Doubled for Saturday, September 28, 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 5, 5 and 3 letters.
Hint 2
The shared word - the one that belongs to both phrases - has 5 letters and starts with T.
Hint 3
The first phrase is 2 words, the second is 2, and they overlap on one of them.
Hint 4
A gift for growing plants, then a schoolyard hand game.
The answer
Stuck, or want to check? Opening this reveals the whole answer.
Reveal the answer
Green War
Green thumb and Thumb war, joined on Thumb.
Green thumb
A green thumb is a talent for growing plants, green fingers in Britain.
Thumb war
A thumb war is the hand game in which two players lock fingers and each tries to pin the other's thumb.
How players did
Across 1,472 plays, 15% got the whole answer in one guess, 3% solved it without a miss, 5% got there after at least one wrong guess, 60% used a hint or finished on their last chance, and 17% did not get it.
This puzzle ran on September 28, 2024, December 21, 2024, September 28, 2025 and December 21, 2025.