Spoiler warning: The complete answers to Connections #321 appear below. This puzzle was released on Saturday, April 27, 2024. If you are still solving, start with the hints and stop before the answer section.
The four categories are built around trusting a claim, electrical problems, summaries, and words that sound like first names. The most misleading entry is SHORT: it looks as though it belongs with the summary words, but it is actually an electrical term.
Hints for Connections #321
Try these clues in order. They reveal the categories without immediately giving away the four words in each group.
- Yellow: Four verbs can mean accepting something as true or credible.
- Green: Four words describe electrical or power-grid problems or events.
- Blue: Four words can describe a condensed version of longer material.
- Purple: Four ordinary-looking words sound like personal names when pronounced in common American English.
In the standard Connections difficulty order, yellow is generally the most approachable category and purple is generally the trickiest. The game presents 16 words and asks you to divide them into four groups of four, but several words are intentionally designed to seem as though they could fit more than one group.
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Connections #321 answers
| Color | Category | Words |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow | Trust as real | ACCEPT, BELIEVE, BUY, SWALLOW |
| Green | Power issues | OUTAGE, SHORT, SPIKE, SURGE |
| Blue | Summary | ABSTRACT, BRIEF, DIGEST, OUTLINE |
| Purple | Name homophones | CURT, HAIRY, KNEEL, WANE |
Yellow: TRUST AS REAL
ACCEPT, BELIEVE, BUY, SWALLOW
Each word can mean accepting a statement, explanation, or proposition as true.
- Accept an account or explanation.
- Believe a claim.
- Buy an argument or story, as in “I don’t buy it.”
- Swallow something difficult to believe, as in “She swallowed the excuse.”
BUY is the main trap in this group because its everyday meaning is purchasing something. SWALLOW is also less literal than the others: in this context, it means to accept an unpleasant or doubtful idea.
Green: POWER ISSUES
OUTAGE, SHORT, SPIKE, SURGE
These are all terms associated with electrical power.
- An outage is a loss of electrical service.
- A short can refer to a short circuit or other electrical fault.
- A spike is a sudden increase in voltage or power.
- A surge is a sudden rise in electrical voltage or current.
SHORT is the deliberate decoy. It can mean brief or lacking length, which makes it look like a natural match for BRIEF and the other summary-related words. In this puzzle, however, its electrical meaning is the one that matters.
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Blue: SUMMARY
ABSTRACT, BRIEF, DIGEST, OUTLINE
Each word can describe a shortened presentation of longer material.
- An abstract summarizes a paper, study, or article.
- A brief condenses information, an argument, or a legal position.
- A digest is a condensed collection or summary of content.
- An outline presents the main points or structure without every detail.
The tempting overlap here is SHORT, which can mean brief. But the category needs four words that function as types or descriptions of summaries, so BRIEF belongs here while SHORT is reserved for the power category.
Purple: NAME HOMOPHONES
CURT, HAIRY, KNEEL, WANE
Read aloud, these words sound like the names Kurt, Harry, Neal, and Wayne:
| Puzzle word | Sounds like |
|---|---|
| CURT | Kurt |
| HAIRY | Harry |
| KNEEL | Neal |
| WANE | Wayne |
This is the hardest group because the words are ordinary vocabulary rather than names on the page. The connection also depends on pronunciation. The intended readings follow common American English, although accents can affect how closely HAIRY and HARRY, or KNEEL and NEAL, sound alike.
The complete 16-word grid
Here is the full board for Connections #321:
ACCEPT BELIEVE BUY SWALLOW
OUTAGE SHORT SPIKE SURGE
ABSTRACT BRIEF DIGEST OUTLINE
CURT HAIRY KNEEL WANE
Why this puzzle was tricky
The puzzle uses several kinds of ambiguity at once:
- SHORT can mean “brief,” but its intended connection is electrical.
- BUY usually suggests shopping, not believing.
- SWALLOW can suggest eating or digestion, which may point toward DIGEST.
- CURT is also an adjective meaning abrupt or terse, making it look potentially related to BRIEF.
- The purple group only becomes visible when the words are spoken rather than read for meaning.
A reliable solving habit is to test the fourth word before submitting a group. Three words may appear to fit a category by coincidence, while the last word reveals whether the relationship is actually what the puzzle setter intended.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.More ways to play
If you enjoy this kind of word association, the publisher describes an official New York Times Connections puzzle book from The New York Times Games and Wyna Liu as a hardcover collection with more than 100 puzzles, including exclusive puzzles, different difficulty levels, behind-the-scenes material, and variations on the usual 4-by-4 format. The listed ISBN is 9798893312607, and the publisher lists an October 22, 2026 publication date. Availability, price, and release status may change, and there is no basis for saying that the book contains puzzle #321.
Best Value
Connections is also available through the New York Times website and Games app. NYT says new puzzles release at midnight in the player’s time zone, while access to the archive depends on subscription eligibility. A subscription is not necessary to understand the answers above.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was the answer to NYT Connections #321?
The four groups were TRUST AS REAL: ACCEPT, BELIEVE, BUY, SWALLOW; POWER ISSUES: OUTAGE, SHORT, SPIKE, SURGE; SUMMARY: ABSTRACT, BRIEF, DIGEST, OUTLINE; and NAME HOMOPHONES: CURT, HAIRY, KNEEL, WANE.
When was Connections #321 released?
NYT Connections #321 was released on Saturday, April 27, 2024. The puzzle number matters: April 27 puzzles from later years have different numbers.
Why is SHORT in the power category?
SHORT can mean brief, but it can also refer to an electrical short or short circuit. In this puzzle, it belongs with OUTAGE, SPIKE, and SURGE under POWER ISSUES.
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CURT sounds like Kurt, HAIRY sounds like Harry, KNEEL sounds like Neal, and WANE sounds like Wayne in the intended common American-English pronunciations.
The Bottom Line
The key to Connections #321 is to separate the obvious meanings from the intended ones: ACCEPT, BELIEVE, BUY, and SWALLOW mean accepting something as true; OUTAGE, SHORT, SPIKE, and SURGE are power terms; ABSTRACT, BRIEF, DIGEST, and OUTLINE are forms of summary; and CURT, HAIRY, KNEEL, and WANE sound like names.
Quick Recap
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