DAILY NO. 5 · VERIFIED MEASUREMENTS
The September 26, 2026 puzzle ran from a hockey puck at 7.6 cm to an American football field at 109.7 m — 3 orders of magnitude apart, drawing on sports. The pair furthest apart was round 1: an American football field is 1.6× as big as a Boeing 747.
Puzzle #5 asked about an American football field, a hockey puck, an American football, an NBA basketball and a hockey stick. 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: American Football Field — 109.7 m. An American football field measures 109.7 m (length / span), which is 1.6× as big as the reference, a Boeing 747 at 70.7 m.
Goal line to goal line is 100 yards; end zones make the full field 120 yards.
Common miss: players tend to compress an American football field when it sits beside a Boeing 747 — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: Hockey Puck — 7.6 cm. A hockey puck measures 7.6 cm (length / span), which is almost exactly the same size as the reference, an apple at 8 cm.
A regulation puck is exactly three inches across.
Common miss: players tend to inflate a hockey puck when it sits beside an apple — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: American Football — 28 cm. An American football measures 28 cm (length / span), which is about 1.3× smaller than the reference, a large pizza at 35.6 cm.
An American football is measured along its long axis; the pointed ends make it read larger than it is.
Common miss: players tend to inflate an American football when it sits beside a large pizza — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: NBA Basketball — 24.3 cm. An NBA basketball measures 24.3 cm (length / span), which is about 1.2× smaller than the reference, an American football at 28 cm.
An NBA ball is regulated by circumference, about 75 cm, which works out to just under 25 cm across.
Common miss: players tend to inflate an NBA basketball when it sits beside an American football — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: Hockey Stick — 1.6 m. A hockey stick measures 1.6 m (height), which is about 1.1× smaller than the reference, a refrigerator at 1.8 m.
A stick is fitted to reach between the chin and the nose when the player is standing on skates.
Common miss: players tend to inflate a hockey stick when it sits beside a refrigerator — 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.