The Sphinx's Lair

humn

12:00 AM

I seem to live for and after one close call after another.

Best wishes to others!

(oh how that was unnecessary, wouldn't mind seeing the last few strips wiped)

Before that happens,

6 mins ago, by humn

Best wishes to others!

(Spoiler: seemed to have survived again despite my worst efforts. I promised to never kill myself on purpose, and apparently it doesn't work by accident either.)

(See what bubbles up occasionally in the idle chat room where everyone seems to understand?)

To try and be slightly more appropriate, seeing others' whiskers singe gives me clues.

(And to be less appropriate, while i love nothing more than following elses' wakes i wish some of them hadn't been walking ahead of me at the time.)

Sphinx

12:34 AM

0

Q: Cryptictionary!

After someone showed me "Cryptictionary" from the recent NPL con, I was inspired to make a puzzle, because I like drawing and I like cryptics :D The rules are basically the same as cryptics, except using pictures. Pictures will contain a definition half, i.e. a drawing of the word, and a wordpla...

humn

"wakes" = "slipstreams," not funerals, don't enjoy those a whole lot. Stopped going to them, for now.

humn

12:51 AM

... while sopping without interruption ... if you never have another chance to hear this, have a taste (couldn't find a version with lyrics, so listen). A tender poem from someone who fed and dodged actual bullets, Joe McDonald:

Country Joe&The Fish-Who Am I

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And on a slightly lighter side, from the same source, roundabout and a day late. Just occurred that perhaps everyone hasn't heard this. Look up the original:

Feel like I'm fixin' to die rag - Iraq version

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And on the lightest side i don't recommend without a safety belt, but might explain another thing (only tripped once in the last 40 years but it still shows):

The Acid Commercial

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(That's another candidate for wipeout.)

Secret, though, for some, things make more sense on the way back.

When i head out uncharted, i look back regularly to help the return trip be more recogniszable.

I grew up with this, truly, same days and neighbrhd down to the hour and streets. Didn't even realize how lucky that was. Not my favrite of theirs, but . . . .

The Grateful Dead - Hell In a Bucket

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Not that i ever grew up. To grow old without growing up is worth the trouble.

And a matter of luck!

Wringing out a Water Soaked Washcloth in Space | CSA Science HD Video

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(Spoiler: I've done responsible things too, as if others' lives depended on it, both professional and literal. They did depend on that and pulled through, glad to say.)

(To gimbal here is such joy after some of that.)

[useless narcissism, edit history holds the record]

But, yeah, if you want a new word for the day, put another nickel in while i'm at it.

Teresa Brewer - Music Music Music (Put Another Nickel In) (1950)

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"Gimbal" was good enough? Good enough if so. Caught me by surprise.

My dear [no name this time because it would be looker-uppable] arrived in USA without a word in his pocket. By the time he had the courage to introduce to me, he had more than necessary. Another inspiration to relate.

Another inspiration who reverberates with every stroke.

Half of the English i've learned has been from non-natives. The best lessons are given by those who are still learning.

humn

2:14 AM

(Really, still no rebound?)

(I'm gonna have to go completely insufferable without intervention.)

(Zwhat can happen when things go into a mind without a vent.)

(... don't worry, just another dramatic outburst ... my mind without a vent has survived worse ...)

(... actually, presenting puzzles around here has been a vent of relief and beyond ...)

... c'mon littermates, at least an obnoxious video? ...

That Smell Lyrics by Lynyrd Skynyrd

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I don't recommend drugs but appreciate what some of them have allowed to outflow.

Don't recommend them to any newcomer, and prescribe them to patients.

Drive safely!

Mithrandir

2:34 AM

I'll pop you some videos in a couple weeks.

humn

That's a promise.

Delivered many times already.

Mithrandir

Indeed, as well as inthought.

humn

!

Actually had a class called "Drug Seminar" in public school during the vestiges of the Apollo age. Cured me. Taught by a Haight-Ashbury clinician.

The Youngbloods - Darkness, Darkness (1969) HQ

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Public education in USA was worth something once. We even had school buses.

It really tears me to see how that has been dismantled for decades and how those have been curbed.

Recently i suspect that public education in Australia is where it's happening. Not going there to find out, just enjoy the suspicion.

I went to Mass Tech just to learn that everyone else in school was too well taught to go there.

Then found out better. I met someone from New Jersey there!

That's sincere, not just trying to funny while at it.

After Mass Tech i followed the trail to Lawrence Township. Met someone else from New Jersey!

People around there are used to being sharper than anyone else. How is that even mathematically consistent?

But it's true. I pretended to be dull just to benefit from the whittles.

... full version from there, when you have a half hour ...

Karn Evil 9 - Emerson, Lake & Palmer

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Alconja

3:07 AM

I have a half hour... incidentally, the cover reminds me of the album I was just listening to (taster track to follow)

humn

!

Alconja

Rishloo - Salutations

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Soha Farhin Pine

0

Q: Not as crude as it looks, rather studious

The endless semen, not many polyester makes not me — the heart's duplicated of a studious half-year. What comes after semi without individuality, I call the heart. Next, yes! Easter has come! Oh no...not in full. The very beginning's quite missing. Vow and take a well. The con...

riddle word

humn

@Alconja , thank you. You only seem to strike when you're full of vitamin-filled venom.

Alconja

3:23 AM

@humn I've been listening to more of what you post here. Seems like a lot of the artists I get inspiration from get inspiration from the artists you get inspiration from.

humn

What goes around gets around, don't it?, before it comes around again.

Soha Farhin Pine

How to see the total number of upvotes and downvotes on any question/answer?

humn

SEDE

Alconja

@humn "you're not the first to think that everything has been thought before" - some band from my forgotten youth

@SohaFarhinPine ..or more directly, you can click on the number itself (between the up/down vote buttons) and it'll expand (though you need a certain amount of rep to be able to do that)

Mithrandir

(1k)

Soha Farhin Pine

3:28 AM

@Mithrandir which I don't have.

Mithrandir

Or there's a Chrome extension that you can use, like I do.

Alconja

I seem to recall a js tool on stack apps which does it for ppl <1k

^^

Soha Farhin Pine

Okay

Mithrandir

And I'm pretty sure it's in either SOX or SOUP...

Soha Farhin Pine

why did my question have a single downvote after adding in two extra verses to the riddle?

humn

3:30 AM

Alconja, you led the way to SEDE. Turns out that there are even fewer secrets than here, one way or another.

Mithrandir

@SohaFarhinPine Tim Post lost his keys.

Soha Farhin Pine

@Mithrandir Huh?

Mithrandir

332

A: Should 'drive by' downvoting be more effectively caught?

The answer was down voted because I lost my keys. Please, stay with me, let me explain this odd chain of events. Earlier today I couldn't get to the store on time because I could not find my keys. That caused me to miss the opportunity to run over a golf ball, which would have bounced between a...

humn

Oh you love language!

Soha Farhin Pine

@Mithrandir Haha. Love the answer.

And are the downvotes ironic?

Mithrandir

3:34 AM

...on?

Soha Farhin Pine

@Mithrandir ...the question.

I'm talking about the link.

Mithrandir

People usually don't like it when people complain about downvotes.

Soha Farhin Pine

Could you try solving the other two verses?

Mithrandir

No. It's not even 7 in the morning and I'm asleep.

humn

Thank you for not making sense.

Mithrandir

3:39 AM

I prefer dollars, honestly

humn

... best policy ...

... i've made sense for dollars ... wasn't easy but was worth it ...

... actually, get me started, there's an entire trail of money if followed would make sense ...

What to analiysze is where each penny we spend actually goes.

Mithrandir

...or at least cents...

humn

Money floats to the top like dross.

It should circulate like the brochure promises.

So much theory is belief in magic. (And vice versa.)

humn

5:04 AM

I call my main muse when I hunger for the sound of her voice. So superficial. Then i repeat here what she said. This time she let me do the talking before saying, "you're putting me to sleep," in the nicest way possible.

(Sometimes i think i don't have timeoutless editing powers here just because everyone likes to see damage without caranage.)

("caranage" = "carnage")

Sphinx

5:39 AM

0

Q: The Numberphile Heist (part 2)

A sequel to The Numberphile Heist (part 1) You hear a click, and a slight push reveals the entrance. Looking at what's inside, you laughed at your own naïvety. Instead of a mountain of brown paper, you're faced with merely another vault. On the door is a QWERTY keypad, and a plaque: Gosh dar...

mathematics enigmatic-puzzle

humn

6:10 AM

... the version sought days earlier: (Let the walls tremble! How did Chicago become such wimps later?)

Chicago at Carnegie Hall '71. Sing a mean tune kid (Bonus Track)

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Alconja

I'm just going to respond to songs you post now with songs they remind me of...

Ooga Booga

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humn

6:26 AM

Thank you for a boombox while waiting on the corner.

(that was figurative. i'm not trapped in a corner, yet, just on the edge of my seat)

Alconja

Your edit made the joke I was typing :P

humn

Lope with me!

Deee-Lite - "Groove Is In The Heart" (Official Music Video)

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Alconja

Unfortunately on that note, I have to run (to corners of my own)

humn

Thank you for another visit. Makes me wonder if i'm dreaming.

Alconja

A pleasure as always

humn

6:53 AM

... side note, another lost opportunity: Chicago played where i was breaking into for no reason on that day during that tour ... didn't know it at the time and missed out until the album ...

... breaking into places is like solving puzzles ...

... again, those days went the way of security cams ... try it only at home now ...

... can't get away with anything now ... except, well, you know if you can ... and please keep at it because i trust you ...

... but it sure was fun when all the safeguards were purely physical ... i hope it still is fun otherwise ...

... else it's just a lot of drudgery ...

... i've had keys to many kingdoms but found it more fun to climb over the walls ... (really, i had master keys to almost everywhere and carried them only in case of a need to exit)

... not even sure if "master key" means anything now, but it really was fun while it lasted!

... what do devious people do for fun anymore?

Mithrandir

7:11 AM

We watch your ramblings

Jan Dvorak

Contact, occasionally

humn

!

Jan Dvorak

I like FFAO's surface BTW

humn

"searches" has 8 letters. . . red herring

@Mithrandir , thank you, again!, but it's time for mas musica.

micsthepick

how does this one work: tale a maid told is personalised (10)

humn

7:21 AM

"Tale a maid" is but 9 letters.

"Tailormade"?

micsthepick

thats it

Tailormade

I don't quite understand the wordplay

M Oehm

It's a homophone, indicated by "told": "Tale a maid" sounds like tailormade.

humn

And tailors do that for us.

micsthepick

Okay. I just was missing the homophone, because it is so inexact

humn

You might be more exact than necessary.

Happens.

[again, blather]

micsthepick

7:33 AM

how about this one: see Cuba in chaos for this reason (7)

BECAUSE

!

(SEE CUBA) "chaos"

"In chaos" in an anagram indicator and "See Cuba" is the anagram fodder.

micsthepick

ahhhhhhh

humn

7:41 AM

What do you get when you subtract "scubadiver" from "busdriver" the hard way?

micsthepick

burr?

humn

That was the easy way!

micsthepick

lol

humn

(Hint: by "subtract," i'm referring to "convolution" as well and allowing for roundoff.)

Jan Dvorak

ugh

I'll demand a ruby implementation of your subtraction operation

humn

7:46 AM

(Thought i could get away with that here. Never in a post.)

Jan Dvorak

or at least readable python or C#

M Oehm

Anaemic? If you throw out the common letters, you get DR − CAD, and a doctor is AN ACADEMIC. Remove CAD from that and you get ANAEMIC.

humn

Once again the solution outpaces the puzzle!

Jan Dvorak

My demand stands

humn

You want ruby? You want python? You want C#?

I'd rather give you gibberish.

[...]

... too late to mend that ... no new music post? Music is my favorite conundrum.

... if you don't, i will, and we'll be sorry.

... okay, after waiting for an excuse:

Natalie Dessay as Olympia -Les contes d'Hoffmann-

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Dessay is actually the one whom others cite in their attempts, and this is a presentable one.

micsthepick

8:02 AM

This cryptic also confuses me: Group of nine even seen, once said (6) A nonet is a group of nine where the third letter is n, but it is too short. If this is a homophone, I cant see (hear) one

M Oehm

Take the even letters from the last three words and you will get a word for a set of nine, which I didn't know and which is marked as rare in the dictionary.

micsthepick

Well, I would never have gotten that!

M Oehm

The wordplay is clear, although there's the red herring of using a homophone indicator as wordplay fodder, but you'd better get used to such misdirections.

micsthepick

so it is an extraction

M Oehm

Yes. With a regular pattern.

humn

8:14 AM

... just gonna interject music by Hoffmann until banned ... overdubbed though all music is ...

Anna Netrebko & Elīna Garanča - Barcarolle - Offenbach (Official Video)

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Maria Deleva

Speaking of cryptics, would this be valid: Deprived of feeling and hesitating, you can count on me. (6)

micsthepick

you can surround the cryptic with ** to make it bold

M Oehm

Is that FINGER?

Maria Deleva

Nope.

M Oehm

Oh, thought you had to take EEL out of feeling and then add ER.

Oh, I see, it's NUMBER!

Maria Deleva

8:18 AM

Yes

M Oehm

Yes, that's okay, I think.

micsthepick

I don't totally agree

Maria Deleva

Thanks. I am bad at cryptics - so it was just as an exercise for me

micsthepick

You can count with numbers, but I wouldn't count that as a "precise definition"

M Oehm

Why? Because ER is a hesitation, not hesitating? Or because you can't trictly count on numbers?

humn

8:24 AM

... just to jump in while waiting for another's YLink, "er" is the next best thing to "est"

.. and "nth" is somewhere along the way.

Maria Deleva

And somehow this makes me think of ohm and meditation.

No, I am not crazy.

humn

Give it time and you'll make it back before it's over.

Frank Zappa/Mothers - Pygmy Twylyte

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(all these YTs seem to crop before they go on)

oh, there it is, enjoy at leisure . . . and peril . . .

Frank Zappa/The Mothers - Roxy & Elsewhere

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"when the battery fails"

Soha Farhin Pine

1

Q: Not as crude as it looks, rather studious

The endless semen, not many polyester makes not me — the heart's duplicated of a studious half-year. What comes after semi without individuality, I call the heart. Next, yes! Easter has come! Oh no...not in full. The very beginning's quite missing. Vow and take a well. The con...

riddle word

Could anybody solve the last two verses?

M Oehm

@SohaFarhinPine If they could, they would post an answer, wouldn't they?

humn

Soha, if you were really 13 i wish i'd met you when i was 3. I go for older women but have been taken for a fool enough times to enjoy it.

Soha Farhin Pine

8:41 AM

@humn Uh? I don't quite get you.

humn

That almost passes the test.

Soha Farhin Pine

@humn That's not something nice to say...

humn

That still doesn't pass the test. Then again, who am i to judge?

If you really pass the test you don't even need to.

Those who judge aren't qualified.

Soha Farhin Pine

What makes you say such things? Only God knows.

humn

On internet no one knows.

In person i'd have your guts in plain view.

Soha Farhin Pine

8:46 AM

@humn Which country are you from?

humn

Fair question. Started out in S/Finland and got beat up in USA

Maria Deleva

@humn using an ultrasound, I presume?

Soha Farhin Pine

@humn Then you

could have never met me

at 3

humn

(i love to be dumbstruck)

Soha Farhin Pine

because I live continents away

humn

8:51 AM

How this is worldwide helps me see light at any time of day.

Soha Farhin Pine

I live worlds away

humn

So spill a piece of YT from that part (please)

Don't make me go YT the old fashioned way (yesterday and tomorrow)

Soha Farhin Pine

I don't speak with people who speak in riddles
In conversations, either I speak in riddles or I don't at all.

humn

Are you for real?

Thrax

Nothing is real. The cake is a lie!

humn

8:57 AM

Eat it and fall through the rabbit hole.

Soha Farhin Pine

@humn Do I have to be?

humn

Around here, guess not. Everyone is up for interpretation.

I learned jazz at one point. Then someone taught me improv.

(Then i learned to edit and have been at it since.)

(Never been the same but try relentlessly)

Rubio

Seinfeld Theme Recreated From Barry Benson Saying "jazz"

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humn

!

"There's something I must tell you. There's something I must say."

If only i had the words.

Rubio

If there is one person in the whole of this chat who is never at a loss for words that would have to be you.

humn

9:10 AM

Thank you, Rubio, pure magic, how does that happen?

Rubio

It's all in the quist

Thrax

Is this cryptic-clue acceptable ? "Cargo with French replacing said to be perverted Japanese, next to the highest point. (6)". It requires foreign language knowledge...

Sid

@SohaFarhinPine wasn't that puzzle already answered?

humn

@Rubio , et tu editor!

Sp3000

If the answer's what I think it is ({FR->H}EIGHT), I don't think the def is quite right Thrax

Sid

9:15 AM

(Gah, I am tired after doing so much research to answer a question on politics. SE)

humn

(link?)

Sp3000

Either that or it's meant to be (7) not (6) for H->FR?

Rubio

@Sp3000 I get almost none of that wordplay, if that's the intended answer

Thrax

yes it was FREIGHT

cargo doesn't mean freight?

Sp3000

Yeah should be (7) then

Rubio

9:16 AM

that's (7)

Thrax

xD

M Oehm

Yes, it does. But it also has 7 letters.

Thrax

I can't count >_<

Sid

@humn go to politics SE. My answer should be at the top or nearabouts

M Oehm

But how is the stuff about the perverted Japanese an H?

Rubio

9:17 AM

what is the "H" from

Thrax

Ecchi => H (homophone)

ecchi mean perverted

Sid

How does that wordplay work? I get nothing

Thrax

that's the knowledge required

Sp3000

"said to be perverted Japanese" is kind of overkill in a way - you're probably going for ecchi there but H is actually slang for ecchi nowadays

M Oehm

Gesundheit!

Sp3000

9:18 AM

"next to" doesn't really make sense in the clue though

Sid

Ecchi sounds quite like a sneeze.

Rubio

it's presumably H+EIGHT, but it's not needed and doesn't feel right

Sp3000

(since the clue reads "def = X replacing Y next to Z")

Sid

Anyone the wordplay?

French=Fr?

Is that a thing?

M Oehm

It's the 2-letter ISO language code, so yeah.

Sp3000

9:22 AM

(To clarify: FREIGHT ("cargo") = FR ("French") replacing H ("ecchi" = "perverted" in Japanese, homophone'd) in HEIGHT ("highest point"))

Sid

(Got it.)

humn

@Sid , if what i found was by you and you're actually from India, you're an author I would privilege to edit without a single change. (Don't worry, I'm not an editor/stalker, just saying.)

Sid

@humn go on, edit if that's what you mean.

Sp3000

But yeah Thrax I think the Japanese part is unfair for most, so "acceptable" would probably depend on who your intended audience is

Sid

And I have read quite a lot on the topic. So, I know what I was talking(writing) about there.

Soha Farhin Pine

9:26 AM

@Sid Extra two verses were added.

Sid

@SohaFarhinPine After it was solved? Why?

humn

@Sid , take what i said as a pure compliment. When something is as good as perfect i don't spoil it.

M Oehm

Yes. I didn't know about the perverted Japanese thing. (But I don't object to simple French, Spanish or Italian words in clues -- I'm biased that way.)

Soha Farhin Pine

The riddle will keep trending this way

the answer came seconds after the riddle was posted

Sid

... Trending?

Soha Farhin Pine

9:29 AM

Keep active, I mean

Rubio

@SohaFarhinPine Puzzles here don't really work that way.

Gareth McCaughan

Please don't edit questions just to keep them "active".

M Oehm

@SohaFarhinPine Please don't do that. If the puzzle is answered right away that can mean a lot of things. In your case, the semester thing was very obvious. Don't try to keep solved puzzles alive. Learn from the experience and think of something new.

humn

@GarethMcCaughan , coming from one who only dares to pose meta

Sid

@SohaFarhinPine ... Good luck finding a solver who is interested or even has the time to solve something he already has solved

Soha Farhin Pine

9:32 AM

And anyways, the puzzle was too short

and obvious

humn

made me look up a 2hr long YT

M Oehm

You should make these observations before posting the puzzle.

Sid

^that.

Soha Farhin Pine

@MOehm I don't have the time,
I have school, classes, etc.

Sid

And even if you do it after posting, at least don't do it when it is already solved.

Soha Farhin Pine

9:34 AM

I write up every puzzle in half a hour

@Sid OK. I'll not repeat this.

humn

No one will even know, no matter how much or little we pout.

micsthepick

I am thinking that the definition to the current CCCC is "a wingless monster". Thoughts?

Sid

Well, it is either that or gems.

humn

... been taking letters off that but got nowhere ...

micsthepick

but are there really any words for gems that are 8 letters long?

Sid

9:38 AM

For one, emeralds is 8 letters

humn

!

Soha Farhin Pine

GEMSTONE itself is 8 letters.

Maria Deleva

Amethyst

humn

! !

micsthepick

Gemstone is not plural

Sid

9:38 AM

If I bother to google, maybe more will come out.

Yeah, we need plural. Same with Amethyst

Soha Farhin Pine

zoara.com/jewelry/gemstones/a_z

Maria Deleva

Diamonds is 8 letters and plural

Soha Farhin Pine

Maybe this will help in the hunt

Maria Deleva

There are probably more

Soha Farhin Pine

Maybe this will help in the hunt

https://www.zoara.com/jewelry/gemstones/a_z

M Oehm

9:41 AM

@SohaFarhinPine Now that's a strange explanation. Do you actually enjoy creating puzzles? It takes time to make a good puzzle and it takes time to learn what constitutes a good puzzle. And ideally, both should be fun. If you have little time, create one little by little. If you are not willing to invest time, then you should probably consider taking up another hobby.

humn

^ you are a perfectionist and i thank you each time. Give others time.

Soha Farhin Pine

@MOehm Well, I do love and hate puzzling.

Sid

Why hate?

Soha Farhin Pine

But hobbies can't be shaken off so easily.

M Oehm

@SohaFarhinPine Yes. I hoped to be able to persuade you to do the former: To take your time when you create a puzzle. :)

Soha Farhin Pine

9:43 AM