The Sphinx's Lair

dcfyj

5:00 PM

For future linking reference (As I'll probably start using this): G(ood) A(fternoon) m(orning) e(vening) n(ight)

3

Techidiot

Game On!

Deusovi

"or night"

dcfyj

Weird, it wasn't bolding...

Techidiot

@dcfyj busy editing-tries harder-removes the edit-gives up

:D

Sid

@Deusovi How is "First Lady"=Maiden as cryptic clue? I was proud of that tbh

dcfyj

5:02 PM

I wouldn't call that a cc, but I see the relation

Sid

Why not? ddef?

Techidiot

It's good for crosswords.

I like it!

First != Maiden

"maiden voyage"

5:03 PM

@dcfyj Huh? Why not? I am pretty sure, maiden=first.

dcfyj

OK, I see the def: "being or involving the first attempt or act of its kind."

Deusovi

I really like that clue though, Sid

Techidiot

@dcfyj Did you see the insanity one again after last night or you too gave up on that?

dcfyj

I looked to see if any progress had been made this morning, but other than that, no.

Techidiot

@Deusovi Have you seen this one yet?

Deusovi

5:09 PM

I saw it. Didn't take a long look at it, though

Techidiot

You can check my answer if the images look too much to work upon. The data is there just need to find the relation and it should be solved

Sphinx

0

Q: Oh, woe is me, the creature's back

Oh, woe is me, the creature's back to give me certain heart attack! He's plucking words and shifting glyphs. What sort of devilry is this? I love the gates of hell; I’m kind of a rod (6) The apple shave already bed (6) I'm not afraid of going without food, but I do first (5) Carding is easier...

0

Q: Another alien message, but from where?

"Alright everyone. After your great success decoding the stone tablet, we need your help with another message. We picked up a long sequence of radio activity and we're sure it's a message from aliens." "However, we don't know who sent the message. That's where you come in. Your mission is this: ...

cipher outer-space

Deusovi

Hold on. Cryptic clues just happened.

dcfyj

Ah, printer's devil clues.Yup, not getting those lol

I'm thinking the name of the friend is printer :P

Deusovi

Yep, I got that

GentlePurpleRain

5:45 PM

Possible CCCC solution: REDS. Pat Noble is the head of the Socialist Party USA, who some might call "Reds" (communists). Also, nobles might be considered inbREDS, since the noble families generally intermarry.

Deusovi

Nope.

GentlePurpleRain

:(

Deusovi

I wouldn't omit necessary capitalization.

dcfyj

I thinking ball/gala or something like that

2

Deusovi

(Nor would I overlap indicators, nor would I be that indirect with the 'noble' thing...)

Matt

5:47 PM

ball/gala matches noble party. What does "essentially" do?

dcfyj

No idea, I was thinking &lit because of the ! clue

Matt

I can't find a 4 letter match for essentially, so that I don't think it can be the def

Sconibulus

I sorta spy HOLY, but it doesn't seem likely for a Deusovi clue

Deusovi

@Sconibulus Nope. (Also, is my cluing style really that distinctive? I can't tell if that's good or bad.)

Techidiot

Essentially can be a hidden word indicator

Sconibulus

5:55 PM

By that I mean it fits kinda crooked, and I don't think you would permit yourself to post a clue that fits the answer that poorly

dcfyj

GAmen Sconibulus

Techidiot

No activity on the cryptic clues yet ? :-/

Deusovi

I severely underestimated the difficulty of this clue.

@Techidiot I've tried. They're gimmicked, though, which makes it harder

Sid

Printer's devil clues are... well... Devilish.

Techidiot

What if the enumerations are switched?

Matt

6:02 PM

I always have issues with shorter clues ...

Techidiot

Like the first looks like RODIN

Matt

It's harder for me to parse

Deusovi

@Techidiot Explain?

Techidiot

He is the sculptor of gates of hell

And kind of rod is clued. Though not sure. Don't see any other fits for now

Deusovi

We're pretty sure these are printer's devilry clues

meaning that the word spacing is wrong

for instance, 7 could be "Mars has an O bit (5)"

(I tried inserting O into MARS and ARES to get a word meaning "bit". No luck.)

Sphinx

6:06 PM

3

Q: Spot the Differebus

This is an entry to the Fortnightly Topic Challenge #26: rebus. There are discrepancies between the two images below. When combined, those differences make a rebus for you to solve. Image 1: Image 2:

visual rebus

Techidiot

Didn't knew what that was (cryptics.wikia.com/wiki/Printer's_devilry)

Sounds interesting.

Matt

wow, that's intense

Deusovi

Gimmick cryptics are hard. I love them.

Sid

They are terrible. I have no idea how to actually think of the words.

Deusovi

("Printer's devilry" is a specific type of clue that's not really a cryptic clue, but it can also refer to the more general idea of "clue that has spacing wrong".)

Techidiot

6:08 PM

So, there could be two made up words like a rod could be ABROAD? and something else in the gates? like CIGARETTES?

Deusovi

If there's a missing word, it has to be contiguous.

Matt

could THYME be the answer to 5?

as in only the worthy men?

Techidiot

Ok, no splitting right? Cool

Deusovi

@Matt Bingo!

That's gotta be it

Matt

oh snap!

wooo

so there's none of the standard wordplay?

Deusovi

6:10 PM

Yeah - these are pure PDs

Got 3

Sid

PD?

Deusovi

Printer's Devilry

Sconibulus

What are these supposed to be at the end?

Matt

I guess I should post a partial answer even though I may not get any more :P

Deusovi

I'll post it and add yours in

Matt

6:12 PM

oops, deleted

Sid

6 could be aloft.

Deusovi

Just got that one

Sid

As in several of them..

Oops. Sorry.

Deusovi

No need to apologize! I edited it in seconds before you said that

2 is "the apples have already be(en ????)d"

probably

Matt

ENCORE

:D

Deusovi

6:15 PM

Nice!

Afk for a few minutes

Matt

7. Mars has an oval orbit

Sid

Yes!

Just got that..

Matt

8. ANTHEM

...faux fur than the mink

Sconibulus

Mars has a noTABLE bit?

probably not

Sid

@Matt You better post an answer..

1. golden? as in golden rod?

Matt

6:25 PM

Deusovi has been editing my answers into his own, I guess I'll bring mine back since I've got 4 now :)

Sid

4. is probably access? As in Card accessing

Deusovi

Back. Ah, nice!

Techidiot

@Sid I think its Golden too

It matches with 2 down

G O L D E N
N
C
O
R
E

^ ncore below e

dcfyj

Spacing :P

Techidiot

@dcfyj I gave up on formatting on Spinx :p

Matt

6:32 PM

@Sid I don't understand the surface with access

I would also think that the solutions would be split between words, so golden is probably not correct

Deusovi

Yeah, they typically are

Matt

maybe 4 is cardinal ___g

Sid

No access is wrong.

dcfyj

4 ends with N

Look at 2

Sid

dcfyj

6:35 PM

Yeah, that

Sid

It should end with N.

Forgive my horrible handwriting. It's done in paint.

dcfyj

Paint does have textboxes :P

Techidiot

:D

Deusovi

?

dcfyj

From the letters you have, these are the words I'm seeing:

cartage
caveats
clavate
vacated
vacates
vantage

Deusovi

6:38 PM

How'd you get one word without a V?

dcfyj

No idea

scrabblewordfinder.org/solver

Sid

Probably 4 is assign? As in assigning

Matt

Are we sure about golden? I'm not convinced

Deusovi

No, I'm not either

Sid

Neither am I. It sort of fits. I would have really liked hotrod but their is already a rod.

In any case, 4=assign seems likely.

Matt

6:40 PM

but "Card assigning is easier than growing potatoes"

makes very little sense to me

dcfyj

No kidding...

Deusovi

I don't like it either

Sid

streeeeeetch

dcfyj

Not even lol. It makes no sense to me

Matt

card gardening? nah

dcfyj

6:42 PM

But then again, not of these answers make sense to me

Deusovi

Got 1!

Matt

oooh, nice

4 remains ...

Sid

Yes, that makes far more sense.

Deusovi

final answer ADVOCATE

dcfyj

HA!

Techidiot

6:44 PM

So Rodin did fit somewhere :D

Matt

fits right in with devil

dcfyj

That's funny

Deusovi

Meaning we're missing an O in 4

Matt

so 4 is _o___n

Sphinx

0

Q: A Palindrome Challenge

Write a sentence that has the following properties: Is a palindrome Is true Can be used as a template to generate an infinite number of sentences which are both palindromes and true As a bonus, write a sentence in a language other than English that still has the above three properties. (Ther...

language

dcfyj

6:48 PM

^ too broad?

Matt

not sure ... OP clearly has something in mind

Sconibulus

template for infinite future palindrome makes it not too broad I think

Techidiot

Carbo Binding is easier than growing potatoes :p

Sconibulus

sentences are so much harder than statements

dcfyj

bobin?

Matt

6:57 PM

found a palindrome?

Techidiot

I think I am close now Carrot _ _ _ ding is easier than growing potatoes

Matt

carrot tending

rotten

dcfyj

That sounds rather plausible

Techidiot

Yes!

Sid

That is perfect!

Matt

6:59 PM

plausible? it's easier than growing potatoes!

haha

Techidiot

Carrots do take a little bit of tending

Matt

@Techidiot do you mind if I add that to my answer and credit you?

Techidiot

Go ahead.

Sconibulus

I dunno, a guy was able to grow potatoes on another planet according to a movie a watched

he did not manage the same with carrots

Techidiot

Haha

dcfyj

7:01 PM

@Sconibulus ?

Techidiot

Martian!

dcfyj

I don't get it

Sconibulus

in the movie The Martian, a guy grew potatoes on Mars, arguably implying that growing potatoes is pretty easy

dcfyj

No idea

Matt

spoilers!

haha

Sconibulus

7:03 PM

it's not a particularly robust argument, unlike his potatoes

Techidiot

@dcfyj Humor :D

I won't dare to eat those though :p

dcfyj

@Techidiot Not seeing any :P

Techidiot

Matt's gonna win a Toyota today!

dcfyj

Uh...OK?

Matt

You get a car! and you get a car!

dcfyj

7:05 PM

Shouldn't that be "whale"?

Or perhaps "school"

GAmen @stacksfiller

Sid

puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/49058/j-kk-lll-whats-next/… - Flag-worthy?

Matt

yeah

dcfyj

It is in my book

Matt

he doesn't understand the puzzle, so makes something up and says "no u" basically

dcfyj

I don't know if it's "not understands the puzzle". He's saying that's it's too vague.

Sconibulus

7:08 PM

he also only looked at the title...

Sid

Where are the mathy guys?

Techidiot

Sconibulus

what of math?

Techidiot

@Sid I don't think math is involved.

puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/49068/… if this what you are talking about

Sid

@Sconibulus You wrote something on that palindrome about tautology?

Matt

7:11 PM

my answer is a tautology

Sid

Well, how is that mathematical thing an answer? I mean, the OP asks for a sentence.

dcfyj

That's one way to ensure it's true haha

@Sid Two different puzzles Sid

They were talking about this (now deleted) answer

Sid

No, I am talking about the palindromic one. Sconibulus gave a Mathematical tautology. How is that an answer?

Deusovi

@Sid How is it not?

Sconibulus

@Sid 'The argument for it being a sentence is that it reads as "X implies X." which is valid grammatically'

Sid

7:14 PM

The OP asks for a statement. I presumed it was an English statement and not something we write in Maths

Matt

"Write a sentence ..."

Sconibulus

the OP asked for a sentence, actually, a statement would have been far easier

dcfyj

@Sconibulus I don't consider your answer an answer to the question

Sconibulus

That's perfectly fair, there's been a disclaimer attached since the beginning

dcfyj

Even then... What you wrote is how to write the answer, rather than writing the answer

Rubio

7:22 PM

@Deusovi CCCC: ALLY??

dcfyj

@Rubio reasoning?

Rubio

Hidden word - Essentially

and then "party as a whole", work together as one

(ally as a verb)

dcfyj

and noble?

stacksfiller

And "noble" being a hidden word indicator?

dcfyj

How is noble a hidden word indicator?

stacksfiller

7:28 PM

How so?

Rubio

Hidden words are just weird, or at least the examples I've seen are. They're just ... there.

Unless I misunderstood them

stacksfiller

I think you'd need an indicator

dcfyj

Pretty sure you do

stacksfiller

"Essentially" works as one, being like, "take the essence (middle) of"

dcfyj

bestforpuzzles.com/cryptic-crossword-dictionary/…

stacksfiller

7:29 PM

But it can't clue for itself

Rubio

Yeah - that's why I said ?? ;) I have little confidence it's right, but it seems suspiciously fitting to ignore

GentlePurpleRain

Could "essentially noble" refer to one of the noble gases? Xe, Ne, Ar, Kr, He, Rn, (Og)

dcfyj

That seems possible

With "whole" being the definition

stacksfiller

Maybe "Essentially" means a substring of that list, like NEAR if that made sense with "party" somehow

GentlePurpleRain

I'm going with the idea that it's an &lit (the "!" clue).

stacksfiller

7:37 PM

Ah, right I forgot about that

Deusovi

7:49 PM

@Rubio Nope, that's not it - hidden words do need indicators

Matt

neon is noble, and it's for parties ;)

Deusovi

No.

Rubio

Ok thanks. I think I misremembered some examples of what I had thought were unindicated hidden words. Felt worth a stab, in any case.

Matt

8:31 PM

I know the noble gases were suggested, but noble party might refer the whole group ... so as a whole would be "gases"

or "inert"

dcfyj

Unfortunately, both of those are 5 :(

Matt

right

but essentially cues the center

inert -> ner

"as a whole" would have to cue a single letter then

NERO?

are all nobles crazy?

dcfyj

@Matt since when?

and how?

Deusovi

@Matt Nope, not NERO

(That &lit was already done better: "Some insane Roman! (4)" )

Matt

well who's to say you can't have 2 &lit clues with the same solution

Deusovi

8:34 PM

Oh, you can!

That isn't the solution, though.

Matt

I doubted it .. just spitballing, really

I like the idea of using "ner"

boboquack

By the way, @TheGreatEscaper, I've been thinking about your clue in Contact, and my take on it would be F, this is really annoying

Hi @Alconja

Alconja

Hey

dcfyj

GAmen Alconja

Alconja

@deus - GAL(l)A(nt)?

@dcfyj and to you

dcfyj

8:48 PM

At first I thought that said galiant

boboquack

Hi @Sp3!

Sp3000

Hey

dcfyj

Here's a nice easy CC as an interlude until Deusovi's is solved:

First cored mitt (4)

Sconibulus

FIST?

dcfyj

yup

Sconibulus

8:52 PM

yay I did one!

dcfyj

lol

I thought of it because I almost typoed fi(r)st

Deusovi

9:04 PM

@Alconja No, but you're kinda close.

(I wouldn't have "random extraction from this word" in one of my clues.)

Alconja

@Deusovi didn't think so, but haven't found any pure extractions, so am clutching a bit

Volatility

9:33 PM

Anybody gotten anywhere on the Contact puzzle?

Matt

the alien message?

Volatility

yeah

Matt

no, I got lost trying to make sense out of what looked like braille

in the boxes, some symbols just aren't letters, but would be if turned upsidedown or backwards, but that would break some of the other letters in the box

Volatility

oh, not that one, the one from PSE Contact

2

Q: Mysterious First Contact

February 14, 2017, at UTC 11:28 am. Welp. Forget about the Wow! signal. We've really been contacted by aliens this time – ones who have learnt English, too. Broken English, though, and even past the grammatical level – broken all the way to the graphemic level! Despite that, I think our team man...

enigmatic-puzzle

Matt

ah, no, I haven't looked that deeply

I enjoy #unintentional though

Volatility

9:40 PM

:D

Matt

broken at the graphemic level might refer to letters being cut off from intended clues

Sphinx

11:29 PM

0

Q: Tasty lateral thinking

Physicists and lateral thinkers: how quickly would we need to put meat (specifically New Zealand produced Lamb) through a lamb tunnel to the UK to ensure it is cooked but still delicious. Thankyou

lateral-thinking

Deusovi

^ Not really a puzzle, is it?

Gareth McCaughan

11:53 PM

"Lamb tunnel"?

Deusovi

No idea.

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