DAILY NO. 39 · 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 30, 2026 puzzle ran from a mosquito 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 2: a Goliath birdeater is about 1.3× smaller than a large pizza.
Answer: Goliath Beetle — 11 cm. A Goliath beetle measures 11 cm (length / span), which is 1.1× as big as the reference, a monarch butterfly at 10 cm.
Among the heaviest insects alive — the larvae can reach 100 g.
Common miss: players tend to compress a Goliath beetle when it sits beside a monarch butterfly — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: Goliath Birdeater — 28 cm. A Goliath birdeater measures 28 cm (length / span), which is about 1.3× smaller than the reference, a large pizza at 35.6 cm.
Its leg span can be wider than a dinner plate.
Common miss: players tend to inflate a Goliath birdeater when it sits beside a large pizza — 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.
Answer: Mosquito — 1.5 cm. A mosquito measures 1.5 cm (length / span), which is almost exactly the same size as the reference, a honey bee at 1.5 cm.
Only the females bite; the whine is the wingbeat, hundreds of times a second.
Common miss: players tend to inflate a mosquito when it sits beside a honey bee — 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 1.2× 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.
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.