NYT Connections hints and answers for Saturday, November 15

Hey there, Connectors! Welcome to the weekend!

This is a very important day in my life. By around 5PM Eastern time today, Scotland could be one step closer to the World Cup. It would be my home country’s first qualification for the biggest show on Earth since 1998 if we make it to next summer’s finals.

A draw or win away to Greece today is a must. That would set up a winner-take-all clash at home against Denmark on Tuesday. A draw is unlikely to be enough for us. The victor of that qualifies, and the other team will go into the dreaded playoffs next spring. I hope we skip all that mess by booking our place in three days.

The thing is, I’m not sure I would actually travel to one of our games. I have zero intention of travelling to the US anytime soon. I may try to go to a Scotland match or two if we play in Canada or Mexico, the two other host countries. But even then, I bristle at the thought of giving FIFA any money.

If Scotland don’t make it to the World Cup, at least my adopted nation of Canada are guaranteed to be there. I dearly hope they don’t end up playing each other, but if they do, I’ll be flying the saltire and belting out “Yes Sir, I Can Boogie” without hesitation.

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, November 15 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...

• TWILIGHT

• SEASON

• FILM

• PERIOD

• STAGE

• SLASH

• TIME

• METHOD

• SALT

• COMFORT

• DASH

• FLAVOR

• CHARACTER

• COLON

• BUFFER

• SPICE

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

• 🟨 Yellow group — make a meal more memorable

• 🟩 Green group — these are critical for structure, full stop

• 🟦 Blue group — like bad, state, voice and ham

• 🟪 Purple group — euro, red, war and drop would fit in here

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 — SEASON

• 🟩 Green group — PERIOD

• 🟦 Blue group — STAGE

• 🟪 Purple group — TIME

What Are Today’s Connections Groups?

Need some extra help?

Today’s Connections groups are...

• 🟨 Yellow group — enhance the taste of

• 🟩 Green group — punctuation marks

• 🟦 Blue group — kinds of actors

• 🟪 Purple group — _____ zone

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 — enhance the taste of (FLAVOR, SALT, SEASON, SPICE)

• 🟩 Green group — punctuation marks (COLON, DASH, PERIOD, SLASH)

• 🟦 Blue group — kinds of actors (CHARACTER, FILM, METHOD, STAGE)

• 🟪 Purple group — _____ zone (BUFFER, COMFORT, TIME, TWILIGHT)

Another relatively easy one, I felt. The yellows were no problem, even though to SALT something inherently means to SEASON it. I knocked those out tout de suite (which I, as a younger idiot human, used to think was spelled "toot sweet").

The greens were up next. Love those. They're very important. And screw you once again, ChatGPT for making people think the em dash appearing in text automatically means it’s AI-generated guff. They'll need to tear my beloved em dash from my cold, dead hands.

CHARACTER and METHOD gave the blues away this time. And after having a group of movies yesterday, I didn't think TWILIGHT would be a reference to that cinematic touchstone. So there was only one other way to go with it, which allowed me to figure out the purple connection.

A regular rainbow takes my streak up to 259 wins 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. For today's recommendation, let us consider another type of zone. One created by the co-writer and performer of the title track from Footloose, Kenny Loggins. This track is also from a movie soundtrack (Top Gun) and it's an '80s classic. Guys, gals and non-binary pals, let's take a trip on a highway to the "Danger Zone." (I really need to re-watch Archer!):

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

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