Red Herring Answers for December 29, 2024
All 16 words from the Sunday board, kept in their groups. 3 of them carry a note explaining the link.
Red Herring Answers for December 29, 2024
Every word from the Sunday board — the 3 groups and the 4 red herrings that belong to none of them. Browse the rest of 2024 or the complete archive.
Colorful Writers
Group · 4 words- Shel Silverstein
- Amy Tan
- E.B. White
- Zane GrayProlific Western writer Zane Grey (1872-1939) worked as a dentist in New York City until his writing career began to take off.
Colorful Singers
Group · 4 wordsColorful Actresses
Group · 4 words- Betty White
- Lynn RedgraveAs of 2024 Lynn Redgrave is the only person to have been nominated for all of the EGOT awards (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony) without winning any.
- Goldie Hawn
- Jennifer Gray
🐟 Red Herrings
Belong to no group- Barry Goldwater
- Will Scarlet
- Red Auerbach
- Charlie Brown
The Links Behind the December 29, 2024 Groups
Zane Gray — Colorful Writers
Prolific Western writer Zane Grey (1872-1939) worked as a dentist in New York City until his writing career began to take off.
Otis Redding — Colorful Singers
Otis Redding was the first to hit #1 on the Billboard 100 posthumously with "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" in 1968.
Lynn Redgrave — Colorful Actresses
As of 2024 Lynn Redgrave is the only person to have been nominated for all of the EGOT awards (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony) without winning any.
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.
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 December 29, 2024 that was Colorful Writers. 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