Solution: I am Number Four
Answer: THREE

Written by Ethan

Each box hints to a idiom or saying, except one word has been changed for a homophone. Identifying the correct word to fix the idiom, then taking the first letter of the corrected homophones gives "HOMOPHONE FOR FOR MINUS ONE". This can be read as "HOMOPHONE FOR 'FOR'," which is "FOUR", minus one, is THREE.

Incorrect sayingCorrect wordFirst letter
bad HARE dayHAIRH
OWED to joyODEO
swim MEATMEETM
all your eggs in WON basketONEO
a PEACE of cakePIECEP
the long HALLHAULH
save HOUR shipOURO
KNEAD to know basisNEEDN
a penny saved is a penny URNEDEARNEDE
FOWL playFOULF
WON wayONEO
RAIN of terrorREIGNR
april showers bring may FLOURFLOWERF
yes OAR noORO
left and WRITERIGHTR
snail MALEMAILM
american IDLEIDOLI
be NUN the wiserNONEN
no EWES crying over spilled milkUSEU
CEREAL killerSERIALS
OOZE and aahsOOHSO
good KNIGHTNIGHTN
AYE candyEYEE

Author’s Notes

I loved MIT's For Better or For Worse, and really, all puzzles where I have to extract something from illogical seeming images. I had a lot of fun drawing these, and I hope solvers had fun identifying them as well.

There was unfortunately a small amount of homophones/idioms that included words that started with O, which led to some questionable clues. For example, for #2, testsolvers usually had "Oh/Owe Joy" (which fortunately is still valid as it clues O either way). Perhaps next time, a cluephrase that didn't have so many O's to start out with would have been better. Speaking of the cluephrase, it is a little strange, but ultimately, still solvable so I decided to keep it. I really did not want to redraw a bunch of the pictures.

This meme on the r/AnarchyChess subreddit inspired me to create this puzzle.
And finally, here are some of the unused idioms I had in mind :)

1. come 'ERE/HERE/EAR/HEAR (ambiguous so removed)

2. wizard of OZ/AWWS

3. christmas EVE/EAVE