Today's NYT 'Connections' Hints And Answers For Saturday, July 19

Hey there, Connectors! Welcome to the weekend!

Folks, I have a real problem. Ever since I learned about Electric Callboy a few months ago, I have been listening to the band relentlessly, including watching live sets, tour vlogs and behind-the-scenes videos. They’re just so much dang fun, and they hit the perfect sweet spot of pop, dance and metal with plenty of humor (“Pump It” is low-key one of the funniest songs I’ve ever heard). This band is exactly what I needed in my life.

I have to see them live as soon as I can. I’m delaying making my travel plans for next year until I know their full tour schedule. But I don’t know if I can wait that long anyway?

My partner’s birthday is in November and we had already talked about going somewhere to celebrate it. We’ve been to the Dominican Republic a couple of times and, sure, the Caribbean sounds real nice at that time of year (hurricane season notwithstanding).

However, I have instead floated the idea of taking her to Europe for a week. Maybe we could be based in Paris. And maaaaybe we could take an overnight trip to one of Electric Callboy’s shows in Germany or Luxembourg around that time. Or two of them, whatever, stop judging me.

I’m also considering rescheduling my flights back to Canada in January after spending holidays with my family in Scotland — just so I can go to one of Electric Callboy’s shows around that time in Paris, Lyon or Barcelona. Decisions, decisions…

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, July 19 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...

• TACK

• TAP

• RAP

• SNAP

• LEO

• BRAD

• SPIKE

• DON

• NAIL

• WELL

• MIC

• PASS

• SPRING

• RAIN

• PUNT

• PIN

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

🟨 Yellow group — you might want to use a filter with these, all the same

🟩 Green group — from the hut, maybe run it forward

🟦 Blue group — keeping things together

🟪 Purple group — these might have been even easier to figure out three months ago, as long as you avoided getting a splinter and steered clear of the shredder

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 — WELL

• 🟩 Green group — SNAP

• 🟦 Blue group — NAIL

• 🟪 Purple group — RAP

What Are Today’s Connections Groups?

Need some extra help?

Today’s Connections groups are...

• 🟨 Yellow group — sources of drinking water

• 🟩 Green group — things you can do with a football

• 🟦 Blue group — sharp fasteners

• 🟪 Purple group — starts of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

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 — sources of drinking water (RAIN, SPRING, TAP, WELL)

• 🟩 Green group — things you can do with a football (PASS, PUNT, SNAP, SPIKE)

• 🟦 Blue group — sharp fasteners (BRAD, NAIL, PIN, TACK)

• 🟪 Purple group — starts of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (DON, LEO, MIC, RAP)

In 100% honesty, the first thing that sprang to mind when I was TACK in the top-left corner, before even looking at the rest of the grid, was that it would be a thumbtack reference. Sure enough, seeing SPIKE, NAIL and PIN locked in my first guess. But no! I was one away from a group there. Rats.

The second line — LEO, BRAD, SPIKE and DON — seemed like references to Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Spike Lee and Don Cheadle. But it felt like a red herring at the same time.

After a few moments, I realized that SPIKE was a football-related term to go with the other greens. I also eventually remembered that a BRAD is a type of fastener (also known as a butterfly or paper fastener). That helped me secure the blues.

SPRING, RAIN, WELL and TAP were obviously sources of water and those had to be the yellows. But what of the words that were surely the purples? I stared at them for a few minutes before submitting them, trying to figure out how they fit together. Gawking at LEO, it eventually hit me: they're the starts of the names of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! I submitted those, then the yellows for a 144th win on the trot. 

I'm almost up to a 150-strong streak! 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. As a kid, I absolutely loved TMNT, though in the U.K, the franchise was called Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles for some reason. Donatello was always my fave. One Christmas, my parents (who later shared this with me) went to great pains to find TMNT action figures as gifts for me. I was overjoyed to open those and spent countless hours playing with them. Just one of the many reasons that I appreciate my folks.

I know I say this all the time in the affirmations that end the column every day, but I'm going to reiterate it for today's recommendation. Call your parents, or someone else you love. It might just make their day, as well as yours. I’m going to go through to the other room where my folks are sitting to hang out with them now.

Have a great day! Stay hydrated! Be kind to yourself and each other! Call someone you love (maybe even a second person)!

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