If you’re trying to crack the Connections puzzle for Thursday, June 26, 2025, you’re in the right place. This comprehensive guide provides helpful hints, smart solving strategies, and eventually, the full solution to all four categories of today’s New York Times Connections challenge (#746). Along the way, we’ll also explain the more confusing words, discuss what makes this puzzle tick, and explore the satisfying logic behind each group.
⚠️ Warning: Spoilers for the June 26 Connections puzzle lie ahead. Scroll slowly if you prefer to solve it with just a nudge!
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Today’s Connections Puzzle #746 Word Grid
Here are the 16 words you’ll need to sort into four distinct groups of four:
LOVELACE, ENIGMA, SEWING, SUITS, VENDING, HAWKING, DRESSING, MCQUEEN, GOLIATH, PROTEIN, PINBALL, DAMAGES, CHEESE, BOJACK, MATLOCK, LETTUCE
Hints for the June 26 Connections Categories
Let’s start with gentle, spoiler-free hints to get your mind moving in the right direction:
🟨 Yellow Group Hint: You might find these in a salad bar.
🟩 Green Group Hint: Each of these has moving mechanical parts.
🟦 Blue Group Hint: You’ll hear these names shouted in a courtroom.
🟪 Purple Group Hint: Look for sneaky references to playing cards hidden at the end of each word.
Still stuck? Keep reading for more insight—and eventually, the full solutions.
Tricky Clues and Misleading Traps
Before we dive into the answers, it’s worth highlighting a few tricky spots that may have tripped you up:
BOJACK might seem like part of a group of TV shows—but unlike SUITS, MATLOCK, or DAMAGES, it’s not a legal drama.
HAWKING and MCQUEEN appear to reference real people (Stephen and Steve), but their connection is not biographical.
LOVELACE and ENIGMA may initially feel like they belong in the same group of famous thinkers or WWII references—but they’re each pointing somewhere else.
A helpful clue: “VENDING” pairs with a particular word—think of machines.
The Full Solution for June 26, 2025 (Puzzle #746)
🟨 Yellow Category: COMPONENTS OF A SALAD
This is the simplest group to identify—everything here belongs in a bowl of greens:
- CHEESE
- DRESSING
- LETTUCE
- PROTEIN
Tip: When you see culinary words, always consider whether they fit into a broader category like salad, sandwich, or side dish.
Green Category: KINDS OF MACHINES
These all refer to machines—some recreational, some functional, and one with historical significance:
- SEWING (as in a sewing machine)
- PINBALL (pinball machine)
- ENIGMA (the codebreaking machine from WWII)
- VENDING (vending machine)
Tip: Focus on the function, not just the noun. Even abstract terms like Enigma point to real-world machinery.
Blue Category: LEGAL DRAMAS
These are all titles of television shows known for courtroom drama and legal intrigue:
- SUITS
- MATLOCK
- DAMAGES
- GOLIATH
Trap alert: While BOJACK may seem to fit with TV shows, it’s a dark comedy, not a legal drama.
Purple Category: ENDING WITH PLAYING CARDS
This group is the trickiest—it’s a wordplay category where each term ends with the name of a playing card:
- LOVELACE (ends in ACE)
- BOJACK (ends in JACK)
- MCQUEEN (ends in QUEEN)
- HAWKING (ends in KING)
Tip: When the usual categories don’t fit, look for patterns in prefixes, suffixes, or embedded words.
How the Puzzle Was Solved
Here’s how today’s solution gradually came together:
- The salad ingredients were the easiest to spot: PROTEIN, CHEESE, LETTUCE, and DRESSING clearly belong together.
- Next, machines stood out: PINBALL, SEWING, and VENDING were obvious. After considering WWII tech, ENIGMA completed the set.
- Legal dramas started to show themselves: SUITS and MATLOCK were giveaways, with DAMAGES and GOLIATH rounding out the courtroom cast.
Finally, the most abstract set was cracked by recognizing card names hidden in the endings of BOJACK, HAWKING, MCQUEEN, and LOVELACE.
Final arrangement:
Salad: CHEESE, DRESSING, LETTUCE, PROTEIN
Machines: ENIGMA, SEWING, VENDING, PINBALL
Legal Dramas: MATLOCK, DAMAGES, GOLIATH, SUITS
Playing Cards: BOJACK, LOVELACE, HAWKING, MCQUEEN
Want to Master NYT Connections?
How to Play
- Visit the NYT website or open the NYT Games app.
- You’ll see 16 tiles, each with a word or phrase.
- Tap on four words that seem to share a connection and hit Submit.
- The game assigns a color to each correct group:
🟨 Yellow = Easiest
🟩 Green = Easy-Moderate
🟦 Blue = Hard
🟪 Purple = Trickiest
You win when all four groups are correctly identified—or lose if you make four incorrect guesses.
Pro Tips for Solving Connections
- Look for obvious themes first. Food, colors, and numbers are common.
- Be suspicious of overlaps. Many puzzles include red herrings—words that could belong to two groups.
- Scan for puns or wordplay. Hidden word components (like “ACE” in Lovelace) are frequently used in the purple category.
- Use process of elimination. If a word clearly doesn’t fit into any group, it may be the “key” to a clever pun or thematic twist.
Final Thoughts
The June 26, 2025 Connections puzzle (Game #746) offers a delightful blend of logic, pop culture, and clever wordplay. From legal dramas to salad staples, from ingenious machines to hidden card names, it’s a rich brain workout.
🧠 Bookmark this page and come back daily for fresh Connections hints, walkthroughs, and strategies. And don’t forget to check out our daily guides for Wordle and Strands if you want to boost your puzzle-solving streak even further.
