DAILY NO. 4 · VERIFIED MEASUREMENTS
The September 25, 2026 puzzle ran from Manhattan Island at 21.6 km to the contiguous United States at 4,500 km — about 208× apart, drawing on geography. The pair furthest apart was round 1: Manhattan Island is about 57.4× smaller than California.
Puzzle #4 asked about Manhattan Island, metropolitan France, the contiguous United States, Texas and Hawaiʻi Island. Each answer below gives the measured size, the reference it stood beside and the source behind the number. Want the surprise first? Replay this puzzle — archived days never touch your streak.
Answer: Manhattan Island — 21.6 km. Manhattan Island measures 21.6 km (height), which is about 57.4× smaller than the reference, California at 1,240 km.
Manhattan is about 21.6 kilometres long.
Common miss: players tend to inflate Manhattan Island when it sits beside California — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: Metropolitan France — 1,000 km. Metropolitan France measures 1,000 km (length / span), which is about 1.3× smaller than the reference, Texas at 1,270 km.
Metropolitan France is nicknamed the Hexagon; no side of it runs much beyond 1,000 km.
Common miss: players tend to inflate metropolitan France when it sits beside Texas — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: Contiguous United States — 4,500 km. The contiguous United States measures 4,500 km (length / span), which is 1.3× as big as the reference, the Moon at 3,474.8 km.
The lower 48 stretch roughly 4,500 kilometres coast to coast.
Common miss: players tend to compress the contiguous United States when it sits beside the Moon — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: Texas — 1,270 km. Texas measures 1,270 km (length / span), which is 1.3× as big as the reference, metropolitan France at 1,000 km.
Texas stretches about 1,270 kilometres east to west.
Common miss: players tend to compress Texas when it sits beside metropolitan France — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: Hawaiʻi Island — 150 km. Hawaiʻi Island measures 150 km (length / span), which is about 26.7× smaller than the reference, Australia at 4,000 km.
The Big Island is larger than all the other Hawaiian islands combined, and still growing.
Common miss: players tend to inflate Hawaiʻi Island when it sits beside Australia — 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.