Sorta Game — the daily ordering puzzle

Sorta Game puzzle #5 · July 15, 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 repeating events from the longest amount of time between occurrences to the shortest.

   • A Summer Olympic Games
   • The return of Halley's Comet to the inner solar system
   • A resting human's inhale and exhale
   • The filing deadline for annual US income taxes
   • The rhythmic pulsing of a quartz crystal inside a standard wristwatch

2. Round 2

   Order these sources of sound by the fundamental pitch they generate, from lowest to highest.

   • The continuous dial tone of a landline telephone
   • The piercing alert beep of a smoke detector
   • The background hum of a kitchen refrigerator
   • The deep rumble of a tectonic earthquake
   • The echolocation click of a hunting bat

3. Round 3

   Order these phenomena by their electromagnetic wavelength, from longest to shortest.

   • The concentrated visible beam of a red laser pointer
   • The penetrating imaging radiation of a hospital X-ray machine
   • The invisible cooking energy inside a microwave oven
   • An AM radio station's transmission
   • The skin-damaging rays of a tanning bed

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