How to play the Almanac

A round

Each day the Almanac describes one city's sky in six clues, the vaguest first. The same twelve cities stand below the clues all day.

Choose a city after any clue. A wrong guess turns the next clue over. You have six guesses, and the round ends when you find the city or run out.

Once the day is over, each guess shows how near it came. Until then a miss says only that it missed.

The six clues

The day: how long the day lasts there, from sunrise to sunset.

The year: how that length changes over the year, long in one season and short in the other.

The noon shadow: the shadow a pole casts at noon, and which way it points.

The moon: the moon as it stands that night over the city.

The stars: the stars over the city after dark.

The clock: the time on the city's clocks when the sun is highest.

Reading the sky

A long day in June and a short one in December belong to the north. The reverse belongs to the south.

The closer a city is to the equator, the less its day length changes over the year.

A short noon shadow means the sun stood high, which happens nearer the equator. In the north the noon shadow points north; in the south, south.

Stars near the pole say which hemisphere you are in: the Plough stays in northern skies, the Southern Cross in southern ones.

The clock at noon says where a city sits in its time zone. Noon well after twelve means the city lies toward the west of its zone.

The same puzzle for everyone

Everyone plays the same city on the same day, here and in Sol for iPhone. A shared result gives the scores and the link, and never names the city.

A day you missed is still open: every number so far stands on one page.