Today’s Connections puzzle is a bit tricky to solve. If you’re not cautious, you can end up losing your streak. Luckily, we’re here to help you out. We’ll get you started with some spoiler-free hints to help you arrive at the answers on your own. Then, we’ll give you one word from each category, followed by the list of themes. Finally, you can have the answers. Here are all the hints, clues, and answers to today’s NYT Connections (#1,088, June 3, 2026).
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In This Article
What is Connections?
Connections is a daily word game from The New York Times. You can play it in the NYT Games app or on the NYT website. The aim of the puzzle is pretty straightforward – you are supposed to find 4 groups of 4 words with common themes. These groups are arranged in 4 levels of difficulty: Yellow (Easiest), Green, Blue, and Purple (Toughest). There are misdirects and red herrings in the grid that lead you down different paths, but you must make your submissions wisely, as you only get 4 attempts to solve the puzzle. Oftentimes, the Purple category can be a headscratcher with themes that may have something to do with the nomenclature rather than the meaning of the words. You never really know for sure what’s coming your way, and that’s what keeps Connections fresh!
Some tips to solve Connections
Look for the obvious patterns: Not every category in the puzzle is confusing. The Yellow and Green category words are relatively easy to spot. However, if something seems too obvious, it could be a red herring. Typically, the first two categories comprise verbs and adjectives. The misdirects are often nouns.
Double-check your submissions: ‘Do not overthink’ is usually a good tip for solving most puzzles, but it doesn’t really apply to Connections. Before submitting a set of words, you should always check whether they fit somewhere else too.
Hit a dead end? Use the shuffle button: The shuffle button at the bottom of the grid exists for a reason. Placing the words in different positions can spark new connections. Think of it as a mental refresh. New patterns will emerge, and you may be able to find a breakthrough.
Tackle the Purple category with extra caution: The Connections team is known to serve up the toughest and most unexpected words for the Purple category. Here are some of the common tropes that you should look out for:
- Homophones (For example: ‘Where’, ‘Wear’, ‘Ware’, and ‘Weir’)
- Words within words (For example: ‘Slip’, ‘Hear’, ‘Keyes’, and ‘Undiagnosed’ could be ‘Words containing parts of the face’)
- Words minus a letter (For example: ‘Anther’, ‘Easel’, ‘Hark’, and ‘Lama’ could be ‘Animals minus starting letter’)
- Words preceded or followed by another word (For example: ‘Face’, ‘Sports’, ‘Note’, and ‘Year’ could be ‘____ Book’)
Here’s your grid for today
- RAY
- JASMINE
- COLORFUL
- BELL
- STICKY
- PASTY
- BROWN
- SUSHI
- GUMMY
- ARIE
- SUGARY
- SAMOSA
- FATAYER
- URSINE
- EMPANADA
- MOAN
Hints for NYT Connections (#1,088) June 3, 2026
Let’s get you started with some general, spoiler-free hints.
- 🟡Yellow Group: Common staple food.
- 🟢Green Group: Bear-shaped candy.
- 🔵Blue Group: Stuffed dough, baked or deep-fried.
- 🟣Purple Group: Popular Disney characters with one twist.
One Word Per Category (Contains Spoilers)
Can’t seem to find an in? We’ll give you one word from each category.
- 🟡Yellow Group: Brown.
- 🟢Green Group: Colorful.
- 🔵Blue Group: Empanada.
- 🟣Purple Group: Arie.
List of Themes (Major Spoilers)
Maybe getting to know the common themes among the words will help you spot them faster. Here are all the categories for today.
- 🟡Yellow Group: Kinds Of Rice.
- 🟢Green Group: Gummy Bear Descriptors.
- 🔵Blue Group: Savory Stuffed Pastries.
- 🟣Purple Group: Disney Princesses Minus Last Letter.
Answers to NYT Connections (#1,088) Today (June 3, 2026)
Close to waving the white flag? Fine, we’ll give you the answers.
- 🟡Yellow Group: Brown, Jasmine, Sticky, Sushi. (Kinds Of Rice)
Today’s Yellow group was easy to spot. ‘Sticky’ and ‘Sugary’ seem like they go together, but once you make the ‘rice’ connection, the answer becomes abundantly obvious.
- 🟢Green Group: Colorful, Gummy, Sugary, Ursine. (Gummy Bear Descriptors)
In our opinion, this was the toughest group to crack today. If you didn’t know that ursine means ‘something related to a bear’, then you would’ve had a hard time with this group too.
- 🔵Blue Group: Empanada, Fatayer, Pasty, Samosa. (Savory Stuffed Pastries)
These are all fried or baked dough-based pastries from around the world. Empanada (Spanish/Latin American), Fatayer (Middle Eastern), Pasty (British), Samosa (South Asian).
- 🟣Purple Group: Arie, Bell, Moan, Ray. (Disney Princesses Minus Last Letter)
This was relatively easy to solve, as far as Purple groups go. The princesses are Ariel, Belle, Moana, and Raya.
Answers to yesterday’s puzzle (#1,087, June 2, 2026)
- 🟡Yellow Group: Cloak-and-Dagger, Covert, Hush-Hush, Top Secret. (Clandestine)
- 🟢Green Group: Bubble and Squeak, Chips, Jacket Potato, Mash. (British Potato Dishes)
- 🔵Blue Group: Coat of Arms, Crest, Helmet, Shield. (Heraldic Achievements)
- 🟣Purple Group: Cape May, Free Will, Grape Must, Tin Can. (Ending In Modal Auxiliary Verbs)
Answers to NYT Connections (#1,086) June 1, 2026
- 🟡Yellow Group: Ceiling, Door, Wall, Window. (Room Features)
- 🟢Green Group: Newspaper, Pipe, Robe, Slippers. (Old-Timey Lounging Accessories)
- 🔵Blue Group: Cat, Menagerie, Streetcar, Tattoo. (Subjects In Tennessee Williams Titles)
- 🟣Purple Group: Key, Onion, Tree, Wedding. (___ Ring)
Answers to NYT Connections #1,085 (May 31, 2026)
- 🟡Yellow Group: Butter, Pikachu, Rubber Duck, School Bus. (Things That Are Yellow)
- 🟢Green Group: Break, Cue, Pocket, Rack. (Billiards Terms)
- 🔵Blue Group: Jack, Salt, Sea Dog, Tar. (Slang For A Sailor)
- 🟣Purple Group: Sash, Soak, Spine, Steak. (Kinds Of Wood Plus ‘S’)
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How did other solvers do today?
NYT’s early testers rated today’s Connection puzzle 2.5 out of 5. This puts it in the medium difficulty level. Let us know how you fared in the comments!
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