The Sphinx's Lair - 2017-02-21

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12:02 AM

@Rubio Yep, and I think you got the answer

(and welcome back!)

Danke

playing the scrollback catch-up game. lol

2 hours later…

2:03 AM

1

Q: Puzzle: The Final Test

Our brave host arrives at the address given to him on the sheet of paper. Coming up to the location, he observes that the hideout appears to be a four-layered pyramid, with horizontal strips of black paint down each diagonal edge. The host gazes at it for a moment, wondering what it could all mea...

5 hours later…

7:23 AM

2

Q: A satanic little riddle

Satanic and ridiculous this riddle may seem, Unify the beginnings to find out its theme. Repress a disaster; don't look everywhere, Right words exhibit a trait that they share. Only these dodgy tertiary ones count, Unveil the relevant parts you've now found. Now a chihuahua will sh...

riddle steganography

2 hours later…

9:24 AM

0

Q: Mi, So, Re, Do?

Not quite! But it's even easier! Here's what you'll need:

enigmatic-puzzle knowledge steganography music

9:48 AM

0

Q: How old are they?

Peter is twice as old as he was when John was half as old as Harry. Harry is twice as old as the Peter was when John was half as old as Peter is now. 12 Years ago, John was half as old as Peter will be twelve years from now.

logical-deduction arithmetic

9:59 AM

@Rubio PRIMER is correct :)

CCCC: Almost ancient music medium about new Maroon 5 song. (4)

@Rubio This is really a "you know it or you don't" kinda clue. I wouldn't have gotten it if I hadn't looked it up.

10:29 AM

Yeah neither

Somebody'll probably know though... maybe? :P

3 hours later…

1:35 PM

0

Q: Journey to The Greatest Treasures of the Dungeons!

This is an entry to the Fortnightly Topic Challenge #27: treasure-hunt. Last weekend was fun. We went for a trek to a nearby place. The place was located in the middle of a huge jungle. We decided to set up a camp there. Though a couple of my friends argued with the idea, the rest of us were ex...

cipher story treasure-hunt

1:58 PM

@humn You asked, here it is :P

2:08 PM

@dcfyj , yeah! If you want to lose any trace of personal identity and conform, the header could look more like one of these: Sample commentaries on puzzle creation

I like my header though :P

(Nice that you've already matched the average number of votes for making-of posts! they often don't get as much attention as they could.)

How about adding "wrap-up" somewhere near "suggested that ..."? It'll make finding the post easier because keywords are all we have to go by, and "making of" occurs in many non-making-of posts.

done :P

(feel free to edit formatting and the like)

Yippee! This is the kind of stuff that adds long-term value around here.

(okay about editing, but I didn't notice anything yet)

I'm not overly fond of how the paragraphs are looking at the moment, but I'm not sure how to make them look better.

2:15 PM

GAmen folks

GAmen

lol, GA (georgia) men :P

Are you trying to get me whining about the CSS of these sites, dcfyj? Fanfare, Matt!

I don't even know what you're talking about lol

Good. Then I wont talk about: font choice, margin sizes, paragraph spacing, list formats, ...

but we can talk about padding?

2:18 PM

Now you're talking!

Gamen all!

We have a quorum!

lol

Time to vote someone not here into a position they don't want.

GAmen @Techidiot

2:19 PM

Nice puzzle @dcfyj It will take days to understand the puzzle and then its solution though :D

+1 though. After all these years, I still don't know how the original minesweeper works :)

@Techidiot You never saw my minesweeper crossword?

No. Never saw it. I think, I was not a part of puzzling then.

ah

minesweeper is simple, the number in any given cell counts how many bombs are in the 8 adjacent cells

I'm gonna be trying to make sense of the solfege puzzle

of the what puzzle?

2:23 PM

How much time did you actually spent making that? You should explicitly mention that rather than stating just "few" ;)

solfege: puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/49303/mi-so-re-do

do, re, me, etc is called solfege

I'm pretty sure it's used internationally to represent western scales

@Techidiot You do realize I posted that puzzle 4 months ago?

@Matt Right, now that you point that out I remember the term

Without a context key, 'do' is usually assigned to C

but music shown is in G

and the rehearsal letters are O C H

@dcfyj Yeah. By not into puzzling I meant new to puzzling :) Might have missed it or may be skipped it thinking it to be going over my head ;) October was a bad month for me and my puzzles :p

@Rubio Thanks for the edits. :)

mi so re do is actually the first bar

2:26 PM

@Techidiot That was in reply to your "specific hours" comment, aka I have no idea how long I worked on it lol

Oh haha

Thanks for pointing out the music puzzle, Matt! It looks consistent enough musically make we want to hear it played.

I'll bet boboquack has a midi for it.

yeah, it's not just a tone wash, musical things are happening

I spy modulations

@humn I never did for the "music" puzzle I posted :P

but somehow I feel like the music-minded are at a slight disadvantage, trying to hear the music by looking at it, instead of looking for the steganography

2:33 PM

@dcfyj , which music puzzle? Did you make the one with an on-line editor that we could see?

As I said, it's a "music" puzzle (note the quotes)

Matt, count me in as one who could be distracted by suspecting that boboquack has classical training.

@dcfyj , well that's a bona fide cryptogram.

like I said "music" :P

Here's one that looked more musicy than intended. I had so much fun with it, its poser accepted an unintended answer.

8

Q: Can You Note the Notes?

This is what happened to Jack and Dave. If you were Jack and Dave, what would you do?

0

Q: What do I use as my password? (not really)

Just experimenting with something nerdy. Not certain that this will work. special = 0 soviets = 2 without = 1 fantasy = 0 bullets = 3 tyrants = 4 nuclear = 1 muddled = 2 zappers = 1 violent = 0 Murders = 3 hacking = 0 grenade = 0 moments = 4 gunners = 2 errands = 3 fifties = ...

enigmatic-puzzle trivia video-games

2:40 PM

^ with the trivia and video games tags, I feel like I should know that one

Too many goodies to keep up with all of a sudden!

@Techidiot, I hadn't even noticed yours yet! Thank you for keeping up the visual cause while my puzzles are taking a symbolic turn (with another couple of math-formula puzzles on the way).

@humn I may just upvote and run away from them :p Math scares me

Hmm... I wonder if I could come up with something for the fortnight...

@Matt Do the enumeration look like PS versions? I'm not into gaming (I was though), but they look like that.

@Techidiot What would 0 be then?

2:47 PM

@dcfyj That's what I am trying to think.

Murders is capitalized

and there are 10 rows above and below it

whatever it is, Murders is at the center

makes me think of a james bond movie, some of which were made into games

^^^ omg my total rep xD

(I am a child)

(Sorry to miss out right now, but I'm still hot on retargeting another puzzle to an answer that was better than expected. Speaking of which, @Matt, your great answer to Proof without chords made me realize that the original puzzle tried for way more than necessary. The other part needs to be better directed if it ever does get a puzzle of its own.)

@BeastlyGerbil Hey

Welcome back!

I went somewhere? :P

I guess you did :)

puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/49299/… what are we finding here? Any ideas? I have asked the OP to add the context.

2:52 PM

Haven't been working on it, I actually did go somewhere :P

Yes.. And I guess for quite some time. Been long since I last saw you here.

I wonder if the riddle is steganographically hidden

But pretty happy with the words I've found. Except for the furtherst right bit. The third word bit i'm sure on

@Techidiot I've been around just not chatting. Have been on literature, just not here

Oh okay.

any better ideas for the right word bit?

2:55 PM

maybe if it's satanic, it's being dishonest

so, maybe it's pointing to SURROUNDED on the left

I tried taking the letters out from every third word, also tried taking every 3rd letter of each line but doesn't give anything useful

So the OP confirms its What am I puzzle

May be this means something Repress a disaster

Must mean something

Repress = anagram?

Also capitalized OK seems suspicious.

Presser, but again, may not be relevant considering the types of puzzles he makes

666 is a satanic number, which might hold some value but not sure

3:11 PM

Going by every three words, the last three words are Kind, Elegant, You'll -> first letters -> KEY

Oooh interesting

But the rest is gibberish :X sadly

maybe the gibberish is the key?

Hmm possible..
RIDICULOUS
MAY
THE
FIND
THEME
DISASTER
EVERYWHERE
EXHIBIT
THAT
ONLY
TERTIARY
UNVEIL
PARTS
FOUND
CHIHUAHUA
YOU
DOGS
BUT
OK
ARBITRARY
KIND
ELEGANT
YOU'LL

But, not sure if Levieux will do that.

RMTFTDEETOTUPFCYDBOA - KEY

3:14 PM

Doesn't decipher to anything either

Damn okay

web link maybe?

Not sure.

Tried deciphering with chihuahua but no luck

heh :P

:D

surrounded makes me think of a circle

3:17 PM

pentagram is usually surrounded by a circle

3:31 PM

@BeastlyGerbil screenshot plz

GAmen @Randal'Thor @BeastlyGerbil

Hullo!

Gamen!

@Riker and I are here to investigate ping colours.

holy shit you're right

3:32 PM

ping colors?

it's yellow

@dcfyj the color your name is highlighted in at the beginning of this message

It's true, pings are a different colour in here from Mos or tRR.

I'd never really twigged that.

Well, yes, it's yellow. Just like in the game dev room any messages you send have a blue tint to them.

yeah, that's everywheere

Not in here

3:33 PM

but most rooms have a pink ping highlight

My messages are never blue in here

@dcfyj these ones are a bit purpler but still shaded

user image

Yeah I have same

@Riker That all looks white to me

o_O are you mildly colorblind

3:35 PM

No idea

@dcfyj ... huh?

My messages appear blue everywhere.

I think he's trolling or colorblind

one or the other

Different shades of blue according to the room background, but always different from everyone else's messages.

yeah

hey @Randal'Thor can you ping me in the m&tv room

They're all the same to me in here. in game dev they're clearly blue to me

3:36 PM

@Riker Seems to be plenty of people in there already; why not just ask one of them to ping you?

user image

Left is in here (looks white to me) right is in game dev (looks blue to me)

@dcfyj Both look blue to me.

right is green o_O

the left is blue but the right is definitely green

shrug

right is green

3:39 PM

Right looks like a baby blue to me

wtf

left is baby blue

ok you're colorblind

^^

left is white to me lol

you sure you're not colourblind?

3:39 PM

I have no idea

take an online quick test

GentlePurpleRain

@Rubio: CCCC solution: (OL(d) + CD)* = COLD

clever

No def?

GentlePurpleRain

Def is "new Maroon 5 song".

3:43 PM

new maroon 5 song

ninja'd

user image

There were a couple I couldn't see though...

GentlePurpleRain

CCCC: Protagonist ammunition (4)

So partially colour blind

It's very possible that I'm colorblind, my dad is.

@dcfyj I think colour-blindness can only be inherited from one's mother.

3:45 PM

Well, colorblind as in he can't see a few colors, I think blue and green?

But it's only men who can be colour-blind.

Something about chromosomes, I think.

@Deusovi Could you run me through what you got?

GentlePurpleRain

@Randal'Thor Not true. It's just a lot more common in men.

Oh.

@Randal'Thor Color blindness can be inherited only through mother by son. It's an X-linked inheritance

Also, it's not necessary that the mother has to be color blind. She can only be a carrier.

3:48 PM

@Sid Well, naturally. Otherwise there would have to be at least as many colour-blind women as men.

Possible CCCC solution- LEAD? Double def. Though I am not sure how lead=ammu-nition

Bullets are made from lead (at least some of them are)

@GentlePurpleRain ^^

but I wouldn't call that a definition

GentlePurpleRain

4:11 PM

@Sid Correct. Lead is a slang synonym for ammunition, as "I'm gonna pump you full of lead".

How is lead = protagonist?

Leeeed not led

As in bring

GentlePurpleRain

The lead actor/character is the protagonist.

(usually)

I got the lead

Anyway @Sid your turn

@BeastlyGerbil I figured that. Although, they are technically two completely separate words, even if they have the same spelling.

4:36 PM

@GentlePurpleRain actually C(...)D about OL(d) -> COLD, but yes.

GentlePurpleRain

Oh. Okay. I took "about" as an anagram indicator.

that would be an indirect anagram. I wouldn't do that. :)

GentlePurpleRain

True. Didn't even think about that...

5:02 PM

@Sid Well, my post has pretty much everything.

The first couple sentences after the ICAO/NATO hints give the letters AOLGTNFA.

Then presumably we have to use "Once you get all of that, Look for a rotated east European Country's. Then, a dangerous beginning for the quest of pirate's treasure beckons."

He mentions rotated country right? It might mean, a country with rotated letters might look like this.. which gives multiple choices. And none of them fits there.

The letters are correct, I see. You are going in the wrong way after that.

The grammar is really weird there, though. I'm not sure if that's meaningful.

Grammar, as in country's?

I will clarify that that was intentional.

Right.

5:07 PM

CCCC - Sportsman received message. (5)

Those letters are pretty important. And, there is no cipher.

I tried country codes, but FA doesn't have a country

the first three were promising - Angola, Latvia, Tonga

close votes on new question pls

@Deusovi What have you got from the letters? It hints for the next part.

...I've got AOLGTNFA.

(Also, apologies for late replies, I have been a bit busy recently).

5:20 PM

-2

Q: Does not belong to the group

One of these numbers does not belong to the group 3, 11, 17, 23, 29, 73, 77 With my logic I came up with two solutions

number-sequence

Oh, dear! How did I make that mistake?

:p

Somethings wrong

He confirmed the letters were correct.

Yes, the letters are correct. It is just that they don't hint at the thing I am going for.

@Deusovi The reply was for a mistake he did - "Something's wrong" is the title :)

5:22 PM

You wouldn't be able to get the next part with those letters.

Oh.

It would take a huge intuitive leap.

So... now what?

I need to edit that question. Thinking...

Okay, done.

International code of signals probably

5:34 PM

:)

If you got that already, I can say why those letters wouldn't have got you there.

Oh, maritime signal flags!

Yeah.

The only "rotated European country's" flag that I can see is T --> the Netherlands, but that's not "eastern European" at all

The letters that you got, anagram to NATO FLAG. Unfortunately, I forgot to google it to see what else it could mean.(Because, I am an idiot!) And when I saw you guys struggling, I then googled it and it got me nowhere near to where I intended to go.

Unclued anagrams? D:

5:38 PM

Those are not cryptic clues!

I tried anagramming to get a single word, but there are so many options for multiple words that I didn't bother

Yeah. Even I tried it. But boulter didn't showed me NATO, it gave NOTA instead and I overlooked it

user image

it keeps going

it's obviously LOAF TANG

boulter.com/anagram/?letters=AOLGTNFA&words=FLAG

5:40 PM

nah, definitely gotta be FLAN TOGA

I see 3 European countries with their flags rotated.

Ohh, overall, not just in the text NATOFLAG

Hm, it's not immediately obvious if the numbers are included in this too

6:04 PM

Oops, That CCCC has a small error. @Deusovi Unpin that one. I am writing a new one,now.

CCCC - Sportsman,say,received message. (5)

Surface reading makes no sense to me anymore :(

Yeah, my earlier clue was not right. It broke the rules of cryptic clues.

Okay, I need to go. Hint for CCCC- The sum of letters mod 26=11.

6:19 PM

mod 26? really?

I've seen it before for other people going afk - without mod 26, there's some element of reverse engineering

oh ok

Even with mod 26 you can still reverse engineer it

I reversed one of Deusovi's words with it once (although he gave more than just the sum.)

he gave, like, squares or something

Yeah, something like that

6:40 PM

Yeah, I gave sum and sum of squares

6:58 PM

0

Q: Travel Agency - A Zebra Puzzle (Einstein's Riddle) variation

You can play it online here: https://www.brainzilla.com/logic/zebra/travel-agency/ | | Woman #1 | Woman #2 | Woman #3 | Woman #4 | Woman #5 | |------------|----------|----------|----------|----------|----------| | purse | | | | | | | n...

logical-deduction logic-grid

0

Q: Maths number puzzle ..please find this solution

Please find the required numbers for the respective boxes to get tat solution

number-sequence formation-of-numbers

Second is duplicate, @Deusovi can you close it?

but it says "please"

:P

GentlePurpleRain

7:13 PM

@BeastlyGerbil Can you post a comment with a link to the duplicate question? Can't close as duplicate without knowing what the duplicate is.

I cant find but I've seen it twice

7:48 PM

@dcfyj I don't know whats happened there but I think there is a web mistake, because the website said my solution was correct... Maybe they thought machu piccu was in china?

It doesn't work if you try and make white pure peru

Beats me, because I know machu picchu is in peru lol. My sister bought me a shirt from there when she was down there.

I thought it was, but when I tried filling it in it came up with an error message for anothe one, can't remember which

I'm still systematically going through it, I'll see what I come up with

Think there's just been a mistake, and that Machu Picchu just needs to be replaced with a chinese place

8:30 PM

@Rubio Just wanted to say that I find OL[d] odd for a word that already contains OLD :P

@BeastlyGerbil Apparently that's the OP's website, because he fixed it locally (in the question) and on the site

Oh ok, cool

I'm having fun with the step by step. I completely forgot how I did it

lol

Finally worked it out now thouhg :P

I'm just making up fun names for the steps :P

I feel like there was a jump in logic from the initial 3 to the next one. I'm not fond of being forced to guess when doing logic puzzles

8:40 PM

Well, think I've worked it out now

I should see if I can work my idea into a feasible puzzle... :P

8:52 PM

hmm... I think this will take me longer than usual to toss together

Hopefully I can finish it by the 5th

0

Q: Knights and knaves in Landilandia

You're traveling on a hiking trip in the land of Landilandia when you encounter a forest. The notes in your guidebook tell you that there's a safe route here leading into the woods, but when you approach, you discover that there are actually two paths to choose from. Beside them are three men sit...

logical-deduction story liars

9:12 PM

@Sp3000 Yeah - I started with wanting to put CD around something, and that's where it took me. ;)

9:41 PM

night all

good night!

Night!

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Feb '1721

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