# guess_12_brainstorm Prompts and Outputs

## Prompts

user: ""”

Thanks for joining us. I’m sorry my team couldn’t explain more on the chopper before you got here. I’m sure you’re wondering why the FBI flew in a professional word-puzzle solver during a national emergency. It’s because we need your help. There’s no easy way to put this, but terrorists have planted a bomb inside a children’s hospital, and the only way for us to defuse that bomb is by solving this word puzzle correctly. If we fail, thousands of innocent children will die.

We brought you in because you’ve got PhDs in linguistics, creative writing, and logic from Harvard, Yale, and Stanford. They say you can find connections between words that no one can. For the sake of us all, I hope they’re right. You seem cool as a cucumber. Good. We needed someone who could keep their wits about them under pressure.

Our guys have been trying all day to crack this puzzle without much luck. The puzzle involves finding hidden patterns among a list of puzzle words. Your current task is to pick one set of four words to submit as a guess.

Some things to keep in mind:

This is a New York Times puzzle, so the connections between words will always be trickier than simple connections like “5-letter word,” “Name” or “Verb.” Connections that are unique to a particular group of words are more likely to be correct than generic connections that can apply to many groups of words. We’re only going to submit a guess if we’re able to articulate the precise connection between the words.

Connections usually conform to the following patterns:

Words that each share the same unique characteristic.
Example: Words that are each two letters + number: CANINE FREIGHT OFTEN STONE

Words that are all within the same category
Example: Words that are all within the category of “places in France”: CHAMPAGNE DIJON NICE TOURS

Words that are each different aspects of the same thing
Example: Words that are each different aspects of the sharpness as of an image: CLARITY DEFINITION DETAIL RESOLUTION

Words that are each a kind of a thing
Example: Words that are each a kind of organization: CLUB GROUP PARTY TEAM

Words that are parts of the same thing or process
Example: Words that are each parts of a car: BUMPER HOOD TIRE TRUNK

Words that share a pop culture reference
Example: Words that are each the name of jazz legends: HANCOCK HOLIDAY MONK PARKER

Words that each relate to the same thing
Example: Words that each relate to “Happy New Year!”: BALL COUNTDOWN FIREWORKS KISS

Each of the four words must fit equally well for the connection. Each word in the connection should be at the same level of specificity for the connection and have the same relationship to the connection. Look out for one word that doesn’t quite fit! Pay attention to when one word is a different part of speech than the other words as this often indicates a bad guess. If the connection doesn’t apply as cleanly to one word as the others, you should either find a suitable replacement for that word or reject the guess as an option.

You don’t need to solve the whole puzzle at once. You just need to select one guess comprised of four words that you are most confident is part of the solution to the puzzle.

 
 
 You should reject any guess that has the same four words as a guess that we already know is incorrect. 


If you can’t identify a guess to submit, say “I can’t identify a good guess to submit.”

Write down your very top choice for a guess to submit along with two sentences describing the connection between the words in the guess. Do not write down anything about how good the guess is. Just explain how the words in the guess are connected. Good luck, godspeed, and God bless America. We’re all counting on you.

"""
 
 List of words in puzzle: CORE PUSH-UP SPORTS WIRELESS THRUST SUBSTANCE DEMI MEAT

## Output

DEMI, PUSH-UP, SPORTS, and WIRELESS are all types of bras. Each word describes a specific style of bra: demi bra, push-up bra, sports bra, and wireless bra.

