The Sphinx's Lair

At the beginning?

As a couple people pointed out, in 3 turns you're back on the same road

you can't get back to the same road, other than crossing it and going elsewhere (and hence not going "in circles") in just 3 turns

unless they're not 90°

Ah, this is implied. I mean, when you're lost on a road, and that you come back on a road you have already taken before, you tend to go the same direction you were at the beginning

There's no indication, implied or otherwise, that there's a turn there

10:06 AM

So, once you have done the loop of the P, you go upwards again

But

It says after the 3rd turn you're back at the same road. You're not.

You're on a cross street to the original road

Yes, after 100m you'll be back at the main road, but he's objecting to being "back on the same road" directly after the turn - or that's how it reads, anyway

Yes, the reading of this part was not well-designed, my bad

I mean, he literally interrupts her telling him to make the 3rd right, to say they're back on the same road

That means that 3rd right IS the one that puts them on the original road

@Rubio Because, he figured out he was heading to the main road, even if he's not actually on the main road again

Hence my diagram, and hence other people's confusion

Hand-waving :)

10:10 AM

@Rubio Heavily needed, right now :-)

I don't really care, actually, just wanted to provide a pic that actually matched what the story actually said :)

That literal interruption was just too giant a red flag to handwave away otherwise

That's kind of you, and I hope this will help other people understand the path taken

In any event, it's a plausible if unlikely map, and it does work, so I thought what the hell

@Rubio I have updated my puzzle a little to clarify the doubt's regarding the rhyme.

@Techidiot cool, i'll look later

@IAmInPLS Btw, the accepted diagram has an entire extra set of turns left/left/right/right that are, for sure, not anywhere in the story.

@Techidiot Fixed your title. " 's " does NOT mean plural. Ever. EVER.

Major pet peeve of mine :)

10:18 AM

Sure :D

Thanks @Rubio

@Rubio Are you really sure? I checked that with the answerer

Go through my answer line by line.

Are there triangular roads in that GPS puzzle?

@TheGreatEscaper Not in my thoughts

So @Rubio, where are the extras turn? At the beginning?

I went through both answers

Either going into, or coming out of, the S

Compare my turn-by-turn labeling of the story with my diagram and you'll see every turn stated or implied by the story is accounted for

10:29 AM

Yes, your answer is correct, i'm checking if the other diagram is wrong though

Then compare the diagrams, and you'll see there's an extra winding either before or after the S

I'm not sure where the extra turns came from, but they're wrong

and the other diagram isn't turn-by-turn so, no idea

Oh, I see

I'll number this

Oh, I think I get what he did

Look

I'll upload an image

nah, I think I got it

he assumed time (and distance) between the last map direction and the first GPS direction

which I didn't

10:35 AM

This is with your notation

yeah. got it.

between 3 and 4 he has them driving a good ways on, which I suppose makes sense

I'll be careful next time, I'll promise

It's like the butterfly effect: a little error, and the whole puzzle is doomed

yup.

The 3rd answer

is what a fairly literal reading of the interruption=no 4th turn interpretation gives

the diagram is a mess, but that's what it would look like without the 4th turn at the start. one change and what a difference it makes :)

Q: Constellations Puzzle : Find The Hidden Message

10:52 AM

0

Find The Hidden Message in First Three Constellations based on the clues P.S: Resubmitting my puzzle without my signature

@Sphinx VTC, VTD: comes from an ongoing competition

IIRC

Do we know what competition it is?

@Rubio I didn't follow everything, but @Deusovi deleted this because of a copyright issue

I thought the original was closed because it looked suspiciously like it had extra info blacked out, and a © symbol and signature NOT "Dharmesh"

And I remember having seen written that it was from a competition

I'm sure about the copyright issue, not so sure about the competition

10:56 AM

I mean - he's allowed to have a copyright notice on his diagram and post it here, but only if it's his own

"Due to the signature in the bottom right corner, this appears to be violating copyright law, so it has been deleted. – Deusovi♦ Jan 3 at 7:56"

It's been covered in this one

so yeah

I'm tempted to ask whose signature is on it

flag for mod attention

see if he even knows :)

Thank you @Will

10:59 AM

Also, if you were wondering, it is the same user.

Yeah I knew that much

and deleted

I was just clicking your answer TGE when it went poof

@TheGreatEscaper answered it :D

Yah. That's what I said. :)

Poof

the other one unpoofed btw

11:11 AM

Also, trying to design a fractal maze is making my head go poof

I'm not sure if placing some of the smaller mazes RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER was a good decision for my sanity.

Eugh. I'll finish it later

I'll keep working on grid logic :P

that's something people on this site have?

Sanity?

Fair point.

I got nuttin to lose

Wordplay, don't you dare overtake grid logic.

11:55 AM

@Will: I am reliably informed that Christian Schnapp is a singer. So, a valid answer is SCHNAPPS: (A singer has)→SCHNAPP'S; (spirit)→ def.

Q: Find The Radius Of All The Circles

1

Find The Radius Of All The Circles with Provided Information Hint: Diameters are an integer P.S: Bottom Right Signature is mine and I own this.

mathematics logical-deduction geometry

indeed that is valid (though so very obscure)
having had to choose between possibly too obvious, unindicated definition by example, and nice and short, I definitely chose wrong

I figured it wouldn't be an issue since the friends I tested the "singer" bit on all got it having not even seen cryptics before

looks like I was wrong though

(the former two choices would likely have been enumerated 8, 6)

@Techidiot There's no way CD is 4x as long as AB.

I think that diagram is too sloppily drawn to actually solve rigorously

12:10 PM

@Rubio I have added a note. Kind of disclaimer. Not sure if we are to take an actual scale and calculate it unless specified.

Of course you have to take an actual scale :)

Sooner or later some math guy will break it with all the big calculus ;)

There's nothing else you can do

Yup

The whole point is the relative sizes based on how they intersect

and right now their intersections are so sloppily drawn, good luck :)

12:12 PM

And how can it be a puzzle really? :-/

That's a purely mathematical thing I guess

It's a geometry problem, really, yah

I'll wait for his "Few More Information" and if it's still on a bad path I'll VTC as a maths problem

brb

Yup. And do take a look at my newly added hint once back. I really tried hard to make it an easier one though :)

12:27 PM

1

Q: Metacryptic ep. 2

Solve the 4 cryptic clues below to reveal the final clue. Then, solve that one. Fit, headless rich folk seek Henry's crown (7) ... shapely being? (8) Park authorities hate pirates with fury (6) Brokers are ladies' dates wearing the first hat (6) (6)

cryptic-clues

@Will I am curious, does your intended solution basically devolve to trivia? Or are these singers or singe-ers and or these spirits something that should be well known to more or less anyone? I'm neither a drinker nor particularly current on pop culture. :)

The singer is definitely well known and (as far as I am aware) the spirit is also considered common knowledge (though not for our younger users)

Ok thanks.

I'm familiar with shnapps.

*schnapps.

Not in the drinking way, of course. That isn't legal yet.

I wasn't familiar with the singer :P

Uhm. Do we really need a grid of letters for that constellation puzzle.

12:53 PM

spirit not common knowledge to younger users leads me to alcohol

@Matt Is BALANCED right for the second?

nope

I may have taken some liberties with that one

Oh, CREATURE?

is it ELLIPSES? :/

back in a little while.

12:58 PM

close, @Will

@Will There have already been at least two suggested solutions to your CCCC which fit pretty well even though they weren't the intended one :-/

@Matt OK, I think I've solved #3 correctly now.

you have :)

@Randal'Thor Yeah, oops. :|

mathematics logical-deduction

0

Q: Find The Radius

Information : 1) AB = 8 2) CD = 7 3) O,B,D are center of respective circle Hint : Find Hidden Information/clue from diagram to solve puzzle Note: Diagram is not as per scale, it is just for visual reference P.S: Signature in Bottom Right is mine and use for my own puzzles

"angers" can be an anagram indicator, right?

1:04 PM

Another Geometry related :-/

@Will You missspelled it? :p

Ellipsis ;)

@Sphinx Solved. But ... not really a great puzzle.

@Techidiot Heh, it would be funny if that's the correct answer, given that what I've filled in so far of the metaclue is:

> Healthy [...] angers agents (6)

@Randal'Thor Too mathematical?

1:19 PM

@IAmInPLS Too basic mathematical, yes. Maths problem rather than maths puzzle.

I think Arth got the right word there.

But I'm not sure if I should VTC it now that I've answered it :-/

For the second

@Randal'Thor But AGENTS has no one-word anagrams.

Healthy Ellipsis Angers Agents :-/

Yeah. I checked that

1:21 PM

@Randal'Thor Mmh, I think that once you've answered, you should wait for others to VTC

I'm still not convinced by ELLIPSIS.

@Matt?

ellipsis is correct

Well then.

Healthy ellipsis angers agents (6).

Healthy ... angers agents (6).

(the first one)

Can TURBOS be a synonym of AGENTS?

"healthy" = ROBUST, "angers" as an anagram indicator

1:25 PM

0

Q: Even more rebus puzzles

Sequel to Some more rebus puzzles (medium/hard) and Some rebus puzzles (easy/medium) (see this one if you want to know what a rebus is). These puzzles are hopefully the right difficulty this time. Good luck! and yes the last one is supposed to look like that.

rebus

what about the ellipsis?

@Sphinx Damn, people are fast.

@Matt "Healthy ... angers agents".

Too fast! :D

Rand he said Ellipsis is correct

Yeah, I didn't really think ROBUST was likely.

@Randal'Thor That was... awkward

1:29 PM

@Matt @Sid Woo, we're on HNQs with the metacryptic!

I got 30 character ruled for #3 & while I was typing more I got ninja'd then the exact same thing happened for #1 :)

:o

@Randal'Thor Take my upvote with you!

Thanks! :-D

Aww, @Will deleted his answer.

Sid

Apologies for leaving that answer half-filled... I had gone to study..

1:44 PM

I need a Mod.

%

there you go

buahahaaa.

@Randal'Thor Can you give an opinion here, whether you're able to serve as a Mod formally here or not?

@Rubio Opinions are free. What's the issue?

This Dharmash guy who keeps posting these puzzles... he claims they're his. I'm not buying it. I gave a rather demonstrably wrong answer to the first circles one, which he accepted.

If he drew the damn thing he'd know the right answer.

Have you done a reverse Google search for the images to see if they're available elsewhere online?

1:47 PM

I did

(@Sid Did you get ANGERS independently, or see it in my answer?)

Unfortunately, nothing

But I tend to think like Rubio

@Rubio Was it wrong? I had a look at it and didn't see a mistake.

@Randal'Thor I haven't. I've just got the same hunch we've had already before, and it's now greatly strengthened by the fact that he doesn't know the right answer to (ostensibly) his own puzzle.

See my current answer on puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/47627/… and note the commentary at the end

OK, look. You may well be right. We can't know that he created those puzzles himself. But we also can't know that he didn't, unless we find them elsewhere or the copyright holder shows up to complain. A gut feeling isn't enough to start removing the guy's posts without any real evidence.

1:49 PM

Well, yeah - that's why I said I need a mod :)

I think the mods will agree.

Not sure what is the right thing to do, so wanted to make sure someone was keeping a mindful eye on it

I can't think of any info in the mod tools which would help to resolve this issue one way or the other.

Seeing the guy's real name and email address won't really help.