I get where you’re coming from. I’ve have experienced the “smart person who panics”. I usually tell them upfront that I’m not looking for the correct answer an

I get where you’re coming from. I’ve have experienced the “smart person who panics”. I usually tell them upfront that I’m not looking for the correct answer and that I just want to see how they break the problem down. I also try to reiterate that it’s okay to fail (at least at my employer) and that’s the point of having a team. Usually, that calms them down enough to get the interview going. If they don’t calm down, I’ll try to simplify the problem or give them small ideas. We’ve also resorted to having a follow up interview with the candidate if we get the sense that they were overly nervous. I have a couple teammates that are very good at getting people to relax and we’ve had a good amount of success with letting them lead the follow up (instead of myself since I know I can come across fairly cold).