@Sid Thanks for putting a bounty on that. I thought I had already given Dan one (because it's an absolutely worthy answer), but it looks like I never did. :S
@Randal'Thor But yes, it will indeed ruin the records that question held. It has already dropped below the 1:10 votes:views ratio, and it's about to lose its other record (only question in the top 100 that has <1k views).
@Randal'Thor Obvious but horrible. I don't mean that there's anything wrong with using it for a puzzle; it just feels disturbing to treat dates as fractions. I guess because it seems entirely arbitrary that we happen to use "/" as a date separator, and dividing dates is a fundamentally unnatural thing to do -- a "type error", as they say in programmer-land.
@GarethMcCaughan I think it's absolutely beautiful. Maybe it's because I'm a mathematician and not a programmer, so I enjoy messing around with notation :-)
so, Rubio's cryptic clue. Obvious thoughts: perhaps "directions in the middle of Middle" = DEND or DEWD or something of the sort (DD = middle of "middle"; compass directions). Perhaps the "penniless fraction" is THIR (= THIRD without D) or PER (= PERCENT without CENT). Perhaps "his strange" is ISH or SHI. Perhaps there's a way to put these bits together that makes sense, but I haven't found one.
It seems like the definition will be "problem" or "secretary's problem" or "shortened secretary's problem".
Another possibility: the definition is "following directions", in which case maybe "in the middle of Middle, I" = DID.
@GarethMcCaughan I was thinking "directions in the middle of Middle" = downwards (DD = down down), but that's probably not precise enough for you cruciverbial experts :-)
"The one exception is voting to close as off-topic when you expect the question to be migrated to another site. Then it's ok to answer as you would if the question had been posted on the other site."
(also I VTC after answering; when I had started typing in my answer there were no VTC yet)
Without the hint it would have been difficult to guess that an element of the story-telling was actually relevant to the obvious puzzle. Providing the hint as a hint put a huge spotlight on that element, making it too easy. Noting that the story isn't just story might have sufficed to clue people in to looking at more than just the note, without pointing out with flashing lights and sirens which part to focus on.
@ArbitraryKangaroo No. But there's this site, called Stack Swap or something like that, that has a lot of diverse and interesting communities. Maybe they have one there. Sure would be cool to have a site for puzzles like that to be part of, instead of just hanging out in this chat room with you lot.
@IAmInPLS Something at the bottom that just said "Oh, by the way - there's more to the story here than just story-telling" maybe
So you don't have to point it out, but you still point it out :)
No, you asked if we knew any good puzzling site online. Obviously, we do; we're on one. The implication of your question therefore is that this one isn't an answer to your question, so must not be "good". If you don't like it here, move on already.
Apropos of absolutely nothing (*cough*), I believe I've heard it's possible to ignore a user. How does one do so?
Anonymous
11:38 AM
@Rubio Just click on my icon, the under the "Actions", click "ignore this user(everywhere)".
@all Do you know any socially well-adjusted people named Arka?
I certainly didn't say anything about anyone present here, but it would be a more than reasonable interpretation of my question if you were to read something into it that isn't explicitly there.
Anonymous
Probably none, as I (I think I know) know one "Arka" who is not over 15 yet, so socially well adjusted is out of question.
@Randal'Thor @Rubio was being a bit less rude than it may look at first sight -- he was making an analogy with AK's question about good puzzle communities/sites, and the analogy actually works best if it's taken to be common knowledge that AK isn't socially maladjusted.
@Sid Well, when you post "Iran" as an answer, it was funny because it has the same letters as in "rain"... I thought you were onto something until I saw your full answer :-)
Where am I!?
This is Puzzling Stack Exchange's Official Riddle Sandbox™!
Users who wish to post riddles can post them here first, and receive feedback, development advice and guidance before posting them on the main site. Writing good riddles the first time can be difficult, and this is intende...
@incesterror21 There's typically an "honor system" - if you check the riddle sandbox, you don't post an answer if you figure it out. (And you don't have to include the answer in your post!)
I made a puzzle, I hope the difficulty is calibrated right, I worry it could be seen as too easy, given all the hints, or alternately incredibly unfair
@Sconibulus- Out of curiosity, why Life's Legos Lost has something to do with DNA as mentioned in the answer? If not, why that? Sorry I am not good with Chemistry(if that is intended) Or is it just because the rhyme has lost/scrambled its legos(lines)?
I didn't put much thought into it initially, the pun came to mind and I went with it
looking back, amino acids and peptides are building blocks (legos) for proteins, which is required for life, and they were kind of hidden within the text, for 'lost'
and the pun is, Love's Labours lost is a Shakespeare play, they had the same scantion
@Randal'Thor It's actually not mine! I wish I could attribute an author. I found it on a site that licensed it for personal use without actually providing authorial information.
@Emrakul Actually I think Gonzalo both folded it and also took the picture, since he's the one who posted it on flickr. "designed by Román Díaz and folded by me". Roman is just the author of the design.
user61230
Hmn, fair. I'm gonna go with, "Designed, folded, and photographed, by some ambiguous combination of Roman Diaz and... someone named Gonzalo, apparently."
Murder mysteries are not posted often, as it appears. I'm interested in writing one (more like five in a series), and I'd like to know what is acceptable and what is not.
Continuous story?
Inspired by ace attorney, I'm considering making some puzzles connected, such that in order to deduce info...