Doubled for Sunday, February 11, 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 3 words long, with 7, 6 and 7 letters.
Hint 2
The shared word - the one that belongs to both phrases - has 6 letters and starts with C.
Hint 3
The first phrase is 2 words, the second is 2, and they overlap on one of them.
Hint 4
One half ends a Chinese-restaurant meal with a slip of paper; the other half is blue, furry and permanently hungry.
The answer
Stuck, or want to check? Opening this reveals the whole answer.
Reveal the answer
Fortune Monster
Fortune cookie and Cookie monster, joined on Cookie.
Fortune cookie
A fortune cookie is the folded, crisp cookie served with the bill at many Chinese restaurants, with a slip of paper inside carrying a short prediction or proverb.
Cookie monster
Cookie Monster is the shaggy blue Sesame Street puppet who devours cookies by the fistful with a cry of 'Om nom nom'.
How players did
Across 855 plays, 78% got the whole answer in one guess, 7% solved it without a miss, 9% got there after at least one wrong guess, 4% used a hint or finished on their last chance, and 2% did not get it.
This puzzle ran on February 11, 2024, February 24, 2025 and February 24, 2026.