LinkedIn PinpointAnswer & Solution
LinkedIn Pinpoint 564 Answer
LINKEDIN PINPOINT
November 15, 2025
Coffee
Talk
Pawn
Thrift
Like a bull in a china
Welcome to today’s deep dive into the LinkedIn Pinpoint puzzle. If you’re a fan of word association games, you know that Pinpoint can be a real brain-teaser. It challenges you to find the common thread between five seemingly random clues. Today’s puzzle was a classic example of how a simple concept can hide behind various contexts, from daily rituals to common idioms. Let's break down exactly how we navigated these clues to find the winning connection.
The Solve: A Tale of Wrong Turns
When the first clue, Coffee, popped up, my mind immediately went to "Morning Routines" or maybe "Types of Beans." I even briefly thought about "Break" (as in a coffee break). It’s a very broad starting point, so I didn't want to commit too early. I took a wild guess at "Drinks," but that felt a bit too simple for a Pinpoint puzzle.
Then came the second clue: Talk. This threw me for a loop. "Coffee talk" is a phrase, sure, but "Talk" doesn't fit with "Drinks." I started thinking about things you do with friends. You get coffee, you talk. Maybe the category was "Social Activities"? I tried to find a word that linked them, but nothing felt solid enough to hit the submit button just yet.
The game changed when Pawn appeared as the third clue. This was the "aha!" moment. I looked at the three words together: Coffee, Talk, and Pawn. I realized that if you add the word "shop" to the end of each, they all make sense. A coffee shop is where you get your caffeine, to "talk shop" means to discuss your work or trade even when you're off the clock, and a pawn shop is where you trade items for cash.
To be absolutely sure, I waited for the fourth clue, Thrift. That sealed the deal. A thrift shop is a staple of budget shopping. The connection was clearly "Words that come before 'shop'." By the time the fifth clue, Like a bull in a china, appeared, it was just a victory lap. The idiom is "like a bull in a china shop," which fits the pattern perfectly.
I submitted the answer "Words that come before 'shop'" and secured the win. It’s a great example of how the clues transition from literal places (Coffee, Pawn) to idiomatic expressions (Talk, China).
Lessons Learned
Look for the hidden suffix or prefix.
Often in Pinpoint, the clues don't share a meaning, but they all share a "partner" word. When you see words that don't seem to have a logical connection (like Coffee and Pawn), try adding a common word like "shop," "house," or "work" to them to see if a pattern emerges.
Don't ignore the idioms.
The clue "Like a bull in a china" is a massive hint because it's a fixed phrase. If you see a partial sentence or a well-known idiom, the missing word is almost certainly the key to the entire puzzle.
Categorize the clues by "type."
In this puzzle, we had a mix of nouns (Coffee, Pawn) and verbs (Talk). When you have different parts of speech, the connection is usually linguistic (like a shared suffix) rather than thematic (like "Things found in a kitchen").
Patience pays off.
It’s tempting to guess after the second clue, but waiting for the third or fourth clue often provides the "bridge" word that connects two disparate ideas. In this case, "Pawn" was the bridge that linked the beverage "Coffee" to the action "Talk."
Expert Q&A
Why was the clue "Talk" considered one of the harder ones?
"Talk" is tricky because "talk shop" is an idiom, whereas "coffee shop" and "pawn shop" are physical locations. Players often look for physical similarities first, so shifting to a metaphorical phrase like "talking shop" requires a bit more lateral thinking.
Could the answer have simply been "Types of Stores"?
While "Types of Stores" is close, "Words that come before 'shop'" is more accurate because "Talk shop" and "China shop" (as used in the idiom) aren't always referring to a literal store you might visit on a main street in the same way a "Coffee shop" is.
How does "Like a bull in a china" fit if the answer is just about the word 'shop'?
The clue is a reference to the phrase "Like a bull in a china shop." In Pinpoint, clues often use famous phrases where the "missing" word is the category link. Here, the missing word is "shop," confirming the theme.
Is "Thrift" a common enough word for this puzzle?
Absolutely. In the context of "Thrift shop," it has become a very common term globally, especially in pop culture. It serves as a strong "confirming