Hey there, Connectors! I hope you’ve had a fantastic weekend so far.

As I write this (before the event starts on Saturday), WrestleMania is about to get underway. This is the biggest show of the year for WWE. I’ve been a wrestling fan since I was a kid in the late ‘90s and I’ve enjoyed a lot of WrestleMania events, but, for several reasons, I’m not sure I’ll watch any of this one.

The company is shoehorning celebrities into storylines that do not need them at all. Any time I’ve watched one of their shows over the last couple of years, they’ve have awful pacing and have been packed with ads. And without getting too far into the details, those are far from the company’s most egregious practices.

I’ll keep up with what’s going on by other means, because try as I might, I can’t help myself. Maybe they’ll make some changes in time for the next edition of WrestleMania to convince me to watch that one. I’m sure there won’t be any ethical concerns about WrestleMania 2027, which is taking place in Saudi Arabia.

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 Sunday, April 19 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...

And the level one hints for today’s Connections groups are:

Need some extra help? 

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

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

Today’s Connections word hints are…

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 Texas Hold 'Em words right away to take care of the blues. I did realize in hindsight that BUST might have fit in there somehow as a gambling-related term. But no, that was one of the greens, which I knocked off next. 

FRESH, SASSY and WISE then had to go together. But it took a little trial and error to find the fourth word.

ARCH? ARCH?!?! I have never, not once, heard of that word in this context.

Anyway, that left the purples for the win. I didn't figure out that category before submitting it — they refer to Bottle Caps, Milk Duds, Sour Patch Kids and (not sure about this one) Thin Mints(?). I was just happy to get out of dodge with a 414th win 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. I’ll be back over at Forbes for the Monday-Friday editions for the column. And if you haven’t subscribed to Pastimes already, definitely do that! It would be super sweet of you.

P.S. Ren is incredible. Here’s a new track from him and Chris Webby, under the moniker Inpatient. I’m not quite sure “Down The Road” neatly fits into our typical “laidback song for a Sunday” brief. It’s a terrific bluesy track all the same:

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!