Waking up and opening the New York Times Games app feels like a gamble lately. Some days you’re a genius; other days, Wyna Liu has decided that today is the day you lose your long-standing streak over a group of words that only make sense if you have a PhD in 19th-century haberdashery. If you are looking for those specific NYT Connections hints April 6 clues, you’ve probably already stared at the grid for ten minutes and felt that familiar "nothing is connecting" dread. It’s okay. We have all been there.
The April 6 puzzle—specifically from 2024, which remains a benchmark for "trickiness"—is a classic example of how the game uses red herrings to mess with your head. You see a word. You think you know its friend. You click. One away. That message is the bane of my existence. Honestly, the way the game designers layer these puzzles is less about what you know and more about what you can un-know. You have to strip away the primary definitions of words to see the hidden structures underneath.
Why Today’s Connections Is Tricky
Let's talk about the overlap. On April 6, the board presents a unique challenge because several words look like they belong in a "Nature" or "Animal" category, but they are actually pointing toward something much more technical or linguistic. This is the "pivot" move that NYT loves. They give you four words that look like they belong together, but only three of them actually do. The fourth is a spy.
When looking for NYT Connections hints April 6, the first thing to notice is the presence of "tail" or "end" related concepts. But wait. Is it a physical tail? Or a tail in a sequence? Or is it a verb? That’s where the difficulty spikes. Most people fail because they commit to a category too early. They see a "Mutt" or a "Cur" and immediately start looking for other dogs. If you do that, you're toast.
The logic of Connections relies on the fact that most English words wear multiple hats. A "Bat" is an animal, a piece of sports equipment, and a verb meaning to blink. If the grid has "Ball," "Glove," and "Plate," you’re thinking baseball. But if the grid also has "Wink" and "Flash," that "Bat" might be headed in a totally different direction. This is exactly what’s happening with the April 6 puzzle.
Breaking Down the April 6 Categories
If you want to solve this without just looking at the answers, think about Small Amounts.
Think about the words that describe a tiny bit of something. Not a lot. Just a "scosh" or a "smidge." In the NYT Connections hints April 6 set, there is a specific group that deals with these synonyms for "a little bit."
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- DASH
- DROP
- PINCH
- TRACE
This is usually the "Yellow" or "Green" category—the straightforward ones. But even here, "Dash" and "Pinch" could easily be verbs. You could "Dash" to the store. You could "Pinch" your arm. The game wants you to get confused by those alternate meanings. If you can isolate the "small quantity" group early, the rest of the board starts to clear up like a foggy windshield.
The Linguistic Trap
Then things get weird. There is a category in the April 6 puzzle that deals with the ends of things. Not just any ends, but specific terms for the rear or the conclusion.
- BACK
- END
- REAR
- TAIL
It seems simple. It is simple. Yet, because "Tail" could be associated with animals and "Back" could be a body part, players often hesitate. This is the "Blue" category logic: words that are synonyms but inhabit different contexts.
The Infamous "Purple" Category
The Purple category is where dreams go to die. On April 6, the theme is ____ CAKE.
This is a classic NYT trope. They take a word and hide it behind a common suffix or prefix. If you aren't looking for "Cake," you will never see these four words as a group.
- CRUMB
- FISH
- POUND
- RICE
A "Fish cake"? Sure. A "Pound cake"? Delicious. "Rice cake"? Healthy (sort of). "Crumb cake"? Iconic. But look at those words individually. "Fish" and "Pound" have absolutely nothing in common. "Rice" and "Crumb" are both small grains, maybe? That’s the trap. If you tried to group "Rice" and "Crumb" with "Pinch" and "Dash" from earlier, you would have gotten that dreaded "One away" notification.
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The trick to beating Purple categories is to take a word—any word—and run through a mental list of common phrases. If you see "Fish," think: Fish hook? Fish tank? Fish cake? Then see if "Cake" works for anything else.
How to Beat the Red Herrings
Red herrings are the intentional decoys Wyna Liu places in the grid to lead you astray. On April 6, the word "REAR" is a major decoy. You see "REAR" and you think "to raise" (like raising a child). You see "POUND" and you think of an animal shelter. Suddenly, you’re looking for a "Raising Animals" category that doesn't exist.
To bypass this, use the "Shuffle" button. It's there for a reason. Our brains are hardwired to find patterns in the order words are presented. By shuffling, you break the visual associations and might see "DASH" next to "PINCH" instead of next to "TAIL."
Another pro tip: Never submit your first guess. Find four words that you think work. Then, before you click, try to find a fifth word that also fits that category. If you find a fifth word, your category is a trap. You need to figure out which of those five belongs somewhere else. This is the "overlap" rule that separates casual players from the pros.
The Semantic Shift of April 6
The final category in this specific puzzle involves types of dogs or, more accurately, insults for dogs.
- CUR
- DOG
- MUTT
- MONGREL
This is arguably the most straightforward group, but it’s often the one people save for last because "Dog" feels too meta for a game called Connections. Is "Dog" a category or a member? In this case, it’s a member.
Why This Puzzle Matters for Your Strategy
Analyzing the NYT Connections hints April 6 teaches us that the game is less about vocabulary and more about classification systems. You aren't just looking for what words mean; you’re looking for how they are used.
- Yellow: The most obvious synonyms (Small amounts).
- Green: Common groupings (Ends of things).
- Blue: Slightly more abstract (Dog terms).
- Purple: Wordplay or "blank ____" (Cake types).
If you can identify the type of category you're looking for, you're halfway there. If you've found two synonym groups and you're stuck, start looking for wordplay. Start looking for homophones. Start looking for "fill in the blank."
Practical Steps for Your Next Game
Stop clicking immediately. It is tempting to fire off a guess just to see if you're right. Don't. You only get four mistakes. If you burn two on "obvious" guesses that turn out to be traps, you have no room for error on the Purple category.
Write the words down. Seriously. There's something about moving the words out of the digital grid and onto a piece of paper that breaks the developer's spell. When you see the word "POUND" written in your own handwriting, you're more likely to think of "Pound sterling" or "Pound cake" than if it's trapped in a colorful box on your iPhone.
Lastly, look for the "odd man out." In the April 6 puzzle, "RICE" is a very weird word. It doesn't fit with dogs, it doesn't fit with "ends," and it's a stretch for "small amounts." When you find a word that feels like it has no friends, that is usually your anchor for the Purple category. Work backward from the hardest word.
To truly master Connections, you have to accept that the game is trying to lie to you. Every grid is a series of beautiful, intentional lies. Your job isn't just to find the truth; it's to see through the deception. Check the board for those "____ cake" connections next time you see a word as versatile as "Fish" or "Pound." It might just save your streak.
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Identify the words that have multiple meanings first.
Look for words that can be both a noun and a verb.
Group the most "boring" synonyms together to clear the board.
Save the most "unique" or "odd" words for the wordplay category.
Check for common prefixes or suffixes before finalizing your last two groups.