Today's NYT 'Connections' Hints And Answers For Saturday, August 2

Hey there, Connectors! Welcome to the weekend!

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been hearing middle-aged and older folks talking about how their bodies get mysterious aches they can’t explain the origin of that linger for weeks. I never really doubted they were being truthful, but the folly of youth meant that I didn’t really think it could happen to me.

I’m not too far away from that phase of my life, though, and uh, yeah, I get it. My lower back has been bothering me off and on for a few years. It doesn’t bother me quite as much when I lose a little weight. Funny how that works.

Also, I have no idea what I did, but I tweaked my left shoulder a little over a week ago, the day before I flew home, and it’s still troubling me. Is this what my life is now? I probably should start looking into what my insurance plan covers in terms of therapeutic massages.

I’m still young! I’m still cool! I’m seeing Olivia Rodrigo tomorrow!

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 Saturday, August 2 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...

• COMMERCE

• STRIKE

• CLEAVE

• FOUL

• ADHERE

• CONGRESS

• SPLIT

• STICK

• OVERSIGHT

• GLUE

• GARNISH

• RELATIONS

• SANCTION

• INTIMACY

• AFFIX

• SPARE

The level one hints for today’s Connections groups are:

• 🟨 Yellow group — they go together like ramma-lamma-lamma-ka-dingity-da-dinga-dong

• 🟩 Green group — Austin Powers would have a field day with this one, perhaps even asking "how's your father?"

• 🟦 Blue group — as in many situations in life, you’d probably rather have a turkey than end up in the gutter here

• 🟪 Purple group — like drop, dust and weather

One Word For Each Connections Group

Be warned: we’re really 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 — STICK

• 🟩 Green group — CONGRESS

• 🟦 Blue group — SPLIT

• 🟪 Purple group — OVERSIGHT

What Are Today’s Connections Groups?

Need some extra help?

Today’s Connections groups are...

• 🟨 Yellow group — attach with adhesive

• 🟩 Green group — polite terms for sex

• 🟦 Blue group — bowling results

• 🟪 Purple group — contronyms, words that can mean opposite things

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 — attach with adhesive (ADHERE, AFFIX, GLUE, STICK)

• 🟩 Green group — polite terms for sex (COMMERCE, CONGRESS, INTIMACY, RELATIONS)

• 🟦 Blue group — bowling results (FOUL, SPARE, SPLIT, STRIKE)

• 🟪 Purple group — contronyms, words that can mean opposite things (CLEAVE, GARNISH, OVERSIGHT, SANCTION)

STRIKE, SPLIT and SPARE seemed at first like natural partners because of the whole bowling thing, but I didn't see what might go with them. So I left those alone and cleared the yellows to get the ball rolling (pun definitely intended).

I then realized that FOUL was the missing word I was looking for to wrap up the bowling-related blues.

Although OVERSIGHT, CONGRESS and COMMERCE could all of government-related terms, it seemed that they wouldn't go together. CONGRESS, INTIMACY and RELATIONS sure did though. It took me a minute to realize that COMMERCE was the only word that made sense with those, even though I'd never heard the word in that context. Logic!

SANCTION then helped me figure out the purple connection. The English language is sick. And I mean that in both senses.

I somehow managed a perfect game here and I now have 156 wins in a row. Here's my grid for this one:

🟨🟨🟨🟨 
🟦🟦🟦🟦 
🟩🟩🟩🟩 
🟪🟪🟪🟪

That’s all there is to it for today’s Connections clues and answers. Be sure to subscribe to my newsletter for hints and the solution for Sunday’s game if you need them.

P.S. Some of these daily recommendations are songs that I've had in my head for a few days, and sharing them often helps to purge them from my mind. Such is the case with "The Whole of the Moon" by The Waterboys. Great song, but I'd like to stop thinking about it now please and thank you:

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!