Game #1102 was a neat little workout that rewards pattern-spotting over brute force. The board served up clear body-part cues and a sneaky morphological set that split solvers in two.
If you skimmed the list and thought you had it solved in one pass, the purple quartet probably made you pause — and for good reason.
SPOILER WARNING: The rest of this article names today’s groups and answers for NYT Connections Game #1102 (2026-06-17).
Today’s NYT Connections words
Here are the 16 words on today’s board, listed in the puzzle order.
- MOUTH | CAVITY | CLASSIC | CALLIOPE
- IRIS | KINDLE | CHEEK | ECHO
- NOOK | LIP | NEMESIS | TYPEFACE
- SORTIE | RECESS | NERVE | NICHE
Today’s NYT Connections hints
Spoiler-light clues to nudge you in the right direction without giving everything away.
- 🟡 Yellow: Four words that all name small recessed or tucked-away spaces.
- 🟢 Green: Body parts that are often used metaphorically to describe sass, brazenness or attitude.
- 🔵 Blue: Proper names taken from Greek myth and legend.
- 🟣 Purple: Each word begins with another word that indicates category or kind.
Today’s NYT Connections group titles
- 🟡 Yellow: ALCOVE
- 🟢 Green: BODILY WORDS FOR ATTITUDE
- 🔵 Blue: FIGURES IN GREEK MYTH
- 🟣 Purple: STARTING WITH SYNONYMS FOR “ILK”
What are today’s NYT Connections answers?
- 🟡 Yellow (ALCOVE): CAVITY, NICHE, NOOK, RECESS
- 🟢 Green (BODILY WORDS FOR ATTITUDE): CHEEK, LIP, MOUTH, NERVE
- 🔵 Blue (FIGURES IN GREEK MYTH): CALLIOPE, ECHO, IRIS, NEMESIS
- 🟣 Purple (STARTING WITH SYNONYMS FOR “ILK”): CLASSIC, KINDLE, SORTIE, TYPEFACE
Today’s Connections — expert analysis
The natural entry point was the green set: CHEEK, LIP, MOUTH and NERVE read as body parts used idiomatically to signal attitude, so most solvers lock that in first. The yellow alcove group is the other straightforward cluster — NOOK, NICHE, RECESS and CAVITY all clearly describe small recessed spaces, even if CAVITY’s dental meaning tempts you elsewhere.
The toughest was the purple quartet. CLASSIC, KINDLE, SORTIE and TYPEFACE share a prefix pattern — class-, kind-, sort-, type- — but two of those words (KINDLE and SORTIE) are frequently encountered with unrelated primary meanings (an e-reader and a military mission), which easily hides the morphological link. That subtlety, plus overlaps on the board (IRIS reads as both a body part and a mythic name; MOUTH could plausibly belong to either bodily metaphors or ‘opening’ meanings), are the chief decoys. Verdict: a tidy, medium-difficulty puzzle — quick if you notice the category-prefix trick, slower if you treat SORTIE and KINDLE at face value.
Yesterday’s NYT Connections answers (Game #1101)
For reference, here are yesterday’s groups and their members.
- 🟡 Yellow (CREAMY SALAD DRESSINGS): BLUE CHEESE, CAESAR, GREEN GODDESS, RANCH
- 🟢 Green (ATTENDANTS): COURT, ENTOURAGE, RETINUE, SUITE
- 🔵 Blue (RARE THINGS, IDIOMATICALLY): BLACK SWAN, BLUE MOON, PERFECT STORM, UNICORN
- 🟣 Purple (WHAT “HOOPS” MIGHT REFER TO): BASKETBALL, EARRINGS, RED TAPE, RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS GEAR
What is NYT Connections?
NYT Connections is a daily word puzzle in which 16 tiles must be sorted into four groups of four related words. The challenge is spotting the hidden relationships, which can be literal, morphological or idiomatic.
How to play NYT Connections
- Scan the 16 words and look for obvious groups of four with a shared theme.
- Confirm your group by checking each word fits the same relation — literal, prefix/suffix, or idiom.
- Be alert for decoys and overlapping meanings; a word can plausibly belong to two sets, so test alternatives before committing.
More daily puzzle help from HashTechWave
- Today’s NYT Strands hints, spangram and answers
- Today’s NYT Spelling Bee answers and pangram
- Today’s Wordle hints, clues and answer
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What time does a new NYT Connections puzzle unlock?
A brand-new puzzle drops every single night at midnight local time across your specific region’s time zone on NYT Connection official site.
Why do some words seem to fit into two different groups?
The puzzle is specifically designed to include “decoys” or overlapping vocabulary. Always look for a backup configuration of words before locking in an early guess to protect your attempt counter.
Can I review answers to older puzzles?
Yes! If you are tracking performance over time or reviewing a grid you missed over the weekend, you can check out our dedicated NYT Connections Past Archive to look over historical solutions.
