The English phrase “a few sandwiches short of a picnic” has some colourful equivalents around the world, says writer Adam Sharp on Twitter. In Sweden, they say “the wheel is spinning, but the hamster is dead”. The French describe a dimwit as “not the most oxygenated trout in the river”, while in Germany, the very thick are “as bright as a tunnel”. Then there’s the Arabic idiom, “your brain is like two walnuts in a sack”; the Korean, “is your head a decoration?”; and the Hungarian, “mentally, you are a sock”.
The Knowledge
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Traditionally we consider owls to be wise do we not?
Some years back a workmate was telling me that wouldn’t wash back in Pakistan. Owls apparently are considered foolish in some cultures. To suggest that someone is owl like wouldn’t be taken as a compliment.
“The lights are on but there’s nobody home”
Which country does that originate from?
Was it U.K. or USA?
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“not the sharpest tool in the box”
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Similarly, I’ve heard “not the sharpest knife in the drawer”
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Yes, it has but it would be wrong to expect that a given expression is known to every speaker of that language as it is done too often, or worse still, to assume that just because a particular phrase is not used by, or unknown to a particular speaker, the phrase doesn’t exist at all or “is not commonly used”.
As for your example, I’ve never heard of the phrase “as bright as a tunnel” but I know 19 similar colourful phrases used for such a person. I’d accept the expression, though, and would not claim it was not used in German. It’s self-explanatory and it will be understood by anyone because it refers to the commonly known idea that bright also means clever and because there’s another expression saying that someone is no shining light.
What you increasingly find in Germany is that certain colourful English expressions are used by translating them directly such as “not to be the brightest candle on the cake”, which would be understood by anybody when hearing it for the first time and even if they don’t speak English and the speaker is using a less worn-out phrase. “Moving the goalposts” and, to a lesser degree, “barking up the wrong tree” are other examples.
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“… it cost an arm and a leg”
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I’m going for real colours
Caught red handed
As white as a ghost
Roll out the red carpet
Green with envy
Feeling blue
There’s lots and lots
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Rough as a badger`s arse… is one of my favourites
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Mine too 
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Not the full shilling … 
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One that always sets me giggling, coz for me it is very true as I’m always up for a laugh 
Just like iron sharpens iron, a man sharpens the wit of his friend 
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There’s a kangaroo loose in the top paddock
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Bent as a nine bob note 
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that’ll put lead in your pencil
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Someone get the fookin kettle on. My mouth feels like the bottom of a budgies cage.
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Bring tears to a glass eye
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“Two brains with but a single thought…”.is quite a traditional one but with the advent of Trump,BoJo,etc…".Two brains without a single thought" would be more appropriate.
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Not playing with a full deck. 
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Built like a Brick Shithouse.
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