NY Times Crossword
August 30, 2010
Richard Chisholm

What do the following phrases have in common?

OFF-STAGE
RIGHT FIELD
BEFORE LONG
SECOND HELPING

HINT:
The same word can be applied to each phrase in a certain way.

Answer:

Both words of each phrase can be followed by HAND to make new phrases:

OFF HAND - STAGE HAND
RIGHT HAND - FIELD HAND
BEFORE HAND - LONGHAND
SECOND HAND - HELPING HAND