Red Herring Answers for September 5, 2017
All 16 words from the Tuesday board, kept in their groups. 3 of them carry a note explaining the link.
Red Herring Answers for September 5, 2017
Every word from the Tuesday board — the 3 groups and the 4 red herrings that belong to none of them. Browse the rest of 2017 or the complete archive.
Seed Oils
Group · 4 wordsStone Fruits
Group · 4 wordsReds
Group · 4 words- Cherry
- RubyRubies are red primarily because they contain the element chromium.
- Strawberry
- Crimson
The Links Behind the September 5, 2017 Groups
Canola — Seed Oils
This variety of rapeseed was named "Can" (because it was developed in Canada) + "ola" (because it is an oilseed) in the early 1970s.
Coconut — Stone Fruits
Although humans eat what is found *inside* the seed, the dry outer husk of a coconut is considered the fruit.
Ruby — Reds
Rubies are red primarily because they contain the element chromium.
Where these themes go next
Themes come back with different words. The recurring ones each have a page collecting every word they have used — see them all on the Red Herring hub.
Categories From This Board That Recur
Three Habits That Crack a Red Herring Board
Count to sixteen before you group anything
Every board is three groups of four plus four red herrings. Four words are meant to be left over, and players who forget that spend their time forcing a fourth group that was never there.
Solve the narrowest theme first
One group is always more specific than the others — a named set like "Mouse, Characters" rather than a loose one like "Strong Words". Lock that group first: each correct group removes four candidates from everything else on the board.
A word that fits two groups is usually a decoy
The herrings are chosen to look plausible in more than one place. When a word could sit in two themes, that ambiguity is the tell — set it aside rather than committing it to the group it fits slightly better. Any board in the archive is practice for it.
How to Solve a Red Herring Board
The order that clears a board fastest.
Count to sixteen first
Every board is three groups of four plus four red herrings. Knowing four words are meant to be left over stops you forcing a fourth group that does not exist.
Start with the tightest theme
One group is always more specific than the others — on September 5, 2017 that was Seed Oils. Lock the group you are surest of, because each correct group removes four candidates from the rest.
Treat near-misses as suspects
A word that almost fits two groups is usually a herring. The puzzle is built so the decoys look plausible; plausibility is the tell, not the proof.
Verified Answers, Not Guesses
How we verify every dated board in the archive, group by group, with the red herrings kept separate
Each board is taken from the published puzzle for that date and re-checked against the source before it goes live. Notes explaining a link are kept as the source wrote them. The full routine is in our methodology, and the standards each page is held to are in the editorial policy.
Reviewed by Priya Raghunathan, Word Games Editor at Puzzle Solved. The full checking routine is in the methodology, and the standards every page is held to are in the editorial policy.
Last checked — Aug 25, 2026