NYT Connections Hints, Answers & Clues -
NYT Connections #1092 Tip
Every single word here moonlights as something completely different.
What Makes NYT Connections #1092 Tricky?
Words like TOTAL, LEVEL, EXPRESS, and CORE look like they belong together as intensifiers or adjectives, while SHEER, THIN, UTTER, and GOSSAMER pull in a completely different direction — the grid feels like it is sorting itself into neat piles that are almost certainly wrong.
The editor's trick is that the most familiar everyday meanings of these words are almost never the right ones — each word is being used in a secondary or even tertiary sense that hides behind the obvious reading.
This one is genuinely hard — one group may click quickly if you know a specific music niche, but the other three all share overlapping vocabulary territory and will require you to actively reject the first meaning that comes to mind.
Connections Hints for Every Word in the June 7, 2026 Puzzle
POP
Connections hint for POP
Not the sound or the drink — here it is the suffix that turns a genre name into a style, like synth-pop or K-pop.
GUT
Connections hint for GUT
To gut a building is to demolish its interior completely, stripping it down to the bare frame — that destructive sense is what matters here.
SHEER
Connections hint for SHEER
Usually means complete or absolute (sheer madness) or a steep drop — here it means so thin and fine that light passes through it, like sheer fabric.
STATE
Connections hint for STATE
Not a country or a condition — here it means to say something clearly and directly, to put something into words.
UTTER
Connections hint for UTTER
Usually an intensifier (utter nonsense) — here it means to speak or produce a sound with your voice, its older and less common sense.
WAVE
Connections hint for WAVE
Not the ocean or a hand gesture — here it is the suffix that names a music movement, as in new wave or cold wave.
LEVEL
Connections hint for LEVEL
Not a flat surface or a tool — to level something means to knock it completely flat, to demolish it entirely.
STEP
Connections hint for STEP
Not a stair or a dance move — here it is the suffix that names a style of electronic music, as in dubstep or two-step.
TOTAL
Connections hint for TOTAL
Not the sum of numbers — to total something means to destroy it completely, the way a car gets totalled in a crash.
EXPRESS
Connections hint for EXPRESS
Not a fast train or a delivery service — here it means to put thoughts or feelings into words, to communicate them outward.
THIN
Connections hint for THIN
Not thin as in slim — here it means so fine and delicate that it is nearly see-through, like thin gauze or thin silk.
TRASH
Connections hint for TRASH
Not rubbish in a bin — to trash something means to wreck or demolish it completely, leaving it in ruins.
GOSSAMER
Connections hint for GOSSAMER
Extremely fine, light, and translucent — originally the delicate threads of a spider's web, now used for any fabric so sheer it seems to float.
CORE
Connections hint for CORE
Not the centre of an apple — here it is the suffix that names a heavy music subgenre, as in hardcore or metalcore.
VOICE
Connections hint for VOICE
Not the sound you make — here it means to express something in words, to give voice to a thought or feeling.
GAUZY
Connections hint for GAUZY
Having the quality of gauze — thin, loosely woven, and translucent enough to see through, like a gauzy curtain in sunlight.
Traps & Misdirects Hints for NYT Connections Puzzle (#1092)
SHEER nonsense, UTTER chaos, TOTAL disaster — these three work identically as intensifying adjectives meaning complete or absolute, and grouping them feels almost certain. That reading is a dead end. Each of these words belongs to a different category in this puzzle and they share nothing here.
EXPRESS, STATE, and VOICE all mean to communicate something — you express an opinion, state a fact, voice a concern — and they feel like a natural trio. The trap is that one of these words has a second life in a completely different context that the puzzle is actually using, so this trio is not a complete group.
CORE is a fruit's centre, POP is a sound or a fizzy drink, STEP is what you take on a staircase, and WAVE is what the ocean does — four perfectly ordinary English words with no obvious shared meaning. None of those everyday readings are what is happening here. These words all attach to something else to name a style of music.
LEVEL a building, TOTAL a car, TRASH a room — all three mean to destroy or wreck something, and they feel like they belong together. That cluster is incomplete. There is a fourth word in this puzzle that means the same thing but is hiding behind a much more innocent-looking surface meaning.
Connections Hints for June 7, 2026
Yellow Connections Hints
Yellow Category Hint
Fabric so fine and light it lets light through
Think: Think: see-through, delicate, diaphanous
Yellow Category Name
TRANSLUCENT, AS FABRIC
Yellow Category Words
Reveal word 1
GAUZYReveal word 2
GOSSAMERReveal word 3
SHEERReveal word 4
THINGreen Connections Hints
Green Category Hint
All mean to put thoughts into words
Think: Think: articulate, communicate, say aloud
Green Category Name
SPEAK
Green Category Words
Reveal word 1
EXPRESSReveal word 2
STATEReveal word 3
UTTERReveal word 4
VOICEBlue Connections Hints
Blue Category Hint
Verbs that mean to completely destroy something
Think: Think: wreck, flatten, ruin entirely
Blue Category Name
DEMOLISH
Blue Category Words
Reveal word 1
GUTReveal word 2
LEVELReveal word 3
TOTALReveal word 4
TRASHPurple Connections Hints
Purple Category Hint
Each one completes a music genre name when added to another word
Think: Think: dub___, hard___, synth___
Purple Category Name
MUSIC GENRE SUFFIXES
Purple Category Words
Reveal word 1
COREReveal word 2
POPReveal word 3
STEPReveal word 4
WAVENYT Connections Answers for June 7, 2026
NYT Connections Answers Explained: June 7, 2026
TRANSLUCENT, AS FABRIC
GAUZY, GOSSAMER, SHEER, and THIN all describe fabric — or anything fabric-like — that is so fine and delicate it allows light to pass through it.
- GAUZY
- Gauze is a loosely woven, almost transparent fabric — gauzy means having that quality, thin and hazy enough to see through.
- GOSSAMER
- Originally the name for the fine floating threads of a spider's web, gossamer now describes anything extremely light, thin, and translucent — the most poetic word in this group.
- SHEER
- Sheer fabric is so fine it is nearly transparent — sheer tights, sheer curtains — the word's more common meaning (absolute, complete) is the trap here.
- THIN
- Thin is the plainest word in this group — fabric thin enough to be see-through, like thin silk or thin cotton voile — its ordinariness makes it easy to overlook.
SPEAK
EXPRESS, STATE, UTTER, and VOICE all mean to speak or communicate — to put something into words and send it outward.
- EXPRESS
- To express something is to communicate it outwardly — express an opinion, express a feeling — the fast-train meaning is the decoy.
- STATE
- To state something is to say it clearly and directly — state your case, state the facts — not a country or a condition here.
- UTTER
- To utter something is to produce it with your voice — utter a word, utter a cry — this is the older sense hiding behind the much more common intensifier meaning (utter chaos).
- VOICE
- To voice something is to express it in words — voice a concern, voice an objection — the noun meaning (the sound you make) is not what is happening here.
DEMOLISH
GUT, LEVEL, TOTAL, and TRASH are all verbs meaning to demolish or destroy something completely — each one hides this destructive sense behind a more familiar everyday meaning.
- GUT
- To gut a building is to demolish its interior entirely, stripping everything out and leaving only the outer shell — a very specific and vivid kind of destruction.
- LEVEL
- To level something is to knock it completely flat — to level a building means to demolish it so thoroughly that nothing is left standing.
- TOTAL
- To total something — most commonly a car — means to damage it so completely that it cannot be repaired, effectively destroying it.
- TRASH
- To trash something means to wreck or demolish it completely — trash a hotel room, trash a building — the rubbish-bin meaning is the obvious decoy.
MUSIC GENRE SUFFIXES
CORE, POP, STEP, and WAVE are all suffixes that attach to another word to name a music genre or subgenre — none of their ordinary English meanings apply here.
- CORE
- The suffix -core names heavy or intense music subgenres — hardcore, metalcore, emocore, deathcore — the apple-centre meaning is entirely irrelevant.
- POP
- The suffix -pop names commercially oriented music styles built around a base genre — synth-pop, K-pop, electro-pop, dream-pop.
- STEP
- The suffix -step names styles of electronic dance music — dubstep, two-step, trap-step, future-step — the staircase meaning is the decoy.
- WAVE
- The suffix -wave names music movements with a particular aesthetic character — new wave, cold wave, darkwave, synthwave.
