NYT Connections #1097 answer & hints: Friday, June 12, 2026

Updated: Friday, June 12, 2026 · Hints reviewed by Omer Liban · New puzzle daily at midnight US Eastern Time (5am UK). · Puzzle editor: Wyna Liu.

This page has every level of help for the NYT Connections puzzle #1097 of Friday, June 12, 2026: 3 spoiler-free hint tiers that narrow things down step by step, followed by the complete answers with explanations — each behind its own tap-to-reveal card.

Stuck on today's Connections? Work through the hint tiers below — each one gives away a little more, so you can get exactly as much help as you want and still keep the win.

New to Connections? The four answer groups are colour-coded by difficulty: 🟡 yellow is the easiest, then 🟢 green, 🔵 blue, and 🟣 purple — the trickiest, usually built on wordplay. The hints below use those colours.

Connections hints (June 12, 2026)

1One word from each group

Yellow (easiest): one of its words is “CHARM BRACELET”.
Green (easy): one of its words is “MURDER MYSTERY”.
Blue (tricky): one of its words is “COPY EDITOR”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): one of its words is “BANK TELLER”.

2Category hints (no answers)

Yellow (easiest): the theme is “Starting with incantations”.
Green (easy): the theme is “Starting with animal group names”.
Blue (tricky): the theme is “Starting with synonyms for "repeat"”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): the theme is “Starting with parts of a river”.

3One full group revealed

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Starting with incantations”, and its four words are: CHARM BRACELET, CURSE WORD, HEX KEY, SPELL CHECKER.

Connections answers — June 12, 2026 (#1097)

★Today's full Connections answers, explained

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Starting with incantations”. The words: CHARM BRACELET, CURSE WORD, HEX KEY, SPELL CHECKER.
Green (easy) — the connection is “Starting with animal group names”. The words: MURDER MYSTERY, PACK RAT, PRIDE ROCK, SCHOOL DAYS.
Blue (tricky) — the connection is “Starting with synonyms for "repeat"”. The words: COPY EDITOR, ECHO PARK, MIRROR SELFIE, QUOTE UNQUOTE.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay) — the connection is “Starting with parts of a river”. The words: BANK TELLER, BED HEAD, DELTA AIRLINES, MOUTH GUARD.

Next in today's routine: Wordle → · every game's answers on one page. New puzzle daily at midnight US Eastern Time (5am UK). Bookmark this page for tomorrow's hints. Or play Connections on the official site.

More of today's puzzles

LinkedIn puzzles

Connections — common questions

What time does NYT Connections reset?

A new Connections puzzle is released daily at midnight US Eastern Time — that's 5am in the UK (4am during US daylight-saving transitions) and 12:00am for US East Coast players.

What do the Connections colours mean?

Yellow is the easiest group, then green, then blue, and purple is the trickiest — purple usually involves wordplay such as homophones, hidden words or 'words before/after X'.

How many mistakes are allowed in Connections?

You can make four mistakes before the puzzle ends. If you see 'one away…', exactly three of your four selected words belong together.

Previous Connections puzzles

Full Connections archive (137 puzzles) → · How to play Connections (and win more) →