Drink-related venues
Talk, pawn, thrift, and the idiom have nothing to do with beverages, so that theme collapses immediately.
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LinkedIn Pinpoint #564 Answer:
Detailed breakdown continues just below - keep scrolling
Pinpoint #564 Walkthrough & Analysis
Puzzle Overview
Pinpoint 564 stacks #1Coffee, #2Talk, #3Pawn, #4Thrift, and #5Like a bull in a china. The clues bounce from cafés to workplace chatter, resale counters, secondhand aisles, and an English idiom. They only make sense together when you tack the same noun after each one and notice that every phrase becomes a different kind of shop.
How the Solution Emerged
Coffee shop is the café on the corner, talk shop means to discuss work, a pawn shop buys and sells pledged items, a thrift shop sells second-hand goods, and ‘like a bull in a china shop’ is the idiom about clumsy chaos in a delicate store. Each clue supplies the word that comes before ‘shop’ in a common expression, so words that come before ‘shop’ is the connector.
Thinking purely in terms of ‘stores’ misses talk shop and the idiom, while chasing ‘conversation’ fails on pawn and thrift. Once you notice that every clue forms a phrase or idiom with the word ‘shop’, the pattern is much tighter than a loose theme about retail or chatter.
Common wrong guesses
Any kind of store
The connector isn’t generic retail—it’s specifically the suffix “shop,” which even works with an idiom.
Fragile objects
Only the idiom references china; the other clues are about conversations or commerce.
How each clue fits "Words that come before 'shop'"
How each clue fits "Words that come before 'shop'"
| Word | Origin | In Context (Usage) | Meaning & Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1Coffee | — | “Coffee shop” | A coffee shop is where you buy and sip espresso drinks. |
| #2Talk | — | “Talk shop” | To talk shop means to discuss work topics—still formed by adding “shop.” |
| #3Pawn | — | “Pawn shop” | A pawn shop buys and sells used goods in exchange for short-term loans. |
| #4Thrift | — | “Thrift shop” | A thrift shop sells secondhand clothing and household items. |
| #5Like a bull in a china | — | “Bull in a china shop” | The idiom “like a bull in a china shop” completes the pattern with the same final word. |
Lessons Learned from Pinpoint #564
- 1
Try common suffixes
When clues look like stand-alone nouns, add the same ending word and see if each phrase feels natural.
- 2
Respect idioms as clues
An idiom fragment can still signal the same connector if finishing the phrase uses the shared word.
- 3
Demand total coverage
A good hypothesis should explain every clue, even ones from wildly different contexts.
FAQ
What connects #1Coffee, #2Talk, #3Pawn, #4Thrift, and #5Like a bull in a china in Pinpoint #564?
Each clue becomes a familiar phrase when you add the word “shop” afterward.
Why isn’t the answer just “stores”?
Because “talk shop” is a conversation, not a storefront—the shared element is the exact word “shop,” not retail in general.
Does the idiom really count as a shop?
The idiom literally ends with “china shop,” so it still uses the same suffix and belongs in the set.