NYT Connections Answers Explained: Thursday, July 16

How today's NYT Connections answers and red herrings fit together.

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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 via my author page.

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, July 16:

Today’s NYT Connections Answers Explained

Connections – Yellow Group

🟨 skincare products (CLAY MASK, EYE CREAM, PEEL, TONER)

A CLAY MASK can benefit your skin a variety of ways. “They can brighten your skin, absorb excess oils and toxins, hydrate, prevent breakouts, restore skin’s balance, regulate sebum production, oxygenate your cells and more," dermatologist Dr. Jeannette Graf told Byrdie.

EYE CREAM can brighten, moisturize and tighten skin under your eyes and help reduce dark circles.

A PEEL can improve your skin tone and texture by smoothing it and mitigating blemishes.

TONER helps to balance the pH level of your skin after using other products and to help your face absorb things like moisturizer.

Connections – Green Group

🟩 shades of black (CHARCOAL, INK, JET, PITCH)

These sure are different shades of black!

Connections – Blue Group

🟦 associated with precision (BULLSEYE, CLOCKWORK, LASER, NEEDLE)

A BULLSEYE is the center of a target, like one used in archery or a dartboard.

If something is described as “like CLOCKWORK,” that means it happens on a regular, predictable (and precise!) cadence.

There’s a reason that vision correction procedures involve LASERs (and also why I’m terrified of them). They’re highly precise. Also, if someone is “LASER focused,” all of their attention is on a single task.

Sewing and tattooing are precise practices too, and both involve a NEEDLE.

Connections – Purple Group

🟪 starting with tiny marks (DOT MATRIX, PERIOD PIECE, POINT BREAK, SPOT REMOVER)

These refer to:

DOT MATRIX > dot

PERIOD PIECE > period

POINT BREAK > point

SPOT REMOVER > spot

A DOT MATRIX is an outdated type of printer:

A PERIOD PIECE is a piece of fiction (usually in a dramatic genre) that takes place in the past.

POINT BREAK is a classic '90s action movie from Kathryn Bigelow that stars Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze. It rules:

A SPOT REMOVER can help remove a small stain from fabric.

Connections – Red Herrings

Quite a few red herrings in the mix today, I thought. INK, JET, DOT MATRIX, TONER and LASER all refer to printers.

CHARCOAL and SPOT REMOVER (as in to treat acne and pimples) can also be used in skincare.

DOT MATRIX and EYE MASK both end in "The ____" movies from the 1990s. As I noted above, POINT BREAK was also a '90s movie.

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.