NYT Connections Hints and Answers Today: June 9, 2026

Need the NYT Connections hints for Tuesday, June 9, 2026? Here is a spoiler-managed guide to puzzle #1179, edited by Wyna Liu.

If you are catching up from yesterday, the previous daily guide is here: https://fluentslang.com/nyt-connections-hints-answers-today-june-8-2026/. If you are playing ahead next, use tomorrow’s guide here: https://fluentslang.com/nyt-connections-hints-answers-today-june-10-2026/.

Today’s grid is sneaky because it mixes soft, sweet words with hard technical words and musician slang. BABE looks casual. AXE looks violent. DEGREE looks academic. But Connections loves when a familiar word is wearing a costume.

Today’s Connections Words

ANGEL, BABE, DOVE, LAMB, PASSWORD, SECRET, SPOILER, SURPRISE, ASTERISK, DEGREE, EXPONENT, TRADEMARK, AXE, BONE, KEYS, SKINS

Quick No-Spoiler Hints

Yellow: pure, gentle, or harmless figures.

Green: things people tell you not to give away.

Blue: tiny raised marks or symbols.

Purple: musicians might say these onstage or in the studio.

Stronger Hints

Yellow: Think of classic images of innocence, especially in stories, religion, and gentle nicknames.

Green: Each word is something that loses its point if someone blurts it out too early or to the wrong person.

Blue: These can appear above the normal line of text, as small raised characters.

Purple: These are not body parts, weapons, or household objects today. They are slang names for musical instruments. If AXE threw you, our explainer on https://fluentslang.com/axe-meaning/ gives the musician sense in plain English.

Today’s Connections Answers

Yellow: SYMBOLS OF INNOCENCE: ANGEL, BABE, DOVE, LAMB

Green: THINGS YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO REVEAL: PASSWORD, SECRET, SPOILER, SURPRISE

Blue: THINGS REPRESENTED IN SUPERSCRIPT: ASTERISK, DEGREE, EXPONENT, TRADEMARK

Purple: SLANG FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS: AXE, BONE, KEYS, SKINS

Why Each Group Works

SYMBOLS OF INNOCENCE: ANGEL, BABE, DOVE, LAMB

These four words all point to innocence, purity, gentleness, or harmlessness. An angel is often pictured as morally pure. A babe is a baby, so the word carries the idea of newness and innocence. A dove is a classic symbol of peace and purity. A lamb often represents gentleness, meekness, or innocence.

The trap is that BABE can look like modern slang for an attractive person or sweetheart. DOVE can look like a bird clue. LAMB can look like food. ANGEL can look like a nickname. The group works when you zoom out from literal meanings and notice the shared symbolic mood.

THINGS YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO REVEAL: PASSWORD, SECRET, SPOILER, SURPRISE

These are all things people are expected to keep hidden. A password should stay private. A secret is, by definition, not public. A spoiler reveals a plot point too early. A surprise stops being a surprise once someone says it out loud.

The trap is PASSWORD plus KEYS. That pair can make you think about computer security. SECRET plus SURPRISE can also pull you toward party planning. But the category is broader: all four are information or events that should not be revealed.

THINGS REPRESENTED IN SUPERSCRIPT: ASTERISK, DEGREE, EXPONENT, TRADEMARK

A superscript is a small raised character placed above the normal text line. An asterisk can appear as a raised star. A degree symbol is often raised after a number. An exponent is written above and to the right of a base number. A trademark symbol is commonly shown as a raised TM.

The trap is that ASTERISK, DEGREE, EXPONENT, and TRADEMARK do not feel like one everyday category. DEGREE could mean education. TRADEMARK could mean a legal brand marker. EXPONENT could mean a person who supports an idea. Connections is asking for how these things are written or displayed, not what they mean in ordinary conversation.

SLANG FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS: AXE, BONE, KEYS, SKINS

This is the showstopper group. AXE can mean a guitar or another main instrument, especially in rock, jazz, and blues talk. BONE can mean trombone. KEYS means keyboard or piano. SKINS means drums, from the drumheads that used to be made from animal skin.

The trap is that the words point in four different directions if you take them literally. AXE suggests a tool. BONE suggests anatomy. KEYS suggests locks or passwords. SKINS suggests clothing, video game cosmetics, or skin itself. The musician slang angle ties them together. For deeper explanations, see https://fluentslang.com/bone-meaning/, https://fluentslang.com/keys-meaning/, and https://fluentslang.com/skins-meaning/.

Tricky Words And Decoys

AXE was probably the loudest decoy. In everyday language, an axe is a chopping tool. In music slang, an axe is a player’s instrument, most often a guitar. That is why it fits with KEYS and SKINS instead of PASSWORD or BONE. Our full guide to https://fluentslang.com/axe-meaning/ explains why guitarists use it.

BONE can send solvers toward the body, food, dogs, or skeletons. In band slang, though, bone is short for trombone. That clipped nickname is exactly the kind of thing Connections likes to hide in plain sight. The musician meaning is unpacked at https://fluentslang.com/bone-meaning/.

KEYS is a classic trap because it fits two worlds. A password goes with keys in computer security. But in music, keys can mean piano, keyboard, or the keyboard section of a band. The page at https://fluentslang.com/keys-meaning/ explains the difference between keys as access tools and keys as instruments.

SKINS may have been the hardest one if you do not play music. In a band context, skins means drums. That comes from drumheads, the stretched surfaces that make the sound when hit. See https://fluentslang.com/skins-meaning/ for examples of how musicians use it.

DEGREE also tried to pull attention away from superscript. It can mean an academic credential, a temperature unit, an angle measurement, or an amount. In this puzzle, it is about the tiny raised symbol, not school.

How To Solve More Puzzles Like This

Start with the words that have the strangest second meaning. Today, AXE, BONE, KEYS, and SKINS looked unrelated until you put them in a music room. When a word seems too ordinary, ask what kind of expert, hobbyist, or subculture might use it differently.

Watch for format categories. The blue group was not about meaning. It was about how symbols appear on the page. Connections often uses spelling, sound, placement, prefixes, suffixes, or typography as the hidden glue.

Be careful with pairs that are too obvious. PASSWORD and KEYS make a tempting pair, but Connections needs four. If your idea only explains two words, keep it in pencil.

Also, do not panic when a word has several meanings. That is usually the point. BABE can be slang, but today it belonged with innocence. AXE can be a tool, but today it belonged with instruments. The puzzle rewards flexible thinking, not dictionary speed.

FAQ

What were the NYT Connections answers for June 9, 2026?

The answers were SYMBOLS OF INNOCENCE: ANGEL, BABE, DOVE, LAMB; THINGS YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO REVEAL: PASSWORD, SECRET, SPOILER, SURPRISE; THINGS REPRESENTED IN SUPERSCRIPT: ASTERISK, DEGREE, EXPONENT, TRADEMARK; and SLANG FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS: AXE, BONE, KEYS, SKINS.

What was the hardest group today?

The purple group was likely the hardest because AXE, BONE, KEYS, and SKINS only connect if you know musician slang.

Why does axe mean guitar?

Musicians often call their main instrument an axe, especially a guitar. The sense suggests a tool of the trade, something a player uses to do the job.

Why does skins mean drums?

Skins means drums because the striking surfaces on drums are drumheads, historically made from stretched animal skin.

Where is tomorrow’s Connections guide?

The next daily hub is here: https://fluentslang.com/nyt-connections-hints-answers-today-june-10-2026/.