close, but no cigar

idiom

variants or close but no cigar

—used to say that a guess was almost correct or that an effort was almost sufficient

Quick: What country jails the most journalists? If you guessed China, you were close, but no cigar.

—Dexter Filkins

It was close but no cigar for Cincinnati as they fell 13-16 to Pittsburgh.

—CBSSports.com

"… on Friday, it was close but no cigar for the Dow hitting 18,000. In fact, it got within 10 points of hitting that psychological milestone. …"

—Alison Kosik

Then last year I reviewed a new, much smaller … headphone, … and while it was awfully good, it wasn't in the league of those aforementioned very best full-size headphones. Close, but no cigar.

—Steve Guttenberg