DAILY NO. 35 · VERIFIED MEASUREMENTS
Today's five sports 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 26, 2026 puzzle ran from a golf ball at 4.3 cm to an Olympic swimming pool at 50 m — 3 orders of magnitude apart, drawing on sports. The pair furthest apart was round 2: a golf ball is about 1.4× smaller than a house key.
Answer: Olympic Swimming Pool — 50 m. An Olympic swimming pool measures 50 m (length / span), which is 1.3× as big as the reference, a Space Shuttle orbiter at 37.3 m.
An Olympic pool is exactly 50 metres long.
Common miss: players tend to compress an Olympic swimming pool when it sits beside a Space Shuttle orbiter — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: Golf Ball — 4.3 cm. A golf ball measures 4.3 cm (length / span), which is about 1.4× smaller than the reference, a house key at 6 cm.
A golf ball cannot be smaller than 42.67 mm in diameter.
Common miss: players tend to inflate a golf ball when it sits beside a house key — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: Surfboard — 2 m. A surfboard measures 2 m (height), which is 1.1× as big as the reference, a refrigerator at 1.8 m.
A two-metre shortboard is smaller than most people picture — longboards start near three metres.
Common miss: players tend to compress a surfboard when it sits beside a refrigerator — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: Bowling Ball — 21.8 cm. A bowling ball measures 21.8 cm (length / span), which is about 1.3× smaller than the reference, an American football at 28 cm.
Every bowling ball is the same width — only the weight changes, from six to sixteen pounds.
Common miss: players tend to inflate a bowling ball when it sits beside an American football — 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 almost exactly the same size as the reference, a birthday cake at 25 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 a birthday cake — 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.