Guide
Score past the first answer
The first valid answer is usually the one the game has already priced as everyday.
Hear the obvious one, then do not play it
On a prompt like “name a dog breed,” Labrador arrives before you have decided anything. That speed is the signal. The everyday tier is the cluster of names most people can produce with no search. Leave that name in mind as a spare, and spend the next few seconds on a breed you can picture but would not put on a poster.
Keep a spare so the clock cannot blank you
The eighteen seconds are for a decision, not a hunt with no floor. If a sharper name does not show up, play the spare. Fifteen points is a finished prompt. Zero is what you get for still searching when the clock runs out.
Trust the names you can see
The rarer tiers are not trivia-contestant obscurity. They are real things a practitioner would recognize — a tool you have used, a place you have been, a dish you have ordered. If you can picture the thing clearly, the name usually follows. If you can only picture the first syllable, the spare is the better play.