The Sphinx's Lair

1:42 AM

0

Q: A lamentable celebration

Although my existence is often source of lamentation, many sees it as a celebration. Give me a diminutive suffix, and I will introduce you to my little sister. Although some keep me in a box like a treasure, I probably belong in the gutter. My sister is often seen as quite nasty, but s...

riddle

Q: Create all the numbers from 100 to 110 only using 5 zeros

2:58 AM

-2

This is similar to my Create all numbers from 0-100 only using 1,2,3,4 and 5 but this takes a whole new twist! Create all the numbers from 10 to 24 (inclusive) only using 5 zeros and any operation except logarithms and concatenation.

calculation-puzzle formation-of-numbers

Q: Something which is often used

6:34 AM

0

I am something which is often used. I can be light blue, light red, or light green. I can hurt you, but I can also help you. But I'm never in one piece. Many people study my kind Many more use us frequently But there is one sure thing You find us thrice in this question.

riddle word

8:11 AM

I think the CCCC is PLENTITUDE: P (piano, gentle) and LENITUDE, an old word for lenience that isn't in any of OED, Chambers or Merriam-Webster.

boboquack

Did you have a good sleep?

@GarethMcCaughan I have now written some clues, so I'm better prepared than I was yesterday.

@boboquack Yes, thanks. I'm well-rested. (Bright and chirpy would be an exaggeration, though. :))

8:37 AM

0

Q: From bottom to top

A twist on the word-ladder type of puzzle: Reach from "bottom" to "top", following these rules at each step: You can change a letter, remove a letter or add a letter at each move. The changed letter can change its place in the word. For example, if I want to change the second "e" in the wo...

wordplay word-ladder

Rubio

8:51 AM

@MOehm PLENTITUDE is (10)

0

Q: Spring is here!

Does springtime get you all wound up? If so, feel free to consult what resembles the Staff of Asclepius below. What panacean prescription therein could help you uncompress this spring? Only Os and os carry the message. 's and .s are present for anti-aliasing and should be regarded as space...

visual steganography

@Rubio Oh, It's PLENITUDE, without the first T. Sorry about that. Accept my gratitude for correcting me.

Rubio

Oh. yeah. that works.

That's pretty certainly it

Let's see.

(Plentitude is also a word. Oxford says it's a rare term for plenitude. To my non-English ears plentitude sounds more natural than plenitude.)

Sid

9:43 AM

Um, @MOehm I don't get the piano gentle part. Could you elaborate?

@Sid In music notation, p or piano is an instruction to play at a low volume or "gently". (The "gently" could also mean adagio, at a gentle pace.) The opposite of piano would be f or forte for strong. (There whole range goes from ppp, very softly, to fff, very loudly, but these aren't used very often on cryptics.) The name of the instrument, piano, is an abbreviation of pianoforte.

Gareth McCaughan

10:07 AM

PLENITUDE is correct, and I must insist that LENITUDE is in fact in the OED. Congratulations to @MOehm. (Solving cryptics in what isn't even one's native language is extra-impressive!)

@GarethMcCaughan: Thanks. It isn't in the online OED, which I use, but it was in the Scowl word list and Wiktionary has it, too. Now let's see how the setting works.

CCCC: It clothes great men playfully without a bit of effort. (7)

Gareth McCaughan

10:34 AM

It's totally in the online OED when I use it. Here's the relevant page: oed.com/view/Entry/107279 (at least, that works for me when logged in).

Okay, I use the cheapskate version, that's why.

Gareth McCaughan

Ah. Yeah, that's an English dictionary from Oxford but not at all the Oxford English Dictionary which is an entirely different beast.

(The OED is rather expensive, but in some parts of the UK being signed up for the (free) public library system gets you access to it.)

10:52 AM

Good resources are expensive. I find that Free Oxford dictionary quite useful and will continue to use it. But I shouldn't call it OED, of course.

12:29 PM

@MOehm I'm eager to know so dream up a good one

Oh just kidding I should have just finished reading.. Nice

cipher enigmatic-puzzle knowledge

12:55 PM

0

Q: The ultimate question?

I had a quite peaceful night last night, that is until my phone rang at 2:46 AM. Upon answering, the person on the other side said: "Kifflom! Congratulations you have won 10.000 € from our secret society. To claim the prize money you only have to answer one question. The question was sent to yo...

enigmatic-puzzle knowledge

1:43 PM

1

Q: A Message carrying Train!

- - - - - - - - - - | | ++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++ | 1 |----| 2 |----| 3 |---| 4 | - - ...

Deusovi

1:55 PM

@MOehm (Native English speaker here. Sounds more natural to me too.)

Since nobody checks the meta review queues:

Possible duplicate of Please vote on a new title prompt for questions — rand al'thor 13 hours ago

Wouldn't yours be the duplicate?

@dcfyj No, because mine is the most up-to-date and the one where action was actually taken.

There's also a bunch of "should questions that are simply puzzles be allowed" posts from the early days of the site which should probably all be closed as dupes of TMBMP or something.

I can't review I'm not special enough ¯_(ツ)_/¯

You missed a \ on your shrug :P

2:09 PM

Just needs one more close-vote now.

@dcfyj The \ is there, just invisible.

Done.

@dcfyj He lost an arm on entry

@Randal'Thor So he's half-rayman?

@Techidiot You process the friends, turn them into something then into letters. Then you cat the letters and they make a word. And no, it's not gibberish. — user_194421 4 mins ago

What does this mean? :-/

cat the letters?

I'm guessing concatonate

2:12 PM

or is it cut

Cat usually means concatenate

As there is the word cat within it, but not cut

@n_palum I'll remember that next time my dog chases a concatenate.

lol

It's a term used in program from strings, not sure where else it's used though.

^ lol

@n_palum it's funny that it's used in programming?

2:20 PM

Well, I think what he means is -> turn the words into their values and then to letters again

e.g. Jay -> 36 -> CF and then concat. @Randal'Thor You might take that as a hint and check if you can find a word in there

No I meant like that ^ is right, while also laughing at @Randal'Thor

@Techidiot Concat is usually the short version of it not cat, so I am only assuming that's what he meant... You could be right that he's meaning something entirely different

No, he actually means concat. But not sure. You never know what a cat can do

@Techidiot Ohh got it.. and that question was a bit of a mess

@Techidiot Why do I get the feeling that was a marsupial? For some reason it comes off that way to me...

@dcfyj Quite possible. Whoever that was, accepted and unaccepted an answer. Someone naughty :-)

Even this user has a lot of puzzles in 2 days

And guess what, none of the question has an accepted answer.

2:32 PM

@Techidiot One of them has a bounty now too

Yes, the cat comment was from the same user.

There isn't much use speculating. If you suspect something, flag it for the mods and let them investigate.

If you're right, you're just feeding the troll. If you're wrong, you could be insulting an innocent user.

Fair

@MOehm Oh no. Not again :p Too fast.

2:49 PM

@Techidiot As fast as a train?

I'm wondering, if I made it easier or its just you :-) Great work! — Techidiot 41 secs ago

@n_palum That ^

Sid

3:05 PM

@MOehm AH, Music. I know nothing about music. Well, thank you for the information.

@Techidiot That comma makes it seem so dramatic.. I'm wondering (pauses and gazes into distance)...

3:18 PM

I guess, it was meant to sound dramatic a little ;)

I think I just have a bias towards commas and them always making things dramatic

Dram,a,tic

You stop that

formation-of-numbers cops-and-robbers

3:55 PM

0

Q: Coppers - Make 24

The make-24 puzzle is an oldie, but a very fun one at that. Given four different numbers, produce—through a sequence of operations upon only those four numbers—the number twenty-four. For example, given $2,2,3,8$ you can make $24$ by: $2\times 3\times\frac82$. Note that each of the given n...

@MOehm GARMENT (It clothes) = GARMENTE ("great men" playfully) - E (without a bit of effort)

Q: Best practice for puzzles that have fallen silent?

Nice. I had the word, but no idea about how to fit it :)

Puzzling Meta

0

Suppose a puzzle had activity and then lost it for unknown reasons. From the perspective of the OP, there are three options I can think of: Do nothing and leave the puzzle sit. Edit-bump the question for more attention. Wrap it up with a self-answer. All three have their pros and cons, but I'...

discussion

CCCC: Tear, simple speech begin violent, unbridled house meeting. (10)

@GentlePurpleRain Oooo that's what playfully was for dang

Deusovi

4:08 PM

@GentlePurpleRain Are you just trying to make a clue with as many anagram indicators as possible?

formation-of-numbers cops-and-robbers

0

Q: Robbers - Make 24

The make-24 puzzle is an oldie, but a very fun one at that. Given four different numbers, produce—through a sequence of operations upon only those four numbers—the number twenty-four. For example, given $2,2,3,8$ you can make $24$ by: $2\times 3\times\frac82$. Note that each of the given n...

@Deusovi That... wasn't actually intentional. But I'm happy about it! :)

4:22 PM

@GentlePurpleRain Yes, garment is correct.

paramesis

5:54 PM

I want to award the first correct answer to a puzzle I posted, but I don't want to award the bounty until I see a full set of solving steps. Is it bad form to accept an answer, then later accept the most comprehensive answer?

@paramesis Not bad form exactly, but why do you want to accept an answer right away?

paramesis

I don't want to accept it, but I feel some kind of award is warranted for the first correct answer.

they could have guessed

@GentlePurpleRain: RENDEZVOUS (meeting) = REND (tear) + EZ (easy, simple [in] speech) + V (begin violent) + [h]OUS[e] (unbridled house)

Correct.

CCCC: Pole in Romania cuts a path after restructuring range (10, 9)

6:05 PM

@paramesis Why not just upvote the answer, and wait to accept an answer until you have one you're happy with?

@MOehm the 10, 9 implies two words right?

doesn't imply, actually means there are 2 words. a 10-letter one and a 9-letter one

Yeah that, didn't mean imply

paramesis

@GentlePurpleRain That's what I've done so far, with a comment.

6:23 PM

Ugh I think I know like 75% of his clue >.<

@dcfyj Do they have to be one whole word each

Yes, it's a 10-letter word and a 9-letter word

If it were more than two words the enumeration would be written differently.

Oh it gets the hypens doesn't it

Would it be in bad taste to guess the first word only XD

If it had a hyphen the enumeration would show it.

Assuming @Emrakul only put this question on hold because the image was broken - let's get it reopened now.

6:41 PM

1

Q: Down a Golden Path Go I

Hello all! This is my first puzzle/riddle here at Puzzling! Hopefully this isn't too easy. If it is, I hope you at least like the rhymes! Down a golden path go I Companions likewise go To reach the Center of our world On busses, to and fro A weir I reach My path is blocked ...

riddle rhyme

7:00 PM

Reopened @Randal'Thor

Formerly-incarcerated-talking-tree.