Question

Each one of the following clues contains a keyword that is partially filled.
Clue 1: Synonym of recognize (8 letters): _D_NT_FY
Clue 2: A story long enough to fill a book (5 letters): _ _ _ EL
Clue 3: Two of something (6 letters): _ _ _ PLE
Clue 4: A fraction of something, split equally into two parts (4 letters): _ _ _ F
The first letter of each of the keywords can be rearranged to form a four-letter word.
Which one of the options below is a possible choice for the four-letter word?

• A. CHIN
• B. COIN
• C. ITCH
• D. NOSE

Hint:

Solve each clue first, then look at just the first letters of the four answers.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

Step 1: Solve the four clues first.
Clue 1 wants an 8 letter word for "recognize" matching $\_D\_NT\_FY$: that is IDENTIFY, starting with I.
Clue 2 wants a 5 letter word for a book length story matching $\_\_\_EL$: that is NOVEL, starting with N.
Clue 3 wants a 6 letter word for "two of something" matching $\_\_\_PLE$: that is COUPLE, starting with C.
Clue 4 wants a 4 letter word for an equal half matching $\_\_\_F$: that is HALF, starting with H.

Step 2: Fix the target letter set.
The four first letters give the set $\{I, N, C, H\}$, and any valid answer must use exactly these four letters, no more and no less.

Step 3: Test each option against this set.
CHIN breaks into C, H, I, N, which is exactly the set $\{I,N,C,H\}$ with no extra letters. This passes.
COIN breaks into C, O, I, N. The letter O does not belong to the set, so this fails.
ITCH breaks into I, T, C, H. The letter T does not belong to the set, so this fails.
NOSE breaks into N, O, S, E. Three of these four letters, O, S and E, do not belong to the set, so this fails badly.

Step 4: Conclude.
Only CHIN survives the letter check, so it is the word we are looking for.
\[ \boxed{\text{CHIN}} \]