Red Herring: "Famous Johnsons"
This theme has returned 3 times between March 2019 and June 2024, using 4 different words. Recognising it narrows a board fast, but the answers change.
Red Herring: “Famous Johnsons”
This theme has run on 3 boards and used 4 different words. Every one of them is below, with the board it came from. See the full daily archive or the 2019 boards.
Boards that used this category
The Links Behind “Famous Johnsons”
Shawn
Gymnast Shawn Johnson won a gold and 3 silver medals at the 2008 Olympic Games. She also won TV's "Dancing with the Stars" competition in 2009.
Van
One of Hollywood's biggest stars during WW2, Van Johnson appeared in "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo," "The Caine Mutiny," "Brigadoon," and others.
Other Recurring Red Herring Categories
What a Recurring Theme Does and Does Not Tell You
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
Three groups of four plus four red herrings. Four words are meant to be left over.
Name the theme, then test it
Recognising a returning theme like “Famous Johnsons” narrows the board fast, but the words change between appearances — confirm each one before committing.
Distrust the near-miss
A word that almost fits two groups is usually a decoy. Plausibility is the warning, not the evidence.
Verified Answers, Not Guesses
How we verify every board this category has appeared on, with the words it used each time
Categories are taken from the group names the game publishes, and each word is tied to the dated board it came from. The routine is in our methodology and the standards in our 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