NYT Connections hints and answers for Friday, June 12 (game #1097)

Jun 12, 2026 - 04:16

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NYT Connections hints and answers for Friday, June 12 (game #1097)

NYT Connections homescreen on a phone, on a purple background

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Thursday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Thursday, June 11 (game #1096).

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

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

NYT Connections today (game #1097) - today's words

NYT Connections hints for game 1097 on a purple background

Today's NYT Connections words are…

SCHOOL DAYS
BED HEAD
QUOTE
UNQUOTE
CURSE WORD
COPY EDITOR
SPELL
CHECKER
BANK TELLER
PACK RAT
CHARM
BRACELET
MURDER MYSTERY
MIRROR SELFIE
MOUTH GUARD
PRIDE ROCK
ECHO PARK
DELTA AIRLINES
HEX KEY

NYT Connections today (game #1097) - hint #1 - group hints

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

YELLOW: Begin with witchy words
GREEN: Began with beastly words
BLUE: Begin with samey words
PURPLE: Begin with wet words

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 #1097) - hint #2 - group answers

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

YELLOW: STARTING WITH INCANTATIONS
GREEN: STARTING WITH ANIMAL GROUP NAMES
BLUE: STARTING WITH SYNONYMS FOR "REPEAT"
PURPLE: STARTING WITH PARTS OF A RIVER

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

NYT Connections today (game #1097) - the answers

NYT Connections answers for game 1097 on a purple background

The answers to today's Connections, game #1097, are…

YELLOW: STARTING WITH INCANTATIONS CHARM BRACELET, CURSE WORD, HEX KEY, SPELL CHECKER
GREEN: STARTING WITH ANIMAL GROUP NAMES MURDER MYSTERY, PACK RAT, PRIDE ROCK, SCHOOL DAYS
BLUE: STARTING WITH SYNONYMS FOR "REPEAT" COPY EDITOR, ECHO PARK, MIRROR SELFIE, QUOTE UNQUOTE
PURPLE: STARTING WITH PARTS OF A RIVER BANK TELLER, BED HEAD, DELTA AIRLINES, MOUTH GUARD

My rating: Hard
My score: 2 mistakes

A “starting with…” special that made the second words in every single tile irrelevant — meaning that the Connections setters just made all of these tiles two words just to play with our brains. Thanks.

Realizing this trick did make this game easier, but I still got caught out trying to put my groups of four together.

STARTING WITH INCANTATIONS and STARTING WITH ANIMAL GROUP NAMES I got easily enough; MURDER MYSTERY was the giveaway for the latter. However, I fell to pieces after that and was lucky to escape with a victory.

At first, my remaining eight tiles conjured up an alternative phonetic alphabet that grouped DELTA AIRLINES, ECHO PARK, MIRROR SELFIE, and QUOTE UNQUOTE; after getting a lucky one away, I finally grasped STARTING WITH SYNONYMS FOR “REPEAT”.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Thursday, June 11, game #1096)

YELLOW: PARTS OF A WORKOUT ROUTINE BALANCE, CARDIO, STRETCHING, WEIGHTS
GREEN: THINGS WITH HORNS BRASS BAND, DEVIL, RHINO, VIKING HELMET
BLUE: HOMOPHONES OF SUVS BRONCHO, FORERUNNER, TROUPER, UCONN
PURPLE: PAYMENT APPS MINUS A LETTER ELLE, PAPAL, STRIP, VENO

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.

Johnny is a freelance pop culture journalist who has been writing about the internet, music, football and famous people since the iPhone was just a twinkle in Steve Jobs' eye. Previously known by the pseudonym the Pop Detective, his journalistic career began making up stories about Madonna's addiction to sausage rolls (this is not true by the way). A man of few talents, his career is rich and various and includes the highs of interviewing Elton John and Blur; and the lows of interviewing Right Said Fred, appearing on a Channel 5 documentary about Peter Kay, and fact-checking the instruction manual for a German cooker. Somehow still affording to live in North London he is at his happiest riding his bicycle and shouting at pigeons.