Each group contains four word with a related property, and a fifth with a very similar, but not quite identical, property:
- ASEISMIC, CHOO-CHOO, STRESS, and TUXEDOS contain Spanish numbers; MITTEN contains only an English one.
- ANGEL, BEAST, CYCLOPS, and ICEMAN are original X-Men; WOLVERINE was added later.
- CODE, LATE, MINIMA, and SIMPLE can have X appended to produce a new word; OR can instead have X prepended.
- CONFESSOR, ELDER, LONGSHANKS, and MARTYR were sobriquets of King Edwards of England; there was an Alfred and a Canute the Great, but no Edward.
- HAT, MAGI, PACES, and PITONS can have a letter added to produce an NBA Eastern Conference team; LAKES instead produces a Western Conference team.
- ALLEGRO, CAROUSEL, (South) PACIFIC, and SOUND (of Music) identify Rodgers and Hammerstein works which first appeared on the stage; STATE (Fair) first appeared on film instead.
The impostors read MITTEN WOLVERINE OR GREAT LAKES STATE, cluing MICHIGAN.