Giphy
Hey there, Connectors! I hope you’ve had a fantastic weekend so far.
It’s Oscars day and I’m having mixed feelings about the whole affair. I thought Conan O’Brien was a fantastic host last year and I’m hoping he’ll be just as good this time around. Having Matt Berry as the announcer is fun too. Still, I’m not as excited for the event as I used to be.
As I write this, I’ve only seen two of the Best Picture nominees: the very good Frankenstein and the fantastic Sinners. I have time to squeeze in one or two before the ceremony (One Battle After Another looks to be vying with Sinners for the top prize), but I used to watch as many nominees from as many categories as I could.
Film was my first real love in the arts and it will always hold a special place in my heart. But I don’t watch as many movies as I used to. I think spending more of my time playing games is a factor in that (plus I’m trying to rewatch all of 24 before my Disney+ subscription expires in a couple of weeks).
I’ve mentioned this before in the column, but I’d really like to reignite the passion I have for film. So it’s time to start going back to the cinema more often, methinks. Or at least watching more at home with my phone very far away from me.
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, March 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...
DOG
HOG
FROG
SPORK
COG
BLOG
SMOG
DOZE
HORN
GEAR
CORNER
MOTEL
MONOPOLIZE
PINION
BOGART
SPROCKET
And the level one hints for today’s Connections groups are:
🟨 Yellow group — the end goal for many in capitalist societies
🟩 Green group — circles with some bite
🟦 Blue group — internet, Pokémon, fortnight and podcast would fit in here
🟪 Purple group — like pen, rush and neck
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 — HOG
🟩 Green group — PINION
🟦 Blue group — MOTEL
🟪 Purple group — DOZE
What Are Today’s Connections Groups?
Today’s Connections groups are...
🟨 Yellow group — greedily control
🟩 Green group — toothed wheels
🟦 Blue group — portmanteaux
🟪 Purple group — bull_____
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 — greedily control (BOGART, CORNER, HOG, MONOPOLIZE)
🟩 Green group — toothed wheels (COG, GEAR, PINION, SPROCKET)
🟦 Blue group — portmanteaux (BLOG, MOTEL, SMOG, SPORK)
🟪 Purple group — bull_____ (DOG, DOZE, FROG, HORN)
Fun grid today, with so many -OG words. MONOPOLIZE made the yellows clear at the jump, then PINION and SPROCKET did the same for the greens.
At that point, I thought that DOG and SPORK might be Toy Story characters, bot nothing else worked with those. I then realized that BLOG (web-log) and SPORK (spoon-fork) were portmanteaux, so MOTEL (motor-hotel) and SMOG (smoke-fog) got me the blues.
The purple category then jumped out at me. Nice game today. I enjoyed that. I increased my tally of consecutive wins to 379.
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. I heard this on an Instagram story the other day and thought it was cool, so I’m sharing it with you here. “Plateau” by Ivoxygen is probably less of a Sunday morning song than one you might have in your head after leaving a club in the early hours. I rather like the hazy vibe, though:
There’s a faster version as well. I dig that too:
And this remix by Angst is even more upbeat, taking the song in a clubbier direction:
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!
