Krillion Answers #97

Tuesday, October 20, 2026

The 7 prompts from this daily dive, each with a hint. Open "Show answers" for the gem, some rare finds and the most common answers. Want to play them yourself instead? Every past prompt is in the Krillion Unlimited pool.

Highlights

Prompts and answers

  1. Prompt 1

    Name something sold as a stick or in sticks (food on a stick doesn’t count).

    Hint: 422 accepted answers. 2 gems, starting with “M” (1 word) and “S” (1 word).

    Most players say butter, meat stick, glue stick, deodorant and dynamite—familiar sticks in kitchens, offices, bathrooms and hardware. Because only food on a stick is excluded, any solid stick-format product counts; look to specialist crafts, industrial supplies, personal-care tools and regional snack sticks.

    422 accepted answers, showing 14 examples by rarity.

    Miswak is a Salvadora persica twig chewed into a natural toothbrush, sold as a stick in West Asian and North African markets; players picture mass-market stick products, not traditional oral-care twigs. Spurtle, a Scottish porridge-stirring stick, gets a golden one at the championship each October, too niche outside Scotland.

    2
    Miswak, Spurtle
    323
    Shaving stick, Tempera paint stick, Conductor's baton
    65
    Candy stick, Face paint stick, Dog treat stick
    25
    Meat stick (5.2% of players), Dynamite (3.1%), Pocky (3.1%)
    7
    Butter (8.3% of players), Glue stick (5.2%), Deodorant (3.4%)

    • Heelball · Used by shoemakers to blacken leather heels and by brass rubbers, it is sold as a solid waxy stick.
    • Keropok lekor · A Malaysian fish snack rolled into long cylinders and fried or steamed, it is sold as a stick rather than served on one.

    Butter led, with meat stick and glue stick close behind. The prompt’s food carve-out didn’t stop meat stick from ranking high. Deodorant and dynamite also appeared, showing players reached for common stick-shaped products.

  2. Prompt 2

    Name a food made by mashing or puréeing (like guacamole)

    Hint: 1,454 accepted answers. The gem starts with “M” and is 1 word.

    Most players say mashed potatoes, hummus, baby food, salsa, applesauce, mushy peas and jam—familiar dips, sides and jarred staples. The rule covers any food crushed to a paste, so look beyond Western sides to chutneys, pounded pastes, sauces, spreads and sweets from regional cuisines.

    1,454 accepted answers, showing 13 examples by rarity.

    Moretum, a garlic-cheese paste from ancient Rome, is made by pounding the ingredients, a process described in a pseudo-Virgilian poem about a farmer. Players rarely reach for Classical recipes when naming mashed foods, so it stays obscure.

    1
    Moretum
    1,310
    Pastelón de plátano maduro, Sambal belacan, Koba
    122
    Salsa verde, Potato leek soup, Akara
    16
    Salsa (5.0% of players), Mushy peas (2.5%), Jam (2.4%)
    5
    Mashed potatoes (15.6% of players), Hummus (6.4%), Baby food (5.0%)

    • Tonnato sauce · Made by puréeing canned tuna, anchovies, and mayonnaise, it is the creamy sauce for vitello tonnato.
    • Sambal belacan · Fresh chilies and fermented shrimp paste are pounded into a paste, so it counts; belacan's umami is essential to Malaysian cooking.

    Mashed potatoes was the clear top answer; hummus trailed far behind. Baby food and salsa were nearly tied, with applesauce close after. Guacamole itself, the given example, was not among the leaders.

  3. Prompt 3

    Name a country with the letter D in its name

    Hint: 53 accepted answers. The gem starts with “S” and is 4 words.

    Most players say Djibouti, Denmark, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominican Republic, Chad and Trinidad and Tobago—countries where the D is prominent. The requirement is just one D anywhere in a country’s name, so smaller island states, compound names and less-familiar official forms hide rare picks.

    53 accepted answers, showing 13 examples by rarity.

    Saint Kitts and Nevis sneaks a D into 'and,' which players overlook while scanning country names. It is also the smallest sovereign state in the Western Hemisphere by area and population.

    1
    Saint Kitts and Nevis
    3
    Marshall Islands, São Tomé and Príncipe, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
    18
    Andorra, Dominica, South Sudan
    24
    Dominican Republic (5.0% of players), Chad (4.5%), Madagascar (2.9%)
    7
    Denmark (10.9% of players), Canada (1.7%), India (1.1%)

    • Northern Ireland · Counts because the UK constituent country is allowed as an exception, and the D sits at the end of 'Ireland'.

    Djibouti was the top answer, slightly ahead of Denmark, which is surprising since Denmark is more familiar. Democratic Republic of the Congo and Dominican Republic also had strong showings, but no country ran away.

  4. Prompt 4

    Name a device made to blow air

    Hint: 340 accepted answers. The gem starts with “W” and is 2 words.

    Most players say fan, hair dryer, leaf blower, air compressor, air conditioner and jet engine—household cooling and cleaning devices first. The phrase 'made to blow air' includes any tool or system that moves air as a secondary function, so look to industrial drying, HVAC, medical, musical and laboratory equipment.

    340 accepted answers, showing 13 examples by rarity.

    A winnowing machine blows air through threshed grain to separate chaff from the heavier seed, making it a true air blower. Han-dynasty China had cranked versions eighteen centuries before Europe, so players rarely think of ancient farm equipment.

    1
    Winnowing machine
    240
    Ionic wind cooler, Wig dryer, Pre-conditioned air unit
    86
    Turbocharger, Bubble machine, Ventilated seat
    9
    Air compressor (6.4% of players), Air pump (2.5%), Bellows (1.8%)
    4
    Fan (9.4% of players), Hair dryer (9.2%), Leaf blower (9.0%)

    • Hydraulis · An ancient Greek water organ that blew air through its pipes using water pressure, invented by Ctesibius around 250 BC.
    • Trompe · Falling water entrains air and compresses it without moving parts, so it blows air into forges or mines.

    Fan, hair dryer, and leaf blower were nearly tied at the top, so the crowd split across common household blowers. Air compressor followed, and air conditioner also appeared despite being more about cooling than blowing.

  5. Prompt 5

    Name a mammal smaller than a house cat

    Hint: 6,515 accepted answers. 2 gems, starting with “H” (2 words) and “K” (1 word).

    Most players say mouse, rat, platypus, shrew, chinchilla, gerbil, guinea pig and hamster—familiar small pets and common rodents. Since the only limit is size, thousands of tiny species qualify, so search obscure rodents, bats, shrews, moles, small marsupials and small carnivores beyond pet-shop regulars.

    6,515 accepted answers, showing 14 examples by rarity.

    Hero shrew, an African insectivore smaller than a cat, has an interlocking spine that can reportedly bear a grown man's weight unharmed, but its forest habitat keeps it off most lists. Kha-nyou, a Laotian rock rat also smaller than a cat, was found in a market after its family was presumed extinct for eleven million years, so players miss it.

    2
    Hero shrew, Kha-nyou
    6,296
    Nagaland Shrew, Atlantic Bamboo Rat, Large Oriental vole
    194
    Star-nosed Mole, Eastern Cottontail, Dwarf hamster
    15
    Shrew (4.5% of players), Chinchilla (4.2%), Gerbil (4.0%)
    8
    Mouse (8.4% of players), Rat (7.1%), Guinea pig (3.8%)

    • European Mole · A burrowing insectivore much smaller than a cat, using powerful forelimbs to tunnel and toxic saliva to paralyze earthworms for storage.

    Mouse and rat led, as expected for small mammals. Platypus was a surprise third, likely from players thinking of unusual mammals even though it is smaller than a house cat. Shrew and chinchilla followed close behind.

  6. Prompt 6

    Name an internet service provider

    Hint: 8,187 accepted answers. The gem starts with “T” and is 3 words.

    Most players say Mint Mobile, Cricket, Spectrum, Comcast, Starlink, Vodafone, Verizon and AT&T—heavy advertisers and national brands. Any company offering internet access counts, including tiny rural cooperatives, regional cable operators, international carriers and community broadband projects, so dig past consumer names.

    8,187 accepted answers, showing 13 examples by rarity.

    The World, opened in Brookline in 1989, was the first ISP available to the general public, before the Web took off. Players usually name modern broadband giants, so this dial-up pioneer is rarely remembered.

    1
    The World (ISP)
    8,078
    Skywave Wireless, Celerity Networks, New Generation Internet Services
    94
    Rogers, Mint Mobile, MCI
    10
    Starlink (2.7% of players), T-Mobile (2.0%), AOL (1.4%)
    4
    Spectrum (3.0% of players), Comcast (3.0%), Verizon (2.1%)

    • Pueblo of Pojoaque Internet Service · A tribal-run ISP in New Mexico, it brings broadband directly to the Pueblo community rather than relying on outside providers.

    Mint Mobile and Cricket were the top answers, slightly ahead of Spectrum and Comcast, which is notable because the latter are major home internet providers. Starlink also appeared. The crowd seemed to think of mobile carriers rather than traditional ISPs.

  7. Prompt 7

    Name something that has a saddle (like a bicycle)

    Hint: 157 accepted answers. 2 gems, starting with “D” (2 words) and “E” (1 word).

    Most players say horse, unicycle, mechanical bull, camel, motorcycle, tricycle, donkey and bicycle—ridden animals and wheeled vehicles with a seat. The prompt says 'has a saddle,' not 'is ridden,' so any structure or part called a saddle in anatomy, music, tools, geology or engineering qualifies, far beyond the stable.

    157 accepted answers, showing 13 examples by rarity.

    A dandy horse, Karl Drais's 1817 running machine, has a saddle between its two wheels, but players think of modern bikes. An earthworm's clitellum, the pale band near its head, is also called the saddle, an anatomical reading few consider.

    2
    Dandy horse, Earthworm
    118
    Viola, Zebu, Bandurria
    30
    Mechanical bull, Violin, Tricycle
    5
    Camel (6.4% of players), Motorcycle (5.2%), Donkey (4.4%)
    2
    Horse (21.7% of players), Bicycle (3.3%)

    • Suspension bridge · The main cables rest in saddles atop the bridge towers, so the structure literally has saddles guiding the cables.
    • Saddleback caterpillar · Its brown saddle-shaped marking and stinging spines give it the name and a memorable identity.

    Horse dominated, chosen by about one in five. Unicycle came second, likely because the prompt used bicycle as an example and players thought of related cycles. Mechanical bull and camel also appeared.