There are 54 Common Clichés Hiding in This Busy Museum Scene—Can You Spot Them All?

Hidden within this original image are dozens of common clichés. How many can you spot?

By mentalfloss .com |
/ Eyewash for Mental Floss
2 of 2
Next

It goes without saying that at the end of the day it pays to think outside the box and erase common clichés from your vocabulary. Which doesn’t mean there isn’t a time or place for these painfully overused phrases—a.k.a. the low-hanging fruit of the language world. Like, say, in the puzzle below.

While, at first glance this image might look like a busy day at a jam-packed museum, take a closer look at the art hanging on the walls and the patrons observing it and you just may start to notice a common theme: there are dozens of common clichés illustrated and hidden within the image.

There are 54 clichés hiding within this image. Click to enlarge.
There are 54 clichés hiding within this image. Click to enlarge. / Eyewash for Mental Floss

This brainteaser, created for Mental Floss by Michael Rogalski at Eyewash, contains 54 illustrated clichés just waiting to be discovered. How many can you spot? To find the full answer key, scroll ahead to the next page.

Answer Key

/ Eyewash for Mental Floss

1. Ace in the hole

2. Add insult to injury

3. An albatross around one’s neck

4. An oldie but a goodie

5. Good as gold

6. Back against the wall

7. Bend over backwards

8. Bite the bullet

9. Bury the hatchet

10. Butterflies in one’s stomach

11. Can of worms

12. Chip off the block

13. Dog eat dog world

14 . Don’t cry over spilled milk

15. Don’t have a cow

16. Egg on one’s face

17. The elephant in the room

18. Eye on the ball

19. The fifth wheel

20. Fish out of water

21. Foot in the door

22. Grass is always greener on the other side

23. Handwriting on the wall 

24. Hold down the fort

25. Horse of a different color

26. Joined at the hip

27. Kick the bucket

28. Lame duck

29. Let the cat out of the bag

30. Light at the end of the tunnel

31. Like taking candy from a baby

32. Looking at the world with rose-colored glasses

33. Long arm of the law

34. Monkey on one’s back

35. Nothing up my sleeve

36. Off one’s rocker

37. On cloud nine

38. Out of the blue

39. Pie in the sky

40. Piece of cake

41. Pot calling the kettle black

42. Red herring

43. Roll out the red carpet

44. Scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours

45. Spill the beans

46. Square peg in a round hole

47. Tempest in a tea cup

48. Tooth and nail

49. Toss one’s cookies

50. Two left feet

51. Two peas in a pod

52. The walls have ears

53. Wear one’s heart on the sleeve

54. With one hand tied behind the back

Next
Home / FUN