The Sphinx's Lair - 2017-06-19 (page 1 of 2)

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6:50 AM

I have a pretty good idea for @BmyGuest's puzzle, but on mobile so can't do anything, and schools just introduced a no phone policy so can't do anything for another 8 hours so gonna post ideas here if anyone wants to take hem forward

I'm thinking that the dates and numbers (might be wrong there) give a string which used with an algorithm scrambles the image. (Alternatively we have to deduce the numbers and they have nothing to do with it)

As the puzzle progresses the string gets bigger and the scrambling more severe. I think the final answer is the final 11 number string and the picture at the start just gives a gradients rainbow

I imagine we have to work out the algorithm by starting off with a small string and progressing.

Also the picture title seems to indicate a DOB

7:20 AM

6

Q: Fill this 5x5 grid

One day, a friend has shown me a 5 by 5 grid, challenging me to fill it with numbers from 1 to 25. Obviously, it is not simple because there are some rules: The number 1 is placed in the center of the grid The numbers are placed in ascending order Only two movements are permitted: moving two bo...

logical-deduction grid-deduction

but it's different.

2 hours later…

9:31 AM

Is it allowed to do research while solving CCCCs?

10:06 AM

Wen asked something similar not too long ago, and I still don't know what other people are doing for C4s. For me personally I've just been starting with some self-restraint and gradually letting myself use more powerful tools the longer it is unsolved

10:35 AM

0

Q: Mathematical Rebus III

It's been a long time since Mathematical Rebus I and II. Both were solved pretty fast, so I tried to make it a bit harder (though Puzzling.SE always surprise me by how fast any puzzle can be solved). Small note on the first image:

mathematics rebus

Gareth McCaughan

I take the same result as Sp3000. One principle I apply (both here and when solving crosswords in other contexts) is that I am much more willing to look up answers to specific questions ("is SNAGGLE a word?", "who is John Galt?", "when was Donald Trump born?") than to do anything that amounts to searching ("what words have form SN*GG*?", "what notable fictional capitalists are there?", "who was born on such-and-such a day?").

That's a pretty good way of putting it :)

Having said that, my thoughts for the current one are "carry on" as in to proceed (CONTINUE amusingly ends in (UNTIE)* but seems irrelevant), "carry on" as in luggage (usually hyphenated) or "restraining dress" as in corsets

Gareth McCaughan

Are you saying that because you would like me to comment on any of it?

No, I'm saying that so anyone but you can comment on it :P

Gareth McCaughan

OK :-).

11:05 AM

Nice job guys, this is the 500th cryptic clue! Only 12 more to go

Gareth McCaughan

11:38 AM

... and then the end of the world, like in Lucas's framing story for the Towers of Hanoi?

12:17 PM

@Sp3000 or dress, restraining, cut short... consignment, con + your untie thing would give continue...

12:44 PM

I think it is Continue

wait, no, never mind, reused it

Gareth McCaughan

I will intervene at this point to say that the intended answer is not CONTINUE. (It would be amusing if I'd accidentally made that an answer that fits the clue. I don't think I have, but anything's possible.)

I was thinking about CONTINUE, too

I'll note for completeness that decent references list both UNTIE and KNOTTED as anagrinds so apply that as you will. Also I am still wondering about "Carry on" as a way to indicate insertion of "on" or a synonym into something else.

continue = (tunic+one)*, but that's not what the clue hints

He just said that CONTINUE was not the answer.

12:55 PM

Yeah, I'm listing the idea I'm discarding :D

Good morning or whatever, all.

Ooooh, BMyGuest was playing Spyfall.

@Rubio Ditto

1:15 PM

0

Q: How many ways to iterate?

There are 9 coins, out of which one is odd, i.e. its weight is either less or more than that of the other 8 coins. How many iterations of weighing using a pan balance are required to find the odd coin and to find whether it is heavier or lighter?

logical-deduction number-theory

Wh

...oosh

Gareth McCaughan

wow, dcfyj just turned into Mithrandir.

The marvels of modern technology are amazing.

...oosh

1:23 PM

wow, he turned into two people!

Hi! What year I'm in?

Amazing!

it's 2015

Wh...

...oosh

1:24 PM

Wow, everyone is turning into Mithrandir!

Gareth McCaughan

shoo...

..hoos..

Gareth McCaughan

..shoes..

..waterloos..

..sloes..

1:28 PM

shoow

AAAH!

We surely need someone to fix this timeline shenanigans, but Who?

Horton!

The elephant?

heard a small noise?

Gareth McCaughan

Wh... ...o

Dum da da, da-dum da da, dum da da, da-da-da-da, dum da da, da-dum da da, dum da da, dum da da <skip a few bars> Woo-oooooo-ooooooooooo

Gareth McCaughan

1:36 PM

Interesting, @Sp3000. I hear it quite differently from you. (Perhaps the contemporary version sounds more like yours and I am being influenced by remembering how it sounded in the 1980s.)

Or I could just be bad at transcribing :P

You are now each required to post a YT link defending your respective transcription interpretations.

I may or may not have been using Capaldi's: youtube.com/watch?v=6p5BEzoGwD4 (I wouldn't have remembered enough off the top of my head otherwise)

Gareth McCaughan

@Sp3000 listening to today's version again I think it doesn't quite match either your transcription (I think there are only two "dum da da"s before the first one splits) or my memory (which definitely has "da da da da" from the beginning).

I grew up watching this one youtube.com/watch?v=1fnzcAFy8d8 (note: 5-second preroll ad, at least for me on this occasion) which also is "da da da da" from the start.

Fourth Doctor Titles Version 1 - Doctor Who - BBC

is more a da-da-da-da

Gareth McCaughan

1:46 PM

yes

Doctor Who first opening- William Hartnell 1963

is more a da-da-da

all depends what point you go to. :)

Also relevant, perhaps: thinkgeek.com/product/988c

Gareth McCaughan

The more recent versions are objectively inferior because they lack the second subject heard e.g. at about 0:33 in that last one. Though it seems that was mostly only in the closing credits -- but I think it's never used at start or end these days.

I now have exactly 2,500 and can create tag synonyms...

Gareth McCaughan

Congratulations @n_palum!

Can I just everything a synonym with enigmatic?

1:56 PM

@n_palum (party symbol here)

Gareth McCaughan

I think you accidentally a word.

woo!

I accidentally no words

Gareth McCaughan

I accidentally

Tomorrow (By PSE time) will get the fanatic badge, at which point I transform into a puzzle piece

1:58 PM

*

I'm sadly disappointed to be unable to readily find a "Who was your first Doctor?" infographic.  I wanted to see the shape. something like this I imagine.
       |;    ;|
       ||   ;||,
    ,;;||;;_||||

well that didn't work at all.

Gareth McCaughan

you still have one extra space...

or two, actually

that looks like it.

Gareth McCaughan

yeah, that works

poor 8.

I think I short-changed 3 there. oh well.

Gareth McCaughan

2:02 PM

My own estimation is that Capaldi is a bit more popular than that and Davison a bit less. But that may be partly because I hated Davison and quite like Capaldi.

I get the sense many people don't like Capaldi, though I find he's grown on me

Gareth McCaughan

(I fear I may have hated Davison mostly because I was used to Tom Baker and Davison was very much not Tom Baker. Perhaps on his own merits he's great.)

My dad was all about Baker. Hard not to have that rub off a little :)

(I'd chime in and say I like Capaldi, but given that I've only seen half of the new Series 8 I don't think my opinion counts there :P)

(And even less so since I've seen nothing before Eccleston)

I think that's not at all uncommon

the huge gap in there obviously does that

Gareth McCaughan

2:07 PM

There are some numbers from a poll reported here ew.com/article/2013/11/16/doctor-who-poll but it's from 2013 so not much use for Capaldi :-).

It gives Tennant an enormous lead over everyone else.

doctorwhotv.co.uk/results-your-first-doctor-42273.htm

same general shape, different numbers.

Gareth McCaughan

poll.pollcode.com/19566859_result?v has results from a poll of Reddit Whovians.

How on earth does the War Doctor get that many votes o_O

Gareth McCaughan

Results are a bit like yours but match my prejudice about Four versus Five

hehe

Gareth McCaughan

2:09 PM

and have the "modern" ones all way ahead of the "ancient" ones

er, and a somewhat different ordering of "modern" ones

but like yours apart from all the details being different

the Reddit one is weird.

waves hi to the rest of the room in case anyone is feeling left out

*wabbles*

*wibble-wobbles*

stares blankly at the doctor who discussion

Gareth McCaughan

2:11 PM

@Rubio I see what you did there.

@GarethMcCaughan I certainly hope so.

Next poll: whose Sonic do you personally own?

Gareth McCaughan

None. What sort of crazed fanboy do you take me for?

Hedgehogs are great pets... The float in water

Gareth McCaughan

@n_palum That sounds like an extract from a steganography puzzle.

Also none, and I believe the closest thing to Who merchandise I have is a pamphlet from that one concert I attended

2:14 PM

@GarethMcCaughan :-D

I might happen to have a TARDIS phone case.

@GarethMcCaughan It's a fact though youtu.be/JNH4W4i_OWU?t=15s

And 11's sonic, currently actually in front of my keyboard, Because Reasons™.

also, hedgehogs are weird.

and make strange noises.

Gareth McCaughan

It's well known that you can do literally anything to any computer using a sonic screwdriver. Or, in extremis, just by typing at it for ten seconds or so.

I have several t-shirts in the color of TARDIS

2:16 PM

oosh

In terms of the Hedgehog, I believe I also have no merch :P (I've never played a purely Sonic game either)

Time gap!

@Rubio youtube.com/watch?v=D36JUfE1oYk for you

@GarethMcCaughan You make me think of Scotty in the 4th Star Trek film, hehe

@GarethMcCaughan youtube.com/watch?v=u8qgehH3kEQ&t=14 more than one person typing is recommended for even more extreme circumstances.

Gareth McCaughan

2:18 PM

(I am either ashamed or proud -- I can't quite work out which -- to admit that until I saw Sp3000's latest comment I hadn't made any connection between Rubio's question above and n_palum's remark about hedgehogs.)

That's a strange dilemma

Gareth McCaughan

@Rubio ouch, that was painful.

I mean seriously. These shows need to have at least one 11 year old on retainer to look at their stuff and have full power to slap the script and or script-writer with a salmon when required.

Why a salmon?

Gareth McCaughan

Why not a salmon?

2:21 PM

In case slapping them with the script isn't enough

@n_palum roughly mobile cactuses. also, Harley would own Loki.

Get a hedgehog you won't regret it

Bah. "Bonding time." forget that.

@GarethMcCaughan I feel like getting hit by something more obscure via an 11 year old would provide more of a shock... Like a live dodo bird

@Rubio Just sit em on your head while you do stuff

(obligatory salmon)

2:26 PM

How about a tuna?

youtube.com/watch?v=2aDlEovtzQ4 would be better.

When's the spyfall game, BTW?

@Sp3000 She looks so defeated for having a piece of salmon land on her, and the friend looks mortified as if she just watched her best friend get shot

@Rubio While that was amusing, what made me laugh was the comment "How it feels to chew 5 gum"

@n_palum hehehe

Also good is: "what kpop group is this?"

Gareth McCaughan

monty python - fish dance

2:35 PM

Ah Monty Python, one day I'll get around to Holy Grail so that I can figure out what all this swallow business is about in the context of the whole film

@GarethMcCaughan I figured the getting smacked by a big fish was the peak... and then they had a fish man with a swastika tattoo

Gareth McCaughan

@Sp3000 That particular scene doesn't really have much need of context.

(but you should watch the movie anyway, at least if you enjoy their style of humour)

well, there's the context of the opening scene with the coconuts

Gareth McCaughan

I suppose.

I'm not sure the film can be considered as context for any of its parts, actually. Having said that, there's really no excuse not to watch it. Like, now. :)

2:36 PM

But be careful when you watch it

Gareth McCaughan

I was just writing a comment saying more or less the same thing at greater length.

1

Q: Mindless counting

Sharpen your puzzle toolbox * image courtesy of wikipedia Normal-punctuation-man walked into a bar where exclamation-point-man was serving: - Fast, give that man a tea! - I'm too hot. I need a cool drink, going to the sea. - For goodness sake, warm, cool, the two are the same! Drink up...

Gareth McCaughan

@n_palum careful why?

Holy Grail is a highly enjoyable film, but I actually like Life of Brian slightly better

It's got nasty, big, pointy teeth

Gareth McCaughan

2:37 PM

@Sconibulus well, that one has, y'know, an actual plot

and a Latin lesson

Gareth McCaughan

Romani eunt domus!

Are you implying Monty Python is with a plot?

Gareth McCaughan

or was it Romanes at the start? I forget

People called Romani, they go in the house?

Gareth McCaughan

2:40 PM

sorry, yes, it's Romanes at the start

I think it ends up Ite Domum?

Gareth McCaughan

yes

romanes eunt domum (people called Romanes, they go the 'ouse) -> romani ite domum (romans go home!)

The word of the day is: Sundog - dictionary.com/wordoftheday

Gareth McCaughan

It's a good word.

Cryptic clue comp let's g... nah nvm, def too hard

2:46 PM

Yesterday's was whizzo

Sabbath's best friend is a bright spot on a rainy day :)

Actually, I have been thinking this for a while: "Challenge: make a cryptic clue whose answer has at least 6 letters and the clue doesn't use any of the letters in the answer."

Gareth McCaughan

@Sconibulus I don't think I understand the wordplay in your clue. [EDITED because I stupidly wrote "definition" before]

FWIW I think there's probably something like "Reflections in ice run backwards in Singapore (6)" but "run backwards" is a bit too loose a def for UNDO for my taste.

@GarethMcCaughan Sun's dog, I guess?

x's best friend->dog, Sabbath->Sunday->Sun

Gareth McCaughan

2:53 PM

Butbutbut the sabbath is Saturday

and while I'll grudgingly admit that "a dog is a man's best friend", I'm not sure you can call Sunday or Saturday a man :-).

> Sabbath: a day of religious observance and abstinence from work, kept by Jews from Friday evening to Saturday evening, and by most Christians on Sunday.

Gareth McCaughan

(I mean, unless you're in G K Chesterton's The man who was Thursday, but then all bets are off)

well, Sabbath can also be a name, right?

@GarethMcCaughan Why not? you can call a horse Friday :P

I did think Sabbath might be Saturday, but I wasn't sure enough so I just went for it

2:55 PM

4C - Carry on 8 letters, Persits, Achieves, Proceeds, Maintain

Sabbath = שבת = Friday night through Saturday

indeed

Gareth McCaughan

@Ankoganit Bah. I'm pretty sure most Christians (correction: most who actually take the trouble to think about it, which is probably a smallish fraction) would agree that their Sunday is not the same thing as the sabbath.

Though I think the word really just means "seventh" so it's not like it's completely crazy in principle to extend it to other weekly observances.

But, I mean, Christianity is (openly and consciously) derived from Judaism and it's not like the early Christians didn't know the difference between Saturday and Sunday.

@GarethMcCaughan Yeah, I don't consider it quite the same, but they are similar.

Did they have named days back then

Gareth McCaughan

2:58 PM

well, they certainly had "the Nth day of the week" for small N

The Hebrew words for the days of the week ar quite simply 'day 1' 'day 2' etc.

Gareth McCaughan

and the chronology of the story is pretty explicit: crucifixion around mid-day Friday, resurrection early on Sunday morning. It is very much explicitly not on the sabbath, and I suspect many Christians would say that this is theologically significant (something something God working not resting something; something something start of a new creation something).

[AFK for a few minutes, which I mention only because we're kinda in mid-conversation and I don't want anyone to think they're being deliberately slighted if I don't answer something they say]

I have a vague recollection of Service being <day> rather than <otherday> because priests shouldn't work on the Sabbath either

didn't remember if that was Judaism->Christianity or vice versa

Gareth McCaughan

3:13 PM

[back]

I don't think there was ever any principle in either Judaism or Christianity that priests shouldn't work on the sabbath.

Gareth McCaughan

3:31 PM

@Ankoganit Closing lexicon, find a beer (6)

GAmen

o/

ooh new FTC

Gareth McCaughan

@Ankoganit "Dodgson's flying terror, 50% off" -- nonsense! Cleric's long-sleeved dress (6)

(these are not by any reasonable definition good clues, but they meet the constraints)

0

Q: Fortnightly Topic Challenge #32: Grid Deduction Hybrids

This is the thirty-first installment of the Fortnightly Topic Challenge described here, with topics suggested and voted on here. This fortnight's topic is hybrids of grid-deduction (suggested by paramesis), and will span from the the 19th of June to the 2nd of July. During this period, we will co...

discussion featured topic-challenge

3:40 PM

aah I'm rubbish at grid stuff. unless its sudoku

Okay, now make a pangram, where all letters are used and letters of the clue can't be in the answer. :>

no thanks

Gareth McCaughan

@MOehm in other words, every letter of the alphabet appears in either clue or answer but not both? That sounds very very very tough.

Yes, it wasn't a serious proposal. I can't even get your previous three with Ankoganit's constraint.

Gareth McCaughan

three?

3:44 PM

And that proposal already effectively bans anagrams, hidden answers and letter extractions à la Maidenhead.

I saw two. heh

Gareth McCaughan

yes, Ankoganit's constraint rules out a whole lot of constructions.

Well, I didn't even grasp that the last one was just one.

Gareth McCaughan

well, the last one is rather unwieldy. That's a defect in the clue, not in you.

Not initially maintain book (7) [/also terrible]

3:48 PM

Scaling equipment's center shifted 16 closer to end. (6)

Cheating with digits/symbols: "£51 water perhaps? (6)"

Wild text of collected books by Kilo, divided by 1000. (7) ... there.

Gareth McCaughan

@Sp3000 I don't think symbols are cheating, but I do think the pound sign is morally an L.

@Ryu

argh

@Rubio I like yours

Oh, is it? (I'm guessing there's some history I'm missing)

Gareth McCaughan

librum

presumably originally it was the value of one pound weight of something valuable?

3:53 PM

@MOehm (that was my response to this. hehe)

Wiki says libra -> L, so maybe. Damn :P

Gareth McCaughan

you might have seen "L.s.d" meaning not the hallucinogen but "pounds, shillings and pence", the three divisions of pre-decimalization British money (libra, sestertii, denarii -- the English loved to pretend to be Ancient Romans).

The lb. for the pound weight is certainly related.

Gareth McCaughan

@n_palum your clue seems like it should be doing rot16(center) but that yields SUDJUH which has an S in common with the clue and in any case surely isn't a word...

@Sp3000 I should say that apart from my query about the L, I like yours a lot.

I'll take the L part to mean "time to find more clues" :P

4:00 PM

@GarethMcCaughan Nope

Gareth McCaughan

I wasn't seriously suggesting that the answer was SUDJUH -- the reasons why not are far too compelling :-).

Well I meant more so that rot16 is wrong

at least partially

@Rubio Probably very nice, but I don't get it.

@MOehm Mine's easier ;)

@MOehm ANA+GRAM

Gareth McCaughan

4:07 PM

@n_palum yours clearly isn't easier since I got Rubio's quickly and still don't understand yours :-)

Oh?

Maybe I should've saved it

Oh, silly me! I tried to make it end in G for gram. (But I didn't know about Ana.)

Ana is fun crossword fodder

Handy in Scrabble too

@n_palum Hmm, dont'know. I uses all vowels in the clue, so there's only the Y left for the answer.

Oh mine doesn't follow any of those constraints

Gareth McCaughan

4:14 PM

wat

I was just throwing somethin in

Gareth McCaughan

oh

I liked it so I was just sharing...

lol. ok then

Gareth McCaughan

aargh, I lied earlier. I said sestertii but I meant solidi. Apologies if anyone was foolish enough to believe me.

4:18 PM

Gareth's a liar? I thought he was a mather

Gareth was ... *wrong* ?!

my word view is shattered

Aaah, wrong pub quiz knowledge that's hard to unlearn.

At least your world view is okay

Btw, that iteration question is a dupe, Oray found it

the coins? I thought it seemed too familiar to have not been done before

Gareth McCaughan

also I said librum but actually libra is a feminine singular not a neuter plural

4:20 PM

Yeah it's just 9 vs 12 so it's essentially the same

Gareth McCaughan

I'm not sure it's the same

in that e.g. I don't immediately see a general way to turn a solution to the 12-problem into a solution to the 9-problem

It's a difference of splitting the original groups into groups of 3 or groups of 4

there's a question about the N-problem one, though

Gareth McCaughan

I mean, you might think you just do what the 12-problem solution says but ignore the three nonexistent coins, but that doesn't work because then you might find yourself doing a necessarily-unbalanced weighing

it may turn out that a particular solution to the 12-problem is readily turned into a solution to the 9-problem but I'm not sure that makes one a dupe of the other

(it depends on exactly what you mean by duplicate)

To me it feels like essentially the same question, just a different number which I don't care for. But it's not up to me.

Also it's unoriginal, the question exists in other places. But again, not up to me.

4:24 PM

I think we should dupe-close as a duplicate of the N-coin problem, not the 12-coin problem.

Gareth McCaughan

Oh, I absolutely agree it's not a great question

@Deusovi do you have a link to the n-coin one handy?

If we're being nitpicky, that 12 one is about balls not coins /s

Gareth McCaughan

balls versus coins obviously makes literally no difference. Changing the number obviously does make a difference.

8

Q: N balls and a scale

The question of twelve balls and a scale is probably the best-known example of the "find the ball of a different weight" problem. But does it generalize? Is there a general way to find a weighing algorithm for $N$ balls on a scale where $N \ne 12$? This is the variant where the direction of devi...

mathematics combinatorics weighing

it's an old one

Gareth McCaughan

to my mind a new question Q is a duplicate of an older question R when it's clear that answering R suffices to answer Q

4:26 PM

yeah, sounds reasonable to me

Gareth McCaughan

yeah, closing as dupe of that one seems eminently reasonable

I seem to remember looking for ball/coin-weighing problems a little while ago and being shocked (though not greatly surprised) at how many near-identical variants of the 12-coin problem have been posted.

Hmph that person made quite a nice answer about the algorithm that generalizes it, but it was never accepted

Yup.

*gesticulates indiscriminately at TSL denizens* Go forth and make it so. ;)

I kinda hate when good answers are not accepted.

I think it's sad that people abandon questions or don't accept things... or at least provide some feedback

4:28 PM

In particular, when OP shows up, asks one question, reads an answer, never accepts, and is then never seen or heard from again. So many of those.

Gareth McCaughan

yeah, it's a bit of a shame there isn't some moderatorial power (perhaps only with consent of other mods) to accept a solution even though the original questioner declined to do so.

#badfeaturerequest

It's reasonable on other sites, though. You'd get mad if someone else said "yes, this answer is helpful" for you.

Gareth McCaughan

anyway, it would be nicer if The Community would care to dupe-close the 9-balls question as a dupe of the n-balls one, rather than doing it by moderatorial fiat.

FTC Challenge Challenge, add a bonus category to the normal views/upvotes: How many grid deduction puzzles can you fit into one

4:29 PM

oh my

Gareth McCaughan

@Deusovi I might. But we really aren't talking about cases where the OP didn't find the answer helpful but about cases where the OP abandoned the question.

(Still trying, terrible clue): "Mate 😉? (7)"

@GarethMcCaughan I am incapable of doing so

Gareth McCaughan

yeah, we have a bit of a shortage of people with VTC powers who aren't actually mods.

Also agreed, it's about abandoned questions

Arqade VTCs things so fast. They're surprisingly strict... But it's less of an inclusive community imo

4:31 PM

@GarethMcCaughan The philosophy seems to be "Lots of upvotes means the community feels this answer is best. ✔ means OP thinks this was the answer that solved their problem."

@Rubio But in the case of puzzles, it's not always what was most helpful... albeit it's less common, if OP doesn't accept it's never really confirming that the puzzle was solved

If they found an answer that solved their problem but they never say so, vs. they got impatient and left and either found a solution elsewhere/some other way, or they just Stopped Caring, we'll never know.

...I do often wonder how many licks it would take to get to the center of a tootsie pop

Gareth McCaughan

@Rubio And by and large that's an excellent philosophy. But if for whatever reason OP has disappeared, there's something to be said for having ✔ mean "this definitely solves the problem" even though it's no longer possible for it (or anything) to mean the OP has looked at it and been satisfied.

@n_palum True but the framework we're nestled into isn't terribly amenable to making changes that benefit just challenge-question sites. The whole two of them that exist.

4:33 PM

Agreed

Gareth McCaughan

Because if ✔ means "OP thinks this answer solves the problem" then absence-of-✔ is liable to be interpreted as "OP thinks this answer doesn't solve the problem, or thinks another answer solves it better".

But indeed it's not like there's any real prospect of such a feature being added.

@GarethMcCaughan Yeah - a special (different color?) "Community Accepted" would, I think, be fitting when the OP has clearly abandoned the question.

Hmm about 2500 nypost.com/2015/02/09/…

ok I give up on n_p's cryptic. :)

It's easy I thought...

Maybe it's wrong

4:41 PM

Which one?

56 mins ago, by n_palum

Scaling equipment's center shifted 16 closer to end. (6)

hi dudes and dudettes

Exclude first sodium product fruit flies like? (6)

Heya @Avantgarde

Gareth McCaughan

hahaha

@Rubio Ay :)

4:52 PM

Sorry, I like that joke

Gareth McCaughan

me too

:P ditto

Gareth McCaughan

but I like the fact that you managed to use it to make an Ankoganit-compliant clue

(btw I hope you appreciate that there's a reason I said hahaha rather than ha ha or whatever)

Indeed

Slight beef with "first" but still amusing :P (not that I have better)

4:55 PM

oh, pish. :)

(I swear I've seen someone do that, anyway)

A man, a plan? A canal - Panama

I'm so bad at solving cryptics, all of these are defying me

If if makes you feel any better, I can't get either of Gareth's even crawling a dictionary list and excluding every word with the clues' letters.

@Rubio The actual 4C or the constraint one

the constrained ones

of course I've gotten no further with the actual 4C either hehe

5:02 PM

Can untie mean anything?

Like if knots was an anagrind for corset or something

4 hours ago, by Rubio

I'll note for completeness that decent references list both UNTIE and KNOTTED as anagrinds so apply that as you will. Also I am still wondering about "Carry on" as a way to indicate insertion of "on" or a synonym into something else.

but Gareth would never do an indirect anagram

so what it might apply to is necessarily limited to text actually present

never do, or never do?

Hmmm

restraining dress is pretty straightforward

Side note.. i.stack.imgur.com/ZY3Y4.jpg

5:05 PM

but not the right length

Or is it

is it?

Depends what you think is so straightforward about it

true. There can be multiple options.

First rule of cryptics: ignore punctuation and capitalization (except when you shouldn't).
Second rule of cryptics: if a part seems straightforward and obvious, it isn't (except when it is).

5:08 PM

The first one that came to my mind isn't the right length, though

(To be continued.)

5:19 PM

@GarethMcCaughan answer not required, but I'm deeply curious at this point if any words in this 4C are superfluous.

what is with that question? lol

Dammit, I missed Doctor Who discussion in here!

@Gareth @Rubio @Sp3000 Speaking of Whovian collectables ...

user image

Behold the TURDIS. It's smellier on the inside.

Should I reveal my cryptic that I shared?

@Randal'Thor No. Just -- no.

@n_palum Yes. Just -- yes.

I thought Deus or someone was gonna get it since they asked but guess not

Should I give a hint or just an answer

cincture seems almost plausible, in that it contains untire and is arguably 'restraining dress'

5:30 PM

@GarethMcCaughan Re "Sabbath": I always thought that was used by Christians to mean Sunday and by Jews to mean Saturday, but it seems I've been biased by my time in Scotland. Sunday as a Sabbath day is definitely a thing up there.

wonder if there's a version with better spare letters than ccr :)

I think its use for Sunday is more re[vf]erential and less in keeping with Judaic law regarding Sabbath

in fact there appears to be a Ceinture spelling that leaves CRE, carrying the anagram :)

...but that doesn't help

I was thinking straitjacket

I had brassier for a while before realizing it was spelled wrong

5:36 PM

a belt isn't exactly a dress

dress as in attire

belt restrains dress

-3

Q: Logistics and supply chain management

What is the role of logistics and supply chain management? In the field of an industry.

logical-deduction logic-grid

ah, true

Anyway, @GarethMcCaughan @Rubio @Deusovi If you cared - (feel free to tell me I'm wrong or it's a bad clue) but the intended answer was LATTER

5:40 PM

Ah. cute.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I originally was thinking of it being a constraint puzzle, and by the time you mentioned otherwise my brain had shifted from the unpromising "scaling" words for climbing, to "scaling" for removing (fish) scales

heh

Closer to end (imo) sounded like some sort of positioning or partial thing, when it's actually the def

I was reading "shifted 16 closer to end" as a unit at first

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