Today's NYT 'Connections' Hints And Answers For Saturday, August 9

Hey there, Connectors! Welcome to the weekend!

I’d been a little bummed off and on for a while, because I couldn’t really play one of my favorite games, Overwatch 2, on my PC anymore. Anytime I tried, it would inevitably crash after playing for 10 minutes or so. This made me quite sad, because it had long been my go-to way to wind down a little after finishing my workday. I’d played at least a few rounds of this game practically every day for years, and it was suddenly no longer really an option. Despite me trying a bunch of ways to hopefully fix it, nothing worked. This went on for a few months.

I tried playing it on my PlayStation 5 again, but it just doesn’t hit the same on console. Overwatch 2 is a shooter, and I feel like I need a mouse to be halfway decent at it.

But when I was playing Fortnite about a week ago, that game crashed too. The error message said it had something to do with the anti-cheat system. So I deleted that and reinstalled it. No problems with Fortnite since.

But then I wondered, what if that was the issue with Overwatch 2 as well? So I fired that back up on my PC and, lo and behold, everything seemed fine again. I was able to play for about an hour with no hitches a couple of nights ago.

I’m very glad to have it back — well, fingers crossed. While Overwatch 2 eats into my time (I’ve easily played this game for over 10,000 hours over the last nine years), it helps clear my mind. We all need something that helps with that.

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 9 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...

• INSIDE

• PRODUCT

• MAZE

• SYRUP

• FRUIT

• KNOCK-KNOCK

• LET ME IN

• MUFFIN

• PRACTICAL

• GHOST

• RETURN

• SILK

• YIELD

• TWILIGHT

• DAD

• CASPER

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

• 🟨 Yellow group — a (hopefully positive) outcome

• 🟩 Green group — ways to make others (or yourself) chuckle

• 🟦 Blue group — fall in love from beyond

• 🟪 Purple group — pop and dog would fit in here

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 — RETURN

• 🟩 Green group — INSIDE

• 🟦 Blue group — GHOST

• 🟪 Purple group — SILK

What Are Today’s Connections Groups?

Need some extra help?

Today’s Connections groups are...

• 🟨 Yellow group — result

• 🟩 Green group — kinds of jokes

• 🟦 Blue group — movies featuring supernatural romance

• 🟪 Purple group — corn-y 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 — result (FRUIT, PRODUCT, RETURN, YIELD)

• 🟩 Green group — kinds of jokes (DAD, INSIDE, KNOCK-KNOCK, PRACTICAL)

• 🟦 Blue group — movies featuring supernatural romance (CASPER, GHOST, LET ME IN, TWILIGHT)

• 🟪 Purple group — corn-y things (MAZE, MUFFIN, SILK, SYRUP)

I got the four movies right away. I did clock that they all had a supernatural element but not the romance aspect. LET ME IN is pretty decent, but the film it's based on — Let The Right One In — is far superior and one of my all-time faves.

The greens were pretty straightforward too, I felt. KNOCK-KNOCK was the giveaway there. The yellows were up next — no trouble there — and that left the purples. I guess that connection makes sense, but I've never had a corn (or cornbread) MUFFIN.

I was happy I could zip through that for a 162nd perfect game in a row. Here's my grid for today:

🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟪🟪🟪🟪

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. One of the acts I saw at the festival I went to on Sunday was Royel Otis, a guitar pop duo from Australia. I didn't think I'd heard any of their music before, but then they busted out this cover. As a fan of Aussie radio station Triple J's Like A Version series (in which an artist plays one of their own songs and one by another act), I did know of Royel Otis' splendid cover of "Murder on the Dancefloor" by Sophie Ellis-Bextor. I really enjoyed hearing it live:

I dug the rest of the band's set, so here's another good one from them:

Have a great day! Stay hydrated! Be kind to yourself and each other! Call someone you love!

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