LinkedIn Pinpoint #871Answer & Analysis

Quick read: A word association puzzle connecting five clues through a shared theme.

Fast strategy: Start broad, narrow after clue two. If the first two clues seem unrelated, test whether a hidden word connects them as compound phrases.

The answer is Geographic place names when preceded by “Great”. Use the table below to check each clue, then skim the compact FAQ for the quickest path to the connection.

Pinpoint 871 looked deceptively simple at first. One clue. Two words. And my brain immediately went landscape mode.

Sandy Desert dropped, and I started bouncing between ideas: arid places, desert features, maybe even a broader geography theme. Part of me already whispered Great Sandy Desert, but with only one clue I didn't trust the compound-word instinct yet. So I played it safe-ish and swung for Arid places.

That miss stung a little, because it felt almost right — just too surface-level.

Then Salt Lake appeared.

And boom. The board flipped.

Great Salt Lake. Great Sandy Desert. Suddenly the pattern wasn't "dry places" at all. It was place names that sit after Great. I still considered backups like salt features or famous natural landmarks, but the compound path was screaming louder than everything else.

I locked in Words after Great.

After that, the rest of the clues just piled on the applause. Rift Valley became Great Rift Valley. Barrier Reef became Great Barrier Reef. And the final reveal — Britain: England+Scotland+Wales — sealed it as Great Britain.

Honestly, the first miss was useful. It forced me off the literal landscape read and into the real structure of the puzzle.

Geographic place names when preceded by “Great”