DAILY NO. 28 · 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 19, 2026 puzzle ran from a ladybird beetle at 1 cm to a giant stick insect at 56 cm — about 56× apart, drawing on insects & bugs. The pair furthest apart was round 3: a giant stick insect is about 1.5× smaller than a baseball bat.
Answer: Ladybird Beetle — 1 cm. A ladybird beetle measures 1 cm (length / span), which is about 1.5× smaller than the reference, a mosquito at 1.5 cm.
One ladybird can eat several thousand aphids in a lifetime.
Common miss: players tend to inflate a ladybird beetle when it sits beside a mosquito — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: Giant Centipede — 30 cm. A giant centipede measures 30 cm (length / span), which is about 1.2× smaller than the reference, a laptop computer at 35 cm.
Scolopendra gigantea hunts bats in mid-air, plucking them from cave ceilings.
Common miss: players tend to inflate a giant centipede when it sits beside a laptop computer — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: Giant Stick Insect — 56 cm. A giant stick insect measures 56 cm (length / span), which is about 1.5× smaller than the reference, a baseball bat at 86 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 baseball bat — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: Atlas Moth Wingspan — 27 cm. An Atlas moth wingspan measures 27 cm (length / span), which is almost exactly the same size as the reference, an American football at 28 cm.
Atlas moths have some of the largest wings of any insect.
Common miss: players tend to inflate an Atlas moth wingspan when it sits beside an American football — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: Large Dragonfly — 12 cm. A large dragonfly measures 12 cm (length / span), which is 1.2× as big as the reference, a hamburger at 10 cm.
Dragonflies catch their prey on over ninety per cent of attempts, the best hit rate of any predator.
Common miss: players tend to compress a large dragonfly when it sits beside a hamburger — 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.