Doubled for Thursday, December 19, 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 6, 7 and 6 letters.
Hint 2
The shared word - the one that belongs to both phrases - has 7 letters and starts with A.
Hint 3
The first phrase is 2 words, the second is 2, and they overlap on one of them.
Hint 4
Where officers train (and a run of 1980s comedies), then the Oscars.
The answer
Stuck, or want to check? Opening this reveals the whole answer.
Reveal the answer
Police Awards
Police academy and Academy awards, joined on Academy.
Police academy
A police academy is the training school for new police officers, and the name of a run of 1980s slapstick comedies about one.
Academy awards
The Academy Awards are the Oscars, the film industry's annual prizes.
How players did
Across 775 plays, 39% got the whole answer in one guess, 23% solved it without a miss, 8% got there after at least one wrong guess, 23% used a hint or finished on their last chance, and 7% did not get it.
This puzzle ran on December 19, 2024 and December 19, 2025.