The Sphinx's Lair

Deusovi

4:00 PM

I should really edit that post sometime to go into more detail about definitions.

Rubio

aren't you supposed to be at class? hehe

Deusovi

I am. It starts in a few minutes. :P

Rubio

:)

dcfyj

@Deusovi Good to know you're paying attention :P

Ankoganit

Alright, the A1Z26 sum is 121 and I'm off for now

Bye all :)

dcfyj

4:12 PM

@ChrisCudmore Yokai is Japanese ( as I'm sure you saw when you looked it up), so if you're not into that culture you probably wouldn't know the word.

TrojanByAccident

@dcfyj U jbiw Taoiu

dcfyj

?

Deusovi

Rot13ed text.

Or not.

Ah, I see.

Sid

@Rubio maybe some hints in the Puzzling Times?

Deusovi

(I think.)

dcfyj

4:21 PM

Yeah, I checked that, from 1-25 and 47

Deusovi

If you assume TBA's right hand was one key over, it says "I know Tapoi", which... almost makes sense.

Rubio

@Sid There's already a very pretty one ;)

It took a looong time to figure out how to make that scratch-off look the way I wanted. People better appreciate it lol

But yeah, I have to figure out what I can hint without giving the whole game away

TrojanByAccident

@dcfyj Whoops, what happened there?

Was supposed to be "I know Yokai"

apologies

Rubio

I don't have any hints planned for it beyond the ones already in it - will have to come up with something

Sid

@Rubio I was tempted to put the Code puzzle-What(not) to do? But, then you have already provided the photo journalist(Whatever that is) and some years..

Deusovi

4:24 PM

@TrojanByAccident I don't know how you got Taoiu from Yokai.

dcfyj

Very carefully :P

TrojanByAccident

@Deusovi :P

My hand was off-center

TheGreatEscaper

Why was 'I Know Yokai' in rot 13 anyway?

Deusovi

That explains the other two words, but not "Yokai".

It wasn't rot13ed.

It was typoed horribly.

TrojanByAccident

I know, my typing skills suck

TheGreatEscaper

4:25 PM

oh.

Rubio

@Sid There are clues in it. It's not just a blob of cipher text.

TrojanByAccident

I just happen to type in rot13 from time to time :P

Rubio

(I bothered making it that format for a reason. If you can figure out why, it may help.)

TrojanByAccident

e.e

fail

Sid

Yeah, I saw that only after marvelling at thte visual presentation of it

Deusovi

4:26 PM

...Are you okay?

Sid

I really hope that puzzle gets into HNQ

TrojanByAccident

there

that looks better

@Deusovi Who even knows anymore?

Will

Because of the growing faction attempting to prevent me from writing CCCC's I've been inspired to write a very easy one for next time **shifty eyes**

Deusovi

@Will Oh no.

Techidiot

@Sid Even I am lurking into PT

Deusovi

4:28 PM

(That "ban Will from CCCC" thing was a joke, by the way. I didn't expect it to keep going that far.)

TrojanByAccident

@Will 'next time'? what is this "next time" you speak of?

:P

Techidiot

I tried taking a screenshot of that and then mirroring it :p

Rubio

I never voted. I'd vote no in any case. :)

Techidiot

Didn't work

But I feel some letters need to be rotated. That's one of my usual wild guess

Also, with knowledge tag in place I feel this is relevant

Unfortunately I have never been a fan of apple phones so lack of knowledge there

TrojanByAccident

Would anyone be terribly appalled if I re-mapped my keyboard to rot13?

Deusovi

4:32 PM

Yes.

Techidiot

@Will Did you get a chance to look at @Rubio's paper?

TheGreatEscaper

I think will solved the cryptics in a few seconds.

*minutes

Not actually sure which word is more appropriate.

TrojanByAccident

@Deusovi bxnl svar :/

Techidiot

Yeah. Those were solved by some but were not relevant.

I hope they weren't :D

Rubio

Will should recognize the graphic ;)

Techidiot

4:34 PM

I tried a search for the keyword, but found just one :p

Will

I sure do.

Techidiot

Yeah. That one I do as well ;)

But I am assuming only the box part is relevant :-/

Rubio

It's possible (just barely) to solve the riddle per se without solving the puzzle, but that wouldn't be much fun would it.

Beastly Gerbil

home! why did the weather have to choose to start snowing just as I got off the bus to walk home?

Techidiot

Susan Kare was Apples graphic designer from 1982-1985 :D

Will

4:42 PM

I thought of her too

Techidiot

But I don't think there is a key for that cipher text. Some of those just sound like actual words.. Some operations are needed to be done I guess

Will

There isn't a key. You got the hint, right?

Techidiot

Yeah

Chris Cudmore

You found the hint, right?

Techidiot

But how come we know if we have solved it?

Sconibulus

4:44 PM

@BeastlyGerbil that's probably better than having started while you were on the bus, so that is was having difficulties as well

also, you don't like walking in falling snow?

Beastly Gerbil

well it turned to water straight away as it was raining before hnd

not when its cold and I have forgotten a coat

Sconibulus

Ahh, still, I'd rather have it snowing on me than raining on me

Beastly Gerbil

first snow for me here anyway

Chris Cudmore

But I don't have to shovel rain.

Mithrandir

It never snows here

2

Rubio

4:46 PM

If you haven't seen my last comment on the puzzle, which will eventually be the first hint, you probably should read it

Sconibulus

we got some snow last weekend where I am, it's still hanging around a bit in places, even though it's up to about 20 now

Mithrandir

I'm just cold

Will

I couldn't live anywhere it doesn't snow

Sid

I haven't seen snow in my entire life so far. I have seen hailstones but not snow.

Sconibulus

that sounds sad

Mithrandir

4:48 PM

It's not sad

You're lucky

Snow is bad. It's cold.

Will

No?????? Snow is awesome.

Mithrandir

Anything cold is evil except for ice cream

TrojanByAccident

Arg, I'm trying a new tactic

solving my puzzle from the outside in

Chris Cudmore

There's nothing like walking in a snowy forest at night. Just wonderful

4

TrojanByAccident

@Mithrandir Refrigerator?

Will

4:50 PM

Yesssss Chris knows what's up

Sconibulus

Rime is like the prettiest thing... but that's not exactly snow

TrojanByAccident

@Will The sky

Beastly Gerbil

I still remember when it snowed before christmas even came. Now its more likely to snow at easter than christmas. Damn global warming

Chris Cudmore

That's one of the reasons I joined Scouts as a scouter. I love showing that stuff to the kids for the first time. A 1km hike at night, to a campfire that's already going. It's magical.

And you get to show them really cool stuff that no one else will.

Sconibulus

@BeastlyGerbil That reminds me of this: xkcd.com/1321

Chris Cudmore

4:53 PM

Gerbil: Where are you approximately?

Sconibulus

@ChrisCudmore Are there kettles of cocoa?

Beastly Gerbil

@ChrisCudmore england

Chris Cudmore

Yup. Always.

Although, we don't let the cubs (8-11) sleep in tents in the winter. They're too small to handle the cold.

So we go to a scout camp with a heated cabin.

But from April to November, I make them rough it.

This June, we're not giving them tents. They're going to have to improvise.

Been teaching lashing all fall to prep them for it.

Mithrandir

Sounds interesting in theory. Cold irl.

Chris Cudmore

Nah, June is when it starts to get hot here. We generally go from too cold to too hot in a week in mid may.

TrojanByAccident

5:01 PM

We generally go from too cold to too hot on a pyre in town square

Chris Cudmore

Burning witches?

TrojanByAccident

Yes

more or less

it's not the witches that are burning, but the witches that are burning.

the witches burn

Chris Cudmore

I was in France a few years ago on St. Jean-Baptiste day. Biggest fire I've ever seen.

Sid

5:28 PM

@BeastlyGerbil Global Warming is a chinese hoax. :P

(Sorry,couldn't resist.)

GentlePurpleRain

Here's my current weather:

Chris Cudmore

Where are you?

Winnipeg?

GentlePurpleRain

Yep

Chris Cudmore

Well, enjoy your mosquito free weather.

GentlePurpleRain

Thanks. Should last a couple more months... :P

dcfyj

5:38 PM

No mosquitoes here either and it's 65F right now

Chris Cudmore

3C and raining in Toronto

dcfyj

A couple? hehe

Sid

@GentlePurpleRain It says -19 degrees to be sunny. Lol

GentlePurpleRain

@Sid We get a lot of sunshine in the wintertime. It can be cold and sunny.

VERY cold and sunny.

Sid

Well, I have the same temperature here without the minus sign. :P

GentlePurpleRain

5:49 PM

Enjoy it.

Deusovi

For some reason, it's 70 degrees Fahrenheit here.

Sid

Global Warming.

Oh wait, that's a chinese hoax. :P

Mithrandir

I have just discovered that it is impossible to add an image on mobile.

GentlePurpleRain

@Mithrandir Can't you bring up the full site on mobile, and do it that way?

Beastly Gerbil

@Mithrandir no its not, its just very difficult

Mithrandir

5:59 PM

I'm using full view

The button is off the screen and no matter what I do it won't let me click it

Beastly Gerbil

try rotating the device?

Mithrandir

Nope

Doesn't work

Beastly Gerbil

oh. unlucky.

dcfyj

@Mithrandir Add an image where?

@Deusovi Yeah it's 65F here, it really shouldn't be in January

Mithrandir

Arts and crafts se

dcfyj

6:12 PM

I've added images via mobile before, Also I just noticed (since I haven't looked at that question in a while) but @GentlePurpleRain why did you remove the logic-deduction tag?

GentlePurpleRain

@dcfyj logical-deduction: A puzzle that needs formal logical deduction to arrive at a solution. [emphasis added]. To me, that implies that the puzzle can be rewritten as a number of statement of formal logic, which is not the case with the tree puzzle.

Rubio

As it turns out, grid-deduction would be a good tag to use now ;)

Sphinx

1

Q: Magic Time-travelling Baktun Wheel

I have an ancient mayan friend who emailed me the other day: From: BalajChanKawiil@google.az To: puzzleguy@google.com Subject: Hey! Hey how are you! I was wondering if you were feeling a little bored, living in 2017, and wanted a little change. If you do, try out my magi...

Beastly Gerbil

found 80 points for that ^

@Rubio orry ninja'd you there!

Rubio

NOPE

Yours is decimocuatro

Beastly Gerbil

6:27 PM

oh so we have the same?

(points that is)

Deusovi

More importantly, shouldn't that be closed?

Beastly Gerbil

should it?

Deusovi

OP says in the comments that they're looking for "imaginative answers".

dcfyj

aka too broad?

Deusovi

Yep.

Rubio

6:29 PM

It's puzzle-golf

don't we allow that?

Deusovi

That's what I think, at least. If you disagree, then don't VTC.

Only in extremely well-defined puzzles.

Beastly Gerbil

I quite like it.

Rubio

The answer is the largest score

which is well defined

so I'd allow it

it's open-ended for sure

Deusovi

But what's allowed as a potential answer is not.

Rubio

So?

It says "word"

Deusovi

6:30 PM

So that's too broad, is it not? German can make arbitrarily long compound words.

Rubio

so (presumably) "one thousand nine hundred ninety nine mod one thousand nine hundred eighty" is verboten but meh

Well. True, but while arbitrarily long, will they still be a proper word that resolves to a numeric value?

Beastly Gerbil

I doubt well be allowed mod in the answer

Rubio

I'm sure there's a reasonably finite limit to what shenanigans you can get up to even in German

Deusovi

Sure, why wouldn't they be?

Rubio

If not, barring German from the question probably salvages it in any case

dcfyj

6:33 PM

@Deusovi If I remeber right, Japanese can too

Deusovi

No, I don't think it can. Japanese doesn't have spaces between words, but they are still different.

dcfyj

I've seen some rather long words, although they were in Romaji

@Deusovi here's a rather in depth answer to that question

Deusovi

Also @Rubio:

"I'm not looking specifically for the highest possible answer, just imaginative answers with the highest points score you can find"

from the OP in the comments

Rubio

You missed the emphasis on the highest answer

I think it's relevant. :)

@BeastlyGerbil btw it says 'the name of the baktun eg. "thirteen" ' - I think that precludes decimocuarto, which is "fourteenth".

Deusovi

I don't see how.

Beastly Gerbil

6:46 PM

I think ordinal is fine

Rubio

All the examples given are the cardinal numbers.

Beastly Gerbil

It's like he fourteenth century

Rubio

or, other words for "zero"

again, cardinal

Beastly Gerbil

ooh I like the new answer

Rubio

I've asked for rules clarity. :)

Beastly Gerbil

6:51 PM

yeah didn't know slang was allowed

Rubio

i was gonna break out Triskaidekaphobia for 112

as a joke

and then people started in with the bakers' dozens

GentlePurpleRain

@Rubio A "baker's dozen" clearly defines the number 13. Triskaidekaphobia doesn't define the number; it defines a fear of the number. I would be inclined to accept the former, but not the latter.

Rubio

(I said as a joke hehe)

I'm disappointed Finnish teen numbers aren't longer. This kind of thing is right up Finnish's alley.

Well.

Apparently anything goes.

Cardinal or ordinal, actual number or just something that identifies one, and as many words as you want.

dcfyj

I have a super long one, but sadly it hits all the low numbers

Deusovi

7:11 PM

@Rubio Yyyyyeah...

Wanna re-evaluate your idea of whether it's too broad or not?

dcfyj

lol

Deusovi

:P

incesterror21

@BeastlyGerbil I was talking about the weird colours

puzzling.stackexchange.com/posts/47853/revisions

Rubio

Yeah, now it's too broad. :)

Sid

@Rubio Hold on. Let it get into HNQ, milk it for some more upvotes and then, vtc. :P

dcfyj

7:15 PM

This one is rather vowel heavy but sadly I could only get 19 through 9

Rubio

@Sid hehe

@GentlePurpleRain Was already doing that ;)

dcfyj

@Deusovi so when are you posting your witless answer? :P

Deusovi

@dcfyj When I solve it. :P

You should keep trying to solve it!

dcfyj

I would catch up to you (and pass you :P) if I knew what the heck I was doing

Deusovi

That gives me less incentive to post it

dcfyj

7:23 PM

lol

Apparently I got set 1 correctly, but the logic I used to get that answers isn't correct for set 2. So, I have no idea...

Sid

@Deusovi I am still stuck in 4th Set.(Because I have already given up!) Mind telling me how on earth are we supposed to solve that? Or do we learn a new rule?

Deusovi

It's not about unique symbols.

@Sid I'm not telling you the solution. I am telling you one thing: You're making an assumption you shouldn't be.

dcfyj

I got that much, but I feel like I almost know what I should be looking for but not quite...

Deusovi

10 hours ago, by Deusovi

oh no, counting - my only weakness

dcfyj

I thought something in that sense but I must be missing part of the rule because I'm getting a non unique solution in set 2

Deusovi

7:28 PM

Huh, really? Which one?

dcfyj

2.1

Deusovi

What are the solutions you got?

(you should probably rot13 or rot47 your descriptions of them)

Sid

YES! I am making an assumption that I don't even know what it is. Now for the love of GOD, PLEASE TELL ME. I can't sleep otherwise tonight.

dcfyj

WE@A=67E 3@EE@>=67E 3@EE@>X WE@AC:89EX 47

and the like (I have a third solution too)

Deusovi

No, that's not the solution.

incesterror21

7:31 PM

@Deusovi why is rot13 and 47 so popular? Why not say rot17?

dcfyj

Well, I figure that. Like I said, I feel like I'm missing part of the rule

@incesterror21 Because they work the same both ways

Deusovi

@incesterror21 They're both self-inverses

rot13(rot13("text"))="text"

same with rot47

incesterror21

Very nice, thanks.

dcfyj

I'm using 47 now because it's pretty much impossible to read unless you flip it

and I recall someone saying they could read 13 as plain

Deusovi

Right - rot13 only changes the letters, so it gives you an idea of the word lengths

and sometimes more of the common letters too

Sphinx

7:33 PM

1

Q: My First Add-A-Gram

Well, I've looked at a bunch of puzzles here but I'm not good at making long involved ones, so I'll make a short one: A bad word inside a suffix of a Chinese martial art inside an alien spaceship inside one tenth of a Biblical flood inside a gathering place.

word anagram

dcfyj

47 doesn't modify the length either, but it does modify the punctuation

Deusovi

Does it not modify spaces?

dcfyj

(which of course makes it look like it changes the length)

no

Deusovi

Huh, didn't realize that

dcfyj

At least, I don't think it does. Time to go testing

Deusovi

7:34 PM

You're right

dcfyj

Definitely not

Deusovi

Also, it turns is into :D, so it's instantly the best cipher ever

dcfyj

(I just put a bunch of spaces in the thing I wrote earlier) :P

lol

@Deusovi Did you forget about the etiquette room's cipher? :P

Deusovi

@dcfyj, do you want a bigger hint?

incesterror21

HINT

Deusovi

7:38 PM

(Also, fair enough :P )

dcfyj

sure

Sid

Um, hey Mathy guys.. (@Deusovi I believe you are one), help me with this, please: An eight digit number divisible by 99 is to be formed using digits from 00 to 99 without repeating the digits. The number of ways in which this can be done is :
A
40(7!)40(7!)
B
36(7!)36(7!)
C
18(7!)18(7!)
D
72(7!)72(7!)

Deusovi

@incesterror21: Did you even try the puzzle yet?

incesterror21

No, I just thought "HINT" is bigger than "hint"

Deusovi

@Sid Digits from 00 to 99?

oh :P

Sid

7:38 PM

Um, that's 0 to 9

Deusovi

@dcfyj: *@F >256 Q6BF2=Q C68:@?D[ :? 2 D6?D6]

Sid

Everything got doubled on copy paste due to some reason..

dcfyj

Ah ok, lemme try this thought, see if it works

Deusovi

Anyway, is this homework? :P

Sid

Nope, just a practice problem from last year. I have sort of forgotten combinatorics on messing with calculus this year. :P

Maria Deleva

7:40 PM

Hey, all! :)

Deusovi

Ah, alright. So how many options do you have for removing digits? (Hint: Remember the divisibility test for 9.)

Hey!

dcfyj

@Deusovi By the way, this makes me think of Magicka: "AHHH! Loss of blood, my only weakness"

Sid

The sum of all digits should be divisible by 9

Deusovi

Say I removed 7. What else could I remove? (Remember, we're removing two digits from the set of 10.)

Sid

You could remove 2..

Deusovi

7:42 PM

Could you remove anything else?

Sid

Ok, Got it!

Thanks..

Deusovi

c;

No problem!

dcfyj

Ok, I think I have the rule now

Deusovi

Have you solved set 2?

Maria Deleva

What puzzle are you solving?

dcfyj

7:47 PM

My rule for it works for sets 1, 2, and I started on 3

Deusovi

@TheGreatEscaper's new puzzle, "The Witless"

Maria Deleva

Thanks.

Deusovi

18

Q: WITLESS - A Puzzling Journey

IMPORTANT! READ ME: The only 'puzzle' parts of this are the links, titled 'Set X', 'Inscription X', or 'Constellation X'. Everything else is flavortext, apart from this readme section, although the flavortext does tell you that the meaning of the inscriptions is not supposed to be deduced until...