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Price tags · Puzzle #9 · Thursday, October 8

Price tags: the answers

Four questions, each with one true number. Here they are with their answers, how to reason each one out, and where the number comes from. Play today's Price tags.

  1. 1. A year of clothes: How much did the average US household spend on clothing, shoes and related services in 2024?

    Photo: Steffen Mokosch, CC BY-SA 4.0
    Measured by
    BLS Consumer Expenditure Surveys
    Share of household spending
    2.5%

    The answer: about $2,001. Clothing spending slipped 2% from 2023.

    Napkin math
    1. $150a month
    2. ×12months a year

    ≈$1,800

    Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditures--2024 (Table A, 2022, 2023 and 2024 columns)

  2. 2. Super Bowl shopping: How much did the National Retail Federation expect Americans to spend in total on food, gear and parties for the 2026 Super Bowl?

    Photo: Missvain, CC BY 4.0
    Game
    Super Bowl LX, February 8, 2026
    Counts
    Food, drinks, apparel, decorations and other purchases

    The answer: about $20.2 billion. The NRF survey found a record 213.1 million US adults planned to tune in, spending $94.77 each on average.

    Napkin math
    1. 200Mpeople watching
    2. ×$100each on snacks and gear

    ≈$20B

    Source: National Retail Federation, Super Bowl

  3. 3. First printing of the US Constitution: What did Citadel CEO Ken Griffin pay for a first-printing copy of the US Constitution at Sotheby's in November 2021?

    Photo: Printed by Dunlap & Claypoole in Philadelphia, 1787, Public domain
    What
    An official first printing of the Constitution, produced for the delegates to the Constitutional Convention
    Rarity
    One of 13 known copies, and one of only two still in private hands
    Sold
    Sotheby's, New York, November 2021

    The answer: $43.2 million. Sotheby's said it set the world auction record for any book, manuscript, historical document or printed text, and Griffin planned to lend it to a free museum in Arkansas.

    Napkin math: A Shakespeare First Folio fetched about $10 million; America's founding document with a billionaire bidding war could go several times higher.

    Source: CNBC, Citadel CEO Ken Griffin pays $43.2 million for Constitution copy, outbidding crypto group

  4. 4. The Reflecting Pool: At the US average store price of whole milk in August 2026, what would it cost to fill the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool with milk?

    Photo: 颐园居, CC BY-SA 4.0
    Size
    2,028 by 167 feet
    Holds
    about 4 million gallons since its 2012 rebuild

    The answer: about $16.9 million. Before its 2012 rebuild the pool held 6.75 million gallons; the new, shallower one holds about 4 million.

    Napkin math
    1. 4Mgallons in the pool
    2. ×$4a gallon of milk

    ≈$16M

    Source: US Department of the Interior, Salazar Announces Successful Renovation of Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool

All of puzzle #9 · The archive