hot potato

plural hot potatoes

1. uncountableA child's game in which players pass a ball or other item between them, with the object of avoiding being left holding the item when time expires.

   Synonyms: pass the parcel

2. countableidiomaticAn unwanted problem that is awkward or delicate.

   Full connectivity returned 72 hours later, but the issue has become a hot potato in the US.

   2021 August 3, Ed Augustin, Daniel Montero, “Why the internet in Cuba has become a US political hot potato”, in The Guardian

   2 more examples

   The “lame duck” Johnson Administration, in its final fortnight in office, grappled last week with a diplomatic hot potato in the form of the latest Soviet proposal for a “just and lasting” Middle East peace settlement.

   1969 January 12, Benjamin Welles, “A Hot Potato for Nixon”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

   How do you handle the work of a woman out on leave, yet not lose a valuable employee down the road? At the same time, companies know this is a hot potato, and they have to do something.

   1984 June 14, Carol Lawson, quoting Phyllis Silverman, “Parental Leave: a ‘Hot Potato’”, in The New York Times, →ISSN