Sorta Game — the daily ordering puzzle

Sorta Game puzzle #11 · July 21, 2026

Three rounds of five things, each with a hidden scale to sort them by — then one last guess at the theme tying all three together. Here’s what this puzzle asks.

1. Round 1

   Order these highly polished physical objects by their standard maximum diameter or width, from narrowest to widest.

   • The primary light-gathering apparatus of the Hubble Space Telescope
   • A standard car's interior rearview device
   • A standard compact disc (CD)
   • Anish Kapoor's "Cloud Gate" sculpture in Chicago
   • A dentist's intraoral inspection tool

2. Round 2

   Order these milestones related to returning signals or bouncing waves by the year they occurred, from earliest to most recent.

   • The Moon-based array left by Apollo 11 to bounce laser pulses straight back to Earth
   • Ovid's publication of the myth of Narcissus and the nymph who repeated his words
   • The widespread adoption of "slapback" tape delay in rock and roll
   • The first successful demonstration of aircraft detection using radio waves
   • The first patent for a practical acoustic sound-ranging device for ships

3. Round 3

   Order these iconic works of culture by their original year of release or publication, from earliest to most recent.

   • Diego Velázquez's masterpiece depicting the artist painting the Spanish royal family
   • Charlie Brooker's dystopian sci-fi anthology series named for a cold, dark screen
   • Michael Jackson's hit song about looking at oneself to make a change
   • Lewis Carroll’s sequel novel where a young girl steps through the silvery surface hanging above a fireplace
   • The Brothers Grimm fairy tale featuring a vain queen and a magical truth-telling object

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