royal road to (something)
The easiest, most direct, or most effective way to reach or achieve something. The institution is the lone royal road to getting work as a filmmaker in this country, effectively creating a monopoly within the industry that they are free to exploit. If they can win their division, they will be on the royal road to the championship during the playoffs.
royal road to
a way of attaining or reaching something without trouble. This expression alludes to a remark attributed to the Greek mathematician Euclid ( c .300 bc ). When the Egyptian ruler Ptolemy I asked whether geometry could not be made easier, Euclid is said to have replied: ‘There is no royal road to geometry’.