Same Four Letters
Six different words use the same four letters. One marks a leopard's coat. One halts the traffic. One means 'chooses'. One means 'the highest points'. One is what soup is cooked in. Which one brings you letters?
Start with STOP.
POST
SPOT, STOP, OPTS, TOPS and POTS: the sixth is POST.
How to solve it
All six answers are anagrams of the same four letters, so solve the easiest clues first, find the letter set, then fill in the rest.
Step one: the clue for traffic is the easiest. Traffic halts at a STOP sign, so the letters are S, T, O and P.
Step two: work through the other clues with those letters. A leopard's coat is marked with SPOTs, so that is SPOT. Chooses is OPTS. The highest points are TOPS. Soup is cooked in POTS.
Step three: list every word S, T, O and P can make: STOP, SPOT, OPTS, TOPS, POTS and POST. Five are already used, so the sixth is POST, and post is what brings you letters.
The usual wrong answer is SPOT, because it is the first clue and solvers sometimes answer the first clue instead of the question at the end. Others try MAIL, which fits the meaning but uses different letters.
Takeaway: when a riddle gives many clues for one letter set, the question is often about the one word left over. Cross off each word as you use it and see what remains.
