If you’re looking for the September 8 Connections hints and answers, we’ve got you covered right here:

It’s Wednesday, and you know what that means: it’s time for another game of Connections !

Last weekend, I signed back up to Canada’s version of HBO Max so my partner and I could watch more of The Pitt . I’ll cancel again after a month (and resubscribe when there’s something else I want to watch) but I’d like to make the most of my access in the meantime.

I hadn’t read much about Lanterns other than seeing some vaguely positive buzz about it being a fresh spin on a superhero show and I like many of the actors, so I thought I’d give it a spin. I’ve watched the first two episodes and I’m enjoying it so far. It turns out that I’m into the genre of “superheroes who aren’t Batman but are still detectives.” It doesn’t hurt that I’ve liked Kyle Chandler’s work since I watched him on Early Edition when I was a kid. He’s terrific in Friday Night Lights too, of course:

(This would normally have been a good fit for today’s end-of-column recommendation. Since I have a backlog of cool music I want to share, I figured I’d mention Lanterns in the intro instead!)

Before we start, we’ve got a lovely community on Discord , where we chat about Connections , the rest of the NYT games and all kinds of things. You’re more than welcome to join us!

Also, my weekend editions of this column are available over on my newsletter, Pastimes . I sometimes write about other things that are on my mind there as well.

Today’s NYT Connections hints and answers for Wednesday, September 9 are coming right up. Let’s get rolling!

Connections is a free New York Times daily word game that you can play on the NYT ’s website or Games app. If you have an NYT All Access or Games subscription, you can access the Connections archive, which includes every previous game.

Connections presents you with a grid of 16 words (sometimes phrases, symbols or numbers). The aim is to arrange them into four groups of four. You don’t know how they hit together or what the category for each group is: that’s what you have to figure out.

There’s only one correct solution and there are often red herrings. You can guess incorrectly three times. A fourth wrong guess, and it’s game over.

Each group is color coded. The yellow group is usually the easiest to deduce, followed by green, blue and purple. Often, the yellow and green groups have synonyms, the blues have cultural references and the purples have some kind of wordplay involved. But this is not a hard and fast rule. Be ready for curveballs – part of the fun of Connections is in how the NYT shakes things up to keep you on your toes.

As with Wordle and similar games, it’s easy to share results with your friends using an emoji-based grid. The game tracks your progress too.

Many players take pride in having long win streaks or getting a reverse rainbow – correctly guessing the purple, blue, green and yellow groups in that order with no mistakes. That adds an extra little challenge.

Today’s NYT Connections Word List

After today’s Connections word list, I’ll give you a hint for each category. After that, I’ll reveal one word that goes into each group. Then I’ll reveal the categories, followed by the full answers.

  • INCOMPREHENSIBLE
  • ELECTROMAGNETIC
  • NANOTECHNOLOGY
  • ARACHNOPHOBIA
  • MICROBREWERY
  • BEWILDERING
  • PICOSECOND
  • HALLOWEEN
  • ESOTERIC
  • MINIVAN
  • OPAQUE
  • BRUTE
  • TASK
  • SAW
  • IT
  • G

Today’s NYT Connections Hints

The hints for today’s Connections categories are:

  • 🟨 Yellow group — ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ [ YouTube link ]
  • 🟩 Green group — like the stock price chart of an increasingly successful company, it’s not so big on the left
  • 🟦 Blue group — 😱
  • 🟪 Purple group — leadup to making something happen?

One Answer For Each NYT Connections Group

Be warned: we’re starting to get into spoiler territory.

Let’s take a look at one answer for each group.

  • 🟨 Yellow group — INCOMPREHENSIBLE
  • 🟩 Green group — MINIVAN
  • 🟦 Blue group — IT
  • 🟪 Purple group — G

Today’s NYT Connections Categories

Today’s Connections groups are...

  • 🟨 Yellow group — hard to understand
  • 🟩 Green group — words with “small” prefixes
  • 🟦 Blue group — horror movies
  • 🟪 Purple group — words before “force”

Today’s NYT Connections Answer

Spoiler alert! Don’t scroll any further down the page until you’re ready to find out today’s Connections answers.

This is your last chance to look away.

This is your final warning!

Today’s Connections answers are...

  • 🟨 Yellow group — hard to understand (BEWILDERING, ESOTERIC, INCOMPREHENSIBLE, OPAQUE)
  • 🟩 Green group — words with “small” prefixes (MICROBREWERY, MINIVAN, NANOTECHNOLOGY, PICOSECOND)
  • 🟦 Blue group — horror movies (ARACHNOPHOBIA, HALLOWEEN, IT, SAW)
  • 🟪 Purple group — words before “force” (BRUTE, ELECTROMAGNETIC, G, TASK)

After you’ve been doing something long enough, you might need to find new ways of keeping things interesting. I imagine that’s what might have been behind the construction of today’s grid, which has a 16-letter word, a 15-letter one and so on. Fun gimmick!

I got the horror movies immediately for the blues. The yellows were up next. No issue there.

The words starting with something small then became clear. That left the purples. No matter that I didn’t figure out the category this time (but I should have). Fun game today. That’s my 556th win in a row.

How did you get on this time? Here’s my grid:

Be sure to check my blog for hints and the answer for tomorrow’s game of Connections if you need them.

P.S. It’s been a while since I’ve listened to Brass Against, a band that covers well-known rock songs with the help of a brass section. I am firmly of the belief that a good brass section can improve any song.

Here, the group take on The Smashing Pumpkins classic’ “Bullet With Butterfly Wings.” It’s fun, and it made me more excited to see the Pumpkins in a few weeks:

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

Please follow my blog for more NYT Connections hints and help with other word games, and even some video game news, insights and analysis. I’d really appreciate that as it helps me out. If you share this column with others who play Connections, that would be lovely too. You can also read my weekend editions of this column and more of my writing at my newsletter, Pastimes .