Doubled for Wednesday, February 7, 2024
One picture, one hidden three-word chain. The first two words make a familiar phrase, the last two make another, and the middle word belongs to both. New to the game? Read how to play first.
Hints
Open them one at a time. Each one gives away a little more than the last.
Hint 1
The answer is 5 words long, with 5, 2, 5, 2 and 8 letters.
Hint 2
The shared word - the one that belongs to both phrases - has 5 letters and starts with R.
Hint 3
The first phrase is 3 words, the second is 3, and they overlap on one of them.
Hint 4
One half spins at a fairground; the other is what a good performance earns at the end.
The answer
Stuck, or want to check? Opening this reveals the whole answer.
Reveal the answer
Merry Go Of Applause
Merry go round and Round of applause, joined on Round.
Merry go round
A merry-go-round is the fairground carousel of painted horses circling under a canopy. By extension, anything that keeps going around without getting anywhere is 'a merry-go-round'.
Round of applause
A round of applause is a burst of clapping from a whole audience at once, usually asked for by a host: 'Let's have a round of applause for...'
How players did
Across 175 plays, 46% got the whole answer in one guess, 19% solved it without a miss, 12% got there after at least one wrong guess, 17% used a hint or finished on their last chance, and 6% did not get it.