no-brainer

no-brainer

A very easy or obvious choice, decision, or solution. (So easy or obvious that it is humorously said to require no brain.) The military said they would pay off my student debt and provide a guaranteed job after I completed four years of service, so it was a no-brainer for me. The answer to the riddle was a total no-brainer—I don't know why it took me so long to figure out!
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

no-brainer

n. an easy question that takes no thinking to answer; a simple problem that requires no intellect to solve; a dilemma that requires no pondering to resolve. His proposal of marriage was a no-brainer. She turned him down flat on the spot.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

no-brainer

Something obvious, requiring little thought. Dating from about 1970, the term quickly caught on and is on its way to clichédom. The Washington Post had it on October 3, 1991: “The rich guy is willing . . . This is a nobrainer. Let him build it.” See also rocket scientist, you don't have to be a.
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • be in for a surprise
  • surprise
  • be in for a shock
  • shock
  • shome
  • shome mishtake shurely
  • shurely
  • shurely shome mishtake
  • mishtake
  • plain as day/the nose on your face
References in periodicals archive
"Peterhead just make everything so easy and it ties in with my work as well so it's a no-brainer."
Is a no-brainer, I found myself wondering, a decision so obvious that it didn't require a brain to make it, or was it the sort of decision that might be made by a person with no brain?
When you look at what is needed to do the bid as well as we can do it, and then look at what is earned for the country, you will never see more of a no-brainer."
For many school administrators, what happened next would have been a no-brainer: flip a couple of switches and say goodbye to iChat.
Certainly, that cost-benefit analysis may be different in a country with a much higher rate of HW infection, but I think the article's portrayal of circumcision as a no-brainer is far too simplistic.
A medical facility, a place to see doctors and dentists inside a school building: it's a no-brainer, and it exists at The Promise Academy.
"Would you agree that a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives?" Hennen asked.
This decision to try and actually not lose money on a contract of this size has been a no-brainer for years, but never followed through.
What Brazil is doing is a no-brainer. Brazil started its fuel-alcohol program three decades ago.
Being polite seems like a no-brainer, but tons of worker bees forget to show basic respect.
Writer Gary Morella, in an e-mail, remarked that it is "a sad commentary on the state of the Catholic Church in America" when a relatively small percentage of archbishops and bishops get behind an initiative that should be a "no-brainer" for faithful Catholics.
Hybrid cars offer a no-brainer, readily available technology that can help tackle global warming.
This seems like a no-brainer, but a mind-boggling number of websites are stupendously confusing in terms of language.
If it's a no-brainer scrapbooking tutorial you wish, look no further than Simple Scrapbooks: Ideas And Techniques by Deborah Cannarella and the editorial staff of "Simple Scrapbooks Magazine".
Viread can cause nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and gas--but compared to the burden of the more hefty drug regimens that HIV-positive men endure, it's a no-brainer. The expense?