The Sphinx's Lair

12:00 AM

@Rubio +1'd ;-)

lol. thanks. someone got one in with mere seconds to spare - thanks whoever, and thanks for the other + whoever that was :)

Display name

Does anyone want a bounty on one of their questions?

boboquack

12:17 AM

Why?

Oh, not the hats again

Display name

I have hats disabled, so it's not because of that.

boboquack

Then why?

Is this the first sincere offer since Winter Bash began?

Saiid

@Randal'Thor le link for the lazy

Display name

The only hat for bounties is to award a bounty on the last day of Winterbash (Jan 9th). There's no solid reason, I just feel like it. (and don't care about my rep dropping)

I'd like to lower my rep anyway :P

Oct 28 at 12:40, by Lukas Rotter

@BeastlyGerbil I don't care about rep (at least not on Puzzling). And I think it'd be funny if someone who doesn't know me visits my low-rep profile and sees how many posts I've already made :P

Saiid

lol

Rubio

12:28 AM

If you want to rain free rep on someone deserving, the poor fellow who persisted to the end with my ill-fated halloween puzzle didn't get his efforts' worth.

4

A: Trick or Treating in Trutham-And-Ly

Trying again. Working through line by line... Deductions... So the cowgirl... Old answer below, leaving for posterity. So... Which comes to...

Display name

@Rubio How much more rep does he deserve in your opinion?

Rubio

Dunno. Deserve, probably 50; but awarding that little seems like damning with faint praise.

Neat. I just got Just Here for the Hat.

boboquack

Everyone on PSE with a hat would have

Rubio

Yeah I assumed as much

boboquack

To get it much earlier, all you had to do was upvote an SO meta post!

Display name

12:36 AM

Hm... You don't know any answer that deserves >= 250 rep, right? (obviously excluding your own)

Rubio

Well. clearly all my answers deserve +250, so that goes without saying.

Sconibulus

What happens if you bounty a community wiki?

Rubio

But my puzzles tend not to be complicated enough to be worth more than the typical spate of up-votes generally give.

Display name

> Bounties are not affected by community wiki mode. When you award a bounty to an answer marked community wiki, the reputation bonus will be awarded to the user who posted the original revision of the answer.

Rubio

Interesting. I thought it just went poof.

Saiid

12:46 AM

That would be kind of stupid

Rubio

Well, yes, I agree. But life doesn't safeguard us against doing stupid things.

That's why we let people smoke. :)

Display name

Hm... Maybe Deusovi's cryptic clue guide?

I'm pretty trigger-happy, so please tell me quick if you think there's something wrong with awarding that particular post :)

@Rubio Post a value between 250 and 500 please.

Rubio

333

And yes, that's a great suggestion.

Puzzling — BOUNTY!

1:07 AM

30

Q: Cryptic Clue Guide

This post is not a puzzle. There is nothing puzzly hidden inside it or the self-answer, posted at the same time. What exactly is a cryptic crossword clue, and how do I write one?

Deusovi

1:17 AM

Wait, why am I getting a bounty?

Will

hats probably

Deusovi

@Displayname?

Volatility

58 mins ago, by Display name

The only hat for bounties is to award a bounty on the last day of Winterbash (Jan 9th). There's no solid reason, I just feel like it. (and don't care about my rep dropping)

Deusovi

That's... really weird.

I mean, I'm not complaining.

Display name

@Deusovi Because the answer is worthy of a bounty IMO.

Volatility

1:22 AM

btw, @Deusovi I applied for TSPI a few days ago. How long does it usually take to get in?

Saiid

@Deusovi That is quite an amazing post

Deusovi

@Volatility You didn't get an email invite to the Google group? It should've come in fairly quickly.

Volatility

No :-( maybe I entered my email wrong?

Saiid

lol

Deusovi

@Saiid Thank you! People were asking me a lot of questions and I figured that it'd be best to consolidate the basics into one post.

Huh, maybe it's in your spam folder?

Saiid

1:36 AM

Yeah

Volatility

Nope, don't see it there. Can you see the applications, or should I just re-submit?

Alconja

geez @Volatility, can't you take a hint? :P

Deusovi

I can't, but I can ask about yours (and probably tell the team owner to add you manually)

Volatility

@Alconja huh?

Deusovi

@Alconja We accept pretty much anyone. Always happy to have more heads to throw at puzzles.

Alconja

1:42 AM

Was just joking that they didn't actually want you to join and were pretending that they'd sent the invite.. have you tried checking spam?, etc

Volatility

oh right, ha :D

@Deusovi that'd be great, do you need some sort of way to check my email?

Saiid

@Deusovi What 'team' are you guys talking about?

Deusovi

Yeah - you can just send me an email if you don't want to reveal it here.

@Saiid Test Solution, Please Ignore - a team for the MIT Mystery Hunt, which is an annual puzzle competition happening mid-January.

Saiid

Ah

Deusovi

@Volatility - does this link work for you?

groups.google.com/forum/m/#!forum/test-solution-please-ignore

Volatility

1:50 AM

No, it says I have to be a member to view

Deusovi

Huh, alright. That's really weird - you should've been added.

goo.gl/forms/D6fIQtQqbXG8FmYn1

(Here's the form for anyone else who wants to sign up.)

Saiid

Full name?

Deusovi

I don't think it's necessary for it to be your actual name - just a unique identifier.

Saiid

Alright

Saiid

2:07 AM

What's with the dietary restrictions thing?

Deusovi

If you're going to be there in person, sometimes people bring food.

Saiid

Ah

Volatility

Oh ofc, lol, thought it was a joke

Deusovi

You don't have to actually be there, of course. Most of the puzzles are solvable online. But we have people there running around and doing physical puzzles.

Saiid

lol

Deusovi

2:10 AM

I went for my first time last year - I loved it.

Alconja

It would be fun to be physically involved. Anyone going that can give me a lift from Australia?

Deusovi

I'm pretty sure people make the trip from other countries. It's probably pretty expensive and jetlag is a thing, but I think it's worth it.

LeppyR64

My wife got me the GCHQ Puzzle Book as a Christmas gift!

Saiid

Is it super wrong if you sign up and then don't end up being able to make it?

Deusovi

There's also the Sydney and Melbourne University puzzle hunts in September and... I think July? They're entirely online, but many of the prizes are only accessible to Australian residents.

@Saiid I don't think so! You can always just drop in for one or two puzzles if you don't have much time. And if you can't make it at all, that's fine too.

Saiid

2:17 AM

Great! I'll just finish filling out the form, then :)

Deusovi

Even if you can't make it for this hunt, we'd be happy to have you for some of the smaller ones.

Saiid

Sure thing

:T I'm not sure what else to put in the strengths box

Alconja

2:34 AM

...well don't put "form filling" then

Deusovi

You don't need to put anything in there. Like I said, we accept pretty much every application - it's mostly for calling specific people if we see a rare puzzle (like the one basd around My Little Pony characters and celebrity tattoos from last year)

Alconja

That's certainly a ...niche... speciality. :)

Saiid

lol

Alconja

How many people in your team?

Saiid

@Alconja I agree, I shouldn't put that

@Deusovi Hmm, I'll put in anime, then.

Deusovi

2:38 AM

Yeah. We got pictures of My Little Pony characters and faces of celebrities and had to figure out that all the MLP characters' marks matched up with tattoos on the celebrities.

Alconja

:) I like it

Saiid

I sent it in

Deusovi

@Alconja 20-30 in person, 50-60 people who regularly solve with us, and about 90ish total members, I think.

Alconja

Wow. Quite sizeable then

(or is that normal for MIT teams?)

Saiid

lol

Deusovi

2:41 AM

There are some teams with 150+ people, and I think one or two with over 200. 50-60 isn't that big in comparison, especially because a majority of them only show up for the Mystery Hunt (and not other hunts).

Saiid

hmm

@Deusovi I'm assuming you're managing the form?

Deusovi

Nope. That's up to the team leader, Emma.

Not sure how much she checks it, but I think it's pretty frequent.

Saiid

@Deusovi Oh

hmm

Deusovi

Worst case scenario, I can check it in person just before the Hunt starts.

Saiid

k

Rubio

2:46 AM

New BBC Sherlock coming in just a couple weeks. cannot wait.

Saiid

nice

Rubio

3:02 AM

Hm.

Saiid

3:50 AM

Who here wants to work on the CCCC(or who is working on it)?

Sphinx

4:16 AM

0

Q: We've gone hat-mad and can't solve the riddle of They Live

For those that haven't heard we are in the middle of Winter Bash 2016 and everyone's gone hat mad! Now there is a group trying to work out the trigger conditions for each secret hat. We are currently looking at the hat called They Live. What we know: It has something to do with reviewing sugge...

unsolved-mysteries

Sphinx

5:01 AM

0

Q: Find 5 digits, which have the most numbers of prime numbers

If we have to use all available digits once, We can form 9 prime numbers from (2,5,6,7,8), they are : (25867,28657,56827,65287,65827,82567,82657,85627,86257) With the same rule, find another 5 digits, which have the most numbers of prime numbers. Then list all the prime numbers.

mathematics computer-puzzle

Jim

6:25 AM

What's CCCC? I'll work on just about anything. Also, I'm new here.

Alconja

Welcome Jim.

CCCC = Cryptic Clue Chat Chain (or some variation thereof, depending on who you ask)

Whoever solves the current clue, poses a new one.

(If you're unfamiliar with cryptic clues, here's a good guide)

Jim

Ok, tell me more....

Rubio

6:43 AM

The current CCCC is:

8 hours ago, by Sconibulus

CCCC: The start of your soul's fate lies behind Chatbot wagers... It's a pair of Queens! (9)

Jim

Found it: CCCC: The start of your soul's fate lies behind Chatbot wagers... It's a pair of Queens! (9)

Yes, thank you. I just want back fat enough to retrieve it.

Rubio

The current one is usually on the pinned star-board to the right of the chat window, by the way

It'll normally be the hollow star one at the top.

Jim

Got it

Rubio

(Sometimes it gets out of date, though, when one has pretty recently been solved and a new one posted, but not yet pinned)

Jim

So I'm assuming in this getting the answer just from the wordplay doesn't suffice.

I'm not the best at cryptic crossword, so here where you have the start of Your Soul's .... YS = wise

pair of queens is Royalties (9) presumably

Rubio

7:25 AM

So a complete solution wouild explain how to derive the entire answer from both the wordplay and the definition (thus of necessity stating what piece is definition). generally, the setter won't confirm or deny the guess until it is a complete attempt.

Jim

Got it.

Is what I've done an attempt at that?

Rubio

Not really. The whole clue is important; you should show how each non-def word is used in the wordplay to form the answer

Sid

@Techidiot I wouldn't have fixed that typo..

Jim

Thanks. I'll wait to see how it plays out so I can understand a bit better. I appreciate the tutorial.

Rubio

It bears mentioning that the "!" very likely signals a &lit clue - where there won't be a separate definition, the whole clue is both wordplay and def

Techidiot

7:35 AM

@Sid- It should be a typo because its inside the hint. Also there is no steganography involved which makes it unlikely to be useful. Though if OP wants he will remove it or if you say.. I will revert it again

Done

Rubio

Annnnd I am now the top of the PSE WB leaderboard. I wasn't even trying for that.

Jim

@Rubio so for the CCCC there's still something going on like wager = ante. Wise lies behind ante -> Ante can be Anti -> antiwise is a website with casino games. Is there logic and such like that?

Rubio

I'll be honest, I'm pretty lost on this one

Jim

7:50 AM

Sure, I just meant in general

If I can grab words like wise and anti, does lies behind usually refer to reordering?

Rubio

Not sure where you're getting wise from; YS wouldn't be reinterpreted as "wise" normally, it would remain YS

Alconja

Every step should be clued, and every word should be important.

Rubio

indicator words are read like they're instructions; I don't think it's common to indicate (B)(A) by saying A lies behind B

Jim

Ah ok. I thought I could use phonetic sounds as words.

Rubio

so it's probably more likely that "lies behind" is used some other way, but not definitely so

Alconja

7:53 AM

Only if there's a "sounds like" indicator

Rubio

yeah; homophones are cued by "We hear" or "sounds like" or such

@Alconja Any idea on this one? I've got no clue :)

Alconja

Nope. Me neither.

Rubio

chatbot=ob? obie? wagers=bets? pair of queens=ladies? QQ?!

Alconja

@Jim If you search in chat for cccc you'll find all the previous ones. Unfortunately answers will be a bit harder to find. :) (Though the answer to one will generally be close to the next clue if you follow the links to the transcripts)

Jim

I reread the post about CCs as well. I'm straightened out now. As I said, they definitely aren't my strong suit.

Alconja

7:58 AM

We're all learning (well most of us)

Transcript for