Doubled for Tuesday, February 4, 2025
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 7, 3, 8, 3 and 5 letters.
Hint 2
The shared word - the one that belongs to both phrases - has 3 letters and starts with O.
Hint 3
The first phrase is 4 words, the second is 2, and they overlap on one of them.
Hint 4
Working late into the night, then an environmental disaster at sea.
The answer
Stuck, or want to check? Opening this reveals the whole answer.
Reveal the answer
Burning The Midnight Spill
Burning the midnight oil and Oil spill, joined on Oil.
Burning the midnight oil
Burning the midnight oil is working or studying late into the night, from the days of oil lamps.
Oil spill
An oil spill is the release of crude oil into the sea or onto land, usually from a tanker or a well.
How players did
Across 660 plays, 8% got the whole answer in one guess, 2% solved it without a miss, 11% got there after at least one wrong guess, 41% used a hint or finished on their last chance, and 38% did not get it.
This puzzle ran on February 4, 2025 and February 4, 2026.