
The Correct Answer and Explanation is:
The correct answer is whisk.
An analogy is a logical puzzle that requires identifying the relationship between an initial pair of words and then finding a word that creates a similar relationship with the third word. In this case, the analogy presented is “artist is to paintbrush as chef is to…”. The first step is to precisely define the connection between “artist” and “paintbrush”.
The relationship here is one of a professional to their tool. An artist is a person who creates art, and a paintbrush is a primary instrument they use to apply paint and bring their vision to life. The paintbrush is a handheld implement fundamental to the artist’s creative process. Therefore, the core relationship is “creator is to their instrument” or “worker is to their tool”.
To complete the second half of the analogy, we must find a word that has this same “worker to tool” relationship with the word “chef”. A chef is a professional who cooks food. Let us examine the given options.
The first option, “kitchen”, represents the location where a chef works. This would be analogous to an artist’s studio. This creates a “worker is to workplace” relationship, which does not match the original pair.
The third option, “meal”, is the end product of a chef’s labor. This would be analogous to a painting, which is the final creation of an artist. This establishes a “worker is to product” relationship, which is also an incorrect parallel.
The correct choice is “whisk”. A whisk is a specific cooking utensil that a chef uses for tasks like blending ingredients, whipping cream, or making sauces. Just as a paintbrush is a tool an artist wields, a whisk is a tool a chef wields. It perfectly maintains the “worker is to their tool” relationship established in the first part of the analogy. Thus, the completed analogy is “artist is to paintbrush as chef is to whisk”.
