NYT Connections hints and answers for Sunday, August 10

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

I find it interesting how we reshape our priorities and what we let go of as we mature. As a kid, I steadfastly asserted that I would never stop watching Blue Peter. I don’t think I’ve watched an episode since I was about 13.

This evolution extends to all walks of life. It’s how we learn new skills and adapt to changing circumstances. Ultimately, it’s all about how we spend our time and who with.

I’m well aware that I’m probably not going to be going out with my friends until the early hours for much longer, even though we only do it a couple of times a year now. Those evenings will probably be tamer affairs as we move into middle age (though I’ll still try to drag them to the club whenever I’m visiting).

I also realize that it’s going to be important for me to keep playing games. Not only for work, but to unwind and disconnect from my tendency to overthink and get wrapped up in my head. My dad asked me recently if I’d still be playing computer games when I’m 50. Yes, almost definitely.

There’s a lot more to say about this topic than I have the bandwidth for here (and it’s perhaps worth a longer essay for Pastimes in the future). This is just something I’ve been thinking about more recently as I consider what the medium-term future is going to look like with my partner. I don’t want to make any mistakes with that, especially considering that there’s a kiddo in the mix. But I’m looking forward to finding out what that future looks like in reality.

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, August 10 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...

• PULP

• BIOPIC

• FAN

• CALCIUM

• PULL

• CONCENTRATE

• SCIENCE

• GROUP

• HISTORICAL

• JUICE

• COLLECT

• CHEMISE

• SWAY

• TRIGLYCERIDE

• WEIGHT

• CLUSTER

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

• 🟨 Yellow group — have the ability to persuade others to take a certain course of action

• 🟩 Green group — bring ‘em together

• 🟦 Blue group — it’s all made up anyway

• 🟪 Purple group — all of these have a useful stem, for many

One Word For Each Connections Group

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…

• 🟨 Yellow group — PULL

• 🟩 Green group — CONCENTRATE

• 🟦 Blue group — SCIENCE

• 🟪 Purple group — BIOPIC

What Are Today’s Connections Groups?

Today’s Connections groups are...

• 🟨 Yellow group — influence

• 🟩 Green group — amass

• 🟦 Blue group — kinds of fiction

• 🟪 Purple group — starting with math and science classes, for short

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 — influence (JUICE, PULL, SWAY, WEIGHT)

• 🟩 Green group — amass (CLUSTER, COLLECT, CONCENTRATE, GROUP)

• 🟦 Blue group — kinds of fiction (FAN, HISTORICAL, PULP, SCIENCE)

• 🟪 Purple group — starting with math and science classes, for short (BIOPIC, CALCIUM, CHEMISE, TRIGLYCERIDE)

There obviously had to be wordplay going on with TRIGLYCERIDE, and as I looked around, I spotted CALCIUM and CHEMISE, and realized they started with nicknames for science and math classes. BIOPIC was the only other word that made sense with those, and thus I had the purples.

They refer to BIOlogy (BIOPIC), CALCulus (CALCIUM), CHEMistry (CHEMISE) and TRIGonometry (TRIGLYCERIDE).

I got the greens next, despite the red herring of all the orange juice-related words (CONCENTRATE, PULP, JUICE). Honestly, the first thing that came into my mind when I saw PULP was "fiction," so having fewer options made it easy enough to get the blues.

That left the yellows for my 163rd victory in a row. Game #800 is only just over a week away. Hoping that one poses a fun challenge. Anyway, here's my grid for today:

🟪🟪🟪🟪 
🟩🟩🟩🟩 
🟦🟦🟦🟦 
🟨🟨🟨🟨

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. I learn about music from all kinds of sources these days, from random YouTube recommendations to checking out artists that are playing upcoming local shows. This one is from a very sporadic newsletter written by someone who I don’t know, but always enjoyed following online. I believe they are a former co-worker of my ex-partner too. Anyway, I think it’s rarely a bad thing to have an open mind when it comes to music and to try to listen to as broad a range of things as possible, no matter how your found out about them.

“I'll Be Waving As You Drive Away” is an instrumental piece by guitarist Hayden Pedigo. It’s a lovely composition that I find both upbeat and mournful. My power chord-playing ass always finds the fingerpicking style of guitar playing very impressive too. In any case, this felt like a nice thing to share with you on a Sunday:

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

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