(I know this is many people’s reaction to the suggestion of going to an escape room, but I’ve never done one and would like to!)

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

I’m gonna give you a double dose of recommendations today. The podcast Lateral is one of my new favorite things. Each episode, famous YouTube person Tom Scott invites a few guests on to figure out the weird answers to strange questions. I knew who Scott was, of course, but wasn’t aware of the podcast until clips started popping up in recommendations a few months ago.

The panel takes on questions such as "David regularly bought a Greek newspaper that he knew he wouldn't read. Why?" and "Why do many children in India and Pakistan struggle to count past 20 in their native languages?."

One of the first clips I saw of Lateral was from when the chaps from Jet Lag: The Game (one of my even more favorite things) appeared on the show. They tried to figure out why a guy would spend a $5,000 return ticket on a flight from New Jersey to Tokyo, land feeling relieved, then immediately return on the same plane. This passenger only had his laptop and phone with him. Hmmm…

As the title suggests, getting to the solution generally requires lateral thinking. And each episode usually results in me learning something new, which is my actual favorite thing.

By the by, Scott is the guest on the next season of Jet Lag, which takes place in Japan. I’m very much looking forward to that starting next week.

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 9 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 did something a little different with today's game. Instead of just barreling through it and making guesses whenever I saw a potential group, I slowed down to reconsider things. After I highlighted the movie subgenres and was about to submit them, I spotted the phrases that start with keyboard keys, which included SPACE OPERA.

I wasn't sure which would be the red herring, so I looked elsewhere first. That's when I figured out the change strategy-group, which would take SHIFT GEARS out of the "starting with keyboard keys" bunch. So I stuck with my gut and guessed the movie subgenres. That got me the blues. And the yellows were next.

After looking at the remaining phrases for longer than I care to admit, ESCAPE ROOM, LABYRINTH and JURY DUTY gelled together. I chuckled as I submitted the purples.

That left the greens and, well, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Glad to have escaped that one with a 525th win in a row. Really enjoyed this one. More like these, please!

How did you get on this time? Here's my grid:

🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟩🟩🟩🟩

(It would have taken me ages to put together an Answers Explained piece for this one. But I would have if this was a weekday game!)

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'm going to make a departure from the laidback vibe I usually go with for the Sunday recommendation, because I don't want to forget to share this. It's about as far away as you can get from a "laidback recommendation," actually.

I have to admit, I didn't really love Nene Royal's viral cover of "Zombie" from America's Got Talent. It's an important song with a heavy subject matter, and not one I think should have screams or crowd participation in the way that Royal arranged/encouraged it.

I don't want to be too critical, though, especially since Royal was only 15 at the time of her performance. Her vocals are solid and she shreds her guitar with the greatest of ease. She's clearly incredibly talented and far cooler than I could ever hope to be, too.

I had to seek out some of her other performances. Here's an hour-long video of Royal (and her very talented, distressingly young backup band) performing at a market in her home of Phuket, Thailand.

Royal is not quite the finished article, but her poise, energy and guitar skills — especially for a 16-year-old — are something else. It's always fun when you see a performer for the first time and instantly recognize their star quality. Her raw talent and stage presence are remarkable.

I had to admire the band including four System of a Down covers and Avenged Sevenfold's "A Little Piece of Heaven" in the set. That's pretty ambitious! The video cuts off partway through that last song, but it's pretty damn funny to hear Royal scream some of those lyrics.

Warning: the video contains flashing lights:

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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