Space exploration
Only a moon shot fits; flu vaccines, espresso orders, and basketball jumpers have nothing to do with NASA.
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LinkedIn Pinpoint #566 Answer:
Detailed breakdown continues just below - keep scrolling
Pinpoint #566 Walkthrough & Analysis
Puzzle Overview
Pinpoint 566 tosses together Moon, Flu, Espresso, Jump, and the fragment “Not by a long”—a wild mix of space headlines, doctor visits, café orders, basketball moves, and idioms. The only way to corral them is to tack on the same noun after every clue and notice that each phrase suddenly becomes a familiar type of “shot.”
How the Solution Emerged
Moon shot is a bold, ambitious attempt, a flu shot is a vaccination, an espresso shot is a single serving of coffee, a jump shot is a basketball scoring move, and ‘not by a long shot’ is an idiom meaning ‘not even close’. The clues range from sports to medicine to coffee, but every one forms a familiar phrase with the word ‘shot’, making words that precede ‘shot’ the connector.
Early guesses like ‘things related to basketball’ or ‘phrases about risk’ feel tempting but break on flu and espresso. Once you try reading each clue followed by ‘shot’ and hear how natural the phrases sound, alternative themes fall away and the shared word becomes obvious.
Common wrong guesses
Medical procedures
Flu shot is medical, but moon shot and jump shot are metaphorical or athletic, so the grouping collapses.
Sports plays
Jump shot and long shot sound sporty, yet moon and espresso belong to science and coffee, not a playbook.
How each clue fits "Words that precede 'shot'"
How each clue fits "Words that precede 'shot'"
| Word | Origin | In Context (Usage) | Meaning & Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moon | — | “Moon shot” | A "moon shot" describes an ambitious goal or, in basketball, an arcing attempt—both rely on the word shot after moon. |
| Flu | — | “Flu shot” | A flu shot is the seasonal vaccine against influenza. |
| Espresso | — | “Espresso shot” | Coffee bars pull espresso shots, single servings of concentrated coffee. |
| Jump | — | “Jump shot” | A jump shot is a basketball scoring move taken while leaping. |
| Not by a long | — | “Not by a long shot” | The idiom "not by a long shot" means “not even close,” again hinging on the same final word. |
Lessons Learned from Pinpoint #566
- 1
Test repeated suffixes
When clues look like stray nouns, try slotting the same word after each one to see if natural phrases emerge.
- 2
Mix literal and metaphor
A solid connector can span literal shots (vaccines, espresso) and figurative ones (moon shot, long shot) if the phrasing stays consistent.
- 3
Reject partial categories fast
If a theory fails on even two clues, move on—only “shot” explained all five without exceptions.
FAQ
What connects Moon, Flu, Espresso, Jump, and "Not by a long" in Pinpoint #566?
Each clue forms a common phrase when followed by the word “shot”: moon shot, flu shot, espresso shot, jump shot, long shot.
Why isn’t the answer just “space” or “sports”?
Those labels only cover a subset of clues, whereas adding “shot” after every word works universally.
Does the idiom fragment really count?
Yes—finishing the idiom gives “long shot,” which still uses the same suffix as the other clues.