The following phrases share a special relationship with one particular word. Can you determine the word and how it is related to the phrases below?

OFF LIMITS
CARD TABLE
SLOT MACHINE
PERIOD PIECE

Answer:

The word is TIME. Both words of each phrase can be preceded by TIME:

TIME OFF - TIME LIMITS
TIME CARD - TIME TABLE
TIME SLOT - TIME MACHINE
TIME PERIOD - TIME PIECE

Credit: LA Times Crossword
November 2, 2009
Pancho Harrison
TIME AND TIME AGAIN