It’s Wednesday, and you know what that means: it’s time for another round of Connections!

Most journalists have their dream story, the one they’d chase to The Ends of the Earth if time and money were no object. I know what mine would be, and it has nothing to do with technology or games, the two subjects I cover most often.

Some years ago – and I may not be quite remembering the details correctly – I heard a film critic discuss an unusual society on his podcast. These folks would go to film screenings in formal wear, like they were at a swanky premiere or something. When they heard one of the film’s characters say the title of the movie, they’d all stand up and applaud, and then walk out of the cinema.

I have no idea if I am misremembering this or if it was ever actually real. I have not found out anything about it online after years of occasional Google searches. But I very much would like to know the real story about this, if it does in fact exist.

Before we begin, we have a great little community on Discord, where we chat about NYT Connections, the rest of the NYT games and all kinds of other stuff. Everyone who has joined has been lovely. It’s a fun hangout spot, and you’re more than welcome to hang out with us.

Discord is also the best way to give me any feedback about the column, especially on the rare (or not-so-rare) occasions that I mess something up. I don’t look at the comments or Twitter much. You can also read my weekend editions of this column at my new newsletter, Pastimes.

Today’s NYT Connections hints and answers for Wednesday, June 18 are coming right up.

How To Play Connections

Connections is a free, popular New York Times daily word game. You get a new puzzle at midnight every day. You can play on the NYT’s website or Games app.

You’re presented with a grid of 16 words. Your task is to arrange them into four groups of four by figuring out the links between them. The groups could be things like items you can click, names for research study participants or words preceded by a body part.

There’s only one solution for each puzzle, and you’ll need to be careful when it comes to words that might fit into more than one category. You can shuffle the words to perhaps help you see links between them.

Each group is color coded. The yellow group is usually the easiest to figure out, blue and green fall in the middle, and the purple group is usually the most difficult one. The purple group often involves wordplay.

Select four words you think go together and press Submit. If you make a guess and you’re incorrect, you’ll lose a life. If you’re close to having a correct group, you might see a message telling you that you’re one word away from getting it right, but you’ll still need to figure out which one to swap.

If you make four mistakes, it’s game over. Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen with the help of some hints, and, if you’re really struggling, today’s Connections answers. As with Wordle and other similar games, it’s easy to share results with your friends on social media and group chats.

If you have an NYT All Access or Games subscription, you can access the publication’s Connections archive. This includes every previous game of Connections, so you can go back and play any of those that you have missed.

Aside from the first 60 games or so, you should be able to find our hints Google if you need them! Just click here and add the date of the game for which you need clues or the answers to the search query.

What Are Today’s Connections Hints?

Scroll slowly! Just after the hints for each of today’s Connections groups, I’ll reveal what the groups are without immediately telling you which words go into them.

Today’s 16 words are...

• SMACK
• BARM
• PEA
• WET
• RANKLE
• ASTRONAUT
• GRAY
• WHALE
• COLD
• COFFEE
• RIGHT
• SHIP
• EXACTLY
• WINDY
• LEAR
• DEAD

And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:

• ? Yellow group — when it's perhaps not the nicest outside
• ? Green group — bang on
• ? Blue group — like laundry detergent and Love is Blind hopefuls
• ? Purple group — flip, flung and snail would all work here

One Word For Each Connections Group

Need some extra help?

Be warned: we’re starting to get into spoiler territory.

Let’s take a look at one word for each group.

Today’s Connections word hints are…

• ? Yellow group — GRAY
• ? Green group — RIGHT
• ? Blue group — COFFEE
• ? Purple group — SHIP

What Are Today’s Connections Groups?

Today’s Connections groups are...

• ? Yellow group — qualities of a rainy day
• ? Green group — squarely
• ? Blue group — contents of a pod
• ? Purple group — body part plus a starting letter

What Are Today’s Connections Answers?

Spoiler alert! Don’t scroll any further down the page until you’re ready to find out today’s Connections answers.

This is your final warning!

Today’s Connections answers are...

• ? Yellow group — qualities of a rainy day (COLD, GRAY, WET, WINDY)
• ? Green group — squarely (DEAD, EXACTLY, RIGHT, SMACK)
• ? Blue group — contents of a pod (ASTRONAUT, COFFEE, PEA, WHALE)
• ? Purple group — body part plus a starting letter (BARM, LEAR, RANKLE, SHIP)

It took me a while to get anything clicking in my mind with this one. I had to hit shuffle a few times to start making links between anything.

LEAR and BARM eventually sat next to each other and they both jumped out at me. They didn't quite fit with anything else, so I tried breaking down the words in my mind. Sure enough, I saw that they referred to "ear" and "arm" with an extra letter tacked on the front. It didn't take much longer to find RANKLE (ankle) and SHIP (hip) for the purples.

The yellows were next after WET and WINDY gelled together in my mind. I could do without any of those things for a while, thank you very much. That said, a rainy day isn't always WINDY.

EXACTLY and RIGHT were then my entry point into the greens, which were clear enough. I then realized that PEA and WHALE are both things that appear in pods, so I figured out the blue connection too. But only just.

Another perfect game today, and that extends my streak to 113 wins. Here's the grid:

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That’s all there is to it for today’s Connections clues and answers. Be sure to check my blog tomorrow for hints and the solution for Thursday’s game if you need them.

P.S. I really only have one option for today’s recommendation, given today’s blues. That Stanley Kubrick and his cast and crew made 2001: A Space Odyssey in 1968 remains astonishing. It’s an absolutely timeless film, and one that has some perhaps prescient lessons about artificial intelligence. "Open the pod bay doors, please, HAL," indeed:

Have a great day! Stay hydrated! Be kind to yourself and others! Call someone you love!

Please follow my blog for more coverage of NYT Connections and other word games, and even some video game news, insights and analysis. It helps me out a lot! Sharing this column with other people who play Connections would be appreciated too. You can also read my weekend editions of this column at my new newsletter, Pastimes.

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