Need a nudge for NYT Connections #732? Start with the spoiler-light clues below, then reveal the category themes or full answer key only when you’re ready. This is the puzzle published Thursday, June 12, 2025—not a puzzle from another year with the same month and day.
How to approach Connections #732 without spoilers
The grid contains 16 words, and every one ends in “-ing.” That shared ending is a distraction: it does not define the purple group. Work from the clues in order, stopping as soon as you have enough to solve a group.
- Yellow: Think of physical affection or two people becoming close.
- Green: Think of rumor and news passing between people.
- Blue: Consider literal pins and needles, including activities where those words have a specialized meaning.
- Purple: Look for titles or honorifics at the beginning of the words.
Category hints
Ready for a more direct nudge? These are the category themes, without the four-word groupings.
- Yellow: Physical affection
- Green: Spreading rumors
- Blue: Pins and needles
- Purple: Titles + “-ing”
The Connections #732 word grid
Here are the 16 words in the published grid:
SPOONING, WHISPERING, SEWING, SPILLING, SIRING, DOCTORING, CUDDLING, LORDING, BOWLING, BUZZING, ACUPUNCTURING, MISSING, HUGGING, DISHING, WRESTLING, SNUGGLING.
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Full answers for Thursday, June 12
Spoilers below. The answer groups are:
- Yellow — GETTING COZY: CUDDLING, HUGGING, SNUGGLING, SPOONING.
- Green — GOSSIPING: BUZZING, DISHING, SPILLING, WHISPERING.
- Blue — ENGAGING IN AN ACTIVITY WITH PINS OR NEEDLES: ACUPUNCTURING, BOWLING, SEWING, WRESTLING.
- Purple — STARTING WITH TITLES: DOCTORING, LORDING, MISSING, SIRING.
Why the trickier groups fit
Blue: pins or needles in different activities
Acupuncture and sewing involve needles; bowling and wrestling supply the pin connection. The words do not describe one kind of activity, so the shared idea is the pin-or-needle association.
Purple: a title at the start
The words begin with “doctor,” “lord,” “Miss,” or “sir,” followed by “-ing.” “Missing” begins with the title “Miss”; the common suffix alone cannot identify this group because all 16 grid entries end in “-ing.”
Rank #2
Green: gossip, not a set of exact synonyms
Buzzing, dishing, spilling, and whispering can each relate to sharing or circulating gossip. They are connected by that idea rather than being interchangeable synonyms.
How Connections works
The New York Times Help Center explains that players sort 16 words into four groups of four, each linked by a shared connection. The colors mark increasing difficulty: yellow is easiest and purple is trickiest. As the Times puts it, “Each puzzle has exactly one solution and is meant to be tricky by having words that could fit into multiple categories.”
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According to the current New York Times Help Center, Connections releases daily at midnight in the player’s timezone and is free to play. It is available through the Games app, NYTimes.com, The Athletic site, and the News app. The archive reaches back to June 12, 2023; access to archived puzzles is for All Access and Games subscribers.
The Help Center also describes Connections Bot, a separate daily tool with personalized stats and guess-by-guess analysis. Bot access is limited to All Access, Home Delivery, and Games subscribers; it is not needed to play Connections.
Quick Recap
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