Connections Hint
Puzzle #1114 · June 29, 2026

NYT Connections Hints for June 29, 2026

Start with the spoiler-free hints. Go deeper only when you need to. Reveal answers on your own terms.

Monday, June 29, 2026
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Today’s 16 Puzzle Words
Tap any word to see how it’s used in this puzzle
CABINETINHALEMISCREANTRUFFIANGUZZLEWOOFERMAGNETSTRUNKCRUSHEMBARKSNARFGROOTSCOUNDRELROGUENUDIBRANCHCONE

Spoiler-Free Hints

Three levels — warmer as you read down
i Ultra safe

A direction for each group — no names given.

  • A vintage collection of dastardly characters.
  • Ways to consume something eagerly and quickly.
  • Parts that might be found inside a sound system.
  • The final few letters of each contain a quiet surprise.
ii Warmer

What kind of thinking each group asks for.

  • These words refer to shady characters, the kind you'd encounter in a story from the 1800s.
  • These are informal verbs for eating or drinking something quickly and enthusiastically.
  • They're components you'd find if you took apart a certain piece of sound equipment.
  • The secret lies in the word endings; they share a theme tied to the outdoors.
iii Mild spoilers

Pointed nudges on the words built to fool you.

  • All four are old-fashioned terms for a person who causes trouble or breaks rules.
  • These words all describe the act of consuming something (food or drink) with great enthusiasm and speed.
  • These four items are all components of a common sound-producing device: the outer box, the part that moves, the magnetic element, and the low-frequency driver.
  • The ending of each word is a tree part: something like the outermost layer, underground part, a limb, or the main stem.

Today’s Trap Words

The words engineered to mislead

Every Connections board plants a few decoys. Here are today’s, and why they pull you the wrong way.

CRUSH

It can mean romantic infatuation or physically flattening, disguising its use here as a laid-back term for downing a drink.

CABINET

The word strongly suggests a piece of furniture for storage, making it easy to overlook its role as a loudspeaker enclosure.

GROOT

Instantly recognizable as the tree-like Marvel character, it tempts solvers into hunting for other comic-book figures on the board.

NUDIBRANCH

A highly obscure biological name for a sea slug, it feels so wildly out of place that it tricks you into searching for other rare words.

Connections Answers — June 29, 2026

Tap any group to reveal it
Answers are hidden — tap a group to peek, or reveal all at once.
OLD TIMEY TROUBLEMAKERS
RUFFIAN · ROGUE · MISCREANT · SCOUNDREL
Tap to reveal
CONSUME WITH GUSTO
INHALE · SNARF · CRUSH · GUZZLE
Tap to reveal
PARTS OF A SPEAKER
WOOFER · MAGNET · CONE · CABINET
Tap to reveal
ENDING IN PARTS OF A TREE
GROOT · EMBARK · STRUNK · NUDIBRANCH
Tap to reveal
SEE ALSO:
NYT Wordle hints for June 29, 2026 NYT Pips hints for June 29, 2026 NYT Strands hints for June 29, 2026

Category Breakdown — Puzzle #1114

Why each group works — not just what it is

OLD TIMEY TROUBLEMAKERS

These four synonyms for a disreputable person feel plucked from a Victorian detective story, testing your knowledge of vintage insults.

CONSUME WITH GUSTO

All four words are vivid, informal verbs meaning to eat or drink something rapidly and with relish, adding a sense of colorful exaggeration.

PARTS OF A SPEAKER

These are components of a loudspeaker, from the sound-producing cone to the protective cabinet; it’s a technical category that might stump non-audiophiles.

ENDING IN PARTS OF A TREE

Each word ends with a common tree part: EMBARK contains BARK, GROOT ends with ROOT, NUDIBRANCH hides BRANCH, and STRUNK conceals TRUNK — a clever wordplay reveal.

Word Guide — All 16 Puzzle Words

What each word means in this puzzle
CABINET
The outer box or enclosure of a loudspeaker that holds the drivers; in everyday language, more often a wooden storage cupboard.
INHALE
To breathe in, but colloquially it means to consume food or drink extremely rapidly, as if vacuuming it down.
MISCREANT
An old-fashioned, somewhat formal word for a villain, wrongdoer, or heretic, evoking a bygone era of archaic insults.
RUFFIAN
A dated term for a violent, disorderly person; think of a street tough or hooligan from classic literature.
GUZZLE
To drink something, typically alcohol, in large quantities and with cheerful speed; a verb for enthusiastic consumption.
WOOFER
A loudspeaker driver designed to reproduce low-frequency sounds; the part of a sound system that produces the bass.
MAGNET
An object that attracts iron and steel; inside a speaker, it works with a voice coil to convert electrical signals into sound.
STRUNK
A humorous colloquial term meaning something shrunken or squeezed; its final five letters coincidentally name the main stem of a tree.
CRUSH
To compress or break into small pieces, but also informal for drinking something quickly and with enjoyment, like a can of soda.
EMBARK
To start a journey or new venture; the last four letters are also the tough outer covering that protects a tree.
SNARF
Slang for eating something hastily and rather greedily, as if inhaling it; often used casually for devouring snacks.
GROOT
A Marvel comic book and movie character who is a tree-like being; coincidentally, the name ends with the letters that spell 'root.'
SCOUNDREL
A thoroughly unprincipled person who lies and cheats, yet the word carries a slightly literary, old-world ring.
ROGUE
A person who behaves dishonestly or unpredictably; a classic word for a scamp, rascal, or charming troublemaker.
NUDIBRANCH
A type of brilliantly colored sea slug whose scientific name is Latin for 'naked gills,' but the final six letters spell a tree part.
CONE
The conical diaphragm inside a speaker that vibrates to produce sound waves; also a geometric shape found in many contexts.

Puzzle Design Analysis

Why the editor constructed it this way

Wyna Liu constructs a puzzle that masks a wordplay category behind a whimsical sea slug and a Marvel tree. The ‘consume’ group uses vibrant slang, while the troublemaker set mines antique vocabulary. The real design trick is how STRUNK and NUDIBRANCH hide tree parts in plain sight, rewarding solvers who look past the surface meanings.

Difficulty & Analysis

How tough today’s board really plays
Overall
6.5/10
Most deceptive
GROOT

a textbook decoy

Hardest group
ENDING IN TREE PARTS

requires lateral thinking

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