Note : Make sure to complete today’s NYT Connections before reading further! We’ll be getting into spoilers for today’s game pretty quickly. If you need some help to complete the grid, you can find my NYT Connections hints and answers column right here :

Hey there, Connectors! Welcome to my deeper dive into today’s Connections answers. The idea behind this is to help clear things up for anyone who isn’t sure how today’s groups fit together.

If I’ve missed any red herrings or misunderstood something, let me know via email or on Discord . I don’t typically look at X or check the comments here.

I’m going to assume that you’ve already beaten today’s game. We’re going straight into spoiler territory here. So, consider this your one and only warning .

Here are today’s NYT Connections answers explained (and any red herrings I spot) for Wednesday, August 19:

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Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase

Today’s NYT Connections Answers Explained

Connections – Yellow Group

🟨 piece of cake (BREEZE, CINCH, PICNIC, SNAP)

These are all expressions that mean “very easy.”

Connections – Green Group

🟩 conceal (BLANKET, HIDE, MASK, OBSCURE)

The category title has things handled for us here.

🟦 words before "ball" in sport names (BASE, BASKET, FOOT, PICKLE)

Connections – Purple Group

🟪 homophones of CGI-animated films (ANTS, COCOA, RHIO, SEOUL)

I couldn’t decide whether ANTS in place of Antz was really clever or groan-worthy. Since I smiled when I figured it out, I’m going with the former.

Connections – Red Herrings

If the fun visual design of today’s game didn’t give it away, there were several PICNIC references on the grid, including BASKET, BLANKET and ANTS.

If you’d like to chat about today’s game of Connections and just about anything else with me and a very lovely group of people, you can do just that in our Discord community . We’d love for you to hang out with us.

I’ll be back with another set of NYT Connections hints and answers tomorrow, as well as another edition of this one, all going well. You’ll be able to find both of those on my Forbes author page when the time comes (following me there helps me out too!). As for the weekend editions of my NYT Connections hints and answers column, I’m currently doing that via my newsletter, Pastimes .