Hey there, Connectors! Welcome to the weekend!

As much as it pains me to do so, I’ve decided not to take the trip to Japan I had in mind for this summer. I was excited to see my favorite band again, as well as their EDM subgroup. I even secured tickets for both shows.

However, going to Japan in August by myself feels like an ill-advised idea. I do not handle heat well at all, and temperatures of 30-35C with high humidity would prevent me from doing very much. I’d dearly love to go back to Japan someday and this initially felt like as good an excuse as any, but I don’t think it’s going to work this time. I’ll go back in the spring or fall sometime, and play lots of Forza Horizon 6 in the meantime.

Instead, I’m just going to do more stuff at home this summer. While I’ve enjoyed many of the festivals we have here in Montreal, I don’t think I’ve quite made the most of them. So this is a good year to address that. (It gets hot here too, but at least I’m at home with more of a support system!)

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, May 30 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...

TILDE made the blues easy to spot right away. They're all on your keyboard: {, ^, | and ~

The yellows were next up after I realized SORRY should go with them.

LUCID, RIGHT and SOUND then gelled together in my brain to give me the greens. That left the purples. I did not get that category at all.

In any case, I'm happy to get win number 454 in a row.

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. This was a random YouTube find and it’s a lot of fun. Ambre Vallet is a French-German pop artist who sings in both languages. The lyrics popping up on screen throughout the video helped me understand that.

I think she’s singing about herself and her journey of growing up in two cultures here, which would make sense given that the song is called “Ambre.” In any case, this is a bop that fits right in with the accidental theme week of Europop songs I’ve been offering up in the Forbes column:

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!

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