A million answers · Feb–Sep 2026

One million answers

A daily 3×3 grid game where anything in the universe can be an answer. Every square sits where two categories cross. Obscure answers score better than obvious ones.

1,000,000

Answers submitted

192,634

Distinct answers

39,326

Players

214

Daily grids

Turns out that asking people to name anything in the universe produces some strange and lovely data. It just crossed a million answers, so here is what is in it.

Every answer, by score

MORE OBSCUREMORE OBVIOUS

The ten most-submitted answers

“Grids” is how many puzzles the answer has appeared in. “Cells” is how many distinct squares it has filled.

#	Answer	Times submitted	Grids	Cells
1	Christmas	2,405	62	157
2	Independence Day (United States)	2,017	51	129
3	World War II	1,500	110	204
4	Sun	1,445	65	138
5	Eiffel Tower	1,167	55	93
6	Olympic Games	1,163	80	171
7	Ocean	1,121	61	103
8	Birthday	1,109	57	121
9	French Revolution	1,069	61	117
10	Valentine's Day	1,063	36	56

Christmas is submitted most, but World War II is the real skeleton key — it has filled 204 different squares across 110 different puzzles, more than anything else in the game.

They have been submitted thousands of times each, and yet all ten together are only 2.4% of every answer ever given.

The most obscure answers

Tied at the lowest score the game can give

Dream BankA drowned coral reef off south Texas. Its terraces record where sea level paused as the last ice age ended. Its neighbours are Baker, Aransas, Blackfish and Mysterious.
A Touch of SturgeonA 1987 paperback collecting eight Theodore Sturgeon short stories.
Gloucester County and West of England Industrial ExhibitionA two-week trade fair on a flood meadow outside Gloucester in June 1950, staged to show off West Country manufacturing as Britain came out of the war. Drew 200,000 people and featured a complete working dairy farm.
HariulfusA 4th-century Burgundian royal who died at twenty while serving at the Roman imperial court. Everything known about him comes from one gravestone dug up at Trier in 1877.
Borboniella octopsA moth found only on Réunion, in the Indian Ocean.
Kamuela Airport (closed 1953)A Hawaiian airstrip built by the Marines in 1944, briefly a civilian airport, closed in 1953. The runway is still there.
Johnson City Southern Railway CompanyAn early-1900s railway.
Zgornji Mamolj“Upper Mamolj” — a Slovenian hamlet that had 50 people in nine houses in 1900 and stopped existing in 1953, absorbed into the village below it.
Setting Net Lake mineA molybdenum deposit in northwestern Ontario, surveyed and never dug.
Girlevik II DamA dam in Turkey.

Obscure, yet popular anyway

Low score yet high volume — obscure things that lots of different people reached for independently

#	Answer	Views/day	Times	Grids	Cells
1	Red Wedding (Perugia)	19	75	12	17
2	California Book Awards	12	70	1	1
3	Penicillium citrinum	17	48	12	18
4	The Flower Fields	19	43	8	9
5	Cup of Tea (album)	3	35	22	27
6	Clown shoe	5	34	3	4
7	Red–red coalition	8	34	9	15
8	Pineapple cutter	12	33	5	7
9	Book Club of California	5	27	1	1
10	Is-Serkin	13	27	27	27
11	Areias (Portuguese food)	11	26	1	1

Nearly 114,000 answers were said once, ever

Six out of ten distinct answers in the game have been given by exactly one person and never again

Submitted exactly…	Distinct answers	Share of vocabulary
once	113,869	59.1%
twice	28,977	15.0%
three times	13,027	6.8%
ten times or more	14,790	7.7%

In 1,926 squares, a majority has agreed once

Share taken by each square’s single most popular answer

EVERYONE DISAGREESEVERYONE AGREES

Mean share: 9.3%. The curve dies out around 30%. The lone mark on the right is Celebration × Irish, where 50.35% said Saint Patrick’s Day — the only square in the game’s history where a majority ever agreed. The next closest is Figure × Argentina at 40.6% for Lionel Messi.

Top answer's share	Squares
under 10%	1,262
10–20%	545
20–30%	107
30–40%	9
40–50%	2
over 50%	1

Which puzzles prompted creativity

How many different answers a puzzle drew out of its players

Most variety

0.930

Book Lovers Day

Acrosshistorical · contemporary · figure

Downfiction · nonfiction · leisure

0.924

Friday Freebie

Acrossanything · big · small

Downanything · ancient · modern

0.920

Regions

Acrosshistorical · object · leisure

Downeurasia · americas · oceania

Least variety

0.621

Constantinople Founded

Acrossturkey · roman · east

Downcity · leader · large

0.649

Loving Day

Across1960s · love · equality

Downevent · figure · movement

0.651

Cross Country

AcrossUK · US · France

DownCanada · Italy · Spain

How this is measured: 300 answers are drawn at random from each puzzle and counted for distinct titles, five times over, averaged. 0.930 means 93% of a 300-answer sample was unique. Sampling a fixed number keeps busy puzzles from looking artificially repetitive.

What kind of thing?

The 500 most-submitted answers, categorised by hand

Events & occasions22.2%

Christmas2,405
Independence Day (United States)2,017
World War II1,500
Olympic Games1,163
Birthday1,109
French Revolution1,069

Nature & living things18.2%

Sun1,445
Ocean1,121
Beach955
Water946
Fish858
Tree738

Objects & things15.3%

Car871
Fireworks644
Clock635
United States Declaration of Independence617
Blood606
Airplane597

Places12.2%

Eiffel Tower1,167
Statue of Liberty1,054
United States691
Mount Everest687
Big Ben674
Stonehenge650

People8.9%

Elizabeth II910
Martin Luther King Jr.857
Donald Trump783
Napoleon666
Jesus661
Nelson Mandela644

Fiction & culture7.8%

Harry Potter616
The Beatles583
Mona Lisa553
Odyssey543
Star Wars470
Doctor Strange425

Activities7.2%

Football891
Swimming870
Sleep781
Party691
Walking676
Basketball640

Ideas & concepts4.6%

Big Bang768
Climate change468
Internet450
Pi411
Artificial intelligence411
Love392

Organisations & institutions3.6%

World Health Organization709
United Nations582
European Union449
Gucci445
NATO439
NASA423

Events & occasions

89 titles in the top 500 · 40,765 submissions · 22.2% of the 500

#	Answer	Times submitted	Grids	Cells
1	Christmas	2,405	62	157
2	Independence Day (United States)	2,017	51	129
3	World War II	1,500	110	204
4	Olympic Games	1,163	80	171
5	Birthday	1,109	57	121
6	French Revolution	1,069	61	117
7	Valentine's Day	1,063	36	56
8	Day of the Dead	912	41	78
9	Chinese New Year	774	38	72
10	Saint Patrick's Day	770	35	60

Nature & living things

89 titles in the top 500 · 33,500 submissions · 18.2% of the 500

#	Answer	Times submitted	Grids	Cells
1	Sun	1,445	65	138
2	Ocean	1,121	61	103
3	Beach	955	46	94
4	Water	946	83	152
5	Fish	858	57	96
6	Tree	738	57	112
7	Mars	711	37	59
8	Moon	686	68	124
9	Bird	660	46	71
10	Earth	644	67	113

Objects & things

86 titles in the top 500 · 28,145 submissions · 15.3% of the 500

#	Answer	Times submitted	Grids	Cells
1	Car	871	71	125
2	Fireworks	644	61	125
3	Clock	635	36	67
4	United States Declaration of Independence	617	46	83
5	Blood	606	42	73
6	Airplane	597	44	75
7	Bicycle	498	40	75
8	Diamond	490	25	40
9	Roller coaster	489	37	59
10	Tea	488	42	72

Places

60 titles in the top 500 · 22,478 submissions · 12.2% of the 500

#	Answer	Times submitted	Grids	Cells
1	Eiffel Tower	1,167	55	93
2	Statue of Liberty	1,054	74	138
3	United States	691	100	173
4	Mount Everest	687	46	71
5	Big Ben	674	43	71
6	Stonehenge	650	44	73
7	Colosseum	632	42	71
8	China	537	60	92
9	Great Wall of China	513	42	70
10	New York City	492	50	82

People

44 titles in the top 500 · 16,355 submissions · 8.9% of the 500

#	Answer	Times submitted	Grids	Cells
1	Elizabeth II	910	46	79
2	Martin Luther King Jr.	857	58	104
3	Donald Trump	783	93	171
4	Napoleon	666	50	94
5	Jesus	661	68	109
6	Nelson Mandela	644	44	76
7	Christopher Columbus	565	43	67
8	Mahatma Gandhi	499	44	72
9	Michael Jackson	459	71	110
10	Albert Einstein	425	45	61

Fiction & culture

48 titles in the top 500 · 14,314 submissions · 7.8% of the 500

#	Answer	Times submitted	Grids	Cells
1	Harry Potter	616	34	74
2	The Beatles	583	37	69
3	Mona Lisa	553	32	45
4	Odyssey	543	35	60
5	Star Wars	470	41	62
6	Doctor Strange	425	11	20
7	Friends	423	21	44
8	Batman	413	37	62
9	SpongeBob SquarePants	392	44	77
10	The Scream	379	14	20

Activities

36 titles in the top 500 · 13,333 submissions · 7.2% of the 500

#	Answer	Times submitted	Grids	Cells
1	Football	891	74	152
2	Swimming	870	48	81
3	Sleep	781	39	75
4	Party	691	70	137
5	Walking	676	47	83
6	Basketball	640	47	84
7	Association football	592	51	110
8	Dance	569	61	120
9	Running	542	49	87
10	Reading	459	30	65

Ideas & concepts

28 titles in the top 500 · 8,442 submissions · 4.6% of the 500

#	Answer	Times submitted	Grids	Cells
1	Big Bang	768	57	110
2	Climate change	468	49	92
3	Internet	450	54	96
4	Pi	411	27	46
5	Artificial intelligence	411	48	84
6	Love	392	58	102
7	Communism	379	40	57
8	Hippie	317	38	64
9	French language	297	13	23
10	Birth	278	53	96

Organisations & institutions

20 titles in the top 500 · 6,667 submissions · 3.6% of the 500

#	Answer	Times submitted	Grids	Cells
1	World Health Organization	709	28	57
2	United Nations	582	38	80
3	European Union	449	33	64
4	Gucci	445	14	29
5	NATO	439	38	74
6	NASA	423	56	85
7	Roman Empire	412	54	85
8	New York Knicks	340	15	27
9	Nobel Prize	279	26	44
10	Catholic Church	275	59	108

Odds and ends

Everything else worth a footnote

Depth over fame

19 : 1

331,471 answers landed in the two most obscure tiers; 17,384 in the two most famous.

Longest answer ever accepted

211 characters

Lopadotemachoselachogaleokranioleipsanodrimhypotrimmatosilphiokarabomelitokatakechymenokichlepikossyphophattoperisteralektryonoptekephalliokigklopeleiolagoiosiraiobaphetraganopterygon — an Ancient Greek fricassee from Aristophanes’ Assemblywomen.

183 letters, plus 28 soft hyphens that let the word wrap. Both count towards the stored length.

The first answer

Bee Gees

5 Feb 2026 · Dance Floor · score 146.34

The millionth answer

Pamphlet

6 Sep 2026 · Back to School · score 5.1 (~29× more obscure than the first answer)

Play today’s grid →