Cut the Mustard
What it means
Meet the standard required, most often said of someone who does not.
Where it comes from
It is mustard, not muster, whatever correction you have been offered. The phrase turns up in American slang around 1900, in O. Henry among others, with mustard meaning the genuine article.
The puzzle it came from
Cut the Mustard was the answer to the Phrasicle of June 30, 2025. The clue read ____ the ____, and the words came out of a grid where every neighbouring pair makes a two-word phrase.
Play today's Phrasicle Play the June 30, 2025 puzzle
Show the solved grid (this spoils the June 30, 2025 puzzle)
quick
draw
bridge
loan
payment
dijon
mustard
seed
oil
spill
public
toilet
paper
cut
grass
dinner
roll
call
log
cabin
Phrasicle: Cut the Mustard