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Hey there, Connectors! Welcome to the weekend!
Bear with me on this one, because it involves a certain band I’m trying real hard to not write about all the damn time. Among the many things I enjoy about Electric Callboy are the vlogs that take us behind the scenes of their current tour.
In the last few episodes, Christian Ripkens (a photographer and videographer on the band’s content team) has spent a day in the life of various crew members. The most recent one concerns the audio team and the stage manager.
I found this absolutely fascinating! I don’t think you need to necessarily care about Electric Callboy to find this interesting either.
I learned a lot about what the team does to optimize the sound for the space the band is performing in, carry out sound checks, prevent potential interference with local TV signals and a lot more. The audio setup chat starts at around 9:14, but I enjoyed the whole vlog, because of course I did.
If you’re considering checking it out, note that most of the audio is in German with English subtitles. And it’s worth bearing in mind that Electric Callboy are sponsored by a sex toy company. A few such doohickeys appear in the video in humorous fashion. Anyway, enjoy:
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, March 21 are coming right up.
What Are Today’s Connections Hints?
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...
POUND
PLAIN
OBJECT
CROWN
JUMP
MARK
FRANK
RICH
GOAL
STRAIGHT
POINT
BISHOP
KING
BLUNT
FROST
CAPTURE
The level one hints for today’s Connections groups are:
🟨 Yellow group — no faffing around, let's get right to it
🟩 Green group — what we're trying to do
🟦 Blue group — on one side of the Atlantic, they perhaps concern air currents coming into a closed space. On the other, they could have something to do with inspectors
🟪 Purple group — plath and lorde might have something to say about this group
One Word For Each Connections Group
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…
🟨 Yellow group — PLAIN
🟩 Green group — POINT
🟦 Blue group — JUMP
🟪 Purple group — FROST
What Are Today’s Connections Groups?
Need some extra help?
Today’s Connections groups are...
🟨 Yellow group — direct
🟩 Green group — target
🟦 Blue group — checkers terms
🟪 Purple group — 20th century American poets
What Are Today’s Connections Answers?
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...
🟨 Yellow group — direct (BLUNT, FRANK, PLAIN, STRAIGHT)
🟩 Green group — target (GOAL, MARK, OBJECT, POINT)
🟦 Blue group — checkers terms (CAPTURE, CROWN, JUMP, KING)
🟪 Purple group — 20th century American poets (BISHOP, FROST, POUND, RICH)
The greens were first up for me today. I'd like to say I had no problem with those, but it did take me a moment to figure out that MARK was the fourth word.
PLAIN and STRAIGHT landed right next to each other, so the yellows were next up.
I wondered for a second whether KING, BISHOP and JUMP — as in the knight's movement — might be related to chess. But CROWN led me toward the checkers angle for the blues. Five points if you understood my convoluted hint about draughts and checkers.
That left the purples to round things out. I was a little lost at sea here because even though I have a degree in English, I am not familiar with the works of Elizabeth BISHOP, Robert FROST, Ezra POUND or Adrienne RICH.
I think I was a bit lucky to get a perfect game today. Win number 385 in a row pour moi.
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. Here’s an ‘80s-influenced track that popped up on YouTube for me recently. Johnny Dynamite (aka singer/songwriter and producer John Morisi) is the synth-focused artist behind “Helpline.” It’s good stuff, gang:
Have a great day! Stay hydrated! Be kind to yourself and each other! Call someone you love!
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