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Hey there, Connectors! I hope you’ve had a fantastic weekend so far.
We often draw advice and inspiration from the most unlikely of sources. For all I know, some of you may have found that while looking up hints for a category-matching word game. Imagine that!
I recently recalled a scene from, of all things, Starship Troopers. Protagonist Johnny Rico (Casper Van Dien) rejects an invitation to dance with a former high school classmate and current squadmate who has long had a crush on him. Rico’s lieutenant and his ex-high school teacher Jean Rasczak (the great Michael Ironside) notices and has a brief chat with him:
Rasczak: Rico, you once asked me for advice. You want some now?
Rico: Yes, sir.
Rasczak: Never pass up a good thing.
I think those are solid words of wisdom. As a chronic self-saboteur (I ought to get some help to address that!), I get in my own way far too often. We should all probably keep that in mind and try to enjoy what we can, when we can.
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, May 31 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...
BUTTER
SALT
STEAK
BREAK
JACK
SOAK
POCKET
SPINE
RUBBER DUCK
TAR
RACK
SCHOOL BUS
PIKACHU
SEA DOG
SASH
CUE
And the level one hints for today’s Connections groups are:
🟨 Yellow group — like daffodil and cornbread
🟩 Green group — in a particular "pool" of words
🟦 Blue group — swab, hearty and limejuicer might fit in here
🟪 Purple group — as with a loud dog, perhaps, more “bark” on the outside than is necessary
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 — BUTTER
🟩 Green group — RACK
🟦 Blue group — TAR
🟪 Purple group — SOAK
What Are Today’s Connections Groups?
Today’s Connections groups are...
🟨 Yellow group — things that are yellow
🟩 Green group — billiards terms
🟦 Blue group — slang for a sailor
🟪 Purple group — kinds of wood plus "S"
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 — things that are yellow (BUTTER, PIKACHU, RUBBER DUCK, SCHOOL BUS)
🟩 Green group — billiards terms (BREAK, CUE, POCKET, RACK)
🟦 Blue group — slang for a sailor (JACK, SALT, SEA DOG, TAR)
🟪 Purple group — kinds of wood plus "S" (SASH, SOAK, SPINE, STEAK)
After trying to break down PIKACHU into its syllables to see if there was any purple wordplay skullduggery afoot, I realized something else about the most famous Pokémon character of them all as it sat below RUBBER DUCK: Pika is yellow. That helped me get the yellows.
The billiards words were up next. I haven't played snooker or pool in a while and I should fix that!
SEA DOG made me think of a sailor. TAR and SALT were easy enough to figure out as partners. JACK was the only other non "S-" word, so I tried that and it worked. Process of elimination got me down to the purples, and the category was simple enough to sssspot at that point.
Chalk up win 455 on my current streak with a reverse rainbow.
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 was trying to think up a good hint for the purple group from yesterday’s game (Song of the Year nominees at the first Grammy Awards), so I looked up the latest nominees in that category. “Wildflower” by Billie Eilish was this year’s winner. I’d almost forgotten just how good that song is:
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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