{"dateKey":"2026-10-29","todayKey":"2026-10-29","archiveStartKey":"2026-04-17","calendarThroughKey":"2026-10-29","nextRollover":"2026-10-30T09:00:00.976Z","state":"ready","puzzles":{"orange":{"id":"word-recognition-v","series":{"id":"word-recognition","edition":5},"topics":["vocabulary","history","technology"],"type":"bijection","context":"general","title":"Word Recognition V","description":"Match each term to its changing popularity in English-language books.","explanation":"Each graph has its own scale, so judge the shape - not the height.\n\nSome words have more than one meaning. The graphs count all uses of each term, so consider how its meaning may have changed over time.\n\nThe graphs end in 2022.","columnA":"Word","columnB":"Usage, 1800-2022","separator":"","starThresholds":[2,5,9],"footnote":"Source: case-insensitive searches of the [Google Books Ngram Viewer English corpus ↗](https://books.google.com/ngrams/). Values are occurrences per billion n-grams of the same length, shown as centered five-year averages. Early years contain fewer books; OCR, corpus changes, and tokenization can affect the curves. Two anomalous early-year spikes are omitted from one graph.","pairs":[{"id":"napoleon","itemA":"Napoleon","itemB":"{{img:/word-recognition/beta-1001/graph-01.svg|Word popularity graph 1|display:block;width:clamp(148px,22vw,190px);aspect-ratio:3/2;object-fit:contain;max-width:calc(50vw - 38px);margin:0 auto}}","sortA":5,"sortB":7,"display":"The first peak falls just after Waterloo in 1815. The name belongs to two French emperors: his nephew ruled as Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, during the later nineteenth-century wave."},{"id":"dynamite","itemA":"Dynamite","itemB":"{{img:/word-recognition/beta-1001/graph-02.svg|Word popularity graph 2|display:block;width:clamp(148px,22vw,190px);aspect-ratio:3/2;object-fit:contain;max-width:calc(50vw - 38px);margin:0 auto}}","sortA":2,"sortB":9,"display":"Alfred Nobel patented the explosive in 1867, just before the curve takes off. It made blasting for mines, tunnels and railways much more practical."},{"id":"napoleon-dynamite","itemA":"Napoleon Dynamite","itemB":"{{img:/word-recognition/beta-1001/graph-03.svg|Word popularity graph 3|display:block;width:clamp(148px,22vw,190px);aspect-ratio:3/2;object-fit:contain;max-width:calc(50vw - 38px);margin:0 auto}}","sortA":6,"sortB":4,"display":"The 2004 comedy premiered at Sundance and became a cult hit. The book-frequency curve peaks in 2007, a few years after its release."},{"id":"electric-vehicles","itemA":"Electric Vehicles","itemB":"{{img:/word-recognition/beta-1001/graph-04.svg|Word popularity graph 4|display:block;width:clamp(148px,22vw,190px);aspect-ratio:3/2;object-fit:contain;max-width:calc(50vw - 38px);margin:0 auto}}","sortA":3,"sortB":1,"display":"Electric transport had an early heyday around 1900, including cars and trams. Petrol cars then gained the advantage in price and range. The 1970s oil crises renewed interest, decades before the modern boom."},{"id":"submarine","itemA":"Submarine","itemB":"{{img:/word-recognition/beta-1001/graph-05.svg|Word popularity graph 5|display:block;width:clamp(148px,22vw,190px);aspect-ratio:3/2;object-fit:contain;max-width:calc(50vw - 38px);margin:0 auto}}","sortA":8,"sortB":6,"display":"The two wartime peaks fall in 1917 and 1944. German U-boats threatened the ships supplying Britain in both world wars; merchant ships sailed in escorted convoys for protection."},{"id":"football","itemA":"Football","itemB":"{{img:/word-recognition/beta-1001/graph-06.svg|Word popularity graph 6|display:block;width:clamp(148px,22vw,190px);aspect-ratio:3/2;object-fit:contain;max-width:calc(50vw - 38px);margin:0 auto}}","sortA":4,"sortB":8,"display":"This combines several sports, including soccer and American football. The long rise spans the growth of their modern codes: England's Football Association was founded in 1863, and the NFL followed in 1920."},{"id":"blackberry","itemA":"Blackberry","itemB":"{{img:/word-recognition/beta-1001/graph-07.svg|Word popularity graph 7|display:block;width:clamp(148px,22vw,190px);aspect-ratio:3/2;object-fit:contain;max-width:calc(50vw - 38px);margin:0 auto}}","sortA":1,"sortB":3,"display":"The fruit was a subject of nineteenth-century horticultural writing, including guides to new varieties. The modern crest in 2009 coincides with the mobile-device brand, introduced in 1999."},{"id":"unemployed","itemA":"Unemployed","itemB":"{{img:/word-recognition/beta-1001/graph-08.svg|Word popularity graph 8|display:block;width:clamp(148px,22vw,190px);aspect-ratio:3/2;object-fit:contain;max-width:calc(50vw - 38px);margin:0 auto}}","sortA":9,"sortB":5,"display":"The 1933 peak coincides with the depths of the Great Depression, when roughly a quarter of the US workforce was out of work."},{"id":"victoria","itemA":"Victoria","itemB":"{{img:/word-recognition/beta-1001/graph-09.svg|Word popularity graph 9|display:block;width:clamp(148px,22vw,190px);aspect-ratio:3/2;object-fit:contain;max-width:calc(50vw - 38px);margin:0 auto}}","sortA":10,"sortB":10,"display":"The long rise spans Queen Victoria's reign, from 1837 to 1901. The peak comes in 1902, the year after her death."},{"id":"phrenology","itemA":"Phrenology","itemB":"{{img:/word-recognition/beta-1001/graph-10.svg|Word popularity graph 10|display:block;width:clamp(148px,22vw,190px);aspect-ratio:3/2;object-fit:contain;max-width:calc(50vw - 38px);margin:0 auto}}","sortA":7,"sortB":2,"display":"The 1838 peak falls during the craze for reading personality from the shape of the skull. The medical profession eventually dismissed the practice as quackery."}],"seriesNavigation":{"id":"word-recognition","currentEdition":5,"editions":[{"id":"word-recognition","title":"Word Recognition","edition":1,"path":"/word-recognition"},{"id":"word-recognition-ii","title":"Word Recognition II","edition":2,"path":"/word-recognition-ii"},{"id":"word-recognition-iii","title":"Word Recognition III","edition":3,"path":"/word-recognition-iii"},{"id":"word-recognition-iv","title":"Word Recognition IV","edition":4,"path":"/word-recognition-iv"},{"id":"word-recognition-v","title":"Word Recognition V","edition":5,"path":"/word-recognition-v"}]}},"purple":{"id":"the-monster-enters","series":{"id":"the-monster-enters","edition":1},"topics":["literature"],"type":"bijection","context":"general","title":"The Monster Enters","description":"Match each book or story to an unsettling encounter.","explanation":"The authors' own words, with some cuts marked by ...","columnA":"Book or story","columnB":"Passage","separator":"","starThresholds":[2,5,9],"pairs":[{"id":"frankenstein","itemA":"Frankenstein","itemB":"I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath...","display":"Mary Shelley. [Frankenstein, Chapter 5 ↗](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/84/pg84-images.html)","sortB":7},{"id":"dracula","itemA":"Dracula","itemB":"I saw the whole man slowly emerge from the window and begin to crawl down the castle wall ... face down with his cloak spreading out around him like great wings.","display":"Bram Stoker. [Dracula, Chapter 3 ↗](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/345/pg345-images.html)\n\nJonathan Harker watches from another window in the castle.","sortB":2},{"id":"invisible-man","itemA":"The Invisible Man","itemB":"He took off his hat, and with a violent gesture tore at his whiskers and bandages. ... They were prepared for scars, disfigurements, tangible horrors, but nothing!","display":"H. G. Wells. [The Invisible Man, Chapter 7 ↗](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/5230/pg5230-images.html)","sortB":9},{"id":"hound","itemA":"The Hound of the Baskervilles","itemB":"Fire burst from its open mouth, its eyes glowed with a smouldering glare, its muzzle and hackles and dewlap were outlined in flickering flame.","display":"Arthur Conan Doyle. [The Hound of the Baskervilles, Chapter 14 ↗](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2852/pg2852-images.html)","sortB":4},{"id":"war-worlds","itemA":"The War of the Worlds","itemB":"A monstrous tripod, higher than many houses ... a walking engine of glittering metal, striding now across the heather; articulate ropes of steel dangling from it...","display":"H. G. Wells. [The War of the Worlds, Book 1, Chapter 10 ↗](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/36/pg36-images.html)","sortB":6},{"id":"jekyll","itemA":"Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde","itemB":"I compounded the elements, watched them boil and smoke together in the glass ... drank off the potion. ... I knew myself, at the first breath of this new life, to be more wicked, tenfold more wicked...","display":"Robert Louis Stevenson. [Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde ↗](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/43/pg43-images.html)\n\nFrom his account of his first experiment on himself.","sortB":10},{"id":"moreau","itemA":"The Island of Doctor Moreau","itemB":"Under his stringy black locks I saw his ear ... The man had pointed ears, covered with a fine brown fur! \"Your breakfast, sair,\" he said.","display":"H. G. Wells. [The Island of Doctor Moreau, Chapter 7 ↗](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/159/pg159-images.html)","sortB":5},{"id":"christmas-carol","itemA":"A Christmas Carol","itemB":"The chain he drew was clasped about his middle. ... it was made ... of cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds, and heavy purses wrought in steel.","display":"Charles Dickens. [A Christmas Carol, Stave 1 ↗](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/46/pg46-images.html)\n\nJacob Marley's chain carries the tools of the business he cared about more than other people.","sortB":3},{"id":"sleepy-hollow","itemA":"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow","itemB":"The head, which should have rested on his shoulders, was carried before him on the pommel of his saddle!","display":"Washington Irving. [The Legend of Sleepy Hollow ↗](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/41/pg41-images.html)","sortB":8},{"id":"canterville","itemA":"The Canterville Ghost","itemB":"His eyes were as red burning coals ... from his wrists and ankles hung heavy manacles and rusty gyves. ... \"I really must insist on your oiling those chains...\"","display":"Oscar Wilde. [The Canterville Ghost, Section 2 ↗](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/14522/pg14522-images.html)\n\nThe American homeowner treats the haunting as a maintenance problem.","sortB":1}]},"green":{"id":"doctor-speak-iii","series":{"id":"doctor-speak","edition":3},"topics":["vocabulary","health"],"type":"bijection","context":"general","title":"Doctor Speak III","description":"Match each clinical term to its common name.","explanation":"Match the clinical terms to their everyday meanings.","columnA":"Medical name","columnB":"Common name","separator":"aka","starThresholds":[2,5,9],"pairs":[{"id":"dysphagia","itemA":"Dysphagia","itemB":"Difficulty swallowing","display":"Greek dys- ('difficult') + phagia ('eating')."},{"id":"diplopia","itemA":"Diplopia","itemB":"Double vision","display":"Greek diploos ('double') + ops ('eye')."},{"id":"hyperhidrosis","itemA":"Hyperhidrosis","itemB":"Excessive sweating","display":"Greek hyper- ('excessive') + hidros ('sweat')."},{"id":"paresthesia","itemA":"Paresthesia","itemB":"Pins and needles","display":"Greek para- ('abnormal') + aisthesis ('sensation'), the same sensation root found in anesthesia."},{"id":"rhinorrhea","itemA":"Rhinorrhea","itemB":"Runny nose","display":"Greek rhino- ('nose') + rhoia ('flow')."},{"id":"syncope","itemA":"Syncope","itemB":"Fainting","display":"Greek synkope meant 'a cutting short', here a sudden interruption of consciousness."},{"id":"emesis","itemA":"Emesis","itemB":"Vomiting","display":"From Greek emein, 'to vomit', also the source of emetic."},{"id":"pyrexia","itemA":"Pyrexia","itemB":"Fever","display":"From Greek pyrexis ('feverishness'), related to pyr ('fire')."},{"id":"eructation","itemA":"Eructation","itemB":"Burping","display":"Latin e- ('out') + ructare ('to belch')."},{"id":"borborygmi","itemA":"Borborygmi","itemB":"Stomach rumbling","display":"The Greek borborygmos imitates the sound it describes. The rumbling can come from the intestines as well as the stomach."}],"seriesNavigation":{"id":"doctor-speak","currentEdition":3,"editions":[{"id":"doctor-speak-ii","title":"Doctor Speak II","edition":2,"path":"/doctor-speak-ii"},{"id":"doctor-speak-iii","title":"Doctor Speak III","edition":3,"path":"/doctor-speak-iii"}]}},"blue":{"id":"lokalflaggen","series":{"id":"lokalflaggen","edition":1},"type":"bijection","context":"general","title":"Lokalflaggen","description":"Match cities and regions to their flags.","columnA":"Place","columnB":"Flag","separator":"","starThresholds":[3,6,11],"footnote":"Artwork from Wikimedia Commons. Image 8 by Jwnabd: [CC BY-SA 3.0 ↗](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/). Other images are public domain. Images 19, 22 and 23 rendered as PNGs; designs unchanged.","pairs":[{"id":"amsterdam","itemA":"Amsterdam","itemB":"{{img:/local-colours/symbol-01.svg|Symbol 1|display:block;width:clamp(148px,22vw,190px);aspect-ratio:1/1;object-fit:contain;max-width:calc(50vw - 38px);margin:0 auto}}","sortB":8,"display":"Those are St. Andrew's crosses. Their resemblance to the modern shorthand for X-rated entertainment is a coincidence."},{"id":"bavaria","itemA":"Bavaria","itemB":"{{img:/local-colours/symbol-08.svg|Symbol 8|display:block;width:clamp(148px,22vw,190px);aspect-ratio:1/1;object-fit:contain;max-width:calc(50vw - 38px);margin:0 auto}}","sortB":3,"display":"The blue-and-white diamonds came to the ruling Wittelsbach family from the Counts of Bogen. They also appear at the centre of the Bayern Munich badge. The BMW logo uses the same Bavarian colours."},{"id":"catalonia","itemA":"Catalonia","itemB":"{{img:/local-colours/symbol-12.svg|Symbol 12|display:block;width:clamp(148px,22vw,190px);aspect-ratio:1/1;object-fit:contain;max-width:calc(50vw - 38px);margin:0 auto}}","sortB":10,"display":"The four red bars appear on a seal of the Count of Barcelona from 1150. The version with a star is a separate flag associated with the independence movement."},{"id":"chicago","itemA":"Chicago","itemB":"{{img:/local-colours/symbol-15.svg|Symbol 15|display:block;width:clamp(148px,22vw,190px);aspect-ratio:1/1;object-fit:contain;max-width:calc(50vw - 38px);margin:0 auto}}","sortB":12,"display":"The stars mark Fort Dearborn, the Great Fire and two world's fairs. The flag originally had only two stars."},{"id":"hawaii","itemA":"Hawaii","itemB":"{{img:/local-colours/symbol-10.svg|Symbol 10|display:block;width:clamp(148px,22vw,190px);aspect-ratio:1/1;object-fit:contain;max-width:calc(50vw - 38px);margin:0 auto}}","sortB":6,"display":"The eight stripes represent the eight main islands. The Union Jack survives from the flag of the Hawaiian Kingdom."},{"id":"new-mexico","itemA":"New Mexico","itemB":"{{img:/local-colours/symbol-09.svg|Symbol 9|display:block;width:clamp(148px,22vw,190px);aspect-ratio:1/1;object-fit:contain;max-width:calc(50vw - 38px);margin:0 auto}}","sortB":4,"display":"The sun symbol comes from Zia Pueblo. Its four groups of rays reflect the importance of four: directions, seasons, parts of the day and stages of life. In a 2001 survey, vexillologists (flag scholars) ranked it the best of 72 state, provincial and territorial flags from the U.S. and Canada."},{"id":"nunavut","itemA":"Nunavut","itemB":"{{img:/local-colours/symbol-22.png|Symbol 22|display:block;width:clamp(148px,22vw,190px);aspect-ratio:1/1;object-fit:contain;max-width:calc(50vw - 38px);margin:0 auto}}","sortB":1,"display":"The inuksuk is a stone landmark used for guidance and to mark significant places. The blue star is the North Star."},{"id":"quebec","itemA":"Quebec","itemB":"{{img:/local-colours/symbol-07.svg|Symbol 7|display:block;width:clamp(148px,22vw,190px);aspect-ratio:1/1;object-fit:contain;max-width:calc(50vw - 38px);margin:0 auto}}","sortB":11,"display":"The Fleurdelisé was inspired by an old French military banner. The flowers are fleurs-de-lis, the traditional emblem of French royalty."},{"id":"sicily","itemA":"Sicily","itemB":"{{img:/local-colours/symbol-23.png|Symbol 23|display:block;width:clamp(148px,22vw,190px);aspect-ratio:1/1;object-fit:contain;max-width:calc(50vw - 38px);margin:0 auto}}","sortB":9,"display":"The three legs surround a Gorgon's head, with ears of wheat between them. The three-legged figure is called a triskelion."},{"id":"texas","itemA":"Texas","itemB":"{{img:/local-colours/symbol-19.png|Symbol 19|display:block;width:clamp(148px,22vw,190px);aspect-ratio:1/1;object-fit:contain;max-width:calc(50vw - 38px);margin:0 auto}}","sortB":2,"display":"The Lone Star Flag was adopted by the independent republic in 1839, before it became a US state."},{"id":"toronto","itemA":"Toronto","itemB":"{{img:/local-colours/symbol-04.svg|Symbol 4|display:block;width:clamp(148px,22vw,190px);aspect-ratio:1/1;object-fit:contain;max-width:calc(50vw - 38px);margin:0 auto}}","sortB":5,"display":"The white shape is the 1965 City Hall building, with its two curved towers. It also forms a T."},{"id":"western-australia","itemA":"Western Australia","itemB":"{{img:/local-colours/symbol-11.svg|Symbol 11|display:block;width:clamp(148px,22vw,190px);aspect-ratio:1/1;object-fit:contain;max-width:calc(50vw - 38px);margin:0 auto}}","sortB":7,"display":"The black swan has represented the colony and state since the nineteenth century. The colony was originally known as the Swan River Colony."}]}},"originalDate":null,"nextDayMaybeDelayed":false}