Doubled for Thursday, February 6, 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 4 words long, with 4, 3, 6 and 5 letters.
Hint 2
The shared word - the one that belongs to both phrases - has 6 letters and starts with B.
Hint 3
The first phrase is 3 words, the second is 2, and they overlap on one of them.
Hint 4
Getting an unpleasant thing over with, then Japan's high-speed rail.
The answer
Stuck, or want to check? Opening this reveals the whole answer.
Reveal the answer
Bite The Train
Bite the bullet and Bullet train, joined on Bullet.
Bite the bullet
To bite the bullet is to face something unpleasant and get it over with.
Bullet train
The bullet train is Japan's Shinkansen high-speed rail, and any train like it.
How players did
Across 628 plays, 8% got the whole answer in one guess, 10% solved it without a miss, 6% got there after at least one wrong guess, 56% used a hint or finished on their last chance, and 21% did not get it.
This puzzle ran on February 6, 2025 and February 6, 2026.