The Sphinx's Lair

stacksfiller

7:00 AM

Now I'm curious, what was it?

Rubio

satisfactory?

Will

Dec 24 '16 at 0:34, by Will

CCCC: Failing to sustain wilting plant (14)

Rubio

yup. dear GOD that was hard :)

boboquack

Grrr

Rubio

er UNsatisfactory sorry

Deusovi

7:04 AM

It was a great clue. Just surprisingly difficult.

stacksfiller

Oh I understand it now, but yeesh

It would have been very hard to find

Rubio

I finally broke it, after staring at it for days

Will

It's still funny to me that it was the first thing you suggested

Deusovi

Wait, was it? That's hilarious.

Rubio

(oh, and on a couple nights back's subject of leaving a shower early to answer a CCCC - that was the one I did it on)

Will

7:05 AM

Dec 24 '16 at 3:53, by Rubio

unsatisfactory, malfunctioning, disappointment, indiscriminiate, unenlightening, unilluminating. those are what i've got for 14-letter words with a general meaning of failure.

HA

lol.

We're all idiots...

it didn't even register

No wonder it was kicking around in my mind though. And when "factory" and "plant" finally connected, it took just a minute to verify and I was out of the shower ;)

boboquack

Where does unsatis come from?

Deusovi

7:07 AM

*SUSTAIN

Rubio

I missed the solving of METHOD. that was cute. I know those are totally legit but they feel wrong to me ;)

boboquack

Oh. I see

Rubio

yeah - it's FAILING (def), UNSATIS (sustain* [wilting]), FACTORY (plant)

boboquack

Ta

Sp3000

METHOD was indeed cute but too many distracting )s :P

Deusovi

7:17 AM

Yeah...

boboquack

)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
Haha! Now you will never solve another CCCC!

Rubio

Your comments about your current cc give me good reason to suspect I won't be able to get it

@stacksfiller Welcome to PSE, TSL, and CCCC by the way - looks like you're going to fit in just fine ... awesome job on your first (!!) puzzle

stacksfiller

Hi!

Sp3000

I was secretly hoping Deusovi would get the CCCC semi-quickly, oops :P

Sphinx

0

Q: What is a Angered Word™?

This is in the spirit of the What is a Word™/Phrase™ series started by JLee with a special brand of Phrase™ and Word™ puzzles. If a word conforms to a special rule, I call it a Angered Word™. Use the examples below to find the rule. $$\begin{array}{|c|c|}\hline \bbox[yellow]{\textbf{Angered ...

Deusovi

7:26 AM

I'm probably missing something obvious.

Will

It's so hard searching for chat messages about me, but not @ me. Sometimes it stinks having a stop word as a name.

TheGreatEscaper

Heh

Will

And there's the profile update ;)

Deusovi

Ha, that's hilarious.

Especially the last one.

While thinking about Sp's clue, I came up with one of my own:

Novel brand? (7, 4)

2

Sp3000

Oh god so short

Deusovi

7:35 AM

Come on, short clues are good things.

Less options.

Sp3000

Not that I don't like them, they just set off warning bells which scream "expect the unexpected"

Okay that was phrased terribly - I do like them but they just scare me :P

Deusovi

I love short clues. (Writing them, that is.)

:D

stacksfiller

I think I know it, but I only got it because I saw it when looking at (7,4) phrases for CCCC.

CUTTING EDGE

Deusovi

Yep. :P

"Brand" is a literary term for a sword (apparently).

stacksfiller

Oh?

I thought you just meant the actual brand

which apparently doesn't exist

Deusovi

7:40 AM

Ah, yeah. I tend to not refer to nonexistent things.

stacksfiller

Well, I connected it to the first part and then forced my square peg into the circular hole

Deusovi

Good enough!

stacksfiller

That's basically what I did for the METHOD one too

I didn't figure out the overdose connection until someone else said it

Deusovi

Anyway, I'm off to bed. See you all later!

Will

ooo great clue
G'night!

Sid

7:42 AM

Good afternoon all... Surprising to see people in weekends..

Sp3000

And here I thought it was something MARK :P

Sid

@stacksfiller Care to explain Will's CCCC? I am sort of lost.

stacksfiller

It's a double definition. A possible C(ause) O(f) D(eath) is a METH O(ver)D(ose) and a SCHEME is a METHOD.

Sid

C=Meth? Isn't C supposed to be carbon?

stacksfiller

The ODs stand for different things

The OD in the clue is part of the COD, meaning Cause Of Death

The OD in the answer is an abbreviation for Overdose

Sid

7:47 AM

Oh, Now I get it.

Evil Will.. :P

Rubio

And finally my grid-deduction puzzle is fully solved.

Once the actual grid was filled in, I expected it to be like 20 minutes until someone finished it. instead it took days hehe

Sphinx

8:27 AM

0

Q: How many positions can the queen control?

Given the size of board (n) and the position of the queen (r,c) how can we calculate the total number of squares which can be controlled by the queen?

chess checkerboard

Sp3000

CCCC: Cool diva's three-line poem about minutes one lost frolicking (7, 4)

I feel bad for making people stuck on that one, so to make it a bit more manageable :)

Sphinx

9:57 AM

0

Q: The King's Routes Problem: How many possibilities?

On a chessboard, a king is to be allowed to move one square at a time: horizontally to the right, vertically downward, or diagonally to the right and downward. Imagine a reduced 4x4 chessboard, with the king beginning in the top-left square. By how many routes can he reach the bottom-right square...

combinatorics chess

Gareth McCaughan

12:27 PM

I have to say I think the Scheme cryptic clue was downright unfair. You're not supposed to insert spurious misleading things into a clue, and those right-parens were in fact spurious misleading things. Sorry, Will.

Sp3000

12:55 PM

Am now working on that clue stockpile so I don't end up with terrible on-the-spot clues for the chain :P

Sphinx

1:16 PM

1

Q: Lead the murderers out

Imagine you are in a big hall. Except you, there are 20 other people. In the beginning, you have different peaces of paper: 10 times: 'leave the room' (a) 20 times: 'leave the room in the next round' (b) 20 times: 'stay here for the rest of the time, do not care what paper I'll give you in furt...

mathematics logical-deduction story visual strategy

Puzzling Meta

2:11 PM

-2

Q: Difference between Story and Visual tag?

What is the difference between the "story" and the "visual" tag? It seems to be the same.

discussion tags

Silenus

3:52 PM

Regarding @Sp3000's CCCC, it doesn't seem like there's been much discussion.

I think it likely involves splitting TERCET (three line poem) around M/MIN(minutes), and possibly also I (one), ONE* (one lost) or IL (one lost).

I was also thinking LONE could be the 4-letter word, clued by "one lost frolicking" = ONE L*, but that presupposes an indirect anagram (first cluing L with "lost" before the anagram).

TERMINI (7) is a word, but it doesn't gel with the hypothetical "Cool diva" definition.

It could also involve splitting HAIKU, of course, but I haven't found anything promising there.

@Deusovi, Novel brand? = PENGUIN BOOK

Deusovi

4:17 PM

@Silenus That wouldn't be cryptic, plus that clue has already been answered.

Sid

4:33 PM

Wow,today, things have been intense,enthralling and even inspirational IRL

Sphinx

0

Q: Can solve this its part of online cryptic puzzle/riddle game?

Can anyone solve this? Its a part of online cryptic puzzle/riddle game

rebus

manshu

5:46 PM

@Silenus That's exactly what I thought when I saw that cryptic clue :D

Sphinx

6:20 PM

0

Q: Sixteen Castaways

Note: This was reposted from Knossos Games. I am not affiliated with the site in any way, shape, or form. Marooned on a tropical island. Forced to send one fellow member of their community home every few days. Who will be the last to endure? We caught up with some of t...

logical-deduction

Rubio

6:44 PM

good heavens @Sp3000

HATSUNE MIKU

Deusovi

Oh my god

I should've gotten that one.

Rubio

Never even heard of that

I got damned lucky on a google search for diva :)

Deusovi

11 hours ago, by Sp3000

I was secretly hoping Deusovi would get the CCCC semi-quickly, oops :P

I love how I'm the prime suspect for being the one to know who Hatsune Miku is

(I mean, he's not wrong.)

stacksfiller

I'm still lost

Can you explain how that works?

Rubio

well. I can try

three line poem HAIKU

about HA______IKU

Deusovi

6:46 PM

HA(TSUNEM(-i))*IKU

Rubio

oh. is that what he did

stacksfiller

Ah, ok

Rubio

I thought it was "lost time" T EMI

and UNE for one

Odd that that almost works :)

Deusovi

So who gets it? I thought you knew exactly how it worked when you answered

Rubio

I got it and was about to write it up (I would have noticed the missing S and worked it out, but your more or less instant confirmation short-circuited that hehe)

i knew it was right

But I haven't got a CC ready, so if you do, go for it

Deusovi

6:49 PM

Nah, I don't.

Rubio

actually I do have one

and it's just for you :)

Deusovi

Oh god.

Rubio

CCCC: Down Deuses' wild gardens for a song. (4,5,5)

and I don't want to hear about "Deuses". Just, roll with it. mkay? :)

Deusovi

I think I know the clue structure, but I can't get the actual answer.

Aaand anagram.wordsmith.org is down. :/

Rubio

hm

old.wordsmith.org/anagram/anagram.cgi

Deusovi

6:56 PM

Oh hey, it's back up!

Sort of.

Rubio

it's working for me

Deusovi

wordsmith.org/anagram/index.html works fine.

Rubio

I was just poking at your Mario clue again

There's some knowledge I'm missing to get that I fear

Deusovi

Yeah, it's semi-obscure. If you figure out the clue structure, a bit of Googling should give it to you.

Rubio

yeah Gareth got it that way

Deusovi

7:02 PM

I searched the first obvious phrase that came to mind and this appeared:

(Actually helpful information blanked out.)

Sphinx

0

Q: What is a Brutal Word™?

This is in the spirit of the What is a Word™/Phrase™ series started by JLee with a special brand of Phrase™ and Word™ puzzles. If a word conforms to a special rule, I call it a Brutal Word™. Use the examples below to find the rule. $$\begin{array}{|c|c|}\hline \bbox[yellow]{\textbf{Brutal Wo...

pattern word-property

oh. duh.

My clue?

yeah :)

:D

7:12 PM

I feel so slow now hehe

Deusovi

I like how nicely that clue worked out.

Rubio

The second version is much better

Deusovi

Agreed.

Rubio

5 letters. lol. That better not be it

Deusovi

It's not, apparently.

Silenus

7:42 PM

@Rubio, BLUE SUEDE SHOES

Rubio

thar she blows

Deusovi

Yeah, I never would've gotten that.

Rubio

I was trying to get it to Deus'

but never got anything acceptable out of it

Silenus

CCCC: Rules of forming phonemes for wrong stress (6)

Rubio

oh my

I like to put the emPHASis on the wrong sylLABle.

stacksfiller

7:57 PM

ACCENT seems to work a bit, but not really

(to ACCENT something meaning to stress it, and also how different people say phonemes)

Rubio

yeah - rules/accent don't agree though

that "wrong" feels anagrammy but STRESS doesn't anagram

"rules of forming phonemes" feels *def.*ish but the closest hits I find for that are phonetics or phonics

stacksfiller

Is it allowed to have a synonym anagrammed?

Rubio

That's called an indirect anagram, and they are very much frowned upon

(and I can't find one that fits in any case - I looked at it briefly)

Deusovi

@stacksfiller Some cryptic publishers allow it. I don't, and most people here learned cryptics from me. :P

FrodCube

Hi. Is anyone of you still trying to solve this puzzle? http://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/48172/are-we-salvageable/48538#48538
I gave some ideas two days ago but they didn't really work.

Rubio

8:09 PM

@FrodCube There was some talk about it a day or two ago, but I don't think it went anywhere

Silenus

@Rubio, what do you think of this variant of your clue: Down Deuses' wild gardens for eccentric footwear? (4,5,5)

I like the misdirect with "eccentric".

Rubio

I was going to go that way originally

Silenus

But maybe blue suede shoes aren't that eccentric.

Rubio

(I was pondering variations on "wild fashion statements")

then just went with "a song" as it wasn't really supposed to be a hard clue :)

Someone had starred "Deuses Wild" in here a couple weeks ago, and I wanted to riff on that

er Deuces Wild sorry

Deusovi

Jan 18 at 18:08, by Khale_Kitha

Deus is wild...

Rubio

8:13 PM

er. yeah. that.

thanks :)

Jan 18 at 18:11, by Sconibulus

deuces wild

followed by that ^

I put 'em together for a silly CCCC just for Deus - and then he doesn't solve it. The thanks I get, I tell ya!

Deusovi

I tried to solve it!

Rubio

hehe ;)

@Silenus I'm stuck on this one of yours. It's a proper clue? No indirect anagram tomfoolery?

Silenus

@Rubio, it's proper. And for future reference, I don't use indirect anagrams.

Rubio

I didn't think you did.

Silenus

Hint #1: It's not a Spoonerism.

stacksfiller

8:16 PM

Seems like could be a homonym

or homophone?

Deusovi

homophone - homonym is "same name", which means it has the same spelling

stacksfiller

I forget which is which

Rubio

huhhhhhmmmmmm

Deusovi

homophone is "same sound"

Rubio

that's a good thought

stacksfiller

8:17 PM

Oh I didn't even mean to be right, but it could even be a homonym

indicated by "wrong stress"

Deusovi

That'd just be unclued though

Rubio

i'm thinking rules is def, (made) of "forming phonemes for" (homophone) wrong stress

Deusovi

ooh, maybe

Rubio

8:32 PM

it's not METERS is it?

Silenus

@Rubio No, but what's your thinking?

Rubio

other than "wrong" I think I could make a case for meters=rules (a la yard stick)

and stress for meter

er metre

spitballing, I didn't think it was right

welp. I got nothin'. :)

@Sp3000 is here to save the day

Sp3000

Hm? What's up?

Rubio

Silenus' CCCC hehe

2 hours ago, by Rubio

HATSUNE MIKU

^ btw. that was good :)

Sp3000

If anyone's wondering about the choice of def... try (COOLDIVA)* :P

Deusovi

8:38 PM

Ha! I never noticed that!

Rubio

lol

Sp3000

8:53 PM

Hmm times like these make me wish I knew more linguistics

Mike Q

9:17 PM

How certain is it that the definition is [Rules of forming phonemes]?

Deusovi

Not.

Mike Q

If the def is Rules and the split is "of", then what could "for" mean?

Sphinx

0

Q: Universal dissection

Alice has a squared paper 8 by 8. She cuts out one 1x1 square from it, at row N, column M. Bob cuts the rest of the paper into pieces. Once he is done, Alice asks Bob to put the pieces together in a way that they form 8x8 paper with missing 1x1 square at row X, column Y. What is the minimal nu...

geometry optimization dissection

Rubio

"forming phonemes for" could be a homophone indicator.

it seems promising, but hasn't led to anything concrete yet

Sphinx

9:46 PM

0

Q: What is a KMorG Word™?

In the spirit of the What is a Word™/Phrase™ series started by JLee, a special brand of Phrase™ and Word™ puzzles. (ApoloGies in advance, I seeM to be havinG soMe trouble with My Keyboard today.) If a word conforMs to a special rule, I call it a KMorG Word™. Use the followinG exaMples below to...

pattern wordplay word-property

Rubio

^ that one may be fun. or may not be. hehe

Sp3000

10:22 PM

Trying to think of phoneme names and but I only know of SCHWA(S)

Not sure if the others have canonical names

Deusovi

10:49 PM

I don't think they do.

Rubio

oh hey @deus - puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/48517/a-call-to-all-robots -

Deusovi

Hm?

Rubio

if you go to the "bypass" link, it's an offsite link with a line of text and a zip file

Deusovi

Yeah, that's why I thought you and several other people would have closed it as off-topic for being offsite by now.

Rubio

ok - just making sure. i thought this was the dude who was in here the other day asking if this sort of thing was ok, but I might have misremembered

incesterror21

11:01 PM

@FrodCube Hello!

boboquack

@incesterror21 are you going to post a hint on your 'Are we salvageable?' puzzle?

incesterror21

Possible!

I'd like to talk about it in chat actually.

boboquack

Unfortunately, you've just missed the part of the day when everyone talks.

incesterror21

No problem. One is enough to solve it. I'm afraid this puzzle is so easy no one can see the solution.

boboquack

So you say...

incesterror21

11:05 PM

Where are you stuck?

boboquack

I don't know where to go :P

incesterror21

What do you have?

boboquack

Maybe I need to stare at the lights for a few minutes until my retinas are scorched and they appear green. I haven't gotten anywhere.

Rubio

speakinG of hints - @boboquack your coMMent on My latest puzzle? that seeMs like Good fodder for an eventual hint - but not yet.

incesterror21

Please spare your eyes!

But seriously I don't know what to do. I hinted "simple mathematical operations" and there are numbers at thebottom. Also people have already found out there's something going on with imgur links.

boboquack

11:13 PM

But why 8 \neq 08 (excuse the command)

That's the question everyone's asking

(no answer needed)

Deusovi

Yeah, I don't understand that either.

incesterror21

There is "8" and "07" somewhere. I wanted to point out that there is a difference and it's not a typo or anything.

Gareth McCaughan

FrodCube or whoever it was had a pretty plausible explanation for the 8/08 thing, namely that we're trying to construct imgur URLs (this is one reason why I basically stopped looking at it; I have a personal aversion to that sort of puzzle; but that's just me) and 08 means digit 8 whereas 8 means some letter-producing operation involving the number 8.

That fits nicely with the three groups of five numbers, of course.

Deusovi

Yeah, I don't like them very much either. There's no real confirmation - a lot of it just seems like mind-reading.

In normal puzzle hunt style puzzles, you have an answer that is an English word or phrase.

I mean, they can work well. I just don't think they typically do.

incesterror21

I think it's hard to wrap them up properly.

Alconja

11:18 PM

Not a huge fan in general either, but someone use a good system of a lookup table in the main post, so that the puzzles could have actual word answers, that you then used to find the new url

Gareth McCaughan

The thing that bothers me about these imgur things -- and I reiterate that this is just personal preference -- is the level-breaking. By all means let's have a purely abstract puzzle -- figure out five characters from these clues and confirm via imgur, or whatever. By all means let's have a puzzle with a story that makes some kind of sense -- figure out what needs to be done to turn the lights green. But here (apparently) we have a story, except that what we actually have to do [...ctd]

Deusovi

Yeah, I was thinking of doing something like that. (Actually had a metapuzzle planned for it too.)

Gareth McCaughan

... has nothing to do with the story, it's some meta-level thing that basically treats the story as raw material for an abstract puzzle. And something about that offends my sensibilities.

Deusovi

I agree completely.

incesterror21

@GarethMcCaughan You could always have it your way IMO. I think many solvers like stories and those who don't can, most of the time, solve the puzzle without paying too much attention to the surroundings.

FrodCube

11:23 PM

Hey @incesterror21

incesterror21

Oh! I thought you were asleep already.

You are very close I think.

FrodCube

I've got notifications on my phone, that's why I saw this

incesterror21

I didn't mean to wake you up!

FrodCube

I wasn't sleeping

Alconja

@incesterror21 Speaking for myself, and not Gareth obviously, but I like when a puzzle has a story. I can also appreciate pure abstract puzzles. But having an ostensibly story driven puzzle in which the puzzle elements don't make sense in the story's context is grating.

incesterror21

11:27 PM

@Alconja You suggest a puzzle using imgur links should have a story about imgur links?

(very roughly)

Mike Q

@incesterror21 Adding a story can sometimes skew the puzzle

Rubio

I'm curious then what people thought of my grid-deduction puzzle

Mike Q

@Rubio With the crazy uncle?

Rubio

it had imgur links but they were more checkpoints than story elements.

@MikeQ yeah

Mike Q

@Rubio I spent nearly a day and a half on that maze

Rubio

11:28 PM

hehe

Alconja

No. You obviously can, and often need to have some "meta" stuff because of physical constraints, but having the "characters" find random alpha numeric codes is hard to make feel right in a story context (and all this is being said in general terms, I don't know which imgur puzzle is even being discussed above)

Rubio

It actually teaches you how to solve it, if you pay attention

FrodCube

s

Deusovi

@Alconja The one with the three lightbulbs.

FrodCube

So, what's right and what's wrong with my attempt?

Mike Q

11:30 PM

@Rubio I thought the energy fields were supposed to be walls, which would have made the maze un-solveable

incesterror21

The level of mathematics is correct. It's as simple as what you chose.

Alconja

@Deusovi :) I haven't been on in a few days, so that doesn't help much... I'll keep my eyes out for some lightbulbs

incesterror21

@Alconja I find stories also useful to create a good diversion!

Mike Q

@Alconja Here

Alconja

ta

incesterror21

11:32 PM

@FrodCube Thinking about the capital letters is also a good idea. Maybe use that hint that seems to be so weird.

Rubio

yeah - you should have found pretty quickly that on=wall is unworkable. the actual maze mechanism was intentionally hidden behind a progress check so you couldn't reverse engineer the grid solution from the later information. that's actually the only reason I had imgur links in there at all - so I could tuck later steps' instructions behind something I could verify you had obtained by correctly completing earlier steps

Mike Q

@Rubio I couldn't make that assumption. "Energy field" sounds like some sort of hazard.

incesterror21

@Deusovi I will try to improve my narration skills, I promise!

Or maybe leave it be if so many seem to hate it.

Rubio

@MikeQ Disregarding solvability of the maze as a maze, the grid puzzle should have been simple to grasp the rules of, a little more challenging to understand the mechanics that result from the rules, and then (at least in a couple of places) a bit of a kick in the butt to actually solve

but there's a natural progression through it, it teaches you how to solve if as you go, and in the end it can be done with a little trial and error at learning how to proceed in a couple of hours

Volatility

There were some nice deductions I thought, particularly around and past the half-way mark, if I remember correctly

FrodCube

11:40 PM

I'll think about tha tomorrow, it's kinda late now

Rubio

the four-square areas I thought were neat.

incesterror21

@FrodCube Have a good night!

Mike Q

@Rubio Yes, I figured out several patterns and rules, and was going to document my "progress" as a "partial answer" when someone else got the solution

It was a good puzzle, I just mis-understood the instructions

Volatility

I got up to the "FOLLOW THE YELLOW" part, but then was stuck trying to connect it with the yellow light on the safe -.-

Rubio

lol

I didn't realize there was any yellow anywhere, that was a mistake

the graphics came WAY late in the puzzle build

It's surprisingly hard to find a decent image of a wall safe with the right kind of keypad

Sphinx

11:46 PM

0

Q: The Puzzling Phone

The amazing "Puzzling Phone", comes in two models, each one is sold by different companies, namely "Super Puzzling Inc" sells the first model and "Mega Puzzling Ltd" sells the second model. But these two models are not the same. One of them (you don't know which) lasts longer than the other when...

mathematics probability no-computers

Rubio

as it is, I had to make that one from a larger style safe, and had to massively alter another image to get the final "money shot"

Gareth McCaughan

@Alconja Although you don't speak for me, in this case you speak the same things as I would :-). (But I must again reiterate that I don't claim such puzzles are bad, just that I personally don't like them. Clearly I'm not alone, but equally clearly there are people who like them just fine. De gustibus non est disputandum.)

Rubio

@GarethMcCaughan @Alconja did either of you look at puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/48316/…? I made a decent effort (I thought) at incorporating the mechanical puzzle progression into the narrative so it wasn't jarring.

(or @Deusovi for that matter)

incesterror21

I think Alconja and Gareth can't deal with the highest level of red herrings - the story!

Alconja

@GarethMcCaughan Thinking about it more, there's two things I don't like (and to echo yourself, this is very much personal opinion, not objective quality criteria). 1) Plots that feel forced onto puzzles (if you want to add a story, at least make sure that the puzzle makes some sense from the character's perspective), and 2) Multi-steps puzzles with unverifiable/abstract answers to each partial. Both problems can and do occur in isolation, but imgur mazes are more likely than most to include both.

2

@Rubio Haven't, but will.

Rubio

11:52 PM

If a puzzle has a story, I don't think it should be a red herring; it should provide a setting, but not an outright misdirection.

incesterror21

Wasn't there a puzzle about some monk and a lot of patterns?

Alconja

(also, re-reading what I just wrote, I don't mean any of that to be critical of anyone's puzzle, or personal style preferences. This is as much a chocolate vs vanilla thing than anything)

incesterror21

I don't remember how any of the story was useful for the patterns. Yet everyone liked it very much.

Rubio

Well yeah. That's set dressing, not misdirection. a red herring, conversely, actively leads you down a dead end trail.

incesterror21

@Deusovi Maybe there should be a tag that states whether the story is just a setting/red herring or does actually contain important clues.

Mike Q

11:56 PM

@incesterror21 "context-clue"?

Rubio

@incesterror21 The usual convention is that information important to the puzzle gets offset in a formatting block ( > )

Deusovi

No, that would be a meta tag.

Rubio

Where no such formatting clue is provided, the story can be relevant or not

Deusovi

-1

Q: The Puzzling Phone

The amazing "Puzzling Phone", comes in two models, each one is sold by different companies, namely "Super Puzzling Inc" sells the first model and "Mega Puzzling Ltd" sells the second model. But these two models are not the same. One of them (you don't know which) lasts longer than the other when...

mathematics probability no-computers

Should that be closed as too broad?

(I think so, but I'll leave it up to you all.)

Mike Q

@Deusovi Not yet, maybe there's something hidden in there

Deusovi

11:58 PM

There's not. There'd be a [steganography] tag if there were.

Rubio

There's nothing concrete in there to drive any solution beyond handwaving

Deusovi

Right.

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