Is this the most difficult question on Only Connect? Can you solve BBC Two quiz show poser that angered fans

Despite being known as one of the most difficult quiz shows on TV, Only Connect seems to have taken it up a notch and viewers are not happy. The latest episode had fans of the show perplexed and even threatening to stop watching after being stumped over most, if not all, of Monday evening’s (February 10) episode.

Regularly the most watched programme on BBC Two each week, the show, hosted by Victoria Coren Mitchell is typically sandwiched between Mastermind and University Challenge as part of the channel’s quiz night - and as part of that trio, it comes as little surprise that the questions are proper head-scratchers.

Each week, two teams of three compete in a tournament of finding connections between seemingly unrelated clues. The show’s title is taken from a passage in E. M. Forster's 1910 novel Howards End: "Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted."

With fans of the show regularly subjected to utterly baffling questions, the latest episode’s puzzles must have been seriously confusing given the number of viewers complaining about their level of complexity. So, can you solve the riddles or are you as much in the dark as Monday night’s viewers?

The following question appeared during the semi-final between teams Four Opinions and Cat Cows and came in for particular flack for being “obtuse”. The answer will be given below so if you want to solve it, stop scrolling after the questions.

The clues that are all somehow connected were: Swelling: on bones; Finger: at the tip of the middle finger; Mouse: throughout the body; and Pan: in the knees. So, your job is to work out how these four things are connected.

Scroll down to see if your guess is correct - or simply to find out the answer, if, like me, none of that makes any sense to you at all.

Unsurprisingly, the Cat Cows had absolutely no idea what the correct answer might be - and most of us were still in the dark even after Coren Mitchell explained: "If you put 'little' before the first word you are getting body parts."

By way of further explanation, she continued: "Mouse from the Latin mus, they are all from Latin and Greek, musculous, little mouse actually muscles, and we have those throughout the body."

Viewers jumped on social media to show their dismay and question becoming increasingly obscure. One fan on X said: “It’s not often I simply say ‘NO. NOPE. ABSOLUTELY NOT. TERRIBLE QUESTION.’ on Only Connect, but that ‘little’ question was one of those times.”

Another said: “Watched this to spend ½ an hour of not answering a single question!” While another added: “‘Little’ Body Parts possibly a contender for worst question ever on Only Connect.”

Another summed it up eloquently by saying: “I think we all deserve a biscuit for getting through Only Connect. Roll on University Challenge.”

If that has whet your appetite for some seriously tricky questions, Only Connect airs on BBC Two on Mondays at 8pm. You can also catch up on any episodes you miss on iPlayer.