NYT Connections Hints, Answers & Clues -
NYT Connections #1091 Tip
MONITOR and DRAGON will send half the room to the wrong group.
What Makes NYT Connections #1091 Tricky?
Words like MONITOR, DRAGON, REGISTER, and POST each carry two or three completely different meanings — a screen, a mythical beast, a cash machine, a job title — and the grid gives you no signal about which meaning is in play.
The editor's trick is loading the grid with words that belong to a recognisable real-world domain (technology, politics, furniture) while actually using a completely different, less obvious sense of each word.
This one is genuinely hard — one group is clean and satisfying once you see it, but the other three all share vocabulary with each other and with everyday life, so expect to second-guess yourself right up to the final pick.
Connections Hints for Every Word in the June 6, 2026 Puzzle
DINNER
Connections hint for DINNER
The evening meal — and the first word in a compound phrase that names a specific piece of furniture.
EXPRESS
Connections hint for EXPRESS
Usually a fast train or delivery service — here it means to show or communicate a feeling outwardly.
POST
Connections hint for POST
A job, a mail delivery, or something you put online — here it means a vertical structural support, like a fence post.
ROUND
Connections hint for ROUND
A boxing round, a round of drinks, or a shape — here it is the first word in a compound phrase naming a famous piece of furniture.
DRAGON
Connections hint for DRAGON
The mythical fire-breather — but also a real lizard: the Komodo dragon is the world's largest living lizard species.
REGISTER
Connections hint for REGISTER
A cash register or an official list — here it means for a feeling to become visibly apparent, as in the news registered on her face.
TIMES
Connections hint for TIMES
A newspaper name or a multiplication sign — here it is the first word in a compound phrase naming a specific piece of furniture.
SHAFT
Connections hint for SHAFT
A mine shaft, a drive shaft, or a beam of light — here it means a tall vertical pillar or column.
DISPLAY
Connections hint for DISPLAY
A screen, a shop window, or a fireworks show — here it means to openly show an emotion.
MONITOR
Connections hint for MONITOR
A computer screen or a hall monitor — but also a real family of large lizards, including the Nile monitor and the Komodo dragon.
STAKE
Connections hint for STAKE
Something you drive into the ground, or a financial interest in something — here it means a vertical post or pillar.
SKINK
Connections hint for SKINK
A real lizard with a smooth, shiny body and small or absent legs — the least famous of the four lizards in this puzzle.
BETRAY
Connections hint for BETRAY
Usually means to be disloyal — here it means to unintentionally reveal an emotion, as in her voice betrayed her fear.
BASILISK
Connections hint for BASILISK
A legendary serpent from Greek myth and Harry Potter — but also a real lizard, famous for running across water on its hind legs.
DRAFTING
Connections hint for DRAFTING
Writing a document, or military conscription — here it is the first word in a compound phrase naming a specific piece of furniture.
POLE
Connections hint for POLE
A long rod, the North or South Pole, or a Polish person — here it means a tall vertical pillar or post.
Traps & Misdirects Hints for NYT Connections Puzzle (#1091)
MONITOR is a computer screen, DRAGON is a fire-breathing mythical creature, and BASILISK is a legendary serpent — grouping them as fantasy or technology feels natural. That reading is a dead end. All three are also real lizard species, and the puzzle is using the reptile sense for the entire cluster.
POST is something you hammer into the ground, POLE is a long vertical rod, and STAKE is a sharpened post — they all describe upright objects you plant in the ground, and that feels like a clean group. The overlap is real, but the category uses a more specific shared meaning, and not all three may end up together.
REGISTER is a cash register, EXPRESS is a fast train, and DISPLAY is a shop window or screen — retail and transport vocabulary feels like a plausible cluster. None of those readings are what is happening here. Each word has a sense meaning to show or reveal an emotion, and that is the connection the puzzle is using.
TIMES suggests a newspaper, ROUND sounds like a boxing term, and DRAFTING sounds like writing a document — nothing obviously links them. The connection only appears when you place the same word after each one and read the resulting compound phrase.
Connections Hints for June 6, 2026
Yellow Connections Hints
Yellow Category Hint
Tall vertical supports — structural, not decorative
Think: Think: fence, column, upright
Yellow Category Name
PILLAR
Yellow Category Words
Reveal word 1
POLEReveal word 2
POSTReveal word 3
SHAFTReveal word 4
STAKEGreen Connections Hints
Green Category Hint
Verbs for showing feelings, sometimes without meaning to
Think: Think: face gives something away
Green Category Name
INDICATE, AS EMOTIONS
Green Category Words
Reveal word 1
BETRAYReveal word 2
DISPLAYReveal word 3
EXPRESSReveal word 4
REGISTERBlue Connections Hints
Blue Category Hint
Real reptile species, not mythical or digital versions
Think: Think: scales, cold-blooded, actual animals
Blue Category Name
KINDS OF LIZARDS
Blue Category Words
Reveal word 1
BASILISKReveal word 2
DRAGONReveal word 3
MONITORReveal word 4
SKINKPurple Connections Hints
Purple Category Hint
Each word precedes the same word to name a piece of furniture
Think: Think: flat surface, legs, room
Purple Category Name
___ TABLE
Purple Category Words
Reveal word 1
DINNERReveal word 2
DRAFTINGReveal word 3
ROUNDReveal word 4
TIMESNYT Connections Answers for June 6, 2026
NYT Connections Answers Explained: June 6, 2026
PILLAR
POLE, POST, SHAFT, and STAKE all mean a tall vertical structural support — a pillar or column in the broadest sense — even though each word is more commonly used in a completely different context.
- POLE
- A pole is a long slender vertical rod used as a support — a tent pole, a telegraph pole, a flagpole.
- POST
- A post is an upright piece of timber or metal fixed in the ground as a support — a fence post, a goal post, a lamp post.
- SHAFT
- A shaft is a long narrow vertical structure — a mine shaft goes down, a column shaft goes up, both are pillars in their context.
- STAKE
- A stake is a pointed post driven into the ground as a support or marker — a tent stake, a garden stake for a climbing plant.
INDICATE, AS EMOTIONS
BETRAY, DISPLAY, EXPRESS, and REGISTER all mean to show or reveal an emotion — sometimes deliberately, sometimes involuntarily — and each word brings a slightly different shade of that meaning.
- BETRAY
- To betray an emotion is to reveal it unintentionally — your voice betrays your nerves even when you are trying to hide them.
- DISPLAY
- To display an emotion is to show it openly and visibly — displaying grief, displaying joy, displaying anger.
- EXPRESS
- To express an emotion is to communicate it outwardly, whether through words, face, or gesture — expressing sadness, expressing relief.
- REGISTER
- For an emotion to register is for it to become visibly apparent — the shock registered on her face, the news did not seem to register.
KINDS OF LIZARDS
BASILISK, DRAGON, MONITOR, and SKINK are all real families or species of lizard — the puzzle deliberately chose the three most famous ones for their double lives as mythical creatures or technology terms.
- BASILISK
- The basilisk is a real lizard native to Central America, famous for its ability to run across water on its hind legs — it is also a legendary serpent from Greek myth and Harry Potter.
- DRAGON
- The Komodo dragon is the world's largest living lizard, native to Indonesian islands — the word dragon here refers to this real reptile, not the mythical fire-breather.
- MONITOR
- Monitor lizards are a large family of reptiles including the Nile monitor and the Komodo dragon — the name has nothing to do with computer screens in this puzzle.
- SKINK
- Skinks are a large family of smooth-scaled lizards found worldwide, often with small or vestigial legs — the least famous of the four, and the one least likely to mislead you.
___ TABLE
DINNER, DRAFTING, ROUND, and TIMES each precede the word TABLE to form a specific compound noun — dinner table, drafting table, round table, and times table.
- DINNER
- A dinner table is the table around which a family or group eats their evening meal — the most domestic of the four.
- DRAFTING
- A drafting table is the angled desk used by architects and designers for technical drawing — also called a drawing board.
- ROUND
- The Round Table is the legendary table of King Arthur's knights, designed with no head so all seats were equal — also used as a general term for a meeting of equals.
- TIMES
- A times table is the multiplication table children learn in school — as in the three times table or the seven times table.
