Today’s NYT Connections #1186 for September 9 brings four new groups to solve.
NYT Connections hints for September 9
- Yellow: Think of words describing something difficult to understand.
- Green: Think very, very small. Each word begins with a prefix associated with a tiny measurement or scale.
- Blue: Think scary movies and recognizable titles from the horror genre.
- Purple: Each answer can appear immediately before the same word associated with power or strength.
Main trap: The blue group could create confusion because IT is such a common word, while SAW can easily be interpreted as either a noun or a verb. Looking at them as movie titles helps reveal the connection.
Green clue: Focus on the beginnings of the words rather than their full meanings. Micro-, mini-, nano- and pico- all suggest something small.
Purple clue: The shared word is force. Try placing it after each possible answer and listen for familiar terms or expressions.
Today’s NYT Connections answers
Reveal the Yellow Group
Category: Hard to understand
Answers: BEWILDERING, ESOTERIC, INCOMPREHENSIBLE, OPAQUE
All four words can describe something that is difficult to understand or interpret. “Opaque,” for example, can describe an idea or explanation whose meaning is unclear.
Reveal the Green Group
Category: Words with “small” prefixes
Answers: MICROBREWERY, MINIVAN, NANOTECHNOLOGY, PICOSECOND
The connection comes from the beginning of each word. Micro-, mini-, nano- and pico- are prefixes associated with smallness or very small scales, although they are used in different contexts.
Reveal the Blue Group
Category: Horror movies
Answers: ARACHNOPHOBIA, HALLOWEEN, IT, SAW
All four are titles of well-known horror films. Halloween, It and Saw are major horror titles, while Arachnophobia mixes horror elements with dark comedy.
Reveal the Purple Group
Category: Words before “force”
Answers: BRUTE, ELECTROMAGNETIC, G, TASK
Each answer forms a familiar term when followed by “force”: brute force, electromagnetic force, G-force and task force.
Why today’s Connections was tricky: The yellow category contains several long or less-common words, while the blue group disguises movie titles as ordinary-looking words such as IT and SAW. The purple category also spans very different meanings, from physics to organizations.
Today’s solving lesson: Short words can be some of the biggest traps in Connections. If an ordinary word such as IT, SAW or G seems difficult to place, consider whether it belongs to a title, phrase or compound expression rather than a straightforward definition.
Players can attempt the official daily puzzle and check their results on the New York Times Connections page.
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