Learn Fivesome
Five habits that turn a lucky guess into a solid one. None of them is a trick: they’re just the questions good players ask before they type.
- Anchor on the hardest clue
- Name the category, not the connection
- Every clue must fit
- Resist the obvious
- Early beats safe
1. Anchor on the hardest clue
The first clue is the odd one out, so any category you guess has to explain it.
The clues arrive hardest first, so the first one is the odd one out. Later clues tend to fit lots of categories; the first fits very few. That makes it the best test you have: whatever you guess has to explain that awkward first clue, not just the easy ones that came after it.
So keep going back to it. When a new clue suggests an idea, ask whether it makes sense of clue one. If it doesn’t, it’s probably the decoy the set was built around, and the real category is something that covers the strange clue too.
2. Name the category, not the connection
Type what the clues are (“Chess pieces”), not a sentence about how they’re linked.
The answer is the group the clues belong to, said the way you’d label a box: “Chess pieces”, “Planets”, “Things with keys”. A sentence about how they’re linked (“they’re all in chess”) is the right thought in the wrong shape, and it’s easy to type that by accident.
Some sets are a shared word instead: Cup, Pan and Birthday all go in front of “cake”, so the answer is just cake. Plurals, capitals and a leading “the” or “types of” don’t matter, so don’t waste time polishing. Get the category right and type it plainly.
3. Every clue must fit
Before you guess, check your idea against every clue showing, not just the newest one.
A new clue pulls your attention toward whatever it suggests on its own. Before you type, run your guess past every clue on screen. If even one doesn’t fit, the guess is wrong, however good it looks for the newest clue.
This cuts both ways. A category that fits four clues comfortably and the fifth only at a stretch is usually too narrow or slightly off. Widen it a notch (“Birds” rather than “Seabirds”) and check again. The right answer fits them all without any special pleading.
4. Resist the obvious
Clues are picked to mislead early, so try a second meaning of each word before you commit.
Early clues are chosen to send you the wrong way. “Mercury” wants to be a planet; it could also be an element, a Roman god or a singer. If the first meaning that comes to mind feels too easy for clue one, it’s probably the trap.
A quick habit: for each clue, think of one other meaning before you guess. Words that can be a noun or a verb, a name or an object, a place or a brand, are where sets hide their real link. You don’t have to guess the second meaning, just keep it on the table.
5. Early beats safe
A wrong guess costs exactly what Next clue costs, so always guess before asking for another clue.
Your score is the number of clues showing when you get it. A wrong guess reveals the next clue, which is exactly what tapping Next clue does. So a guess never costs more than skipping would, and it might win the set a clue early.
That means you should almost always type something before asking for another clue, even a long shot. Repeating a guess you’ve already tried costs nothing either. The only time to just tap Next clue is when you truly have no idea at all.
Try them out: play today’s daily or an unlimited game.