The Nordic cross flags as colour pies
Five countries in northern Europe fly a version of the same design: a cross whose upright is set towards the flagpole rather than in the middle. Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland are known together as the Nordic cross flags, and the design also appears on the flags of the Faroe Islands and Åland.
On a flagpole they are instantly recognisable as a family. As colour pies they are much more distinct, because each uses a different palette in different amounts. That makes them a good set to learn: once you know the five pies, you will rarely mistake one for another.
Denmark: Red 76, White 24
Denmark's flag, the Dannebrog, is the oldest of the group and is often described as the oldest national flag in continuous use. It is a red field with a plain white cross.
Its pie is two colours, roughly three quarters red and one quarter white. The red-and-white combination is common, so Denmark is not unique: in The Flag Slice its pie is shared with a handful of other flags, including Vaduz in Liechtenstein, the emirate of Dubai and two Japanese prefectures. All of them are accepted if Denmark's pie comes up.
Compare it with Switzerland, Red 80, White 20. A Swiss cross is a short, centred cross on a square flag, so it covers a little less of the cloth. Four percentage points is the whole difference on the pie, so read the numbers carefully.
Sweden: Blue 70, Yellow 30
Sweden swaps the colours entirely: a yellow cross on a blue field. The pie is Blue 70, Yellow 30, and it is the only Nordic flag with yellow. The yellow cross is wider in proportion than Denmark's white one, which is why it takes 30% of the flag against Denmark's 24%.
A blue-and-yellow pie at around 70/30 almost always means Sweden in the easy tier. Ukraine, the other famous blue-and-yellow flag, is close to half and half (Blue 51, Yellow 49), so the two are easy to tell apart.
Finland: White 61, Dark blue 39
Finland reverses the usual arrangement again: a blue cross on a white field. Because the field is white, white is the larger slice, and the pie is White 61, Dark blue 39.
Two details help here. First, the blue is named Dark blue, not Blue, so Finland and Sweden do not share a colour name at all. Second, Finland's cross is broad, which pushes the blue share close to 40%. In the game's measurements no other flag shares Finland's pie.
Norway: Red 62, Dark blue 20, White 18
Norway adds a third colour. Its flag is Denmark's red field and white cross with a narrower blue cross laid inside the white one. The white becomes a thin border, called a fimbriation, around the blue.
That changes the pie dramatically: Red 62, Dark blue 20, White 18. Red still dominates, but it shrinks from Denmark's 76% because the cross is now wider. Norway's pie is unique in the catalogue.
Iceland: Blue 65, Red 18, White 17
Iceland uses the same three-colour structure as Norway with the colours rearranged: a blue field, a white border and a red inner cross. Its pie is Blue 65, Red 18, White 17.
It is easy to confuse Norway and Iceland from memory because they share a design. On the pie they could hardly be more different. Look at which colour is largest: red for Norway, blue for Iceland. Note too that Iceland's blue is named Blue while Norway's is Dark blue. Iceland's pie is also unique.
The cheat sheet
| Flag | Pie | Biggest slice |
|---|---|---|
| Denmark | Red 76, White 24 | Red |
| Sweden | Blue 70, Yellow 30 | Blue |
| Finland | White 61, Dark blue 39 | White |
| Norway | Red 62, Dark blue 20, White 18 | Red |
| Iceland | Blue 65, Red 18, White 17 | Blue |
- Two colours or three? Denmark, Sweden and Finland have two; Norway and Iceland have three.
- Which colour leads? Red means Denmark or Norway. Blue means Sweden or Iceland. White means Finland.
- Is there yellow? Only Sweden.
What the layout hint says
If you take the layout hint on a Nordic cross, it reads "One plain field with a design in the centre". That may look odd for a cross set off-centre, but the hint is generated by scanning the flag's rows and columns: the cross divides the field without forming bands, so it counts as a design on a plain field. The same text appears for Japan and Switzerland. The hint still helps, because it rules out banded flags with a similar palette. A red-and-white pie with this layout cannot be Poland or Indonesia, for example.
Beyond the five
The Nordic cross has spread well beyond the five countries. The Faroe Islands and Åland, both self-governing, use it, and so do many regional and city flags across Scandinavia and the Baltic, as well as flags designed for other northern communities. Several of these can appear in the hard tier, where the same reading method applies: count the colours, find the largest slice and look for a thin border colour that hints at a fimbriated cross.