This is the historical NYT Connections puzzle from Monday, June 23, 2025—game #743. It is not the June 23, 2026 puzzle; that date fell on a Tuesday. Below, the hints progress from gentle clues to the category names and complete answers, so you can stop before seeing more than you need.
Spoiler warning: The sections become increasingly revealing. If you only want a nudge, start with the four broad hints and avoid the answer section.
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How NYT Connections works
Connections gives you a grid of 16 words and asks you to divide them into four groups of four. Each group has a shared connection, but some words are deliberately chosen to fit more than one possible idea. You can submit a group when you think you have found one; an incorrect submission costs a life, and four mistakes end the game.
The groups traditionally progress from yellow, usually the most accessible, through green and blue to purple, the most difficult or wordplay-heavy category. That color order is also a useful way to approach a puzzle: look first for an unambiguous group, then use the remaining words to test more specialized connections.
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For the original puzzle’s rules and contemporary explanation, see the Forbes guide to Connections #743.
The 16 words in Connections #743
Here is the complete grid from Monday, June 23, 2025:
HISTORICAL OLD FASHIONED SKINNY BELL SUN FLARE LITERARY MOM OLD MAN COCKTAIL FAREWELL YOUNG ADULT COLLINS BOYFRIEND SPECULATIVE SHOT
Want to keep solving? Stop here or use only the next section. The answers appear farther down.
Rank #2
Category hints without the answers
These clues identify the theme of each group without naming the four words that belong in it.
- Yellow: These are types of jeans.
- Green: These are broad fiction categories.
- Blue: These words appear in titles of Ernest Hemingway works.
- Purple: Each can precede the word “glass” in a type of glassware.
One-word nudges
If the broader clues are not quite enough, here is one additional word for each group. These are not the complete answers.
- Yellow: MOM
- Green: YOUNG ADULT
- Blue: OLD MAN
- Purple: OLD FASHIONED
Category names
Spoiler warning: The category names make the intended groupings much easier to identify.
- Yellow: Kinds of jeans
- Green: Fiction categories
- Blue: Words in Hemingway titles
- Purple: Words that can precede “glass”
Complete answers for NYT Connections #743
Final spoiler warning: The four solved groups and their explanations are below.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesYellow: Kinds of jeans
BOYFRIEND, FLARE, MOM, SKINNY
Each word describes a recognizable jeans style: boyfriend jeans, flare jeans, mom jeans, and skinny jeans. MOM and BOYFRIEND are the potential traps here because they initially look like family or relationship vocabulary rather than clothing terms.
Green: Fiction categories
HISTORICAL, LITERARY, SPECULATIVE, YOUNG ADULT
These are broad labels used to describe fiction. Historical fiction is rooted in a past period, literary fiction generally emphasizes style, character, or thematic ambition, speculative fiction explores imagined possibilities, and young adult identifies fiction marketed primarily to teen readers. The puzzle uses category names, not the titles of individual books.
Blue: Words in Ernest Hemingway titles
BELL, FAREWELL, OLD MAN, SUN
- BELL — For Whom the Bell Tolls
- FAREWELL — A Farewell to Arms
- OLD MAN — The Old Man and the Sea
- SUN — The Sun Also Rises
The key is to recognize that these are fragments of well-known Ernest Hemingway novel titles, rather than a general group of literary or nature-related words. The Hemingway title connection is also identified in the contemporary solution coverage; Scribner’s edition of For Whom the Bell Tolls confirms the title represented by BELL.
Purple: Words that can precede “glass”
COCKTAIL, COLLINS, OLD FASHIONED, SHOT
These form familiar glassware terms: cocktail glass, Collins glass, old fashioned glass, and shot glass. This is the wordplay-heavy group. The four words also invite players to think about drinks themselves, but the intended connection is the word glass that follows each entry.
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Why this puzzle was tricky
The strongest decoy is the alcohol-related cluster. COCKTAIL, COLLINS, OLD FASHIONED, and SHOT all evoke drinks, but “types of alcoholic drinks” is not the precise connection. They become a group only when you add glass after each one.
There are smaller traps elsewhere. MOM and BOYFRIEND look like relationship or family words until they are paired with FLARE and SKINNY. BELL, SUN, and OLD MAN may remain isolated until you see that they are title fragments; FAREWELL completes the Hemingway set.
Some solving commentary also noted a possible phonetic-alphabet distraction involving words such as BELL. That is secondary to the documented group structure: the decisive connections are jeans styles, fiction categories, Hemingway titles, and kinds of glassware.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.A physical option for more puzzle solving
If you enjoy the daily game but want puzzles away from a phone or browser, the New York Times Games Premium Puzzle Book is described by Uncommon Goods as a 224-page hardcover collection featuring Connections alongside Wordle, Spelling Bee, crosswords, logic puzzles, and trivia. It is a companion for readers who want an offline NYT games collection; it should not be assumed to contain this specific June 23, 2025 daily puzzle.
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Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →A separate official standalone Connections book is listed by Simon & Schuster UK with a publication date of December 17, 2026. Because that date is after the research date for this article, it is not presented as currently available here. See the publisher listing for its announced publication information.
Best Value
- Find hundreds of words in an easy to read format - Some words you'll spot easily, but you'll have to search hard for others.
- A wide range of puzzle topics, including movies, actors, sports, cars, and more!
- Variations on the standard word search puzzles are included for extra challenge.
- Answer key in the back of the book.
- Spiral bound, 192 pages.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was the answer to NYT Connections on Monday, June 23, 2025?
The four groups in Connections #743 were kinds of jeans; fiction categories; words in Ernest Hemingway titles; and words that can precede “glass.”
What were the yellow answers in Connections #743?
BOYFRIEND, FLARE, MOM, and SKINNY—all kinds of jeans.
What were the purple answers in Connections #743?
COCKTAIL, COLLINS, OLD FASHIONED, and SHOT, each of which can precede “glass.”
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Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallWas June 23 the current NYT Connections puzzle in 2026?
No. June 23, 2026 was a Tuesday. This article covers the Monday, June 23, 2025 puzzle, which was Connections game #743.
The Bottom Line
Connections #743 used four distinct ideas: BOYFRIEND, FLARE, MOM, SKINNY for jeans; HISTORICAL, LITERARY, SPECULATIVE, YOUNG ADULT for fiction categories; BELL, FAREWELL, OLD MAN, SUN for Hemingway titles; and COCKTAIL, COLLINS, OLD FASHIONED, SHOT for types of glassware.
Quick Recap
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