DAILY NO. 12 · VERIFIED MEASUREMENTS
The five insects & bugs objects from the Size It Up puzzle on September 12, 2026, with the measured size of each, the reference it was compared against, a source you can check, and how the community's guesses landed. Want the surprise first? Replay this puzzle — archived days never touch your streak.
Answer: a giant centipede measures 30 cm (length / span), which is 1.1× as big as the reference, an American football at 28 cm.
Scolopendra gigantea hunts bats in mid-air, plucking them from cave ceilings.
Common miss: players tend to compress a giant centipede when it sits beside an American football — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: a giant wētā measures 10 cm (length / span), which is almost exactly the same size as the reference, a hamburger at 10 cm.
One of the heaviest insects on Earth — a large female outweighs a sparrow.
Common miss: players tend to inflate a giant wētā when it sits beside a hamburger — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: a Goliath beetle measures 11 cm (length / span), which is 1.1× as big as the reference, a monarch butterfly at 10 cm.
Among the heaviest insects alive — the larvae can reach 100 g.
Common miss: players tend to compress a Goliath beetle when it sits beside a monarch butterfly — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: a giant stick insect measures 56 cm (length / span), which is about 1.2× smaller than the reference, a French baguette at 65 cm.
Record stick insects can exceed half a metre with legs extended.
Common miss: players tend to inflate a giant stick insect when it sits beside a French baguette — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: a monarch butterfly measures 10 cm (length / span), which is 1.3× as big as the reference, a hockey puck at 7.6 cm.
Monarchs migrate as far as 4,000 km on a 10 cm wingspan.
Common miss: players tend to compress a monarch butterfly when it sits beside a hockey puck — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Sizes are measured along the axis named in each round and link to their published source. Explore the full library by category, or read how scoring works.