« first day (1002 days earlier)      last day (2631 days later) » 

9:00 AM
Also @elias you almost got rebus 2 earlier on
 
looking for the douible clue now
 
What is p doing, other than lying
What are the ps lying about?
 
multiplying
ahh
 
times
 
remember, it's double-clued
ha
 
9:01 AM
4 plied?
 
multi-p-lying
that's clever
 
There are squirrels, ibexes, moose, axolotls frogs and leopards in the spreadsheet currently
 
But, in the past
 
Multiplied
 
Tense please!
There we go :)
 
9:02 AM
My involvement in this has been apsolutely pivotal and I definitely have contributed the most overall, :P
 
Well, tense is a very important thing. If it won't be, then sentences used to read very strangely when I look at them.
 
@BeastlyGerbil This comment alone cemented your role in this solve.
 
NO! There's an Anonymous Kangaroo on the spreadsheet!
 
ohhs noess
 
Anonymous Nyan Cat?!
 
9:03 AM
google randomly assigns an animal
 
^
 
@TheGreatEscaper And a Nyan Cat is an animal?
 
orange 3: fusion?
 
yes
@elias ion?
 
The top part seems really out of place for that
As does the colour of the bottom O
 
9:05 AM
FUs on.... something? :D
 
I think boboquack quite astutely summarized the middle line as 'fuso', and a patient googler will reap rewards
 
all those Os are making me hungry
 
Those indexless cryptics need some solving too! Two rebuses, 6 cryptics later, and some things should become clear
 
Fuso - Mitsubishi?
 
refuel?
 
9:07 AM
Mittsu is also "3"
 
Ooh
 
Fuso was a battleship
 
"3 things", to be exact
 
So, like couple would be two, in that sense?
 
My 'patient googler' hint might be better replaced by 'slow typer'
 
9:09 AM
Fuso
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fuso or Fusō may refer to:
Fusō is the Japanese pronunciation of the word Fusang (扶桑), an ancient naming for Japan.
Japanese ironclad Fusō, a ironclad warship of the Imperial Japanese Navy that fought in the Battle of Yalu River
Japanese battleship Fusō, lead ship of the Fusō class
Fusō-class battleship, a class of two battleships of the Imperial Japanese Navy that fought in World War II
Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (MFTBC), or one of the company's brands of truck
 
Hmm, maybe fuso isn't the best clue to head you guys down
 
slow typer? fusion?
 
That bottom O is a very particular colour
 
cyan
 
Indeed, so it is a ____?
 
9:10 AM
cyano bond?
 
ocean
o - cyan
fuso on the ocean - the battleship?
 
cyano is the correct reading...
 
cyanobacteria are a thing
anyway, i'm off to bed
 
check that first line one more time
 
Is that anything to do with hydrogen bonds?
 
9:10 AM
3:10 am and i have class in 6 hours
 
@Deusovi NO!
 
Yeah, sleep, deus!
 
We lose our best solver
 
I don't want ALL of this to get solved too quickly
:P
 
I'll be on tomorrow! (Probably during class :P )
 
9:11 AM
@TheGreatEscaper Trying to keep your puzzle open. Tut tut.
 
good night!
 
Night Deus!
(your last contribution may have been very useful...)
 
@TheGreatEscaper You seem only too happy
 
What shape appears in Orange 2? edit: I meant orange 3
Then, read the chat carefully back around Deus' last messages...
 
Speech bubble!
(you mean o3?)
 
9:13 AM
02
oops
yeah 03
 
Drop!
 
yes, which is the shape of ...?
 
Water!
Well, not really.
There's a youtube vid about that
(But I can't be bothered finding it)
 
Yeah, it's not water
____drop
 
tear?
fuel?
 
9:15 AM
Now read deus' last few messages carefully
 
4 mins ago, by Deusovi
I'll be on tomorrow! (Probably during class :P )
4 mins ago, by Deusovi
3:10 am and i have class in 6 hours
 
'dropping out of the class'
lol
 
4 mins ago, by Deusovi
anyway, i'm off to bed
 
Last 'contribution'
 
cyanobacteria
 
9:15 AM
5 mins ago, by Deusovi
cyanobacteria are a thing
 
okey, and?
(read carefully, out loud)
 
6 mins ago, by Deusovi
cyan
8 mins ago, by Deusovi
"3 things", to be exact
8 mins ago, by Deusovi
Mittsu is also "3"
 
Too far, bobo!
 
Sigh Ann Oh Back Tear E Are
...
Re=Back
 
Almost....
'back tear E are'
what are those last two sounds?
 
9:17 AM
ELAR?
 
back teary a?
 
Back TEAR E R<
 
theeeere we go
 
But... what is FUSO?
 
fuso and cyano are:
 
9:18 AM
Fuse CYANO with BACTERIA?
 
Nah, google pls
 
Fusobacteria are obligately anaerobic non-sporeforming Gram-negative bacilli. Since the first reports in the late nineteenth century, various names have been applied to these organisms, sometimes with the same name being applied to different species. More recently, not only have there been changes to the nomenclature, but also attempts to differentiate between species which are believed to be either pathogenic or commensal or both. Because of their asaccharolytic nature, and a general paucity of positive results in routine biochemical tests, laboratory identification of the fusobacteria has been...
Types of Bacteria
 
Yup
FUSO and CYANO are BACTERIA
 
ugh. you collectively pronounce "bacteria" with an R sound at the end?
 
and the first line is BACK TEAR E R
 
9:19 AM
and you clued it that way? lol
 
Oh... how do you pronounce it?
 
how it's spelled.
 
@Rubio Aussie speak for you
 
BACK TEAR E UH
 
Uh, that's ugly
 
9:20 AM
ASIA = ASI uh
?
 
@Rubio I don't spell it bacteriuh
 
bacteria
 
I dunno, maybe aus pronunciation is differnt
It hadn't crossed my mind, sorry :(
 
See! It's spelt bacteria, not bacteriuh! :D
 
9:23 AM
I've only heard it pronounced with an elongated UH sound, and an elongated UH automatically becomes AH
:( I hate it when pronunciation things make bits of puzzles not so nice
Sorry that you don't like it, I clued that out of experience
Which obviously seems to differ from yours
 
14
Q: The English Department

boboquackAfter walking through the computer science department, the tour entered the English department. The interior was very spartan, and the only thing I could see was a pinboard with the following items: I tried to solve the crossword, but the clues were a puzzle in themselves. What information ...

That happened there as well
 
it's not that I don't like it, it's that it doesn't work for US pronunciation so I literally was staring at that trying to connect "cyanobacteria" with "RE(teardrop)" and not understanding how they worked together. Just funny is all
 
@Rubio Now, what would you do if I cryptic-clued travelling with 2 l's?
 
I wouldn't care, that's fine
 
:o oh dear let's not go into UK/US spellings
 
9:25 AM
I'm learning HTML. It's annoying doing US color
 
"Colour" and "flavour" I might wrinkle my nose at privately, but I wouldn't say anything about
 
div.red{
    color:red;
}
 
Hullo SP!
 
Sounds like fun I might join in a bit
 
orange 1: is it something to do with 'straighten'?
 
9:29 AM
i'd think more likely something to do with mis-formatted, or (barely possibly) misquoted
 
<s><i>made a mistake</i></s> - Helps anyone?
 
Well, there seem to be three parts to this clue: the strikethrough, the italicisation, and the 'made a mistake'
 
@TheGreatEscaper Ninja'd :D
 
'to make things straight'
is there an english word that can mean 'to correct' and 'to unitilacise' at the same time?
 
nothing is leaping to mind
however
i hope this has nothing to do with crossed eyes... lol
 
9:32 AM
This clue is basically a cryptic
There's a def, and a wordplay
This one is my favourite rebus in the row
 
Sid
The 2nd cryptic is probably DOT ... And something
 
Yup!
I suppose it's not really necessary for progress anymore, but there's nothing wrong with finishing off the crossword
 
Completionists demand completion.
 
Oh, Rubio, apparently that cryptic's answer phrase is not so common in america
:(
 
Sid
I am on phone right now and can't really edit in the spreadsheet.
 
9:35 AM
Multiplied=operation in 12 in operation b and f
 
Well, I have some studies to do
 
@the wunderbar. hehe
 
@rubio you have a very similar phrase, though
With enumeration (6, 6)
 
6,6 is yours or mine?
 
6,6 is US
3,6 is AUS
 
9:37 AM
got it. thanks
 
Wait what's the 6,6
 
6,6 is what?
decima points?
 
American version of the answer phrase
 
thought we were talking about 1, not 3 hehe
 
bullet points?
 
9:38 AM
yeah probably
 
Oh, right. Yeah the 3,6 came to mind first
 
i'd never get "dot points" from that clue.
 
Sid
I got dot only after seeing ellipsis and googling
 
first . in the ellipsis is 'DOT', then the .. in the ellipsis is 'POINTS'
I suppose the stickler for Rubio is the slightly unamerican answer phrase
 
I call dot points the collective of the dotty thing and the text and a bullet point the individual dotty thing. Am I weird?
Release note: a German alien
 
9:40 AM
hey why are you translating that
 
To me, the individual dotty thing is a bullet point. the collection of such annotations are bullet points.
 
Sid
I thought bullet points were the norm everywhere. Didn't know people called it Dot Points
 
@TheGreatEscaper Why not
I've already done it once
 
well, things can get lost in translation...
 
Wow. Get out.
:)
 
9:40 AM
OK
1 hour ago, by boboquack
For the non-translate capable, ein außerirdischer means an extraterrestrial
According to translate.google.com
 
well put it this way, your translated clue is unsolveable
 
D:!
 
DEIT
 
This one might have needed a ? at the end
 
DIET
 
9:41 AM
DEET
No
 
Hey, you already know it ends in IT
 
@TheGreatEscaper hehe no problem...just avoid too creepy things :P (late reply, sorry)
 
GRIT
?
 
sighs
2
 
So was 'Notes...' your take on @the '000-ish' clue?
 
9:43 AM
@Sp3000 Welcome to the party, pal!
 
Looks like sp got it!
 
And yup, Notes... was heavily inspired by deus' 000-ish
I'd love to see what he thinks of it
Check the spreadsheet, I think it was SP who solved it
The german clue
 
Why though?
 
so why is it EMIT ?
I get release, but ...
 
9:44 AM
The note e is MI
note e'in' ET
 
@TheGreatEscaper No it's not
 
oh good lord.
 
It's only mi in the key C.
In A it's so
 
(which is the standard, for learning note names)
 
In B it's fa
@TheGreatEscaper My music teacher uses A440 as a reference note
 
9:45 AM
which finally explains the use of German; well played, sir. (*hat tip*)
 
So E is always so
 
jeez, it's like saying e in rot 5 is j
There's a standard alphabet
 
boboquck, this isn't international convention
 
@elias All orchestras I know tune to A440
 
i think in south america they don't call it e, they call it mi
i'm not speaking about tuning
 
9:46 AM
(Well I know one that tunes to A442, but...)
 
but naming conventions
of notes
 
mi is just the major 3rd degree of a scale
 
in your convention
but this is not universal
 
A has never been a standard scale.
It's a tuning note
Not a scale
 
Brother Guido was familiar with solmization, and noted that most of the Gregorian chants popular at that time could easily be learned by singers if they could see the tone progression up and down the scale, and associate it with the sound. He assigned the notes of the scale—C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C—a syllable: Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Do.
 
9:47 AM
In music, solfège (/ˈsɒlfɛʒ/, also US /sɒlˈfɛʒ/, French: [sɔl.fɛʒ]) or solfeggio (/sɒlˈfɛdʒɪoʊ/, Italian: [solˈfeddʒo]), also called sol-fa, solfa, solfeo, among many names, is a music education method used to teach pitch and sight singing of Western music. Solfège is a form of solmization, and though the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, the systems used in other music cultures such as swara, durar mufaṣṣalāt and Jianpu are discussed in their respective articles. Syllables are assigned to the notes of the scale and enable the musician to audiate, or mentally hear, the pitches of a...
 
i know what you are speaking of, i've learned music theory for years
 
> There are two current schools of applying solfège: 1) fixed do, where the syllables are always tied to specific pitches (e.g. "do" is always "C-natural") and 2) movable do, where the syllables are assigned to scale degrees ("do" is always the first degree of the major scale).
Hm...
 
Anyway, I have to go. I suppose I shouldn't argue music with you, @TheGreatEscaper.
 
i have to go too
it was fun, guys!
thank you!
 
You are correct, but the standard scale to use is C. Just as the standard alphabet to use is Rot-0.
 
9:48 AM
goodUGTnight all
 
@Sp3000 Guess which school I'm in
 
No worries, elias! Glad you've enjoyed my puzzle
 
good UGT night!
 
Maybe I should stop using solfa names in cryptics. The last one I used had 'Notes, e.g. soup (4)' cluing MISO and that also caused an extended argument
 
Sid
OK, I am traveling now and might not get time to look at this puzzle for A few days now. Nice one @TheGreatEscaper .
 
9:50 AM
yeah, it is indeed a very nice one. shows a lot of effort
 
take care @Sid, happy travels
 
Have a nice trip Sid!
Oh dear, this puzzle has definitely eaten into my free time, and my not free time. At least 3 of my school notebooks now have random masyu sketches, rebus ideas, and cryptic clue drafts
Glad to see I could bring a bit of enjoyment to a few people :)
 
effort pshaw, this was *clearly* churned out in, like, 20 minutes. (*cough*)
Dude I have no idea how you have time to put these multi-level puzzles together :)
When did you start on this one?
 
'made a mistake' was the first thing I did - it was a CCCC idea
That must have been at least 2 weeks ago
 
My latest (wordplay) one, I had the idea for about halfway through last FTC, and only finished it about the time I finally posted it
 
9:53 AM
The first thing TGE did was: made a mistake.
5
 
@Ankoganit lol!
 
AHAHAHA
Well, we all gotta start somewhere :P
 
@Rubio ... and this was a fairly simple puzzle, two layers deep, which just took time to write interesting phrases for that fit the required rules.
 
So how much is solved so far?
Like what percent?
 
The ACROSS and DOWN cryptics are all solved, and the BLUE pieces have been assembled for the crossword
Oh right
 
9:56 AM
63.33%, repeating of course
We're missing one rebus
 
It's hard to assign a number :P Because not every puzzle in this is contained inside a single box
But I'd say definitely more than halfway, yeah
 
okay
 
And some things depend. I'm a huge fan of grid-deduction puzzles so I consider the Masyu section of the puzzle a 'small' step, but it might be a far more difficult logic puzzle than I expect
 
Is the MULTILAYER??? correct?
 
It seems highly unsupported to me
 
9:58 AM
That's what I though
 
Looks like someone highlighted some letters which made a word
 

« first day (1002 days earlier)      last day (2631 days later) »