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 for today 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 Thursday, September 17

Today’s NYT Connections Answers Explained

Connections – Yellow Group

🟨 elasticity (BOUNCE, FLEXIBILITY, GIVE, SPRING)

These are all adjectives used to describe how much elasticity something has.

Connections – Green Group

🟩 things that are underground (MINE SHAFT, SEWER LINE, SUBWAY STATION, WELL)

The category title has us covered here.

I thought this song would have been too much of a giveaway for the hint, but it’s stuck in my head now, so here you go:

🟦 Hugh Jackman movies, with “The” (FOUNTAIN, PRESTIGE, SHEEP DETECTIVES, WOLVERINE)

I haven’t seen The Fountain in forever. I absolutely loved it at the time. Such a gorgeous film that makes great use of practical effects:

I believe I’ve only seen The Prestige once and I ought to revisit it. I remember enjoying the film, which I know is a lot of people’s favorite from Christopher Nolan:

The Sheep Detectives is the only one of these I haven’t seen. I just read some reviews and it appears to be an entertaining family film. It looks cute:

The Wolverine took arguably Jackman’s most famous character to Japan for a new adventure. I remember enjoying this one. A new Wolverine game is out this week, as it happens. That has received so-so reviews :

Connections – Purple Group

🟪 love ____ (HANDLES, LANGUAGE, TAP, TRIANGLE)

If one is referring to a person’s “love HANDLES,” they’re talking about the deposits of fat at the sides of their waist. I am not going to explain the etymology of this term:

A love LANGAUGE is how someone shows they care for others and how they like others to show love to them. For instance, doing kind or helpful things, paying compliments or touching and kissing.

On that note, a love TAP is a light, affectionate touch.

A love TRIANGLE is a classic soap opera trope. It refers to three characters (or people) who are in a romantic entanglement, in which two of them are pursuing a relationship with the third, or one person in a couple is having an affair.

Connections – Red Herrings

There was a red herring of water sources today: SPRING, FOUNTAIN, WELL and TAP (i.e. faucet).

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 .