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

Let’s get things started with a beautiful message I think we should all take to heart. Christian Bale’s foundation recently completed work on a village that’s designed to keep siblings together while they’re in foster care. That’s a fantastic, laudable achievement, and it goes to show that society could be doing much more to take better care of kids who are in the foster system.

During an interview, Bale said something that stuck with me. I’ve heard a version of this before, but the way Bale said it really landed with me.

“Even if you can’t do great things, you can do small things in a great way,” he said.

That’s a beautiful message. We can all make a big difference to a small number of people in our orbit.

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, September 20 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...

My first thought was that BLUEGRASS was an interesting inclusion, since we had a reference to that a few days ago. Second thought was that DERBY and FRIED CHICKEN could be preceded by Kentucky. BOURBON fit there as well, but I didn't see a fourth contender right away.

So, I turned my attention to the vampire movies for a fairly easy blue. I've never seen NEAR DARK and probably, for the sake of curiosity, should try TWILIGHT.

I took a stab at the Kentucky bunch with BLUEGRASS and got the greens. At that point, I saw the ___board words. I then figured out that the yellows were all discs to wrap up win 567 on this ridiculous streak.

(I really liked typing "567." That was fun.)

How did you get on this time? 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. Paul Heaton is such a brilliant, evocative songwriter. This was the first song I've heard since Rianne Downey — an artist who's new to me — started singing with him. Sure, "Sad Songs And Lawsuits" is a track about breakups and divorces, but they somehow left a smile on my face (a trick Heaton manages to pull off quite often):

Just because this is one I probably wouldn't be able to include in the Forbes version of the column, here's a bonus recommendation for you. "Don't Marry Her" is one of Heaton's classics from his time in The Beautiful South:

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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