The Sphinx's Lair

boboquack

12:21 AM

@Rubio kinky to Codenames? Just switched to mobile and it doesn't display on the chat site list

ffao

Codenames

For playing the game Codenames. New players, see puzzling.meta...

boboquack

7:18 AM

Anyone around?

ASCII-only

No

boboquack

:P

Sphinx

7:42 AM

0

Q: Can you guess me?

who am I? Your sixth Finger I run faster, You run slower My biggest enemy is my doppelganger More hints will be added if it is hard, I dont think its hard though

Sphinx

8:01 AM

3

Q: Replace some letters at PUZZLE to find out a sentence

**zzle = Spout *u**le = Group *u**le = Make money ****le = A person who will love with her whole heart. p****e = A beautiful city in Central Europe p****e = A balerina loves to do this p****e = Slim and beautiful girl p****e = An epidemic disease p***le = Word of honor given or pledged ...

anagram seasonal

Sid

Congrats to @Gareth and @Rubio !!

Don't take the power to your head. :P

(on a side note, I was right about the election being close. Mith came really close)

Ankoganit

Woo Gareth and Rubio are our new mods

Congrats!

Rubio

Danke danke :)

ffao

Is it the official Indian waking up time?

Ankoganit

lol no

Sid

8:09 AM

It's almost lunch time.

Rubio

I've already used my powers for good, so that was a nice feeling hehe

ffao

You guys showed up within 2 mins of each other!

Sid

Coincidence, I guess.

Mithrandir

@Rubio you can now see a new type of circle on your avatar in chat.

Ankoganit

But, but, he's totally not my sock!

Rubio

8:11 AM

Besides the yellow and blue?

Mithrandir

@Rubio yep

It's either red or orange.

Rubio

Indeed. Haven't seen one yet, and that is perhaps a good thing :)

boboquack

Hey, tech already said something

Mithrandir

(that's what happens when you flag for mod attention, folks)

ffao

You get to see circles? I was hoping for something more flashy, like a siren

Sid

8:13 AM

Man, that codename game is addictive and is responsible for raising my blood pressure..

boboquack

Bah, all my flags are going to be taken before I can flag them. Time to be an active flagger in bicycles.

@Sid Yeah, I would play, but I've got to go soon

Rubio

@ffao Sorry, beat ya to that one ;)

Mithrandir

@ffao we have userscripts for sirens.

ffao

Part of me is sad that you'll be showered with rep for an easy answer

Rubio

I had to backsolve CAROLE which was annoying. Is that supposed to be a thing people know?

ffao

8:15 AM

But given what the puzzle is about, I think it's fair

boboquack

Time to find some obsolete comments to flag. Yay!

Rubio

Well yeah - I glanced at it, knew the answer, and was all I MUST BE THE ONE

2

ffao

I also back solved Carole, for what it's worth

Sid

So, apparently Carole is someone who loves with all her heart. How does everyone else love? With half of their heart? Quarter?

Ankoganit

Urban Dictionary's definitions aren't the most reliable

So I'm pretty sure that's not a real meaning of Carole

Sid

8:18 AM

I didn't actually know that Carole was a word. I thought it was only a name.

Ankoganit

I suspect it is

Urban Dictionary has a weird definition for every common-ish name

Rubio

It's not a word. It's just a name with a (possibly exclusively? Urban Dictionary) meaning that was convenient.

boboquack

Here, Rubio, have some comment flags!

ffao

And Oracle, which is an anagram, is a pretty well known word they could have used instead

boboquack

Welcome to the world of mod-ship!

Ankoganit

8:21 AM

Apparently, Rubio is columbian for traitor

3

boboquack

I would say there wouldn't have been too much time to check the puzzle's clues before someone else posted a similar puzzle

Mithrandir

> To rubio is to kill all chances of reaching a higher office, especially in politics. Past tense: "rubioed".

6

Ankoganit

huh

Mithrandir

Interesting, @Rubio.

ffao

The reason I got "carole" was that in Portuguese it means "devoted (to the church)"

boboquack

8:23 AM

Yep, sorry Rubio, you're never going to become a CM. :P

ffao

But I see it doesn't have such a meaning in English, so that was luck

Ankoganit

Also, @Sid

Rubio

@Mithrandir I would think this should have precluded me from even becoming a room owner in here, let alone a Mod. :)

ffao

@Ankoganit Urban Dictionary is looking more and more accurate by the minute :P

Ankoganit

@Rubio I think we're misunderstanding the situation. You Rubioed others.

Rubio

8:26 AM

Ah. That may be.

ffao

BRB changing my display name to Sid

Ankoganit

lol

Rubio

I found this interesting, btw: six people voted for Mithrandir only, no 2nd or 3rd choice.

Techidiot

I've just sent a nice defn for techidiot for a review :p

ffao

Not like their 2nd/3rd choices would have made a difference

Are there are any other only first choice votes?

Rubio

8:29 AM

Yes, many

Sid

Mua ha ha. I have got power, apparently.

Rubio

  1 Marius 0 0
  2 Glorfindel 0 0
  2 JonMarkPerry 0 0
  2 Rubio 0 0
  2 stackreader 0 0
  5 GarethMcCaughan 0 0
  6 Mithrandir 0 0

ffao

Weird.

Rubio

Making n_palum the only candidate who didn't have at least one person cast a vote only for them hehe

Mithrandir

@Rubio ~~all my socks~~ That's weird.

Rubio

8:32 AM

flags

actions

Sid

@Anko Yep. All of that is true. I am telling you. :P

Mithrandir

I only have two socks, both of which only have 3 rep on Puzzling :P

Rubio

I have a lot of socks. I keep them in a drawer.

Sid

Though, I don't know about 7 TBH. :P

Ankoganit

hehe

ffao

8:35 AM

I only have socks of two types, so I can pull 3 at random and make sure I get a pair

Pigeonhole being useful in real life

3 2

3 2

What's the point of having two socks with 3 rep?

Mithrandir

Well, one actually has an account on SFF with 90 rep or so

And the other I wanted to see the welcome message again

Puzzling Meta

0

Q: Chat game rooms

We've now got two rooms for games on chat: Codenames and Contact. I'm excited that these chat rooms have formed. But I'm wondering, should they be separate? A reason, perhaps, that they should be seperate, is that they could interfere with each other when playing. However, in the near future, ...

discussion chat

Rubio

@PuzzlingMeta what the heck Meta, that was posted ages ago

Mithrandir

8:40 AM

@Rubio meta feeds are always slow for some reason :/

Rubio

two hours slow? hehe

ffao

Maybe the engineers just think those questions are less urgent?

Mithrandir

@Rubio it was like 8 hours or so on Lit yesterday

Rubio

yikes.

Sid

How time changes

Gareth McCaughan

8:47 AM

@Sid @Ankoganit thanks for the congratulations. I will try to be capricious and partisan. Damn, did i say that out loud?

Ankoganit

> A Gareth is self-critical and analytical, making him logical, level headed and incredibly easy to admire.

5

Whoa, how did they know?

Sid

I will agree to that. ^

ffao

Well @boboquack, that is certainly an explicit hint you added to your puzzle there :P

Wait, Urban Dictionary is not supposed to be right

> Also known for their ability to seduce and charm the ladies with their devilishly good looking hair and smile

I wish

Sid

Try searching Deusovi...

ffao

No definitions for Ankoganit

We will need to add one

What in the world is this Deusovi definition

Mithrandir

9:07 AM

O_O

manshu

This is closest for my name :p

Gareth McCaughan

I promise I did not write (or modify) the Urban Dictionary entry for my name. But I think I can guess the first names of some people who did.

incesterror21

I think I can guess the first names of some people who would promise they did not write (or modify) the Urban Dictionary entry for their name.

Rand al'Thor

@Rubio You spelled Gareth's name wrong. You're fired.

Rubio

Yes, yes. I've already fixed the source. :)

(Also - fixed here)

Rand al'Thor

9:21 AM

Liking the new chat edit powers? :-)

Rubio

How's things @Rand? You kinda went off the grid for a bit there.

And - dear God yes. You've no idea how long I've coveted that capability :)

Jamal Senjaya

DO NOT Search my name in Urban Dictionary

Rand al'Thor

@Rubio Yeah, I've been away. Still really busy, and haven't even checked my 50 SE notifications yet, but at least I'm sort of around again now.

27

Q: Finding digits that sum to 15

Rand and Rubio are playing a game in which they each take turns to pick a digit between 1 and 9, without replacement (i.e. all digits chosen are distinct). If one of them manages to get three digits which sum to 15, then he wins. If neither player achieves this, they both lose. Rand goes first. ...

mathematics strategy game

Damn, now @Rubio can win by just banning Rand.

Rubio

Well - glad to see you back, I was getting a little worried there.

Ankoganit

BTW, @JamalSenjaya , is your profile picture a puzzle, if I may ask?

Sp3000

9:24 AM

It was a puzzle they posted not long ago yeah

Ankoganit

Oh, I must have missed it

Ok found it

Rand al'Thor

@Rubio Well, now you know how to summon me: just get someone's name wrong ;-)

Jamal Senjaya

Yes, I posted it as Rebus

Ankoganit

Nice one!

Rubio

@Randal'Thor Gareth already pointed it out elsewhere. I was suitably sheepish and fixed it hehe

Rand al'Thor

9:27 AM

@Rubio You're a sheep? I thought you were a dog or something.

Rubio

I'm... uh... a sheep-dog? I am confused myself now

Mithrandir

Chat edit powers are fun, and you never get any mod abuse complaints thrown at you

Rand al'Thor

MOD ABUSE!

Mithrandir

in The Reading Room, 12 hours ago, by Riker

mod abuse 11 @Mithrandir

Rubio

@Mithrandir Well it's not like I'm planning on crashing some random chat room and replacing every message I see with the words "I SNIFF BUTTS". Though, that would certainly be a grand way of fulfilling a campaign promise :)

Mithrandir

9:32 AM

I LOLed.

Rand al'Thor

@Rubio Ooooh, that's a good idea. I suggest trying it in the Teachers' Lounge.

Rubio

@Mithrandir What did you actually do, as it wasn't particularly obvious from context?

Rand al'Thor

@Rubio chat.stackexchange.com/messages/37603089/history

Mithrandir

@Rubio look at the history of the preceding message

Rubio

Ah. heh

You dastardly fiend, you.

Mithrandir

9:35 AM

Mhm.

Rand al'Thor

Mod ~~abuse~~ help.

Rubio

Is the "11" someone keeping score?

Mithrandir

No, it was a reference

Rand al'Thor

@Rubio I assume it's a reference to MOD ABUSE!!!1!11!!!

see the 11 in there? ^

Sp3000

Gem-red moderator joins us (7)

Mithrandir

9:37 AM

in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, yesterday, by Ixrec

9 mins ago, by Mithrandir

@PaulWhite MOD ABUSE!!11!!eleven

Rubio

ah. yeah stripped of any !!s with it, it wasn't apparent. good stuff.

manshu

Beep Beep I'm a Sheep (feat. TomSka & BlackGryph0n) | asdfmovie10 song | LilDeuceDeuce

►

Rand al'Thor

@Rubio Wait, isn't it ridiculously early for you over there?

Rubio

@Randal'Thor Ssshhh. We don't speak of this.

Rand al'Thor

Or have you come to join us on the Light Side?

manshu

9:42 AM

Hey Rand. It's good to see you.

incesterror21

←The number of blue names over there is too damn high

Rubio

Also, there's a very fine line separating "ridiculously early" and "ridiculously late"

Rand al'Thor

Himanshu!

Humanshi!

manshu

And Congrats Rubio.

Rubio

Danke. (For the congrats and the music.)

manshu

9:43 AM

Hehe. Humanshi is really a word?

Rubio

I forgot they made a full song (of sorts) with part 10

Rand al'Thor

@manshu Humans, hi!

manshu

I loved that song. So I searched it rightaway.

Oh. But it is known that I am a Martian.

Rand al'Thor

Oh, apparently it's also a woman's name.

manshu

Humanshi

Rand al'Thor

9:45 AM

Never believe Urban Dictionary.

manshu

So.. who's the hottest, cutest, prettiest little lady in all of america? That's right. It's me.

incesterror21

@Randal'Thor This seems legit

manshu

How does Urban Dictionary work?

ASCII-only

@manshu It's a bit like SO for words

Sid

I don't understand how those definitions get accepted..

ASCII-only

9:47 AM

@Sid They don't

Rand al'Thor

@incesterror21 Great minds think alike. I also wanted to look that up, but was too lazy.

ASCII-only

They're automatically accepted IIRC, but usually there are multiple definitions and the more upvoted ones (indicating more consensus) rise to the top

manshu

I know that much but that site ridiculously number of definitions of words

How did they do it?

Rand al'Thor

> A person who is wise, strong, dashing in a scruffy way, and usually uses one or two-word answers. May even have long, flowing hair, and live in a forest while perpetually being stuck in some airport.

manshu

Oh. Democratic site it is

Rand al'Thor

9:49 AM

wth

ASCII-only

@manshu It's 18 years old is how

manshu

:o

Rubio

believe it or not, they are not automatically accepted

Sid

Err.. @rand you live in a forest?

Rubio

Some coworkers tried to submit definitions and got most of them rejected

ASCII-only

9:50 AM

Urban Dictionary

Urban Dictionary is a crowdsourced online dictionary of slang words and phrases that was founded in 1999 as a parody of Dictionary.com and Vocabulary.com by then-college freshman Aaron Peckham. Some of the definitions on the website can be found as early as 1999, but most early definitions are from 2003. At the start of 2014, the dictionary featured over seven million definitions, while 2,000 new daily entries were being added. In November 2014, the Advertise page of the website states that, on a monthly basis, Urban Dictionary averages 72 million impressions and 18 million unique readers. Anyone...

Ankoganit

A forest with an airport

manshu

Rand sometimes goes by the name Tarzan. :p

ASCII-only

> it is claimed that all entries are reviewed by several volunteers

Rand al'Thor

@Sid The mighty forest of Puzz, with its riddwood trees and its fallen iclogs.

I'm a riddler and I'm OK,
I sleep all night and I work all day.
I solve puzzles, I use my votes,
I go to the chatrooms three.
On meta I go posting,
And have lots of mods for tea.

ASCII-only

> have lots of mods for tea

For some reason this does not sound like a good thing :P

Rand al'Thor

9:56 AM

It has at least two interpretations.

Rubio

@Sp3000 ok I give up :)

Sp3000

RUBIO+US is apparently a word

Ankoganit

Ooh are we making mod special cryptics?

He's primarily after great puzzles! (6)

Sid

GARETH.

Rand al'Thor

@Ankoganit Old hat.

7

Q: A local puzzler lawyering around with a finish door

Here's a nice cryptic crossword clue for Puzzling SE: A local puzzler lawyering around with a finish door (7).

cryptic-clues

manshu

10:00 AM

How?

Ankoganit

@Sid yep

Sid

H after GREAT* &Lit.

Sp3000

@Ankoganit I was playing around with both of their usernames because why not :P

manshu

@Randal'Thor Oh that's why Deus made a CC for you in his great CC question. :o

Everything seems to be so connected

Rand al'Thor

@manshu Which one? Linky?

manshu

10:02 AM

46

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?

wordplay puzzle-creation cryptic-clues cryptic-crosswords

Sid

I like that CC. Wonderful surface reading. @anko.

Rand al'Thor

Oh, that thing.

That's not a question :-P

But he made that CC.

@Sid thanks!

On you. For you.

10:04 AM

I remember.

But you said "his great CC question", and I assumed you meant a big metapuzzle or something that I'd missed.

Anyway, gtg. Nice to see you again, @all :-)

manshu

I meant that that question was all about CC

bye

Cyagain.

Ankoganit

see ya

Sid

Also, @anko have you got enough time/interest to do a writeup on that thing of beauty puzzle?

Ankoganit

Probably, but it feels kind of guilty getting rep without doing any real work :P

Besides, I don't remember half the things I did

Sp3000

goes off to attempt the Guardian's cryptics

Ankoganit

10:10 AM

But yeah, I plan to put up one this month

boboquack

@ffao Not much than people already had

Sid

@bobo I think you made the mi so puzzle too hard. I personally didn't try the puzzle as I get scared by seeing that much music-related stuff in there.

boboquack

Oh well. It's a learning journey

(And my aim is to bring what I consider to be good puzzles to the site, not easy ones)

For example, the puzzle here:

27

Q: Diary of a hairdresser

Today I went to cut my hair, and the hairdresser told me a weird story. Yesterday, I had a group of people come to cut their hair. Together, they embodied the one type of hair I hate. A celebrity came in first, and brightly asked me to trim a bit past the middle. A player came in next, a...

wordplay enigmatic-puzzle

Was only meant to be a quick puzzle for my metapuzzle

It ended up being my most popular puzzle to date

So solve time/upvotes/view/puzzle quality are not necessarily related

Sp3000

coughHNQ :P

boboquack

^

Wen1now

10:23 AM

Hi everyone!

boboquack

Many people get scared by hard puzzles, and you have to be lucky to snag Deus or some other person who will take enough time to unravel the puzzle

Sp3000

Solve time/upvotes are slightly related up to a point because of HNQ, but definitely neither are correlated with puzzle quality

Hey there

boboquack

Hi @Wen1now

Wen1now

What's HNQ?

Ankoganit

Hot Network Questions

boboquack

10:24 AM

Ankoganit

The things you see on the right side of the homepage

boboquack

Mithrandir

@Sid linky?

Wen1now

Well, that's how I found the site...

boboquack

^^^That renders badly

for me

Wen1now

10:26 AM

Is COFIN as a word good enough?

Sp3000

What context?

Wen1now

I can't say too much more without spoiling the puzzle

Ankoganit

Is it even a word?

Sp3000

In general, I'd say no personally

Wen1now

I don't think so

Sp3000

10:27 AM

(if this is for a puzzle)

boboquack

Does anyone else see the stackexchange above in white? ^^^^^^^^^^^^

Ankoganit

It's just a white box for me

Sp3000

Ditto

ASCII-only

@Ankoganit Yeah, because the writing is white

Rubio

ok folks, I'm off for a few hours - GameN

ASCII-only

10:30 AM

It's happened on TNB like once before as well

boboquack

@Rubio Didn't notice you were on. GameN to you too

Sp3000

@Rubio See you oh mighty overlord ○|￣|＿

boboquack

Did you mean:

____
LORD

?

Sp3000

More like

MIGHTY
------
 LORD

boboquack

Good point

@boboquack That's what I see

Ooh look, the black users have taken over the right of the page again. Phew, the moderator rebellion has ended

Mithrandir

10:55 AM

We shall return...

Ankoganit

11:29 AM

@Sid Done.

Wen1now

@Ankoganit Nice! I just realised, this is from before I joined PSE. I feel young now...

n_palum

12:09 PM

@Rubio Not sure if that's good or bad...

dcfyj

Wow, bad voter turnout

"2,485 voters were eligible, 978 visited the site during the election, 745 visited the election page, and 397 voted"

Mithrandir

Pretty standard around SE, actually

dcfyj

I don't remember it being that bad last time

n_palum

That's what I said

Mithrandir

I'm still amazed at how close it was.

dcfyj

12:18 PM

@n_palum You weren't here last time though...

Techidiot

in Puzzling 2017 Moderator Election Chat, 16 hours ago, by n_palum

2,485 voters were eligible, 978 visited the site during the election, 745 visited the election page, and 397 voted

@dcfyj He is referring to ^

dcfyj

I figured :P

n_palum

Yeaaa :P

Techidiot

:D

GamEn

Mithrandir

gAmen

n_palum

12:21 PM

Mornin'

dcfyj

They said Evening and Afternoon, neither of which is morning lol

n_palum

@_@

Maybe I didn't want to use the gaMen this time

dcfyj

You used it anyways though hehe

n_palum

I haven't been sleeping well and resorted to coffee this morning D:

dcfyj

Ew, coffee is nasty

Mithrandir

12:25 PM

Just use hot chocolate

dcfyj

I prefer water

(by itself)

n_palum

I usually just drink water

I don't really like coffee.. but I had no choice...

(Eyes bugging out) Everything is fine

Mithrandir

I usually wake up at 8, brush teeth etc, grab a glass of water, and dash out at 8:30. Then at like 9:40 I return home, wash up, and check SE. Then breakfast is at 10. :D

n_palum

You're also home schooled, no?

Mithrandir

Sorry, pressed enter by accident

@n_palum yep

n_palum

12:28 PM

I'm up at 630 for work ಠ_ಠ

Mithrandir

Heh.

dcfyj

I get up at 7 and go to work at 7:40-50 to get there by 8

n_palum

Everyone else I work with tends to get in by 8 or 9 but I'm in by 730 at least

I can't stand leaving after 4

Mithrandir

My brother gets to work at like 10:30, usually, if he decides to head in and not work from home.

n_palum

I don't get to work from home because I'm not full time D:

Christopher

12:36 PM

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee #_#

dcfyj

@n_palum I do on occasion but usually I stay in the office

n_palum

I'd honestly rather work from home. It's not like I'm needed in the office.

Christopher

@n_palum My dad works from home (MSFT) and it is sweet

Sphinx

1:15 PM

0

Q: Matchstick puzzle next version

Here is a matchstick equation which is obviously wrong. 18019=1 Make the equation correct by moving "fewest" matchsticks (my solution involves 3 moves). You may use numbers, letters, Roman Numerals but only as below 1 matchstick used for - or / (subtract or divide) 2 Matchsticks used for I ...

matches

Mithrandir

1:30 PM

@Deus :/

Deusovi

:/

n_palum

1:50 PM

@Deusovi Take that frown and turn it over to codenames ;)

Deusovi

@n_palum Sorry, can't play. At work.

Sphinx

1

Q: No More Kings puzzle

Inspired by the game No More Kings Rules: You start as the black piece. Your goal is to capture every piece on the board. The king must be the last piece captured. Captured pieces are used as the next move. Example: If a rook captures a bishop, play continues from the position of the bishop ...

chess

Rubio

3:51 PM

2017: "2,485 voters were eligible, 978 visited the site during the election, 745 visited the election page, and 397 voted"
2016: "1,964 voters were eligible, 928 visited the site during the election, 868 visited the election page, and 417 voted "

Gareth McCaughan

so, more people around but less interest-per-person in the mod election. Fair enough, I think. Was the 2016 a more complete replacement of the mod team?

dcfyj

2017: 53.29% voter turnout
2016: 48.04% voter turnout

(from the ones that visited the election page)

Gareth McCaughan

yes, but relatively fewer bothered to visit the election page at all

dcfyj

More eligible, more visited the site, fewer visited the page, fewer voted. 2017->2016

GentlePurpleRain

@GarethMcCaughan 2106 was moving from pro-tempore moderators (beta site) to "permanent" elected moderators. The pro-tem terms were all ending, and 3 new moderators were being elected. (It turned out that one of the new elected moderators was Emrakul, who had been a pro-tem moderator.)

Sid

3:58 PM

@dcfyj the election spread over a week this year. LAst year, it was only 4 days.

Codenames

Transcript for