LinkedIn Pinpoint #564 Answer: Words That Come Before 'Shop'

Game: LinkedIn Pinpoint | Puzzle #: 564 | Date Published: November 15, 2025

Today's Answer

The category connecting all five clues is: Words that come before 'Shop'

Breaking Down Each Hint

Hint 1: Coffee

When you think of this clue in the context of places to shop, "coffee" leads directly to coffee shop. This is one of the most straightforward connections in the puzzle, making it an excellent starting point for pattern recognition. Coffee shops are ubiquitous destinations where people gather, making this a familiar phrase across cultures and demographics.

Hint 2: Talk

This hint requires thinking about communication and conversation in retail contexts. The phrase talk shop means to discuss work-related matters or business. While it doesn't literally refer to a physical location like "coffee shop," it demonstrates that the pattern extends beyond just place-based shops. This reveals the puzzle's lateral thinking element.

Hint 3: Pawn

This clue introduces a specific type of retail establishment: the pawn shop. Pawn shops are places where people can buy, sell, or trade items of value. This hint reinforces the physical location pattern while adding variety to the types of shops in the category.

Hint 4: Thrift

A thrift shop is a retail store specializing in secondhand goods and affordable merchandise. This hint continues the pattern of actual shopping destinations, each serving a distinct purpose in retail commerce. By this point, the category should become increasingly clear.

Hint 5: Like a Bull in a China

This final hint references the common phrase "like a bull in a china shop," which means to move through a space clumsily or recklessly. When shortened to "bull in a china shop" context, it leads to china shop – a store that sells porcelain and ceramic goods. This poetic hint represents the most challenging connection, often requiring knowledge of idiomatic expressions and cultural references.

Strategy for Solving This Puzzle

Recognizing the Pattern

The key to solving this Pinpoint puzzle involves recognizing that each clue represents a different word that precedes "shop." The puzzle progresses from obvious associations (coffee shop) to more abstract references (idioms and phrases). Successful solvers identify that the common denominator isn't about the semantic meaning of each word, but rather about a grammatical structure: noun phrases where a modifier precedes "shop."

Lateral Thinking Application

This puzzle rewards those who think beyond literal meanings. While "coffee" and "thrift" directly describe shop types, "talk" and the bull-in-china-shop reference require understanding figures of speech and idiomatic expressions. This layered difficulty is characteristic of advanced LinkedIn Pinpoint puzzles that challenge players to expand their thinking patterns.

Elimination Strategy

When encountering hints like "coffee" and "talk," players might initially hypothesize categories such as "beverages," "communication," or "actions." However, as each subsequent hint appears, these theories collapse. The introduction of "pawn" would eliminate beverage-related categories entirely. By the time "thrift" arrives, most incorrect hypotheses should be eliminated, leaving only the correct category: words that precede "shop."

Why This Puzzle Works

LinkedIn Pinpoint #564 exemplifies effective puzzle design by mixing obvious associations with abstract wordplay. Players who solve it quickly demonstrate strong pattern recognition and vocabulary knowledge. Those who need multiple hints gain valuable experience in lateral thinking and linguistic analysis.

Tips for Future LinkedIn Pinpoint Puzzles

• Think Grammatically: Consider how words function together, not just their individual meanings
• Embrace Idioms: Familiarize yourself with common phrases and expressions in English and other languages
• Use Process of Elimination: Each new hint should eliminate entire categories of possible answers
• Consider Multiple Interpretations: Words often have various meanings and contextual applications
• Practice Daily: Regular engagement with LinkedIn Pinpoint puzzles improves your pattern recognition skills and puzzle-solving speed

Conclusion

LinkedIn Pinpoint #564 demonstrates why these daily brain teasers remain popular among LinkedIn users. By connecting seemingly disparate clues—from the mundane (coffee) to the idiomatic (bull in a china shop)—this puzzle rewards creative thinking and comprehensive vocabulary knowledge. Whether you solved it on the first hint or needed all five, each puzzle contributes to developing stronger cognitive skills and linguistic awareness.

Keep practicing, maintain your solving streak, and challenge yourself to find the connection with fewer hints each day. That's the ultimate goal of LinkedIn Pinpoint!