Sorta Game — the daily ordering puzzle

Sorta Game puzzle #42 · August 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 historical subjects linked to France's most famous political upheaval from earliest to most recent.

   • The crafting of Napoleon's golden laurel crown
   • The construction of the Bastille fortress
   • The composing of the "La Marseillaise" national anthem
   • The birth of Queen Marie Antoinette
   • The drafting of the Declaration of the Rights of Man

2. Round 2

   Order these physical objects associated with the 18th and 19th-century manufacturing boom by their physical mass, from lightest to heaviest.

   • A single raw cotton boll ready for the mill
   • A woven wool blanket produced on an early power loom
   • James Hargreaves' original hand-cranked Spinning Jenny
   • The "Stephenson's Rocket" early steam locomotive
   • A wooden spinning bobbin used by textile workers

3. Round 3

   Order these diverse subjects linked to 16th and 17th-century scientific breakthroughs by the geographical latitude of their location, from southernmost to northernmost.

   • The birthplace of logarithm inventor John Napier in Edinburgh, Scotland
   • The legendary fruit tree that inspired Isaac Newton in Lincolnshire, England
   • The initial development of the Pascaline mechanical calculator in Rouen, France
   • The anatomical dissection theater constructed for university students in Uppsala, Sweden
   • The birth of physicist Galileo Galilei in Pisa, Italy

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