-setters attempt to trip you up by throwing in red herrings. Case in point: it would be very easy to see BITTER, SWEET and SALTY, three of the five basic tastes (with sour and umami), and to assume they make up three-quarters of one group. But what would the fourth be? Maybe HOT? But no, that's some clever subterfuge by the NYT, because those words are not part of one group.

Once I'd decided not to go down that route, I thought about SCATTER and SPRINKLE, which can mean a similar thing. STREW fit too – and though I had been thinking that PEPPER might be part of a food-related group with ONION or CAKE, I realized that it would also fit there. One down.

Returning to BITTER and SALTY, SORE and UPSET could be joined to make the yellow group. The third group, _POTATO, was now obvious and though I didn't know what connection was with the purple words, I was once again able to solve it by default.

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


Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Saturday, 8 June, game #363)

  • YELLOW: GRAB ONE’S ATTENTION ABSORB, ENGROSS, HOLD, RIVET
  • GREEN: DOCUMENT WITH VIDEO FILM, RECORD, SHOOT, TAPE
  • BLUE: ANAGRAMS PASTEL, PETALS, PLEATS, STAPLE
  • PURPLE: PRETTY ___ GOOD, PENNY, PLEASE, WOMAN

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.

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).