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Spoiler warning: This page covers the Sunday, June 2, 2024, NYT Connections puzzle, game #357. Start with the hints if you want nudges without seeing the answer groups; the full solution follows.
Hints for Connections #357
These clues move from broad to more revealing. Stop when you have enough to try the board.
- Yellow: Do as they’re told.
- Green: Wall Street terminology.
- Blue: Places for urban living.
- Purple: What a “mole” does?
Connections #357 category answers
- Yellow — Conformists: FOLLOWERS, LEMMINGS, PUPPETS, SHEEP.
- Green — Company ownership offers: EQUITY, OPTIONS, SHARES, STOCKS.
- Blue — U.S. cities: BILLINGS, BUFFALO, MOBILE, PHOENIX.
- Purple — What “digs” might mean: APARTMENT, INSULTS, LIKES, SHOVELS.
All 16 words on the board
MOBILE, FOLLOWERS, SHOVELS, BUFFALO, LIKES, INSULTS, SHARES, SHEEP, APARTMENT, BILLINGS, PUPPETS, OPTIONS, EQUITY, PHOENIX, STOCKS, LEMMINGS.
Why the groups are easy to mix up
Yellow: Conformists
LEMMINGS and SHEEP are animals often used as metaphors for following a crowd. BUFFALO can look like another animal candidate, but it belongs with the city names. FOLLOWERS and PUPPETS make the intended idea of conformists clearer.
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Green: Company ownership offers
SHARES and STOCKS may first suggest social media because LIKES is also on the board. EQUITY and OPTIONS complete the business-finance group; LIKES is the decoy for that interpretation.
Blue: U.S. cities
BUFFALO and PHOENIX are familiar city names. BILLINGS and MOBILE finish the set, though each can also read as an ordinary word outside the city context.
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Purple: What “digs” might mean
The final set depends on the different senses of “digs”: an apartment is a place to live, insults can be digs, likes can be expressed as “digging” something, and shovels are tools for digging. That range of meanings makes this an especially indirect category.
How Connections works
The New York Times describes Connections as a daily game in which players sort 16 words into four groups of four. Each group has a color, ordered from Yellow (easiest) to Purple (trickiest), and the puzzle has one intended solution even though some words can appear to fit more than one category. The Times says editors curate the categories using the Oxford Dictionary. See the NYT Connections help page for the current rules.
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Where to play and how to access older puzzles
The Times says the daily game releases at midnight in the player’s timezone. It is available through the Games app, the Connections site, The Athletic site, and the News app; daily play is free and does not require registration or sign-in, according to its help page.
The archive extends back to June 12, 2023, but playing archived puzzles requires an All Access or Games subscription. Archive play affects some statistics but not streaks, and a completed archived puzzle cannot be replayed. Access terms can change, so check the official help page for current details.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Source for this puzzle’s answer key
The June 2, 2024 answer groups and hint wording above are reported by Marc McLaren in TechRadar’s coverage of Connections #357, published June 1, 2024.
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