The Sphinx's Lair

3:39 AM

0

I can fluff I can smash I can read I can write Turn me around and I will scar More than one then I'm red and far Bonus (requires VERY specific knowledge):

Mithrandir

7:45 AM

@Rub puzzling.stackexchange.com/users/38422/british-open puzzling.stackexchange.com/users/38421/britishopenn puzzling.stackexchange.com/users/38413/british-open-2017

Maria Deleva

9:39 AM

I am really happy my puzzle was solved. :)

ffao

I thought it was related to pairs of opposites when I found KILL/HEAL, JOY/DESPAIR, etc

A bit later I thought of actually connecting the ones I had and reading also what was in between

Maria Deleva

You found the pattern. Thought people would see through it quickly. I guess I was wrong. It could also symbolize a whirlpool.

ffao

Well, I was treating it as a word search, the pattern found itself after I drew enough lines :)

Maria Deleva

9:54 AM

And the riddle answer is where I actually want to be

:) well, that's why it was "enigmatic".

It is not really the usual kind of puzzle

On the weekend I may write a wrap-up post

M Oehm

Yes. In hindsight it was strange that the long words were around the border and that Treasure was upside-down.

Good puzzle.

Maria Deleva

Thanks.

micsthepick

Programming can be super tedious

Sphinx

0

Q: What did I see?

I saw kings but no kingdom , I saw a half dozen lovers but one was left over , I saw racism but no one discriminated on color , I saw mathematicians but all of them didn't knew why they started everything from two, All of them lived happily but there was a serious villain among them , More I...

riddle

Gareth McCaughan

10:31 AM

@Mithrandir @Rubio I zapped 'em.

Gareth McCaughan

12:39 PM

DAMN IT HOW DID I NOT SEE THAT @MariaDeleva @ffao

Deusovi

Pff.

I didn't see it either.

M Oehm

"It loks like a wordsearch, so it must be a wordsearch, right?"

Maria Deleva

@GarethMcCaughan - that's what I wondered as well. That is also why I didn't want to give hints.

Sid

@Deusovi Can you update the archive?

M Oehm

More importantly: Where can I vent my frustration about the "Anna in Rome" puzzle?

Sid

12:49 PM

Didn't you get that it was Palindrome?

Deusovi

Here is good. Venting frustration about puzzles is half of what we do here.

(Or at least, half of what I do here.)

Sp3000

screamintothevoid.com

M Oehm

@Sid Oh, I did get that the two morganised phrases were palindromes. But the whole thing doesn't work.

Sid

@MOehm Ask/Demand? The OP for further hints, maybe?

M Oehm

There's big hint about palin(d)romes in the title. There's the evil desserts/stressed live thing that hints at palinderomes. The Yoda hint and "Don't think too far forward" hints are supposed to hint at palindromes (albeit they don't quite work, imo). Then someone really finds a way to morganise the two phrases so that they are palindromes.

And he final answer is symmetry, which we are supposed to get from the fact that these phrases are -- surprise, surprise! -- palindromes.

Sid

12:54 PM

As for the C4, I was thinking about PARAGONS as a possible answer. Wingless Monster being (D)RAGON. Yet, I can't see how PA=Stops searches..

Deusovi

Oh, that's right!

PA( (-d)RAGO(-n) )NS

"pans" is "searches", like panning for gold

Sid

"stops searches"?

Deusovi

"stops" is an insertion indicator

M Oehm

Yes, stops like a plug, i.e. something that is inserted, stops.

Deusovi

RAGO stops PANS

@MOehm I was thinking more of "interrupts", but that works too

Sid

12:56 PM

Oh, right.

M Oehm

Yes, interrupts is better.

(I'm having fun with the edit and undo functions. Sorry about that.)

Deusovi

Attempting to update the archive - anyone have the solution for "Brightness comes from rest in languid liniment (6)"? I can't find Rubio's solution for it.

Sp3000

AL(BED)O[e]

(with languid apparently being -E[nergy])

Gareth McCaughan

@MOehm For what it's worth, I share your frustration. There were some nice things in the puzzle but it doesn't really seem to fit together.

Deusovi

Agreed. I still don't see how to get "symmetry" from that.

It just seems like a vaguely related word, not something that you recognize as The Answer, which a good answer should be.

Forklift

1:08 PM

gaMen

M Oehm

@GarethMcCaughan Thanks. I feel better now. (At the core, there is that super idea to apply de Morgan's laws to regular phrases. Everything built around that, especially the hints, doesn't really work for me.)

Forklift

it was something that could have worked, maybe if the answer was a word to be discovered from the clues and not guessed at when a series of seemingly un unrelated clues were forced together

I think having satisfying answers that match satisfying puzzles is something I'm also a bit weak at

M Oehm

@Deusovi But she's an architect! Well, Styx acknowledges that the stab at symmatry was a guess. Personally, I don't associate Rome with symmetry, either. The Colosseum and the buldings in the Forum may have been symmetric once, but now they are beautifully unsymmetric.

Versailles, on the other hand, has a very symmetric layout.

Deusovi

I don't see what Yoda has to do with this either.

Forklift

he speaks forwards and backwards, I think

Deusovi

1:17 PM

I mean, he doesn't speak backwards, he just uses OSV order

M Oehm

Anyway, let's file that de Morgan idea and pull it out again next year, when everyone has forgotten about it. :)

2

Forklift

the "I think" was just guessing intent, not so much execution

Deusovi

CCCC: File containing "exit" circled is like a corpse, maybe? (9)

M Oehm

I want this to be EX(QU(IS)IT)E - IS circled by QUIT ("exit") inside EXE (type of file), but I don't see how this is like a corpse, except maybe that it can mean delicate.

Sconibulus

I thought Yoda did OVS? "Always in motion is the future"

Sid

1:31 PM

@MOehm That's a game actually. Exquisite Corpse

Forklift

I was thinking 9 letters to "PERCHANCE" for maybe as definition

Sphinx

0

Q: Like me or not I am everywhere. Can you guess?

I am quite attractive I memorize things galore Don't like ten (and a half) And number twenty four A host, water or air Is all I need and care Colourful I am But dangerous, beware

riddle rhyme

Sid

(The Drawing game is what people sometimes call that)

Mithrandir

@Sid ooh, yeah, that's fun

M Oehm

@Sid Cool! I didn't know that expression.

Forklift

1:33 PM

@MOehm that looks good, but also not sure why exquisite is corpse (maybe)

Deusovi

@MOehm Yup, that's correct! And @Sid is right about Exquisite Corpse too.

Forklift

and doesn't "circled" clue backwards?

Sid

@Forklift Not always.

Deusovi

read it as "A circled B"

M Oehm

@Deusovi So, once again: EX(QU(IS)IT)E as in Excquisite Corpse - IS circled by QUIT ("exit") inside EXE (type of file). Thanks, @Sid, for explaining the definition to me.

Forklift

1:34 PM

dang. everytime I get better I get worse

Jan Dvorak

There is something troublingly deep in that sentence

M Oehm

CCCC: Pompous writing, pulp, changed hands before the French page got up (6, 5)

Forklift

just a variation on "the more you learn, the more you realize how little you know" someone famous said it way better once.

@Deusovi, what's the "maybe?" in your last clue?

Jan Dvorak

I feel like we should play exquisite corpse here once in a while.

Deusovi

"like a corpse, maybe?" is the def - I assumed just using "like a corpse" would be a bit sketchy (especially because most corpses aren't actually "exquisite"), so the "maybe" was to clarify that the definition was a bit weird

Forklift

1:40 PM

ah ok.

stacksfiller

[PULP with L -> R] + LE + P + ROSE = PURPLE PROSE

Deusovi

ah nice

(also hey!)

Sp3000

Was stuck on PURPLE and couldn't figure out the second word :P

M Oehm

@stacksfiller Well done, that's it!

Sid

How do we get P and Rose?

Forklift

1:41 PM

page + got up

stacksfiller

Rose is got up

P is page, but I'm not totally sure why

Forklift

french page = "le p"

Deusovi

no, "the french" --> le, "page" --> p

M Oehm

P is a common abbreviation for page and pp for pages: See pp 153-155.

Deusovi

page --> p is a fairly common abbreviation

Sid

1:42 PM

page-76 say P-76 thingy

stacksfiller

CCCC: I hear Coke Zero's a hot drink? (5)

Forklift

oh, I see. "the, in french"

Sid

COCOA

(COC+O+A)

M Oehm

Yes. Nice surface reading.

stacksfiller

Yeah

Forklift

1:44 PM

I was close, got the sound clue, but was trying to apply it to the whole def

Puzzling — BOUNTY!

37

Q: Who am I??? Wait, isn't this a sudoku?

Jmw jrr qtlf tv ee M6SXr rro tr kz r tyr. Can you find out who I am? Hint 1: Hint 2:

cipher enigmatic-puzzle sudoku grid-deduction

Mithrandir

@Puzzling—BOUNTY! a little present, @MariaDeleva ;)

Maria Deleva

@Mithrandir Why? It is an old question..Thanks..

:)

Sid

Let's do an easy one now..

Forklift

1:59 PM

I'm so ready

Sid

CCCC : Combine thousand with nine (3)

Forklift

K-9!

dcfyj

There's no definition

M Oehm

But K-9 would be (6), as we hear, no?

dcfyj

no K-9 should be (1-1)

Forklift

2:01 PM

I mean, I don't know if its right. just threw it out because it seemed to fit

Deusovi

MIX

dcfyj

ah, that makes more sense

mix what?

that's the answer

mix = combine

2:02 PM

M + IX

m = 1000 and IX = 9

leaves, crying

Correct, of course,

k9 would've meant there was no definition

Forklift

yes, but it felt right, I was excited, and I'm terrible at CC

tho that last one was probably already known

Deusovi

2:04 PM

hey, everyone is terrible at them at first

dcfyj

I'm only so-so at them

Forklift

I'm terrible at them second, as well.

Jan Dvorak

Suddenly I want to see Deus's first CCCC

dcfyj

but usually I don't try to solve them because I don't feel like making one, but I thought of a nifty one that I'd like to put out so I have a reason to try now :P

Forklift

lol, same

Jan Dvorak

2:05 PM

I have one lame CCCC in the ready, but I don't expect to ever solve one

Deusovi

@JanDvorak my first CCCC? or my first cryptic clue?

Forklift

except for "nifty" doubtless mine is both easy and rife with errors

Jan Dvorak

Either will do

Deusovi

my first CCCC was "Leave out of the loop at Mystery Hunt site (4)"

it was also the first CCCC, because immediately after that was when Alconja proposed the idea of it

Jan Dvorak

nice

Sid

2:06 PM

@Deusovi Yeah, Deus I vaguely remember you were saying something about your first CC being an excellent one..

Deusovi

@Sid What? No, my first cryptic clues were complete crap, if you'll pardon the alliteration.

Sid

All the more reason to see them. :P

Jan Dvorak

Deus's speech is a piece of art even if he's not trying :P

Forklift

he apologized for eloquence

Deusovi

...have you seen anything I say? "piece of art" is not how I would describe it

Sid

2:08 PM

@Deusovi You are being too humble...

(Piece of art is the talks of humn. Only the great understand them)

Mithrandir

Jul 10 at 19:54, by Rubio

New chat thingie: humorously undecipherable musing narrative. we can call it HUMN.

Forklift

I actually blocked those because I've just assumed it was an ongoing enigmatic puzzle I wasn't privy to

Deusovi

No, that's just how humn talks. We don't entirely understand it either.

Jan Dvorak

humn is just a Humble User of Meaningless Neologisms

2

Forklift

I tried analyzing the edits for clues once and interacting with them, but it was very confusing so I gave up

Deusovi

2:13 PM

Their comments are not a puzzle except in the sense that they're difficult to understand.

Forklift

yeah, I gave up :)

dcfyj

@Deusovi He's been sounding a little more insane than usual lately

Also, you owe us a c4 :P

Deusovi

Yeah, I worry about humn sometimes.

(I'm working on it.)

Sp3000

(I give up trying to compare Deus' speech to artworks. But humn, of course, would be the Mona Lisa.)

Deusovi

CCCC: Daughter having left for Grant, it's more difficult to combine (9)

Jan Dvorak

2:18 PM

Screenwriter's note accidentally read as a piece of dialogue. Ding!

dcfyj

@Deusovi For some reason INTEGRATE comes to mind...

Jan Dvorak

what would be the wordplay then?

dcfyj

shrug that part typically eludes me regardless of how psychic I end up being on the definition

Sid

(Aggregate also makes somewhat sense..)

Jan Dvorak

Why are there no stars for my expansion of HUMN? :-(

dcfyj

2:25 PM

Someone gave a pity star apparently :P

4

Jan Dvorak

Yay! :-)

dcfyj

2:41 PM

lol, the fact that comment got stars is entertaining

Deusovi

people like giving stars for no particular reason

8

dcfyj

Also starring ^this comment is appropriate

Sid

Are stars room-specific or not?

Deusovi

For the star cap? I think so, but I'm not sure.

Sconibulus

> You can star a maximum of 20 messages per room per day.

^from FAQ

Morgan G

3:21 PM

In the comments to this answer, my instincts to correct Fillet and make sure everyone understands what I was actually asking are SO STRONG, but I know that comments are not for extended discussion, I should just let it go. puzzling.stackexchange.com/a/53595/12914

Forklift

if it's important to you, edit the answer with your own comments. if they are appreciated, they will be accepted.

Morgan G

I asked for part of the answer to be explained, then the asker edited their answer to explain it. It's already been taken care of

Forklift

ah. I would just delete your comments and mark the others as obsolete as well then

Morgan G

The other commenter is just mistaken - they think that I didn't understand a different part of the question

dcfyj

Wh

Morgan G

3:26 PM

ah, okay that's a good solution.

Sphinx

5:03 PM

0

Q: A spy and his four messages

A spy has been allotted a task of following a man (innocent until proved guilty) around the world. The spy's boss does not trust anyone in the office, so they decide to exchange messages in an encrypted form which only they understand. The spy follows the man and sends his location to his boss ...

cipher

Mithrandir

8:57 PM

VTCing as off topic/not fully defined: puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/53509/…

Sconibulus

I think it's not a good question, but I'm not sure it's off-topic

GentlePurpleRain

What Scon said. We've had many similar questions that have not been closed.

I added the open-ended tag to it.

Alconja

11:35 PM

@Mithrandir FWIW I've VTC too. But doing so as a dupe of the one that bleh linked in the comments. Yes the numbers are different, but the "puzzle" is identical. I.e. "What mathematical trivia do you know about making really big numbers that can be formed out of a limited number of match sticks?"

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