Hey there, Connectors! Welcome to the weekend!

Picture the scene: it’s 3am and you’re inexplicably still awake. You get an idea for a new project. You start piecing it together mentally. You set up a URL for it and register the newsletter. Oh no, oh dear.

This actually relates one of a few long-term projects I have in mind for whenever I have the time and energy to really focus on them. I’ve already started one and I’ll tell you about it soon. As for the third one, I don’t know when I’ll get that rolling, because it requires a bit of prep.

I haven’t posted a non-Connections piece of writing here since December, which is far too long. I’m aiming to remedy that soon, and then start chipping away at these new projects and writing about them (the grinning Grinch in the GIF is pretty reflective of my current mood, btw).

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, August 15 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...

I got the greens first, thanks to PHASE and STAGE. The yellows were next, thanks to WORN OUT leading the charge.

I didn't really know where to go from there, so I started looking at the components of each word. As it turns out, all of those that ended up in units of measurement were bunched together on the right of the grid. I slid those blues through, followed by the purples once I had that category figured out (stalk, shadow, tail and track).

Streak = 531.

How did you get on this time? 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. A colleague shared “Cry Ugly” by Flo in our hangout channel in Slack the other day. I enjoyed this R&B song very much, so I’m passing it along to you all too:

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

On weekdays, you can find this column over at Forbes. Please follow my blog there for more coverage of NYT Connections and other word games, and even some video game news, insights and analysis. It helps me out a lot!

Sharing this column with other people who play Connections would be appreciated too. Also, subscribe to this newsletter if you haven’t already!