The Sphinx's Lair

Just BTW: I updated the image, so you may want to update this. And, a clarification: The key is in the puzzle, not the actual solution. — Mithrandir Nov 20 at 14:09

Beastly Gerbil

Is there where I'll need Lukas Rotter's answer?

Mithrandir

You have the key, so you don't really need it, not that I don't admire his effort...

Beastly Gerbil

I have the key?

Oh I think I spotted something!

There seems to be only one of each letter

Lukas Rotter

That's why I didn't update my answer BTW, since it's completely irrelevant and not supposed to be solved this way.

Mithrandir

1:06 PM

Nu...

@LukasRotter But I commend you for trying.

Beastly Gerbil

Oh 'Only words that are three letters long'

Forgot about that

Mithrandir

If you didn't solve the cipher yet, you don't need that yet.

Beastly Gerbil

So there is

26L

66x

Mithrandir

@BeastlyGerbil Wrong track again...

Beastly Gerbil

Oh

What do I do?

Mithrandir

1:08 PM

You. Have. The. Key. To. The. Cipher.

After you solve the cipher, there's still the... main... puzzle. :D

Beastly Gerbil

...

Still don't get it

Mithrandir

Oh, and for the main puzzle, you still need something hidden in the books.

Beastly Gerbil

What's the key?

Mithrandir

^Cipher

^key

Beastly Gerbil

I thought Lukas Rotter solved that

Oh..

I see now

Mithrandir

1:10 PM

Finally, a breakthrough. :P

Beastly Gerbil

427 = h

Mithrandir

clap clap clap

Beastly Gerbil

Can't find 504

Or 703

Mithrandir

703o

504m

Beastly Gerbil

....I'm blind

677 = q

Mithrandir

1:13 PM

Well, after that eye-watering search, you at least have an excuse :D

Beastly Gerbil

524 = i

Mithrandir

Well, don't type it all out here.

Go find the main puzzle :P

Beastly Gerbil

Is that supposed to be an imgur link?

I don't get anything

Mithrandir

What?

Is what supposed to be a link?

Beastly Gerbil

the letters homqi

Mithrandir

1:14 PM

Where?

...

Nooo

What is it then?

You have 26 numbers and letters. Each number is a letter. Use it to interpret the original email.\

Beastly Gerbil

Oh i have to decode the whole thing and then those letters are a vigenere key. I see

Mithrandir

1:16 PM

Oh, are you looking at the blue squares?

Beastly Gerbil

Yeah

Mithrandir

Those aren't what you think they are.

Beastly Gerbil

Well Lukas Rotter decoded the email

Mithrandir

Not the whole thing, and i updated the email with a correction after his attempt.

Beastly Gerbil

Oh okay. Can I assume the first bit is correct

Mithrandir

1:18 PM

The Hello, Mithrandir?

Beastly Gerbil

Yeah

up to the bit which doesn't make sense

Mithrandir

Yup.

Hello, @Randal'Thor

Rand al'Thor

@Mithrandir I saw PIPIE in my inbox and wondered what on earth you were on about.

I wondered if maybe you thought the solution to my latest riddle was a pipe :-P

Mithrandir

@Randal'Thor Now do you know? :P

Rand al'Thor

@Mithrandir Yes, because I checked which message you were replying to! :-)

Mithrandir

1:23 PM

@BeastlyGerbil, after you finish your answer, I must ask you to... er... Clean it up a bit.

Beastly Gerbil

Yeah I'll order everything nicely

So far I have
Hello Mithrandir. Once you and your little friends have decoded this go to qCd yCp?g

So don't know what that means

B+C=N

?

That ?

@BeastlyGerbil Clearly your destination is the quaint little village of qCd yCp?g, nestled in the hills just outside Merthyr Tydfil.

Beastly Gerbil

1:25 PM

@Mithrandir I don't see a 'B'

Oh 561

946 = N

So C = 946 - 561

Rand al'Thor

@BeastlyGerbil First Carmichael number.

Beastly Gerbil

385

Mithrandir

Now guess what 'C' means and what the blue squares are.

Beastly Gerbil

So 'go to q385d'

Lukas Rotter

Blue squares indicate uppercase, B = N, C = N, so that would point to i.stack.imgur.com/Qndyn.png ... But there's nothing :((

Mithrandir

1:29 PM

I just checked, it all decodes nicely.

Yes, blue = uppercase.

Beastly Gerbil

Hello, Mithrandir. Once you and your little friends have decoded this, go to q385d y385pNg. I will wait and watch.

Mithrandir

No, not B and C = N. B + C = N, the numbers.

In the key, what B and what C are add up to N.

Beastly Gerbil

I'm confused

Yes so C = 385

Mithrandir

Yes.

Beastly Gerbil

So what do I do with that?

Mithrandir

1:31 PM

385 + 561 = N.

(I think.)

385+561=946

Yeah.

And?.... Now what...

'C' plain doesn't mean C.

Beastly Gerbil

and it doesn't mean 385?

Mithrandir

1:32 PM

That's right.

Beastly Gerbil

So what does it mean?

Mithrandir

(And BTW, about the three letters: It's at least three letters.)

Take a guess.

Beastly Gerbil

Oh I forgot about that

Mithrandir

But you still don't need it.

3.

Rand al'Thor

@Mithrandir BTW is three letters ...

Beastly Gerbil

1:33 PM

I am very stuck

Rand al'Thor

Sorry, ignore me. You three are working on a puzzle, and I'm just sitting here making silly comments.

Beastly Gerbil

:P

Er so what does 'C' mean?

Rand al'Thor

Added a hint.

Mithrandir

You should have something like Q?dy?.png

Right?

Beastly Gerbil

Yeah

Mithrandir

1:38 PM

And so why would I choose 'C'?

Beastly Gerbil

C is a dot?

Mithrandir

What is C?

No

It is a 3?

clap clap clap

1:41 PM

God now what!?

Rand al'Thor

@LukasRotter I see HELP, HERO, USED, ETYMOLOGY, DEED, MOON, BANG, EASY, ...

Beastly Gerbil

I see fifty

Mithrandir

Now you need the bit about three. :D

Beastly Gerbil

Wait, is it a wordsearch!?

Mithrandir

...And a lot of time.

...And another hidden link in the books.

Beastly Gerbil

1:41 PM

I have plenty

Mithrandir

...And yes.

Beastly Gerbil

Can you give us a hint to the book? I really don't want to go through each of them again

Mithrandir

You have to not follow the beaten path.

Sid

@Randal'Thor So, the answer is "gog:?

Beastly Gerbil

@Mithrandir Magnus Chase?

Mithrandir

1:44 PM

Nope.

Rand al'Thor

@Sid Why?

Mithrandir

It's a real book, and I haven't read it, if you're going to check anything out on SFF.

The Hunger Game?

Read it

So is that a yes?

1:45 PM

Also, I added to the image of the cover.

Rand al'Thor

@BeastlyGerbil No, that's a no.

He just said he hasn't read the one you're looking for.

Oh

Dystopian.

1984?

Divergent?

1:46 PM

because it is in gong?

Mithrandir

Try them :P

...Is 1984 on there?

Beastly Gerbil

Its Divergent isn't it

Its an actual book cover

Mithrandir

Yup

Beastly Gerbil

Please tell me whatever it is isn't as well hidden as the hobbit text

Mithrandir

It's not.

It's not in the cover itself.

It's actually fairly obvious.

Just zoom in.

Beastly Gerbil

1:48 PM

Found it

Rand al'Thor

The Divergent series makes for great puns.

If one's interested in both maths and literature.

Mithrandir

@Randal'Thor Such as you?

Beastly Gerbil

Rand al'Thor

@Mithrandir Indeed. Like it says on my profile:

> I study mathematics; I read fantasy novels; I write and solve riddles.

Beastly Gerbil

I remember seeing that in another book...

What is it?

Mithrandir

1:51 PM

Not a book.

It's been on my profile like forever.

It's an eye.

Beastly Gerbil

Just... an eye?

Mithrandir

Yes.

Beastly Gerbil

What do I do with it?

Mithrandir

At the end of the end.

It's just an eye.

You'll it to be an eye.

Solve the wordsearch and you'll see.

Beastly Gerbil

So we need to solve the wordsearch and take all the words longer than 3

Gareth McCaughan

1:54 PM

@Sid Nope.

Mithrandir

@BeastlyGerbil Aye. Well, including those that are three.

Beastly Gerbil

I'm... just going to type it in to a wordsearch solver I think

Mithrandir

I printed it out and solved it to test for bugs.

And I found one, but it was fairly minor, so I added that hidden link.

Everything can be fixed with an eye.

Beastly Gerbil

Oh we add an I

Mithrandir

At the very last stage.

zips mouth shut

No more hints.

Beastly Gerbil

1:57 PM

Okay I'm going to go through, letter by letter and solve it

Mithrandir

@BeastlyGerbil Hope you don't have anything planned for tonight...

Beastly Gerbil

I have a feeling a may find some words which aren't part of it

Mithrandir

Just the opposite

Beastly Gerbil

So is the word 'hue' part of it?

Mithrandir

You must find every word.

Beastly Gerbil

1:58 PM

So hue is part of it

Mithrandir

You'll see.

Beastly Gerbil

Just seemed a weird word

Mithrandir

Hey, a lot of this puzzle has been about hues...

Rand al'Thor

huehuehue

Beastly Gerbil

2 rows done

11 to go

Mithrandir

2:05 PM

@BeastlyGerbil DOn't forget up, down, backwards, diagonal...

Beastly Gerbil

Yep got a lengthy list already

Gareth McCaughan

@Mithrandir You said "no more hints" and you have given four since then

albeit not big ones

Mithrandir

@GarethMcCaughan whoops

nen is not a word

But you may need another e @BeastlyGerbil

Beastly Gerbil

2:22 PM

Okay finished.

I've got:

Puzzling
Hue
Help
Wing
Diy
Tips
Toad
Won
Deed
Used
Heros
Rue
Sun
Joke
Sow
Uno
Push
Pit
Now
Ten
Zoo
Noob
Spit
Loin
Deed
Lend
Hoot
Hero
Tent
Dig
Moon
End
Die
Bet
Rod
Net
Sat
Age
Log
Ore
Torn
Tore
Ten
Nan
New
Nose
Oar
Sear
Ear
Wear
Ear
Car
Cash
Arc
Hang
Went
Land
Nano
Ash
Hat
Bang
Awe
Gorge
Ear
And
Day
Son
Fifty
Fear
Etymology

Rand al'Thor

Is "heros" a word? I thought it was "heroes".

Beastly Gerbil

If its not then it could be hero

@Mithrandir anything I missed?

Rubio

What letters are left over after all of that?

Beastly Gerbil

gtg for lunch be back soon

Sid

@Randal'Thor Is it gog? I don't think such a word even exists but still.. (I have been wrong twice about words in a week)

Rand al'Thor

2:29 PM

@Sid Can you make "gog" fit all the clues?

This one is harder than I was expecting, I must say.

Sid

All except, "my third"

Rand al'Thor

Of course, it could be partly because it's the weekend and not so many people are around.

Sid

which is probably the most important

Rand al'Thor

@Sid I wouldn't say it's the most important, but it should be clear what that line means when you get the right answer.

Sid

It might be some word which pronounces the same as its third(And most probably) last letter

Lukas Rotter

2:38 PM

BTW @Randal'Thor, at the time of taking the screenshot I actually had 1 rep on Lifehacks (probably didn't receive the 100 bonus yet)

Beastly Gerbil

Back

Sid

That soon? Are you even eating?

Beastly Gerbil

when I said lunch, I didn't mean going out for lunch, I just meant a quick lunch

Sid

Oops, my bad...

Rand al'Thor

@LukasRotter Oh. And there I was assuming the 1 rep on Lifehacks was some sort of clue.

Beastly Gerbil

2:40 PM

I said 'lunch' too much there :P

Rand al'Thor

lunch lunch lunch lunch lunch

lynch

punch

larch

Sid

@Randal'Thor Wait, by gong, did you mean, medal?

Rand al'Thor

@Sid Can gong mean medal?

Sid

Well, Dictionary shows a British informal meaning of medal/award

Beastly Gerbil

Damn Mithrandir left

Sid

3:00 PM

@Randal'Thor Posted an answer..

Most probably wrong.. there are a couple of things I am not sure, about my answer myself.

Beastly Gerbil

3:13 PM

Wow how many views?!

Rand al'Thor

@BeastlyGerbil Meh, beat this.

Beastly Gerbil

I know about that one, whats the most on puzzling?

Lukas Rotter

38

Q: Two doors with two guards - one lies, one tells the truth

You are a prisoner in a room with 2 doors and 2 guards. One of the doors will guide you to freedom and behind the other is a hangman --you don't know which is which. One of the guards always tells the truth and the other always lies. You don't know which one is the truth-teller or the liar eithe...

Rand al'Thor

@BeastlyGerbil data.stackexchange.com/puzzling/query/463419/…

Ha, the second most viewed question of all time is a duplicate.

Beastly Gerbil

@Randal'Thor that can't be correct though, my question has 11k views and isn't there

Ankoganit

3:19 PM

@BeastlyGerbil It's there, way far down ;)

Beastly Gerbil

Oh wait thats in the 100 thousands? Wow!

-1

Q: The Lucky Chest

There are three Chests containing 100 coins each, The labels on the three chests are : Label 1 : "100 gold coins" Label 2 : "50 gold and 50 silver coins" Label 3 : "100 silver coins" You are informed that all three of the labels are incorrectly placed. You have the chance to pick a random coi...

logical-deduction

12k views lol

Sid

I read till 100 gold coins and it reminded me of "The Merchant of Venice". Then, the nostalgia vanished when there are 50 gold and 50 silver coins.. :P

@Randal'Thor Is [this guy] (puzzling.stackexchange.com/users/9404/haobin?tab=questions) also a sockpuppet?

Sumurai8

Interesting. My puzzle has almost 1.2k views.

Rand al'Thor

@Sid I suspect so, but if so, it's never been as blindingly obvious as it was with Martin/Alexis.

Sid

Well, most of their questions has been answered by Alexis/Gamow or They have answered Alexis' questions. Hardly, any other questions..

Gareth McCaughan

3:34 PM

@Randal'Thor Does your answer (in comments) to the Star Wars question mean "don't watch any of them" or "don't watch any of the new ones"?

Sid

@Randal'Thor I am not sure about "blindingly obvious" but Gamow sure, answered a lot of Alexis' questions and pretty quick too.

Lukas Rotter

He's never seen Star Wars, so I suspect it's the former.

Gareth McCaughan

Fair enough.

Mithrandir

3:52 PM

@BeastlyGerbil WHat Rubio said.

Beastly Gerbil

Ah ok

@Mithrandir I am assuming there should be 5 letters left?

Rand al'Thor

4:09 PM

@GarethMcCaughan Any of them.

11

A: The many memes of scifi.stackexchange

Meme: rand al'thor's (or anyone else's) donkey of shame Originator: Wad Cheber Cultural height: September 2015 to present. Background: rand made the mistake of admitting that he has never seen any of the Star Wars movies. Therefore, he was forced to ride a donkey backwards into the des...

@Sid Oh, there was a lot more to it than that. I wrote up a massive list of all my evidence at some point.

Sid

@Randal'Thor Massive list?

Rand al'Thor

@Sid With loads of bullet points and supporting links.

Evidence for Gamow == Martin/Alexis, that is.

Mithrandir

@BeastlyGerbil No.

Beastly Gerbil

Okay I'm a bit stuck

First off I have to do something else right niw

Mithrandir

4:24 PM

There should be 14, but there might be 12. @BeastlyGerbil

Beastly Gerbil

Okay thanks

Sid

@Randal'Thor Care to share with me? I love conspiracies(in this case, proof of sockpuppetry)

I would send you an e-mail, if that helps...

Rand al'Thor

@Sid @Mithrandir has asked me about that too. I've considered making a meta post about it, but I'm not sure if that would be frowned upon.

It is something that (in a way) affects the whole community, and that people definitely deserve to know about when voting on e.g. Gamow's answers to Martin/Alexis's questions.

Sid

Well, A mod is here... He can clarify...

Rand al'Thor

On the other hand, it's also the sort of thing that mods are supposed to deal with in private, rather than dragging dirty laundry out for all to see.

But since they haven't dealt with it ...

LYNCH MOB!

:-P

Hey, is the riddlers' phrase "lynch-mob clue" still floating around this place?

Sid

4:33 PM

@Deusovi Should Rand al'Thor release his proofs assuming, he really has those? It's quite a sensitive topic, considering, one specific user would probably be targeted.

Rand al'Thor

In case there's any doubt, I should add that all of this is publicly available information, which anyone could have seen (at least at the time) if they were looking. It's not clues picked up from TL or anything like that.

Lukas Rotter

What would you want to achieve with this post?

Deusovi

Oh hey! I'm... not really sure if I can say anything about this. I do understand Rand's frustration with this not being addressed, but I'm not quite sure of the policy related to this.

Rand al'Thor

@LukasRotter Community awareness.

Like I said, people deserve to know about it when they're voting on those Q&A.

I myself upvoted this answer because I thought it was incredibly clever of Gamow to find the solution when everyone else had failed for so long.

Only a week or two later I twigged to the sockish shenanigans that were going on, but I can't undo my upvote unless the answer is edited :-/

Sid

@Randal'Thor While I would like to see the proofs, I say just hold on till you get a consensus from the site. Other mods, probably a CM to clarify would be better..

Related to the policy, that is

Rand al'Thor

4:42 PM

@Sid Yep, that's fair.

If the answer is "no" to posting on meta, I'm happy to email anyone who wants to see the evidence privately.

Sid

And the answer, that you linked.. it's kind of strange that the OP never posted any hints even after almost 15 days of it remaining unsolved.

Deusovi

I mean, obviously I can't support targeting a specific user in a meta post.

Rand al'Thor

@Sid He did post a bounty.

Sid

That makes it less suspicious..

Rand al'Thor

@Deusovi Obviously I wouldn't phrase it in a targetty kind of way, like "this user is a cheat, let's all downvote him". It'd be more like "FYI everyone, you may be interested in this long list of information connecting these two users with each other".

Sid

4:47 PM

Which indirectly means that the user is a cheat..

@Randal'Thor In the event, that the answer is "no" to posting on meta, I would be interested to see your evidence. Here's my email:

Rand al'Thor

(you can delete that if you want - I'll still be able to see it)

Beastly Gerbil

@Mithrandir down to 17...

Sid

@Randal'Thor And when you send it, do ping me.. so I can check it. That e-mail is pretty much redundant.

Gareth McCaughan

CCCC: Since my latest clue is still unsolved, here it is again along with another letter. Casual actor engaged in seduction (10). T---T----