DAILY NO. 49 · VERIFIED MEASUREMENTS
The November 9, 2026 puzzle ran from a ladybird beetle at 1 cm to the contiguous United States at 4,500 km — 8 orders of magnitude apart, drawing on music, insects & bugs, everyday, landmarks, geography. The pair furthest apart was round 4: the Burj Khalifa is 1.9× as big as the Empire State Building.
Puzzle #49 asked about a concert harp, a ladybird beetle, a refrigerator, the Burj Khalifa and the contiguous United States. Each answer below gives the measured size, the reference it stood beside and the source behind the number. Want the surprise first? Replay this puzzle — archived days never touch your streak.
Answer: Concert Harp — 1.9 m. A concert harp measures 1.9 m (height), which is about 1.1× smaller than the reference, a surfboard at 2 m.
Forty-seven strings holding close to a tonne of combined tension.
Common miss: players tend to inflate a concert harp when it sits beside a surfboard — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: Ladybird Beetle — 1 cm. A ladybird beetle measures 1 cm (length / span), which is about 1.5× smaller than the reference, a honey bee 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 honey bee — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: Refrigerator — 1.8 m. A refrigerator measures 1.8 m (height), which is 1.1× as big as the reference, a floor lamp at 1.6 m.
A full-height fridge-freezer stops just short of eye level for most adults.
Common miss: players tend to compress a refrigerator when it sits beside a floor lamp — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: Burj Khalifa — 828 m. The Burj Khalifa measures 828 m (height), which is 1.9× as big as the reference, the Empire State Building at 443.2 m.
At 828 metres, Burj Khalifa is the tallest completed building.
Common miss: players tend to compress the Burj Khalifa when it sits beside the Empire State Building — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: Contiguous United States — 4,500 km. The contiguous United States measures 4,500 km (length / span), which is almost exactly the same size as the reference, Brazil at 4,320 km.
The lower 48 stretch roughly 4,500 kilometres coast to coast.
Common miss: players tend to compress the contiguous United States when it sits beside Brazil — 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.