The Sphinx's Lair

I did it line by line

Try deciphering one line at a time

Oh. Geez.

I said "go with the flow"

;)

7:03 PM

Go with the flow doesn't mean "Decrypt this blob one line at a time."

Easy way to do it is paste the whole thing in, and strip off the top line each round.

Yeah I see that now

been trying to do this in order instead of jumping ahead, so i'm slow to catch up sorry

Well a hint Last-First-Last-First.... For the last bit now

INLAT worked because it is a cycle of LATIN.

Sphinx

0

Q: Happy 2017 Sudoku

This is a simple Sudoku. The only thing different from a regular sudoku are the symbols used: HAPY2017*. The snowflakes (a.k.a. asterisk) are like any other character. Wishing you a Happy New Year 2017 and have fun solving puzzles!

7:11 PM

SORRY!

For what?

YOU REMEDIES OF RIGHT SO

Nope

Last letter-First Letter- ....

Of every word

This hint I was going to add later if someone reached here :)

You ... might want to add it now

yu se at bash on first letter sof last line a els sdcgrtsoheisanenbgldfyi ltxsptvywy

degrades into nonsense

yu se at bash on first letters of last line a els sdcgrtsoheisanenbgldfyi ltxsptvywy

7:19 PM

Use atbash on first letters of last line

dunno why the "Y" is in there

what the hell is atbash?

monoalphabetic substitution: a -> z, b -> y ...

you rocked!

comes from Hebrew where the first letters are A B and the last two are T SH

Now I just have to make a puzzle with the solution BANTECHIDIOT!

A lot of leaps there.

7:23 PM

Hahahaja

How many coffee cups did you end up drinking @ChrisCudmore ? :D

Just one. It's too cold to walk out of the office.

I have to wait for someone else to get thirstier than me.

-13 today.

I think we just need to ban @Techidiot from using steganography :)

Which Is +9 for all you backwards people.

I'm not just being butt-hurt about it being painful. It's, like, impossible to solve this if you hadn't been in here telling us what pieces to look for. Puzzles shouldn't be like that.

@Rubio First was really basic of stegano. :p

7:26 PM

Well, yes - that's what stegano usually is, though

I'm ok with the first.

Either apparent, or hinted.

Yours beyond NEWTON are neither.

See.. Newton encrypted the plain text

The answer to the crypto riddle was too much of a stretch.

Look at other people's - they use bold markers, or italic, or spray blood on letters, or SOMETHING

Expecting someone to guess that because you put first-letters stego in plain sight for riddle one, means they should look at first letters of everything from then on, is waaaay too far a stretch

7:28 PM

Plain text - take first letter you get NICOLA anagrammed. And I assumed it would be an easier guess :)

^^ see above.

And just solving the brief clue to get to Nikola that way isn't likely either; it's too broad, and could mean all kinds of people

Yup. But I think bold/italic steganos are too easy

Just my view

No, I agree

But they're, well, fair.

They are quick to solve and fun, but too easy

@rubio Your solution needs a few more digs at the author

7:29 PM

If you can't make it fair, don't use it.

There's only one :)

There's two at the puzzle.

Basic stegano as far as I know is first/last letters

Dude. again

And I intentionally didnt ordered newton

You can't slap a tag on it and expect people to look for stego literally anywhere and everywhere

Tto make it useful for next one

7:31 PM

Similarly, "Go with the flow" thrown in randomly somewhere doesn't at all hint where you mean it to apply, so it effectively doesn't apply anywhere

@Techidiot, I once had a steganography puzzle that hinted with names of people and although I thought it would be fairly easy, it didn't turn out so - as people were interpreting the clue hidden in the names in many different ways.

You should kind of think of puzzles in the same way (I hope) you would view a video game.

It should be solvable without having to resort to a walk-through/play-through

@Rubio That's actually good advice.

If a game I play required me to look up how to do things in it that wouldn't be likely to be found without literally trying to brute force The Entire Damn Game, trying every twist and knob and verb on every object and block and door and room

Making a video game with controls reversed (for example) doesn't make it better. It's just frustrating.

7:33 PM

then it's not a well designed game.

Your use of stego is kind of that.

There's no hint that "You should use that object in the cave"

It's just "Here's an object. It might be useful."

And no context whatsoever to help narrow down what bits apply to what parts of the puzzle.

Honestly, that's not fun to solve. In either a game or a puzzle.

Text adventures are frequently like that though and plenty of people enjoy those ¯_(ツ)_/¯

It's tedious. You feel like you have a list of 5 things to try on every single word, line, stanza of the puzzle in every possible permutation, because, well, it said "stego" and there might be something there.

@Will Sure, but that doesn't make them good. (And actually, there's contextual clues in an adventure game anyway. Among other things, you know when trying to do something is wrong - it tells you You can't do that here/now/with that.

And some things just make sense to try together. So it's not blindly trying anything and everything anywhere and everywhere.)

Deusovi

@Sid Sure!

I think it's close enough.

Anyway. Your puzzles have a lot of ingenuity and cool concepts in them, and they keep improving. I hope some additional constructive critique will continue to make them better and more enjoyable to the solver.

.-.

*in the middle of solving sodoku, goes to post the answer*
*finds that @BeastlyGerbil and @Randal'Thor have already solved it*

7:42 PM

Well, at least I hope you liked my snowflakes. :D

@Rubio It's Last-First-Last-First.. So, no need of ignoring Y.. Just start from U

Clue in chat was first-last-first-last

31 mins ago, by Techidiot

Last letter-First Letter- ....

I just updated to include that

I hadn't actually seen the hint :)

@Techidiot here

7:45 PM

(in the puzzle)

so it's update now

I was typing that change when you pinged. hehe

I don't get the linking in here...

Nope
Last letter-First Letter- ....
Of every word
This hint I was going to add later if someone reached here :)

at 14:13

@ChrisCudmore I thought that will be a difficult one to find and hence I was going to add that hint when time came

34 mins ago, by Techidiot

Last letter-First Letter- ....

It was not originally in the puzzle.

@TrojanByAccident Gotta be quick round here.

7:48 PM

Never mind. I'm dumb.

@Randal'Thor Yeah :(

I feel dumber ;)

so, who's going to take out rubio's puzzle?

Sphinx

0

Q: All the cowards complain

A bird, a plane? I am more like the rain "Stupid", "insane", all the cowards complain Near the end of the run, I slow my pace And thence ended the fun, and my heart's race What am I? No offense for using the word "coward", just a figure of speech.

riddle rhyme

@Mithrandir I have a puzzle more or less ready for the Clue you sent me (just need to put everything together and add some filler text). When would you like me to post it?

7:49 PM

@Rubio @ChrisCudmore Sorry and Thanks! Better luck for me for the next one :D

Though I have an open puzzle in there yet to be solved :p

@TrojanByAccident Go get it :)

riddle rhyme steganography

8

Q: When words speak!

Short Steganographic Riddle! Every time you ask me, where do you stay? It's vague but I stay here, I will say. We are three, you know it. Check if it fits your height. 3 elders of this riddle decide my name, begin from the right. Let's add a couple of lines more, to add a little spice...

Btw, this Clue puzzle has taken me quite a while to create, and has lots of different ideas put together in it. I really hope people will appreciate it :-)

@Randal'Thor were you joking about excel? Assuming you were, but can't actually tell :P

I wish I had more time for puzzles, but right now, I barely found time to create a simple sudoku - and I have been trying to find the time for a few days now. Haha. :)

7:52 PM

@BeastlyGerbil I wasn't sure whether or not Excel can be used as a sudoku solver, so I couldn't tell whether I was joking or not either :-P

Well, considering you can write macros in Excel, you could probably write an Excel sudoku solver, but I doubt that's the case here. :)

Anyway, I'm off again. Just popped in to ping Mithrandir about the Clue.

If we took the no-computers tag really seriously we would solve the Sudoku on paper, but then not be able to upload the answer because you'd have to use SE and that would involve a computer :P

(Also, hi @Maria, long time no see - Happy New Year and all that :-) )

And I'm really not that good on excel so no worries there

7:54 PM

Hi @Randal'Thor Happy New Year, Merry Christmas and so on :)

@BeastlyGerbil Use a phone instead

@MariaDeleva I have a problem. When I try and use the asterisk, SE makes it italics. Can I do a ^ sign instead and say it represents *?

you can use ` to surround it

oh didn't know that. Thanks!

1 year of SE and I'm still learning about formatting....

You can usually \* too

7:58 PM

Well, we are all still learning here. :)

@Rubio lol you did \\*

Okay first step up...

Yes. That's how you make it say \* :)

\\\\\\\*

hahah that's fun :)

7:59 PM

@Rubio :)

^*test^*

interesting

@TrojanByAccident Aren't you supposed to be solving my card puzzle? hehe

@Rubio ?

@TrojanByAccident << this

@Rubio ???

lol.

8:02 PM

Which puzzle do you mean?

which did YOU mean?

11

Q: Time for Something New

An entry in Fortnightly Topic Challenge #23: Seasonal... Today, when you go to your mailbox, you find a thin card-sized envelope from your (in?)famous uncle—a games and puzzles creator of dubious skill and legendary absentmindedness, who you now reflect didn't send his usual holiday card. Y...

visual seasonal

^^ i meant that one

We're going to need another hint on that one.

The only thing I can guess, is that A + junk = Vector from A->B

Unless your hint is using Plank's Constant

You're still not helping!

But you got the gist of it.

@Rubio oh

(And I'm not talking about Planck's Constant)

8:11 PM

Yes, but I still don't understand what "JUNK" is, and what the 2's and 5's mean

I'm going to understand hint 0, as establishing the origin.

Hint one, maybe sets the grid scales.

and then I'm lost.

Those aren't hints, they're rules. (the hints are the hints.) Rule 0 is rule 0 on purpose, yes. It provides the origin.

Rule 1 pertains to the "JUNK".

I can't see the image due to the fact that I'm on a school laptop

and I can't analyze it online because it's a .gif

Oh. Well

Drop out then. School is teaching you nothing.

it's definitely a Visual. You have to see the image to solve it.

8:15 PM

Yay, just earnt the 'yearling' badge!

nice, grats!

Think I earnt a little more than the required 200 rep though ;)

I get helpfulness level 1 but I don't understand how it extends to fives or lowercase or digits for that matter

@BeastlyGerbil congrats. :)

@BeastlyGerbil just a bit ;)

8:18 PM

Damn rep cap. Don't get any rep now from your puzzle @MariaDeleva :P

@Will Unless I messed up, there's only one digit.

Only a couple of hours left, @BeastlyGerbil :) Then you will start earning again :P

4 hours for me

The fives I think becomes obvious later

@Rubio Ah. 0, okay. Got that then. Still don't know about case.

8:20 PM

although helpfulness level 1 hint could give it to you directly.

"could?"

does but only if you figure out how. :)

It looks like it might maybe be Base62

@BeastlyGerbil you could be sneaky and finish editing the rest of your answer tomorrow :P

Yep. That works to your advantage too :P

8:22 PM

@Sconibulus It's not

also, every number of characters is even

I have two more hint levels to give. I suspect either one of them will pretty much give the game away.

so I'm trying to hold off to let people actually solve it hehe

Yeah please don't yet... level 1 already seems huge

@BeastlyGerbil I don't really care about rep :) And I won't reach the cap today, so it doesn't really matter for me :)

oh, it is

8:23 PM

(and I'm apparently ahead of the curve...)

Q: 30 fake coins out of 99 coins

it's only level 1 because if you don't get it, it's still useless

Sphinx

0

You are given 99 coins which consists of 30 fake ones. You also have a digital balance scale with perfect precision that shows how much difference between weights you put on. For example, if you put 10 g on the left side and 20 g on the other side, it will show -10, otherwise +10. You know that...

mathematics logical-deduction strategy optimization

@MariaDeleva I'll write it up and then post it tomorrow morning. I would usually have a lie in, but have a school football match so up early

Hopefully, it is not as cold there as it is here :)

What's that x doing in there?

8:24 PM

@Rubio I get a bit part of it but I still don't understand it fully apparently

@MariaDeleva -4 when I was walking to the bus this morning

I think if you get close enough, the rest starts to fall into place. Possibly with some (unfortunately tedious) trial and error.

@ChrisCudmore that x is doing its job. hehe

-12 here at the moment :)

I have something I kinda want to say (because I'm confused about it) but it'd be giving away a lot so I'm just going to stay confused :)

are those high negatives or low negatives?

8:26 PM

no matter how vague I am, it'd be giving something away

...that's not how I meant to phrase that, C or F?

I figure we need to find the location of L. through interpolation with the equations.

C

C here too

I was at -1°F this morning

so damned cold

8:27 PM

which is in C?

I only know C :P

about -15 I think

-18

ooh that is cold

Well, the forecast is here it would be about this temperature tomorrow :) or lower. :)

I'm supposed to get snow tonight :)

8:28 PM

it's 8°F currently, so what, -12C ish?

So I guess we are just late to the cold party :D

too lazy to do the match

although this morning did feel colder as I was only wearing a shirt :P Bit stupid of me but oh well

yeah, -12/13

-13C - google is a helpful tool :)

8:29 PM

yeah. effort

But you guys get that cold prairie wind

My default conversion is F=2C+30

The wind that cuts through everything, with no hills to block it? Oh yeah. That's us.

It's actually 9/5 + 32, but close enough.

@Sconibulus I am too lazy to calculate that right now :)

8:30 PM

double and add thirty is way faster to estimate

but yeah, I did know the actual one

OH. Rule 2. DUH.

OBVIOUS.

:)

WOW.

I'M.

The A line makes so much more sense now

wowza

So sounds like you've pretty much got a handle on it

I think so.

8:33 PM

Sorry for the (one) red herring. It worked so nicely with Rule 1 though, I couldn't resist.

It did.

Good job.

I have The Solution btw. if you get close enough, I can provide it.

@Will Please post the answer and give me a good night sleep :D

I'm nowhere near an answer yet :(

There's ... a few things to do to finish, yeah.

8:36 PM

Oh oh.. I thought you already drew the final card ;)

yeah uhh... just a few

looks like @Rubio's got all the active players on lockup

with his puzzle and the CCCC

Muahahaha.

what was the answer to @Will's

My plans for PSE dominance are finally coming to fruition!

It was FIREBALL

8:37 PM

ok

It will singe you. And it's a whisky.

MS Paint is so annoying

lol.

Like I said, I have The Solution so you kinda just need to get close

@Will for some things, I still prefer it. But most of the time I use Gimp

Sketchbook is the best

8:40 PM

I usually use Gimp

It costs but its amazing

And I'm hoping to get a computer stylus so I can properly draw my puzzles

Not sure Gimp would be much easier

@BeastlyGerbil I have not used that one or seen it.

Considering using PIL :P

@MariaDeleva yes thats my name :P

@MariaDeleva have you heard/seen the movie 'the book of life'?

8:42 PM

Nope

I don't think so

Book of life

Well the artwook was done on sketchbook

Sketchbook

Well, I am pretty sure all I can do is the devil you have already seen :D

Pro (which is so much better) costs 20 pounds a year which is totally worth it

Gimp actually would be easier for that @Will

of course much easier is the method I used to generate i.stack.imgur.com/Zefbw.gif

which, not coincidentally, is how I built this one hehe

I think I messed up

8:47 PM

So, I assume you got at least one recognizable glyph out of it

wait what

hm.

now I want to see what you have :)

do you mean that tiny little thing

the house-shaped thing

Perhaps you messed up. :)

More likely I'm doing it completely wrong :)

8:50 PM

Can you upload what you got somewhere?

I can probably guess at what you did right and wrong from looking at it

I can but I don't want to put it here

Don't want to put my leads out there for all to see quite yet

you have Discord?

nope

Telegram?

nope

Public key? :P

8:53 PM

skype? i think i still have my anonymous one somewhere

Yeah I've got Skype

sec

Up until Skype I have never heard either of these :) lol

But I will be really curious to see how this puzzle is solved

:)

skype is rrubio001

Added

9:13 PM

Well, @Will has the puzzle mechanics down pat. Now just doing the grunt work :)

GIMP is like an onion.

Which will help.

9:25 PM

okay @MariaDeleva written up steps but will post last two tommorow

@BeastlyGerbil ok :) You know, at first I did a completely different sudoku - it stated Christmas instead of Happy 2017 :) But then I decided it is too late for Christmas :)

I might keep it for next Christmas :P

@MariaDeleva I've already done one with CHRISTMAS :P

@BeastlyGerbil wow, I missed that :0

:)

:P

I like the fact that you also wrote other words :)

9:29 PM

I didn't make the puzzle :P See the disclaimer

Well, it wasn't clear from the disclaimer. :) Sometimes these things are just a backstory :P

But I will upvote it tomorrow :P

I couldn't actually solve the one my friend gave me. But then I looked it up and it had 88 solutions so thats probably why. GPR found that MAT made it unique. I made the excuse its a welcome mat :P

Ah, I see. :) Now I should think of a new one for Easter :) It could have eggs :P

Bed for me now. Good luck and welcome back!

Ah, I am still waiting for my bedtime :) My son doesn't want to sleep :D

Good night and thanks :)

9:40 PM

Anyone interested in a Hacking Sim?

Right now I am not really in thinking state :)

@MariaDeleva :) Well if you care, check out Hacker Experience

I will :)

:D

I'm making so much progress

This is great

I love this puzzle

9:48 PM

@Will Which?

Rubio's card puzzle

10

Q: Time for Something New

An entry in Fortnightly Topic Challenge #23: Seasonal... Today, when you go to your mailbox, you find a thin card-sized envelope from your (in?)famous uncle—a games and puzzles creator of dubious skill and legendary absentmindedness, who you now reflect didn't send his usual holiday card. Y...

visual seasonal

Oh

I'm working on the newest math puzzle

The 99 coin one?

Yeah

I've made progress

I can share, if you'd like