DAILY NO. 21 · VERIFIED MEASUREMENTS
The five insects & bugs objects from the Size It Up puzzle on October 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.
The October 12, 2026 puzzle ran from a honey bee at 1.5 cm to a giant stick insect at 56 cm — about 37× apart, drawing on insects & bugs. The pair furthest apart was round 5: a monarch butterfly is 1.3× as big as a chocolate chip cookie.
Answer: Giant Stick Insect — 56 cm. 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: Praying Mantis — 10 cm. A praying mantis measures 10 cm (length / span), which is almost exactly the same size as the reference, a monarch butterfly at 10 cm.
A mantis can turn its head almost all the way round, which few insects manage.
Common miss: players tend to inflate a praying mantis when it sits beside a monarch butterfly — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: Honey Bee — 1.5 cm. A honey bee measures 1.5 cm (length / span), which is 1.2× as big as the reference, a leafcutter ant at 1.3 cm.
A worker weighs about a tenth of a gram and cruises at 25 km/h.
Common miss: players tend to compress a honey bee when it sits beside a leafcutter ant — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: Large Dragonfly — 12 cm. A large dragonfly measures 12 cm (length / span), which is about 1.3× smaller than the reference, a hot dog at 15 cm.
Dragonflies catch their prey on over ninety per cent of attempts, the best hit rate of any predator.
Common miss: players tend to inflate a large dragonfly when it sits beside a hot dog — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: Monarch Butterfly — 10 cm. A monarch butterfly measures 10 cm (length / span), which is 1.3× as big as the reference, a chocolate chip cookie at 8 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 chocolate chip cookie — 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.