Hey there, Connectors! Welcome to the weekend!

I found this Semafor story from the other day pretty interesting. The writer tagged along with a so-called “runner” and a photographer from The New York Post as they’re sent out to cover a story in NYC. Said runner is what many refer to as a “shoe leather” reporter, someone who pounds the streets in person to cover a story.

I’ve never done this type of reporting myself. I started my career as a sub-editor (i.e a copy editor) at a newspaper before moving over to writing and working almost entirely from home.

Runners are a very old-school and necessary part of the industry. However, I can’t get behind them using deceptive tactics to get their story. Posing as a cop or grief counselor, or breaking into a suspected murderer’s apartment to take photos is beyond the pale. Using deception in the pursuit of truths feels deeply wrong to me. We should all (I mean everyone, not just journalists) act as ethically and honestly as possible.

Before we begin, we have a great little community on Discord, where we chat about NYT Connections, the rest of the NYT games and all kinds of other stuff. Everyone who has joined has been lovely. It’s a fun hangout spot, and you’re more than welcome to join us.

Discord is also the best way to give me any feedback about the column, especially on the rare (or not-so-rare) occasions that I mess something up. I don’t look at Twitter much.

Today’s NYT Connections hints and answers for Saturday, April 4 are coming right up.

Scroll slowly! Just after the hints for each of today’s Connections groups, I’ll reveal what the groups are without immediately telling you which words go into them.

Today’s 16 words are...

The level one hints for today’s Connections groups are:

Be warned: we’re really starting to get into spoiler territory.

Let’s take a look at one word for each group.

Today’s Connections word hints are…

Need some extra help?

Today’s Connections groups are...

Spoiler alert! Don’t scroll any further down the page until you’re ready to find out today’s Connections answers.

This is your final warning!

Today’s Connections answers are...

The yellows jumped out at me right away. I wasn't sure it was going to be a group, but I had to go for it. That worked out! The phrase is an idiom that suggests one should avoid bringing dormant issues or problems back up, as that could lead to unwanted strife.

I spotted the greens after that. I think we had a similar group pretty recently?

From there, BOOT and SUMMER helped me figure out the purples. CAPE and POINT then illuminated the blue category before I submitted those.

That's win 399 in a row on the board for me.

How did you get on today? Here's my grid:

🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟩🟩🟩🟩

That’s all there is to it for today’s Connections clues and answers. Be sure to subscribe to my newsletter for hints and the solution for Sunday’s game if you need them.

P.S. I’ve been kicking myself all week for not going to see Chloe Qisha’s show here last weekend. She’s so much fun. I’ve been listening to her music a whole lot the last few days.

I am currently unable to get “YDH” out of my head. It’s catchy as hell; it’s an ABBA-esque song with Sabrina Carpenter-style flirty humor.

I’m not going to spoil what the acronym stands for, but let’s just say I agree that subtlety is overrated. That fake-out in the second verse makes me laugh every time:

Have a great day! Stay hydrated! Be kind to yourself and each other! Call someone you love!

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