October 29, 2026, Dive #106, stores 16,414 names. The longest list is “Name a strategy board game” (7,827 recorded) and the shortest is “Name a country where another religion has more followers than Christianity” (69). 15,277 score 85 or higher.
Current edition7 questions · 16,414 recorded answersNext edition
16,414 recorded names15,277 at 85 or higher7 questions with an 85+ name
Work outward from the ordinary to the exceptional. Begin by listing the obvious dishes anyone would shout first, then deliberately discard them, because the recorded list is built almost entirely from entries that a normal shopper would never think of. Switch to the registers that generate thousands of names: protected regional products, farmhouse cheeses, cured meats, biscuits, fruit varieties, preserves, sweets and drinks. For each one, ask whether it has a documented local identity and a name longer than one word. If a candidate feels like something you would find in a village shop or on a monastery table rather than a supermarket, write it down. Quantity matters here, so keep producing variations of the same theme instead of hunting for one perfect answer, and prefer the spelling used by the producer.
Get a hint
Start from the widest map of what the two cuisines actually produce, from everyday staples and farmhouse dairy to festival baking and preserved fruit, then notice how many carry a place in their name.
A little more
Narrow the field to certified regional products, artisan dairy and cured meats, small-batch preserves and old bakery specialities whose fame never travelled beyond their own district.
One step further
Finally think of single-variety produce and monastic or farmhouse cheeses with an appellation, plus the sort of sweet that exists in one village only; the more precise the name, the better it fares.
Reveal answers 3,514
Bedfordshire clangerOne in a Krillion100points
5 StarDeep Cut85points
99 FlakeDeep Cut85points
Abbaye de BellocDeep Cut85points
Abbaye de CîteauxDeep Cut85points
Abbaye de la Pierre-Qui-VireDeep Cut85points
Abbaye de TamiéDeep Cut85points
Abbaye de TimadeucDeep Cut85points
Abbaye la Joie Notre-DameDeep Cut85points
Abbey CrunchDeep Cut85points
Aberdeen Angus beefDeep Cut85points
Aberdeen butteryDeep Cut85points
Why these answers count
The shape of the reveal says almost everything. Out of 3,495 recorded answers, 3,430 reached sixty points or better, and 2,728 of those landed on the same eighty-five-point shelf. That enormous middle band is where the game lives: any candidate specific enough to be verifiable and obscure enough to feel like local knowledge scored well, whether it was Bedfordshire clanger (100), Abbaye de Belloc (85) or Aberdeen buttery (85). The single hundred-point outlier shows the ceiling is reserved for the pick that almost nobody else found. At the other end, 701 answers stopped at sixty points, and those are the safe, obvious shouts that thousands of players produce at once. Rarity, not fame, drives the score here. A named farmhouse cheese, a village bake or a protected fruit variety outranks a dish everyone learned at school, because the scoring rewards the answer the crowd missed. Aim for precision and specificity, and accept that a long, half-forgotten name usually beats the famous one.
Name something you can measure about the human body
1,678 recorded answers
How to approach it
A fixed sweep beats free association here. Walk through the domains in order: outer dimensions taken with tape or caliper, the tissue proportions a scanner reports, the vital readings of a routine examination, the chemistry of fluid and breath, the output of organs working under load, the sharpness of the senses, athletic performance, and finally the scored questionnaires that turn behaviour into a figure. Inside each domain, skip the first obvious member and reach for the second or third tier, since the scoring rewards specificity. Phrase every candidate as a named quantity with a unit or a defined protocol rather than a loose attribute. When two options seem equally sound, pick the one a specialist would supply but a layperson would have to look up.
Get a hint
Start with the plain physical dimensions anyone could take with a tape or a scale, then let the field widen toward what gets written down during a routine clinic visit.
A little more
Past size and length, consider the signals a living body emits nonstop: rates, pressures, volumes and electrical rhythms that an instrument turns into a number.
One step further
Then head for the laboratory, where hundreds of substances in fluid or exhaled air are quantified, and for scored performances, sensory thresholds and questionnaire totals.
Reveal answers 1,678
Two-point discriminationOne in a Krillion100points
1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin DDeep Cut85points
1,5-AnhydroglucitolDeep Cut85points
1.5-mile run timeDeep Cut85points
17-HydroxyprogesteroneDeep Cut85points
2-mile run timeDeep Cut85points
2,3-BPG levelDeep Cut85points
2K erg timeDeep Cut85points
5-HIAADeep Cut85points
5'-nucleotidaseDeep Cut85points
5K timeDeep Cut85points
Abdominal depthDeep Cut85points
Why these answers count
Scoring works as a rarity curve with three steps, and nearly the whole field lands on the middle one. Of 1485 recorded answers, 1101 took 85 points, the broad band of specific technical measurements, while 339 settled for 60 and a single answer reached 100. What separates the tiers is how fast a general player arrives there. Everyday dimensions and the readings anyone has had taken at a check-up sit in the lower band because they come to mind within seconds. The 85-point mass is where precision pays: 'Two-point discrimination' occupies the summit alone, while 'ACTH', '1,5-Anhydroglucitol' and 'Abdominal skinfold' illustrate the middle step, each a real named quantity a specialist would offer and a casual player would not. Naming a recognised test or analyte, rather than gesturing at a vague attribute, is what lifts an entry off the floor.
Treat this as a memory-and-ranking exercise rather than a definitions test. First, list every tabletop design you can genuinely describe, from family staples and abstract classics to card-driven conflicts and economic simulations, because breadth sets your ceiling. Then sort the list by how many people worldwide could name the same title; the crowd-pleasers everyone remembers are the ones other respondents will also submit, so they pay least. Push toward items you know only from a specialist catalogue, a convention programme or a single play: regional editions, tiny print runs, series entries numbered in the dozens. Finally, test each entry against the definition, since a title without real strategic choice will not count, and copy the name exactly as the source spells it.
Get a hint
Nearly every published design qualifies, so the work is one of memory: sweep every shelf, club night and convention you have ever seen and note the titles that made you plan several moves ahead.
A little more
Move past mass-market shelves into specialist catalogues: small-press runs, imported editions, long-running series with dozens of numbered instalments and historical simulations reward the deepest memory.
One step further
The rarest picks live in the deep long tail: entries known only from hobby databases, many carrying a year and a colon in the title, odd punctuation at the front or a sparse abstract rule set.
Reveal answers 7,827
RithmomachiaOne in a Krillion100points
¡Adiós Calavera!Deep Cut85points
...and then, we held hands.Deep Cut85points
[redacted]Deep Cut85points
*StarDeep Cut85points
011Deep Cut85points
1 Stein + Co.Deep Cut85points
10 Days in AfricaDeep Cut85points
10 Days in AsiaDeep Cut85points
10 Days in EuropeDeep Cut85points
10 Days in the USADeep Cut85points
11Deep Cut85points
Why these answers count
Almost the entire field scored: of 7,473 recorded answers, 7,459 cleared sixty points, so the puzzle rewarded breadth of memory rather than luck. The single hundred-point entry, Rithmomachia, is a medieval arithmetic game that only a specialist would reach for, and it shows how far a genuinely obscure name can climb. The eighty-five-point band is dominated by hobby-catalogue depth: railway-economics titles such as 1830: Railways & Robber Barons, 1846: The Race for the Midwest and 18Chesapeake, alongside historical simulations like 1776 and 1812: The Invasion of Canada, all scored 85. The sixty-point tier held two hundred and twenty-four answers, recognisable designs that many respondents could name, which is precisely why they paid less. The pattern is blunt: the more players who can produce the same title, the smaller the reward, so the best move is the most specific published design you can honestly defend as a strategy game.
Name an animal with a one-word name containing "ck"
395 recorded answers
How to approach it
Work the alphabet rather than memory alone. Build a mental list of animal groups with a large inventory of short compound names, then test each candidate against the spelling rule before asking whether it is a genuine animal at all. A useful second pass is to take common prefixes and suffixes from natural history writing and recombine them, since many accepted names are built from a colour or a body part plus a plain second element. Keep a tally as you go so you do not circle back to the same few obvious creatures, and deliberately visit the specialist vocabulary of angling, falconry, entomology and livestock breeding, where the oddest single-word names survive.
Get a hint
Start with the broad families where short, punchy names dominate: birds, fish, insects and small mammals supply far more candidates than large land animals do.
A little more
Many of these names are compound words, so combine a colour, body part or habitat word with a second element and check whether the joined form is a recognised animal name.
One step further
Push past the obvious everyday creatures into regional, dialect and specialist names: game birds, food fish, dog breeds and invertebrates reward a deep vocabulary more than common pets do.
Reveal answers 395
DickcisselOne in a Krillion100points
AckieDeep Cut85points
AmberjackDeep Cut85points
AmrockDeep Cut85points
AntpeckerDeep Cut85points
BackswimmerDeep Cut85points
BackwormDeep Cut85points
BaddockDeep Cut85points
BardickDeep Cut85points
BeckerDeep Cut85points
BergscheckDeep Cut85points
BerrypeckerDeep Cut85points
Why these answers count
Scoring followed rarity rather than familiarity. The single hundred-point entry, Dickcissel, is a name most solvers never reach, so it stands alone at the top. The large band at eighty-five points is where the puzzle really lives: Ackie, Antpecker, Berrypecker, Blacksmith, Buckeye and Canvasback all sit there, and what unites them is that they are recognisable single words but not the first creatures anyone lists. Names like these are specific enough to be verifiable yet uncommon enough to feel like a discovery, which is exactly the profile the scoring rewards. The lower band at sixty points, forty-eight answers in total, is presumably reserved for the household names that every solver writes down in the first minute. The pattern is clear: the more obscure the corner of the animal kingdom, the more the answer pays, provided the spelling rule is satisfied and the name is genuinely one word.
Name a country where another religion has more followers than Christianity
69 recorded answers
How to approach it
Work outwards from religion rather than from a mental list of countries: take each major non-Christian faith in turn and ask which states it dominates demographically, constitutionally or culturally. That produces candidates faster than free recall. Then run a second pass over the awkward cases, such as secular republics with an established faith, small island economies, and states where migration or a post-independence settlement tipped the balance. For every candidate, confirm that the non-Christian share is a real majority rather than a plurality built on weak census data, and that the place is a recognised sovereign state and not a dependency. Rank what you have by obviousness before answering, because the famous cases will be offered by nearly everyone and pay little.
Get a hint
Begin from the world's large non-Christian faiths and ask which states they shape politically or demographically, instead of trying to recall country names first.
A little more
Add the less obvious cases: secular republics with a strongly established religion, tiny island economies, and countries whose Christian share fell after independence or through migration.
One step further
Push past the famous examples into microstates, island territories and desert or mountain republics where one non-Christian community forms an outright majority.
Reveal answers 69
MauritiusOne in a Krillion100points
AlbaniaDeep Cut85points
AzerbaijanDeep Cut85points
BhutanDeep Cut85points
BruneiDeep Cut85points
Burkina FasoDeep Cut85points
ChadDeep Cut85points
ComorosDeep Cut85points
DjiboutiDeep Cut85points
EritreaDeep Cut85points
GambiaDeep Cut85points
GuineaDeep Cut85points
Why these answers count
The scoring here rewards rarity, and the reveal shows it plainly. Mauritius, the single 100-point answer, sits alone at the top because almost nobody thinks of it, even though a majority of its population follows a faith other than Christianity. The 85-point tier is populated by countries where the non-Christian majority is overwhelming and long established, among them Azerbaijan, Gambia and Mauritania: obvious once you start listing states with an official or near-total non-Christian identity. The 60-point group is the crowded middle, where Algeria, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Singapore and Vietnam sit; they are correct, familiar and therefore cheap, because players reach them through the same handful of mental shortcuts. Everything below that is likely a Christian-majority country that only narrowly fails the test, or a territory rather than a state. The practical lesson is that a correct but conventional answer earns roughly half of a correct but unexpected one, so the last few minutes are best spent hunting one more quiet majority rather than verifying a safe pick.
Name someone who has been a teammate of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, LeBron James or Tom Brady
2,707 recorded answers
How to approach it
The workable method is to move sport by sport instead of chasing a single lucky memory. Pick one of the four careers, walk through its seasons in order, and for each stop recall two or three squad members who were never the headline: the reserve who filled in for a month, the veteran signed for depth, the youngster given a handful of minutes. Write those names down as they come, then repeat the sweep for the other three careers, because the overlap between a football dressing room and an American one is almost nil and each sport needs its own pass. Only after that list feels exhausted should you check the marginal cases, such as short loans, mid-season trades and tournament squads, where a connection of a few weeks still counts.
Get a hint
Start with the biggest squads you can recall from the last two decades and work backwards: club seasons, franchise rosters and national-team camps all supply names.
A little more
Narrow by role rather than fame: back-up goalkeepers, rotational bigs, special-teams specialists and one-cap internationals are the richest vein, because they shared a dressing room without ever being the story.
One step further
Aim for the edges of a roster, such as a single season, a short loan, a practice-squad promotion or a late substitute appearance, since those bit-part connections are the ones most people never think to say.
Reveal answers 2,707
Nate EbnerOne in a Krillion100points
A. J. DerbyDeep Cut85points
A. J. HowardDeep Cut85points
A. J. PriceDeep Cut85points
A. Q. ShipleyDeep Cut85points
A.J. EddsDeep Cut85points
A.J. FrancisDeep Cut85points
Aaron DobsonDeep Cut85points
Aaron LavariasDeep Cut85points
Aaron MonteiroDeep Cut85points
Aaron RamseyDeep Cut85points
Aaron RichardsDeep Cut85points
Why these answers count
Scoring here follows obscurity, not fame. The single hundred-point return came from a name almost nobody outside one special-teams unit would reach for: Nate Ebner, a rugby convert who spent years covering kicks alongside a certain quarterback. Everything in the long middle of the table sits at eighty-five, and that band is enormous, with A. Q. Shipley, Aaron Dobson, Adalius Thomas, Akiem Hicks and Alan Branch all landing there; the common thread is that each was a genuine squad member rather than a marquee name. The sixty-point band is where the obvious names end up, the stars whose link to one of the four is common knowledge and therefore cheap. That gradient is deliberate. A puzzle of this shape has thousands of legitimate answers, so the only way to reward skill is to pay for recall depth. Anyone can name a fellow icon; the points go to the player who remembers the third-string guard, the loanee with four appearances or the special-teamer whose career lasted two seasons.
Work the three axes in order and list everything each suggests before judging it. Take shape and pattern first: the four broad families of pattern each branch into numbered sub-types and informal descriptors, so a single idea can yield several entries. Then texture and behaviour — how strands feel, how far they stretch, how porous or dense they are, which phase of the growth cycle a strand is in. Finish with colour, where the productive move is pairing a base hue with a modifier such as light, dark, warm or ashen, and reviving older literary words for shades. Keep a side list of trade vocabulary from wigs and extensions, and always prefer the precise term to the everyday one. Submit the most specific version you can defend.
Get a hint
Start wide. The reveal holds more than two hundred entries, so almost anything you would say in ordinary conversation about how hair looks, feels or is coloured stands a reasonable chance of appearing.
A little more
Next, sort the candidates by origin: some describe what a head produces by itself, others describe what is done to hair afterwards, and the first group is where the points are.
One step further
Then narrow to specialist labels — the numbered scale for curl patterns, the technical names for growth phases, the trade vocabulary of wigs and extensions, and colour words built from a base plus a modifier.
Reveal answers 224
TitianOne in a Krillion100points
Afro kinkyDeep Cut85points
Afro-texturedDeep Cut85points
Anagen hairDeep Cut85points
Baby blondeDeep Cut85points
Baby hairsDeep Cut85points
Blue-blackDeep Cut85points
Body waveDeep Cut85points
Bohemian curlDeep Cut85points
Botticelli curlsDeep Cut85points
BouncyDeep Cut85points
BristlyDeep Cut85points
Why these answers count
Specificity drives the scoring almost mechanically. A single entry took the full hundred — Titian, an old painterly word for reddish brown that few players would ever retrieve — and everything else in the top band is specialist vocabulary. The hundred and fourteen answers on 85 points read like a trade glossary: the numbered scale that sorts curl patterns, from 1A downward; the clinical labels for the phases a strand moves through as it grows; national and regional terms for hair sold in bundles, such as Brazilian hair or Cambodian hair; fibre brands and preparation words like Kanekalon, Futura or double drawn; and colours carrying a modifier, honey brown, ash grey, Venetian blonde. The ninety-two answers on 60 points seem to be the everyday descriptions, the first words most people write. Points follow how few players reach a term: the obvious descriptor is on everybody's list, so it is worth least, while the term that needs a specialist's memory is worth most.
Krillion