Plain #1 recap for Sunday, October 18, 2026

We checked the official archive for Plain #1 on 2026-10-25, after New York midnight had closed that puzzle. Five of seven listed answers landed inside 1 percent. The two Close rounds were episode count and country area. The day used 7 “name the closest thing” rounds and 0 “estimate the number” rounds. That mix is not fixed. Do not assume every day is five names and two numbers.

What the day asked

This is a category overview, not a copy of the official answer list. Open the official Plain #1 answers for all seven prompts, targets and solutions. Below we discuss only three selected examples in our own words.

Why those results sit where they do

• Famous Lives. Age at death is a clean exact match when the list contains that age. Source credited by the official archive: wikidata.org.
• Caffeine Kick. Serving size is part of the answer. A different can size would miss. Source credited by the official archive: cspi.org.
• Drama Binge. One episode over a small target is still only a few percent. Source credited by the official archive: en.wikipedia.org.

The ratio rule is points = round(100 × e^(−2 × |ln(answer ÷ target)|)), with a +25 Dialed bonus and doubled Golden Round. Years are the exception: the official rules say up to 3 years off is Close, and only the exact year is Dialed. We do not infer unpublished year point values or a player's final altitude from the archive.

Keep going

• This is the first archived puzzle.
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• How this tier was scored
• Category sources and units
• Official archive page

• Official Plain #1 archive
• Official how to play (scoring and year rule)