Seeing Snow and Rain appear back-to-back, I was convinced the answer had to be something meteorological. I confidently typed in ‘Types of Weather’ and, not to be deterred, tried ‘Things that fall from the sky’ next. Both, of course, were wrong. The arrival of Cowboy was the moment my initial theory completely fell apart. A cowboy isn’t a type of weather. It felt like a non-sequitur, a deliberate outlier meant to make me rethink everything from the ground up.
I stared at the three clues: Snow, Rain, Cowboy. What could they possibly have in common? My mind raced. Maybe they were all movie genres? ‘Snow’ could be a disaster film, ‘Rain’ a drama, ‘Cowboy’ a western. But that felt like a huge stretch. Then I started thinking about the objects associated with them. And that’s when it clicked. I suddenly pictured the footwear for each scenario. The theme wasn’t an abstract category; it was a physical object.