DAILY NO. 27 · VERIFIED MEASUREMENTS
Today's five insects & bugs Size It Up comparisons with the measured size of each object, its reference and a source you can check. The puzzle is still live, so every answer stays hidden until you tap it. Haven't played yet? Play today's puzzle first.
The October 18, 2026 puzzle ran from a leafcutter ant at 1.3 cm to a large dragonfly at 12 cm — about 9× apart, drawing on insects & bugs. The pair furthest apart was round 3: a honey bee is 1.5× as big as a ladybird beetle.
Answer: Leafcutter Ant — 1.3 cm. A leafcutter ant measures 1.3 cm (length / span), which is about 1.2× smaller than the reference, a honey bee at 1.5 cm.
Leafcutters routinely carry many times their own body weight.
Common miss: players tend to inflate a leafcutter ant when it sits beside a honey bee — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: Monarch Butterfly — 10 cm. A monarch butterfly measures 10 cm (length / span), which is almost exactly the same size as the reference, a hamburger at 10 cm.
Monarchs migrate as far as 4,000 km on a 10 cm wingspan.
Common miss: players tend to inflate a monarch butterfly when it sits beside a hamburger — 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 1.5× as big as the reference, a ladybird beetle at 1 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 ladybird beetle — 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: Large Dragonfly — 12 cm. A large dragonfly measures 12 cm (length / span), which is about 1.3× smaller than the reference, a hard-shell taco 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 hard-shell taco — 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.