Monday, October 12, 2026
Sortie! answer for October 12, 2026
Oct 12’s Sortie! hints
Hint 1
Hint 2
Hint 3
Reveal the answer
2. Name a Shakespeare play. — Best: The Two Gentlemen of Verona (23 letters); also strong: The Merry Wives of Windsor (22 letters).
3. Name an HBO original series. — Best: Real Time with Bill Maher (700 episodes); also strong: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (360 episodes).
4. Name a chemical element. — Best: Darmstadtium (3,480 g/cm³×100); also strong: Roentgenium (2,870 g/cm³×100).
5. Name a 5 letter word that has an X in it. — Best: xebec (5 X position); also strong: xenia (5 X position).
6. Name a star sign. — Best: Aquarius (17 Scrabble); also strong: Capricorn (15 Scrabble).
Why this is the answer (spoilers)
This daily ran six prompts, each scored by a measured rule rather than by rarity. On “Name the capital of a European country.”, the winning answer was Baku at 1,828 mi from Prague, ahead of Reykjavik at 1,640 mi from Prague. On “Name a Shakespeare play.”, the winning answer was The Two Gentlemen of Verona at 23 letters, ahead of The Merry Wives of Windsor at 22 letters. On “Name an HBO original series.”, the winning answer was Real Time with Bill Maher at 700 episodes, ahead of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver at 360 episodes. Naming mattered too: The Two Gentlemen of Verona is also accepted as Two Gentlemen of Verona, Two Gentlemen, which helps if you only know the short form. The counterintuitive one was “Name a 5 letter word that has an X in it.”, where the earlier in the word the x is, the higher you fly — so xebec outscored the more famous picks. Magnitudes and sources are the game's own, as listed in its archive notes for this date.