HIGHLIGHTS
- The actual meaning of “Shipshape” is in good order; trim and neat, but in today’s NYT Connections, it refers to the means of transportation, “Ship”.
- In today’s NYT Connections, Inanimate means showing no sign of life; lifeless.
- Expressionless, Drapery Hanging Items, What a Drink is Served With, and Starting With Methods of Transportation are the NYT Connections’ categories for June 16, 2025.
The New York Times Connections for June 16, 2025, is back with its 16 fresh words, with few exceptions like Cosaters.
As per the Connections Companion, today’s difficulty is 2.8 out of 5, which is relatively higher than yesterday’s.
With this average difficulty rating, you might encounter words like Busboy and Shipshape, which are quite challenging to group out.
Answers For Today’s NYT Connections (June 16, 2025)
After closely analyzing today’s NYT Connections, the first four words that crossed my mind were Bracket, Curtain, Hook, and Rod.
Each of these words was related to one another in a sense of hanging items, like you can hang things on a hook, and a Curtain itself is hung in windows.
So, grouping out these words, I got the green group “Drapery Hanging Items“.

Moving ahead with the remaining words, I got the blue group “What a Drink is Served With“. It featured words like Coaster, Garnish, Glass, and Straw.
Inanimate Meaning In NYT Connections #736
In today’s NYT Connections, Inanimate means showing no sign of life; lifeless.

Inanimate was part of the yellow group “Expressionless“, along with other words like Blank, Flat, and Wooden.
Busboy And Shipshape Meaning In NYT Connections #736
With only four words remaining at the end, I quickly grouped them together and got the purple group, “Starting With Methods of Transportation.”
Therefore, in today’s NYT games, Busboy is not a boy waiter assistant; instead, it represents Bus, a means of transportation, with a random word added at the end.
On the other hand, Shipshape in today’s NYT Games represents Ship, rather than trim and neat. Meanwhile, the two remaining words, Trainee and Carbon, were Train and Car.

After getting the purple group, I was able to complete today’s NYT Connections with the following;
- Drapery Hanging Items (Green): Bracket, Curtain, Hook, Rod
- What a Drink is Served With (Blue): Coaster, Garnish, Glass, Straw
- Expressionless (Yellow): Blank, Flat, Inanimate, Wooden
- Starting With Methods of Transportation (Purple): Busboy, Trainee, Shipshape, Carbon

