Another five words with something in common. This is our guide to Pinpoint #914 for Saturday, October 31, 2026: clue by clue, then a nudge, then the answer.
Our read: the first clue is a short word that could point almost anywhere; two or more clues are phrases with a nudge in brackets, which usually means the setters expect you to need them; LinkedIn accepts 3,683 phrasings of the answer, so you do not have to hit the exact wording. The best scores come from committing on clue two or three, so resist the urge to open everything.
Today's clues, one at a time
Clue one is open. Each further clue is behind a click, so you can play along at the same pace as the game.
▶ Reveal clue 2
2Cacti
▶ Reveal clue 3
3Sea urchins
▶ Reveal clue 4
4Vertebrates (by definition)
▶ Reveal clue 5
5Porcupines (they're sharp!)
A hint before the answer
The shape of the categoryLinkedIn's wording of the category is three words long and starts with T. One of the words in it is S····· (6 letters).
Today's Pinpoint answer
The category for Pinpoint #914 is behind the button. Nothing is shown until you click.
▶ Reveal the answer to Pinpoint #914
Things with spines
What Books, Cacti, Sea urchins, Vertebrates (by definition), Porcupines (they're sharp!) have in common: Things with spines.
Yesterday's Pinpoint
Pinpoint #913 on Friday, October 30, gave the clues Wings, House, Pit, Green room, Stage (where the action is). The category was Parts of a theatre. Our full write-up is still up.
How Pinpoint works
Pinpoint shows you five clues, one at a time, that all belong to a single category. Type what you think the category is; a correct guess ends the round, and the fewer clues you needed, the better your score. The category can be phrased many ways, which is why LinkedIn accepts hundreds or thousands of answers for each puzzle, but it has to name the thing the clues have in common, not describe one of them.
A habit that pays: after the second clue, say out loud what the two words have in common and whether that would also hold for a third word you have not seen. If it would, guess. If you cannot think of a third, open one more clue, not two.
Come back tomorrow for Pinpoint #915. Until then, the rest of the Puzzles desk is one click away in the section menu.