The Sphinx's Lair

2:14 AM

0

A spy acquired a microfilm containing the list of clues that he can decode to complete the hinted message in the password for opening the electronic vault of old records. What is the password? Microfim: Message: _ _ _ N O _ _ _ _ A R T _ _ _ _ _ _ _ I S _ _ _ _ _ _ K E Y

Sp3000

4:03 AM

Hmm lack of enumerations and confusing walking directions sure is making bobo's CCs tricky

Sp3000

4:18 AM

Hmm nvm, enumerations are present

Techidiot

4:47 AM

Yeah @Sp3000 Noticed just after I added that comment

Sp3000

:P

Techidiot

I can (I think) get a few of them. But not sure why some words are capitalized.

Sp3000

Well the main problem I'm having is that the route skips around a bit, so I've only got fragments of places. "You turn left twice, then right." is basically a teleport to I-have-no-idea-where-I-am-now.

Techidiot

Hmm

The lime one is surely MILE

Sp3000

I'll go shove my progress on a spreadsheet somewhere, give me a sec

Techidiot

4:51 AM

And that small shark could be TOPE

Yup

Sp3000

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/…

Here ya go

Deusovi

5:43 AM

hey!

Sp3000

Hey Deus

Deusovi

ooh, puzzles are happening

Techidiot

SP has got almost everything..

Deusovi

oh, so those ARE cryptics

thought they were, but "lengthy" --> "mile" made me question it

Sp3000

Yeah, some of the defs are slightly off, but the second one was a quick confirmer for me

Are you copying over the map into a new sheet?

Deusovi

5:48 AM

oh, you have one! didn't notice it

Sp3000

Well... two halves :P missing the part that joins them

Hmm there's not quite enough cross letters for the unclued sections with the people you meet

Deusovi

We haven't figured out the "slope", have we?

Sp3000

"slope" for...? (I just assumed they were walking orientation hints)

Deusovi

"You notice that apart from the paper, the dot and the slope, this corridor looks identical to the 2nd corridor you went through."

"descending" just means "you're walking downwards instead of upwards", I guess?

Sp3000

Yeah

Deusovi

6:00 AM

I don't follow how you got the dot placement for the part between "morning after..." and "senior..."

it seems to suggest going around the border (turning left at the end of the hallway) but then suddenly you're much farther to the right, able to turn right and left to go to the entry opposite MIGRAINES?

Sp3000

There's two dots between the clues you mention. For "morning after..." you're heading down OXFAM, turn left (at the dot with apple), head to the end, turn left and in the middle of the "senior..." column going upwards is a dot with bracelets.

And yeah then you u-turn, right, left down "the RELATION..."

Deusovi

ah, I see, I missed a section

also, I've assembled the grid

the two halves can't be one square farther apart because they wouldn't be connected

and they can't be one square closer because the I in ISOTOPE was a dead end

Sp3000

Ah k, that makes sense

Deusovi

OLDIE makes FRIEND across

and the bracelets are friendship bracelets

Sp3000

Ah, that makes sense

I've been going under the assumption "the RELATION" is INCIDENT

But parsing makes no sense to me

Deusovi

6:14 AM

why M at the start?

Sp3000

Start of?

Deusovi

the scientist answer

Sp3000

Oh right, brain implicitly assuming WAFFLE/WELCOME was correct, fixed

Deusovi

ah, that does sound right actually

Sid

7:10 AM

@Rubio How did you get MOI in Gareth's Clue?

Techidiot

@Sid en.wiktionary.org/wiki/moi

Rubio

^

Techidiot

Me in Europe(European->French)

Rubio

i didn't get it immediately, it took a couple minutes staring at it to catch on how/why

Sid

But but... Europe!=France.... Whatever.

Rubio

7:13 AM

Europe has nothing to do with France in the clue

Sid

Me in Europe? = MOI?

Rubio

oh sorry - misremembering the clue already hehe

Techidiot

It's also Proto-Indo-European

Sid

??

I don't understand. WHat is?

Techidiot

The word moi is Latin as well as European..

Sid

7:16 AM

Yeah, well... It's tough to know that just by looking at the cc..

Techidiot

Yes it is. The solution was a backward one, from the answer to the wordplay.. So, fitting it in becomes less tough if you have the word

You can check out the commentary to get the idea how it was discovered

Rubio

In any case, that clue works like many others: "City in Paris" could be any of a lot of choices, the clue can intend any of them. Similarly "Me in Europe" could represent any relevant translation of "me" into any European language. It needn't be a singular mapping.

Sid

Hm, Yeah, saw that.

Never mind, I am just nit-picking because (a) I am just in a bad mood and had to vent out somewhere and (b) I was pretty close with axiomatic. I just couldn't fit the wordplay when I had it...

Rubio

Hehe

Hey, @Techidiot scooped me literally by 20 seconds on the "draw a line" thing

I had the graphic already saved and was typing in the answer space when I saw his appear

Techidiot

Ohh..

@Sid You can use your bad mood to solve Rubio's CC ;)

Rubio

7:24 AM

Techidiot

Nice. I solved a few dissections a couple of days back with my nephew. So, the image just led me to it..

Deusovi

Yeah, that one's a classic.

Techidiot

I am thinking of the CC as CE(not sure) + RE(again)+ someword-THE = CEREMONY (def opener)

Sid

Rubio's CCs always stump me.(Well, CC in general stump me.)I literally have no clue what to do there besides removing either THE or T(The opener)

Techidiot

7:48 AM

Also, I think, Gareth has the answer to this CC.

Rubio

8:49 AM

@Techidiot What do you mean?

M Oehm

I think he means that Gareth knows the answer to your CCCC, but refrains from posting it.

Rubio

yesterday, by Gareth McCaughan

on the other hand, I like the surface of your current C4.

Techidiot

Yes. That ^ is what made me think

Rubio

that's the only comment Gareth has made on it since it was posted, which is far from a victory celebration :)

Techidiot

Hehe

I thought it was a celebration in disguise

Rubio

8:57 AM

I think it means just what it says. The surface is nice. (Cuz, well, I think it is. I'm kinda proud of that one hehe)

Techidiot

Yes. May be that's the only thing he meant..You are right.

M Oehm

I'm not quite sure that I understand the surface reading. I think I understand about the (sports) club losing the opener, but what does turn up mean here?

Techidiot

May be its related to cards somehow

Rubio

The surface was meant to suggest the opening play in a new round of a card game

M Oehm

That could be, yes. And the opener is the first trump or something.

Rubio

9:06 AM

Or any similar, yeah

M Oehm

Ah, okay, I understand. Now turn up makes sense to me. (My previous comment was directed at Techidiot and posted only a split second after yours.)

Sp3000

9:42 AM

You know, if you dropped the "a club again", Rubio's clue could kind of give DISCOVER

(not quite though)

Gareth McCaughan

11:18 AM

@Sp3000 I think that is in fact it. DISCO + oVER, def "turn up".

@Techidiot and no, i didn't have it before.

Sp3000

OVER <-> again? (also if that's it, you're getting that one :P)

Gareth McCaughan

Yes, OVER = again.

Sp3000

"over and over", right

Gareth McCaughan

But I'm feeling rather ill today so if this is right I suggest that @Sp3000 set the next one rather than me.

Sp3000

Sure :P (but fyi the only reason I mentioned DISCOVER was from the cryptic indicator reading of DIS-COVER)

M Oehm

11:26 AM

Oh, you've got it. Nice.

Techidiot

11:38 AM

Nice.

Sphinx

1:11 PM

0

Q: Number puzzles - What goes instead of "?"

One of my friends went to an interview and got this question : "What goes in the ? circle?" We tried for hours to find out, but couldn't. I found a possible solution to be : if we mark the numbers from the inner circle with a,b,c,d etc and those from the outer circle with A,B,C,D etc then a+b mo...

mathematics logical-deduction

Sp3000

3:38 PM

Going to sleep, so if Gareth feels better they can post. Otherwise will wait for Rubio's confirmation for this one I think.

Rubio

4:06 PM

DISCOVER is correct.

Sp3000

Well in that case...

CCCC: Turn up again to harvest fruit (8)

Rubio

Nice job both of yas :)

Sp3000

I deserve no credit for that tbh :P but if Gareth insists I might as well keep the ball rolling

Anyhow, shall actually sleep so hopefully the answer is pretty unambiguous (clue is slightly extraneous, but close enough)

(nice use of "turn up" as the def though, I have to say)

Rubio

Danke. I was pretty happy with that one

Rand al'Thor

4:49 PM

Old CCCC still pinned, new one not starred?

@Rubio, you're slacking on your RO duties ;-)

Rubio

5:19 PM

Sorry. I'm (legit) on mobile. Pinning is a pain the tuchus.

Rand al'Thor

Well, I just learned a new word.

Didn't realise there were any words for bum that I didn't know yet :-P

Techidiot

5:49 PM

@Sp3000 REAP(harvest)+PEAR(fruit) - REAPPEAR(def:turn up again)

M Oehm

Yes, that must be correct. (I had considered reappear for Rubio's but couldn't make it work, of course.)

Rand al'Thor

Oo, nice.

Sid

Cool. That was nice. Just one clarification. "To" acts as a connector?

Rubio

wordplay "to" def is a valid construction

(as a connector, yes)

the reverse, not so much

Sid

What is the difference?

Rubio

6:07 PM

the general idea is "(This wordplay) [evaluates] to (this definition)"

Rand al'Thor

Whereas a definition doesn't evaluate to a wordplay.

Rubio

Of course you might also see "(def) from (wordplay)" - the obvious converse construction

Sid

Ah, that makes perfect sense.

Techidiot

CCCC:Back less need backed me a chant(7)

Rubio

Is there an extra back in there, tech?

I have REQUIEM for Less need backed me a chant

oh. "Back-less".

Techidiot

6:21 PM

:)

Rubio

same answer

Sid

I think that back means to demo e the last 2 letters..

Techidiot

Yup. That's it

Sid

Nvm.

Rubio

CCCC: This serious disease consumes cells' innards: it'll punch your ticket! (9)

Sid

6:23 PM

I hadn't heard of Requiem though. Well, learnt something new though

Techidiot

There is a song from Linkin park - Requiem of a dream. But if I had used that as a def, that would have made it trivial

Rubio

There's also this ...

Techidiot

Creepy :p

Sid

@tech thank God you didn't use that... Because.. Music..

Rubio

Creepy?? That's classic Monty Python :)

Sid

6:30 PM

A question: is it necessary that presence of an exclamation mark means the clue is an &lit or could it be used just to mislead?

Techidiot

I have no knowledge of that. I can just see people under hoodies chanting and banging their own heads :D

Rubio

Exclamation points are not required in &lit, nor do they necessarily indicate one.

@Techidiot You need to watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail asap :)

Techidiot

1975? :O

Rubio

Like I said. Classic.

Techidiot

Oh and Sid, I made a little mistake up there.

requiem of a dream was a drug based movie

The requiem was the song

@Rubio Added to my watch list

Thanks

Rubio

6:37 PM

Yar

Gareth McCaughan

(I haz Rubio's but still feeling rather grim so will let someone else solve it :-).)

Rubio

That was too quick :)

(It was supposed to be easy though. I enjoyed building the surface for it)

Rand al'Thor

Presumably it's one of these words, where the word itself is something ticket-punchy and the word with "ell" removed is a disease.

(And yes, nice surface reading!)

boboquack

7:09 PM

@Sp3000 and others working on my puzzle - you're all really, really close. You can probably already answer two of the questions! The third one, of course, is the hardest… You won't need to reread the entire puzzle, but a certain part of the puzzle will be worth your while.

Rubio

ok taking a nap. i'll say when you get it you should know it (Or Gareth presumably can confirm :)

Sphinx

7:21 PM

1

Q: A simple alien safe

Oh no!! Abducted by aliens and put into a labyrinth for ability testing - again! There is (obviously) no deeper meaning behind this all, but can you help me open this safe, as it undoubtedly contains some strange device I will need in the next room of the labyrinth just to survive? That's a pic...

enigmatic-puzzle visual three-dimensional

Rand al'Thor

@Sphinx A @BmyGuest puzzle with "simple" in the title? I don't believe it.

Deusovi

7:37 PM

@Randal'Thor I think I have an idea of what to do. The idea is simple - the execution, not so much.

Er, maybe not, actually.

Alright, yeah. Probably.

Beastly Gerbil

The tile that matches the lid of the box is labelled 'J' if that helps you

Have no idea about any of the lock things though

Oh I found something else for you @Deusovi, the wires going into the box each match up with a square

Sphinx

7:59 PM

0

Q: Mosaic: 'My' Featured Entry

This is an attempt to improve my mistakes done here. This time I made it harder (i.e. remove one clue and the puzzle is un-solvable). In order to solve this, you will have to make chain deductions. Hope you'll enjoy it! Mosaic is a Minesweeper-like puzzle based on a grid with a pixel-art pict...

visual grid-deduction

Deusovi

9:20 PM

@BeastlyGerbil Yep, got that. Plus, each "horizontal" and "vertical" wire has one colour in common, meaning you can assign each square on the bottom a color.

Techidiot

9:36 PM

I am thinking the CC to be IN(FLUE)NCE def being it will punch your ticket(lateral thinking may be) but not sure how innce is cell..may be I am wrong.. May be its Character

Gareth McCaughan

It is not INFLUENCE.

awesomepi

hi

Rand al'Thor

@awesomepi Hi hi, how's the pi?

awesomepi

not bad

I've gotten back into the swing of puzzling

Deusovi

I'm pretty sure I know what it is (though I don't quite get the def).

awesomepi

9:47 PM

wrote up a metapuzzle, I'm trying to see how much playtesting I can squeeze out of it before the fortnight ends

Rand al'Thor

@awesomepi Woo! :-D

(You were supposed to say "awesome".)

awesomepi

It's been so long since I've done this

Deusovi

But I'm a bit busy right now, and not able to come up with another clue

Rand al'Thor

I still remember your "What, the answer isn't the No of the Yes is?"

(that was you, right?)

Deusovi

Also, I'm really hoping to get mine done before the fortnight is over

awesomepi

9:48 PM

yeah

Deusovi

Oh, that was you? I liked that one!

awesomepi

that was such an old puzzle dang

I remember the conversation that me and Doorknob had that led to that too

back when I saw him like every day

Rand al'Thor

Well, some of us around here are old puzzlers :-)

Sp3000

@Sid In this case since it's reversed it's a bit weird, hence my comment about something being extraneous. I could have used "and" maybe but I was having trouble making it have no connector.

Rand al'Thor

Wow, you even have a 3-digit user ID. You're a real PSE veteran.

@awesomepi Oh, you know him IRL?

Deusovi

9:49 PM

Beastly Gerbil proposed that we extend the FTC by another week, and I'd definitely be in favor of that - what do you all think?

awesomepi

Yeah, I do

We've been friends for quite a while

He's the reason why I signed up for this thing :P

Rand al'Thor

@Deusovi Funny, I was thinking just earlier today that this particular FTC might be worthy of more than 2 weeks.

Because to write metapuzzles, you really have to create more than one puzzle.

Deusovi

Well, not necessarily...

Sp3000

I'd like an extension, if only because I'm still slowly working on mine :P

Rand al'Thor

So unless you've been preparing for a while ...

Deusovi

9:50 PM

@Sp3000 Same :P

awesomepi

Yeah, I had to ignore a lot of things in order to write this, and now they're catching up to me and smacking me in the butt

oh my

that's 2.5 years ago

Rand al'Thor

@awesomepi -1, circle should be hand-drawn.

@awesomepi Yyyyup. How time flies, eh?

awesomepi

Who do I look like, BMyGuest?

I'm just using my 2-year old flash ms paint skills

Deusovi

This site has certainly evolved a lot since then.

awesomepi

Yeah

Rand al'Thor

9:57 PM

401

A: The Many Memes of Meta

Meme: Freehand Circles Originator: TheTXI Cultural Height: TBD Variation: during Winter Bash season, some members substitute the freehand circles for freehand hats. Unlike the hats, they won't disappear after Winter Bash is over. See Also: Here, and Here as answer to this post