Performing Inner Join for Multiple Columns in the Same Table

Solution 1:

This seems like the way to go:

SELECT
  A.answer_id
  ,C1.color_name AS favorite_color_name
  ,C2.color_name AS least_favorite_color_name
  ,C3.color_name AS color_im_allergic_to_name
FROM tbAnswers AS A
INNER JOIN tbColors AS C1
  ON A.favorite_color = C1.color_code
INNER JOIN tbColors AS C2
  ON A.least_favorite_color = C2.color_code
INNER JOIN tbColors AS C3
  ON A.color_im_allergic_to = C3.color_code

Rather than "stupid", I'd venture that this is a pretty standard query. This also presumes that all columns will have a valid value. Otherwise, replace all INNER JOINs with LEFT JOINs