The Sphinx's Lair

ASCII-only

12:01 AM

> golf

:D

ffao

reverse golf

so they actually try to put the ball in the hole in the highest number of strokes possible

ASCII-only

@ffao Huh :/ we call that bowling, also I thought reverse golf was getting it from the hole to the tee

ffao

I like my version of reverse golf better. Feels like I'd be more competitive in it

humn

1:49 AM

(Type-by) For the record, @ASCII-only and @ffao, you're both right! Flog starts from the cup and tries to get to the tee with the most strokes. No kidding, it also starts from the final hole of the final round. Here's a preview:

          As presented                            As flogged (solved) by you
 -------------------------------                 ----------------------------

   HOLE 9            cup                           7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
                   (start)                         6               1
   3 left             |                            5           4 3 2 1 2
   5 down                                          4           1   3   1
                . . .(0)                           3           2   4 . 1(0)

    ________________________________________________________________________
   |          |       |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
   |   SCORE  |   8   |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |  8  |
   |          |_______|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|
   |          |       |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |1 2  |
   |   Shot   |       |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |4 5 6|
   |  lengths |   42  |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |7 8 9|

And great comparison to bowling, @ASCII-only, how about reversing it "lwobing"?

ASCII-only

:||||||

humn

The lane spits a ball at you at full speed and with a wicked curve.

While you try to catch it, the rack picks up all the pins.

ASCII-only

And you have to catch it without injuring yourself?

humn

Yes! If you want to advance to the previous frame, that is . . .

Wen1now

Sounds dangerous

humn

1:54 AM

Who said reverse sporting was safe?

In reverse (USA) football, you begin with a lifetime of concussions and knee injuries before you're even allowed on the field.

Can you imagine trying to fold up your sail and land in a speeding plane after been catapulted a mile into the air for reverse parachuting?

I guess we already have reverse-puzzling, we know we're tough.

Ah well, back to the bulldozer... Oh. Now we're in the company of two puzzlers with incompletely solved meta-multi-puzzles! Salutations, boboquack and Wen1now, on my way back out . . .

Wen1now

2:23 AM

Bye

Sid

4:26 AM

@humn that answer was so intuitive.

humn

@Sid , thanks, it wound up much more direct than it started. Wish I could say I saw it coming, but didn't. Here's to running out of steam and taking a nap while writing up a messier version!

It's as if the puzzle was designed deliberately for that solution because there was almost no other place to go once begun vaguely in that direction.

... bye again, again ...

Wen1now

bye

Sid

4:44 AM

Argh, this C4 is bugging me.

Wen1now

What does penned mean?

Does it mean written?

Sid

I know only 2 meanings of that. Written and fenced

Wen1now

I had another question abut cryptics - is something like "Sounds like postman (4)" valid?

Sid

What is the answer to that?

Wen1now

MALE

Sphinx

4:48 AM

2

Q: A Google Earth Treasure Hunt (GETH)

This is my first Puzzling.StackExchange entry. I'm trying to improve my code-making and puzzle-making skills by creating a new puzzle every week at CodeAWeek.com. The following is a copy of my latest challenge there. GOOGLE EARTH TREASURE HUNT 2 I’ve spent many a night browsing through Google...

treasure-hunt

Wen1now

As in post=mail, man=male

Sid

Hmm... That isn't exactly a cryptic def I think

Oh, right.

Yeah, I guess it is allowed but I think I would wait for Deus' approval for that one.

ffao

this C4 isn't bugging me as much because I have no idea anyway

my guess is that sounds like postman isn't much of a definition

Mike Q

@Sphinx Hm, interesting concept, unfortunately google earth crashes every few minutes and I don't think it's worth the hassle :/

Wen1now

@ffao Postman as a whole is not the definition, it's supposed to be separated to POST and MAN

ffao

5:00 AM

oh, I get it

still don't like it

ASCII-only

Nobody's going to think that the def is half a word

Sid

Isn't that the point of CCs?

Sp3000

I'd be okay with it if it had a ? personally

(to hint at the elision)

Mike Q

@humn I don't know (literally) where to start. Any idea what the "white plastic jungle" is?

Sid

I was thinking Amazon. But, too lazy to check or verify...

Mike Q

5:04 AM

That was my first thought because jungle and it crosses multiple countries. Problem is, it asks to find the largest body of water inside of it, and then find a bridge...

humn

I'm stumped on the plastic but automatically suspect Pillars of Hercules for the follow-up. Looked there but didn't see the words near the rocks.

Sid

That bridge thing reminds me of a Tom and Jerry movie which had those rope-like things as bridge in the Amazon. :P

humn

Ahhhh, that kind of bridge.

Mythbusters (if you've heard of that TV show) made a bridge like that from duck/duct tape.

Wen1now

The white plastic jungle is in Antarctica, hence why it is white

ASCII-only

@Wen1now TIL there's a plastic jungle in Antarctica

Wen1now

5:09 AM

~~(You can literally ignore me half the time, I always make stuff up)~~ <- Ignore that

ASCII-only

@Wen1now reads wait crap

I ignored the "Ignore that" part instead of the rest of it >_>

Mike Q

Okay, found it

google.com/maps/place/…

Wen1now

Don't ignore this sentence: Ignore the previous sentence

Mike Q

It's the correct distance from the Pillars of Hercules, there's a body of water with a bridge in the middle

Wen1now

Found the treasure?

Mike Q

5:13 AM

And it appears to be a mess of white plastic... things?

boboquack

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man-made_structures_visible_from_space
Greenhouses in the province of Almeria, Andalucía, Spain
El Ejido=36.76,-2.73
36.12,-5.34
Gibraltar
Rock of Gibraltar
Pillars of Hercules
18.3 21.12
-17.92 25.85
Zambezi River
Longest east-flowing river
Hamza River

What did you find?

^^^ my progress

El Ejido (Spanish pronunciation: [el eˈxiðo]) is a municipality of Almería province, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It is located 32 km from Almería with a surface area of 227 km², and as reported in 2014 had 84,144 inhabitants. El Ejido is a centre of production for fruit and vegetables, in the "Comarca de El Poniente". The work opportunities the city provides attract many expatriates, who look for jobs mainly in the greenhouses that surround it. This gives a solid push to its economy. Fruit and vegetables from El Ejido are grown using Biological pest control. In close proximity...

El Ejido is apparently a center of produce trade

and the white color is quite visible from a distance when you zoom out

Wen1now

I mean, which step is this? Step 1?

boboquack

5:14 AM

not sure about the last one

Mike Q

Step 1 -> El Ejido
Step 2 -> find the bridge -> Desguace y Grúas Baena S.L.
Step 3 -> Math -> Gibraltar
Step 4 -> Pillars of Hercules

5-> HERCULES -> 8,5,18,3,21,12,5,19

Wen1now

You guys are good

ffao

I found Almeria but then I did the math wrong and fell in the middle of the Atlantic :)

it feeds half of Europe's demand for produce, apparently, and is visible from space

Mike Q

6 -> coords R.C, U.L -> 18.3, 21.12

okay, I admit, I am interested now

Wen1now

^That wasn't obvious at all

Mike Q

5:19 AM

7-> math -> coords -18.22, 25.85

8 -> Er.... western Zimbabwe?

ffao

I can use my Brazilian knowledge to skip step 10

Wen1now

My only qualm about this treasure hunt is that it feels too artificial; what I mean is, there's too much 'Add this' and 'Subtract this' type stuff. I mean, I see why it's necessary but it just feels... wrong.

Mike Q

@Wen1now Yeah, I know what you mean

also I gave the wrong coords: 7 -> -17.92, 25.85

Wen1now

(when you zoom out too far and end up seeing the whole earth)

Mike Q

8 -> It's the Zambezi river, one of the largest rivers in Africa, so yeah, it's SA counterpart is obviously the amazon

Wen1now

5:25 AM

I can actually imagine competitive google mapping

humn

@ffao , with Brazilian knowledge, you can probably even skip steps Amillion and Gazilian

Mike Q

Hm... that can't be right... I think #8 is supposed to be victoria falls... so maybe the SA rival is Angel Falls?

ffao

yeah, not too keen on "adding" and "subtracting" it either

I have no idea what steps 2 to 10 are, but I just skipped to step 11

I win by cheating. :P

humn

Ah, green and yellow

ffao

the biggest falls in SA are the Iguazu Falls

that's where I started from

humn

5:27 AM

Ah, just recently I did an online jigsaw puzzle of Iguazu.

Amazing!

Mike Q

Downstream... does it flow east to west, or west to east? @ffao

ffao

down the falls? :P

Wen1now

Relevant xkcd time

I'm pretty sure I've logged more hours in Google Maps over the past decade than in any game.

Mike Q

11 is the Three Borders Landmark, Marco das Três Fronteiras

Downstream must be west

Rubio

@Wen1now I'd hyphenate this and then it should be fine

ffao

5:31 AM

yes, that's actually where I started from

three monuments, it had to be the Triple Frontier

Wen1now

Easy peasy when you get a 60% head start

Mike Q

Bridge & island = 277 and Ilha Acarai

ffao

where Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil meet

John Dvorak

I'm still stuck at admiring El Ejido

2

Mike Q

There's a Buddhist temple near Ilha Acarai, maybe that's the large bronze deity

okay, I'm at 14-15 now, getting a math headache

okay, got it. 17 is probably supposed to be Abu Simbel Temples or Nefertari Abu Simbel

ffao

5:36 AM

I liked the "go to the South American rival" connection, more of those would be much better

hello from Egypt, nice to see you finally arrived

Mike Q

@ffao Wait, did you already solve this?

Wen1now

11 mins ago, by ffao

I win by cheating. :P

ffao

I said I just skipped to 11 because I knew it had to be the Triple Frontier

Mike Q

Dot dot dot.

This is why I shouldn't put in the effort to do puzzles

ffao

you actually went through the whole thing though

you should post an answer now

Wen1now

5:39 AM

Well, congrats to you both

Mike Q

It was collaborative. I was only able to get the first few steps after @humn pointed out that the pillars with a namesake refer to the pillars of Hercules. Otherwise I wouldn't have tried.

So... you do it @ffao.

ffao

no way, I wouldn't feel good about myself posting an answer from cheating

Mike Q

Also it's really late here and I need myself some sleep

Rubio

CW it and all ya can add to the answer.

boboquack

@MikeQ you could have looked up objects visible from space

Wen1now

5:46 AM

Objects visible from space. Hmm, let's see:
1) Pacific ocean
2) Atlantic ocean
3) Antarctica
4) Australia
.
.
.

Mike Q

@boboquack Well excuse me for not being in space

Sid

@Wen1now I think there is also The Great Wall Of China there

ffao

if you actually search it, oddly enough you get as an answer "cities, dams, and the greenhouses at Almeria"

and it's obvious which one of those three you want. :P

Wen1now

I thought spaceships were visible from space

Sid

6:14 AM

@Wen1now more like, spaceship should be visible from earth. :P

John Dvorak

Spaceships are visible from space when you get really close to them

5

Beastly Gerbil

@sid that a myth :P

Wen1now

100% of facts are false <- True fact here

Sid

6:31 AM

Isn't that a paradox?

John Dvorak

This message is a paradox.

Wen1now

yeah, sure. It really depends on your inclination

^ Okay that sounds stupid

boboquack

6:44 AM

@Wen1now I'm on a hillside - is the message true or false or paradoxical now?

Wen1now

Now it's false

Puzzling Meta

7:35 AM

-1

Q: Can "simple" tag can be created?

Can simple puzzle tag can created . Many people don't like very big very difficult questions .

discussion tags

Sphinx

8:14 AM

0

Q: Lateral Thinking

A salesman travelled due west from city A to city B. The distance he travelled was X km. He returned from B to A and found that he had travelled half the distance i.e. 1⁄2X. How can that be?

lateral-thinking

Wen1now

8:50 AM

Amruth A is about to get the 'controversial' badge - have a low [the exact amount is unknown] upvote : downvote ratio with at least [again, unknown] votes in total

boboquack

@Wen1now and @Wen1now is about to get the 'talespinner' badge - make 100 comments in chat which are made up

Mithrandir

@Rub puzzling.stackexchange.com/users/40785/canelo-gggfight

Wen1now

Why'd you pin me twice?

boboquack

@Wen1now does that actually ping twice?

Wen1now

No, it doesn't

Still, why?

boboquack

9:03 AM

Because I can

Rubio

Fault tolerance. One ping can fail entirely, and it'll still ping you.

boboquack

ooh, the next xkcd phone is out

ffao

eh bobo, if there is an answer that fully preserves the laws of physics and is immediately apparent, I'm not sure time-travelling devices should count

boboquack

@ffao good point, I was being silly, I should probably remove it

ASCII-only

@boboquack there's an XKCD phone?

boboquack

9:15 AM

We understand your privacy concerns; be assured that our phones will never store or transmit images of your face.

ASCII-only

Nice

That... has more features than an iPhone lol

boboquack

@ASCII-only wait - I thought they were only up to the iPhones 8 and 10 - when did they release the iPhone 101? :P

Rubio

I want the screen that goes past the edge.

Wen1now

Woah, 4k pixels. That would be real handy

Sphinx

9:34 AM

0

Q: What am I worth as a TART?

I hope it's not too easy. As CAKE I'm worth 573,566. As PIE I'm worth 33,062. What am I worth as a TART?

mathematics logical-deduction

ASCII-only

That flu vaccine is a miracle of technology

Wen1now

You know what that reminds me of?

ASCII-only

Same with the Audubon Society app

@Wen1now nope

John Dvorak

I'm mostly interested in Audobon

Wen1now

Hmm. For some reason, it actually reminds me of the [spoiler alert] descaladores from... since I imagine the newest vaccine gets sent as data to your phone so that it can synthesise it

ASCII-only

9:42 AM

But the sad thing is it's an aquatic phone

And has terrible air resistance

John Dvorak

It comes with an official Apple-branded water bottle.

ASCII-only

But why Apple

John Dvorak

It's a collab. The phone can be more expensive that way.

ASCII-only

True

But how do you get it out of the water bottle

John Dvorak

You don't.

ASCII-only

9:47 AM

At least it has a wireless charging port so it won't run out of battery

boboquack

a...?

John Dvorak

no, not a..., just a.

ASCII-only

@Wen1now oh I knew that sounded suspiciously like descolada

But your typo threw me off

John Dvorak

10:04 AM

I guess it will use old abandoned CRISPR units for that purpose

Sphinx

10:22 AM

0

Q: Numbers that could only grow

If, at the time of writing (14th Sep 17): lateral thinking = 7 940 000 puzzling question = 943 000 then how much is stack exchange ? (please explain methodology)

lateral-thinking

Sid

Ah,well... Lateral thinking is making a comeback I see...

ffao

they know

feelinferrety

12:14 PM

Question. The new Google Earth puzzle. Is it considered on topic considering the explicit usage of outside resources? And what of the user advertising their site?

Gareth McCaughan

I think the outside resources are probably OK, because there's nothing really Google-Earth-specific (if someone had, say, a magically teleporting camera that could show you what's at any given location on earth by latitude and longitude, that would do just as well).

PSE policy allows a little self-promotion; see e.g. puzzling.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/4340/… for more details.

If this user starts posting such links repeatedly then they'll be asked not to. (It might be worth pointing them at the meta post above in any case; I'm not sure.) But doing it once is probably OK.

Rubio

12:45 PM

The self-promotion was the topic of conversation in (now deleted) comments on the post. I think the way it ended up is actually perfect - it discloses the source, clearly specifies the affiliation, and - as Gareth notes - as long as they don't "crosspost"/link-back every time they post something on their website, I think it's fine

Sphinx

1:05 PM

0

Q: It's a Vote! Everybody Out!

There is a country ruled by a ruthless Emperor. He has a plan to make people miserable by ridding himself of the most popular members of the population. Every month, each person in the population has to vote what other person they like best. Anyone who gets at least 10 votes gets let go from th...

logical-deduction

Sid

@feelinferrety I would point out that Google Earth is basically a harmless resource. So, using google earth as outside resource isn't much of an issue IMO. About advertising, that's better left to the mods.

feelinferrety

1:21 PM

I personally don't have a problem with the puzzle. It looks fun. I was just wondering how it fit into the rules.

Sid

I think outside resources are not allowed when you have to download stuff into your device..

Rubio

It's more - and less - than that.

Where should binary files be stored? covers in some detail the rationale for why requiring offsite resources is a bad idea - puzzles should be self contained, and we don't want to require you to use something offsite that might not be there tomorrow.

(It also talks about not downloading stuff, but that's not the thing that makes offsite resources a bad idea - they're bad irrespective of whether or not they're hosting files for you)

The GMTH obviously steers you to use Google Maps as a resource, but you don't have to, you could find your way to the solution with other mapping software, or a detailed world atlas and a t-square and a lot of patience

dcfyj

@GarethMcCaughan are you still here?

T'would appear not

Gareth McCaughan

1:44 PM

I am here now

(and you mean "'Twould", not "T'would" -- the omitted letter is the "i" of "it" :-).)

Rubio

Actually, the omitted letters were "hat figures, the skiving slacker... it"

Sphinx

0

Q: Three boxes, Four questions, Three times not true, Once the truth

There are 3 boxes, and only in one is a treasure. The quardian will answer you only once the truth, three times he will lie. You have to ask 4 questions, and you will get only YES/NO answers. Which questions you have to ask, to know in which box exactly the treasure is?

logical-deduction liars

dcfyj

2:22 PM

@GarethMcCaughan I only wrote it that way because it was underlined other (and I couldn't remember if it had an apostrophe or not)

Anyhow, I need synonym of can't/cannot and google is failing me. Do you have any ideas?

Sid

@dcfyj maybe "unable to do xxxx"?

dcfyj

Yeah, I saw unable, but it's not going to work sadly.

I'm fairly verbose, but I can't think of any suitable word...

feelinferrety

can we have any context?

dcfyj

"I guess I can't persuade you to give up yet. "

Avery

@dcfyj hey, just pointing out, you got the message ID #39999999 with this message~

dcfyj

2:34 PM

ok...? lol

Sid

@dcfyj That sounds scary..

dcfyj

If by scary you mean this puzzle I've been working on for quite some time is being a major pain in the butt, then yes.

Gareth McCaughan

(sorry, I was here, then elsewhere, and now back here again)

dcfyj

There and back again, Bilbo?

Gareth McCaughan

Yeah, something like that. I don't remember finding any magic rings or enormous precious stones, though.

dcfyj

2:41 PM

lol

Gareth McCaughan

You could say something like "I don't suppose I can ..."?

Why are can't/cannot unsuitable?

(hmm, now I want to find an excuse to use "car't" as an abbreviation for "carrot")

dcfyj

It's a steganographic puzzle

Gareth McCaughan

OK. So I guess you have some other constraints that you would prefer not to tell us, and you're hoping we will suggest something that happens to satisfy those constraints?

dcfyj

Pretty much, I feel if I give you the constraints it will spoil some of the elements.

Gareth McCaughan

Understood.

Apep

2:44 PM

In which case, the meaning doesn't particularly matter, just that it fits in the sentence?

dcfyj

I suppose, I'd like for the sentence to make sense though

Apep

I was thinking won't, will not, shall not, shan't.

Gareth McCaughan

Some options: "won't" instead of "can't"; "I guess I'll never persuade you ..."; change "guess" to "suppose" or similar (doesn't get rid of "can't", but maybe the constraints depend on what else is in the sentence); make it a question ("Can I persuade you ...?")

"I'm unlikely to"

"No one could"

"I guess you won't be persuaded to ..."

"You're too stubborn to ..."

"I guess you'll never ..."

"I expect nothing I say will make you ..."

(many of these can be varied in ways that will doubtless occur to you)

"What, still not ready to give up?"

Mike Q

@ffao or @humn - One of you should take credit for the google earth puzzle. I can't take credit for finding the answer.

Gareth McCaughan

"Go on, give up, you'll never do it. ... Still here?"

Rubio

2:48 PM

I suppose I wouldn't be able to ...

dcfyj

What's sad is, as hard as it has been for me to build this, it will get solved very quickly

Rubio

That's how it usually goes, isn't it? ;)

Gareth McCaughan

It's pretty much universal that puzzles are much quicker to solve than to build.

Rubio

@MikeQ sleafar already posted a full answer, so ...

dcfyj

@GarethMcCaughan I know, this was a nifty concept I thought of that I wanted to implement.

Mike Q

2:49 PM

@Rubio Interesting... I wonder if they saw the chat log where we worked through the solution

Rubio

Possible, but they seem to have explained how they knew the starting point - after that, it walks you through to the solution pretty directly

Gareth McCaughan

Nothing wrong with that. Note also that one reason why puzzles get solved faster than made is that there are lots of people looking at them. A better metric is probably (total amount of person-time spent looking at puzzle) / (total effort to make the puzzle), and that ratio is probably less depressingly small.

dcfyj

I thought of a way to rephrase the sentence so that it fits my criteria, only 1 more thing to go for this section and then the final section!

humn

@MikeQ , you found the key - step 1 - and many other steps. Go ahead and post, and enjoy sharing credit.

Mike Q

@humn Too late :/

humn

2:59 PM

The earth-view skies were indeed crowded.

It was a fun field trip for us in any case!

Sphinx

0

Q: CITEMAHPLA Reverse Alphametic

Attempt at a Reverse Alphametic puzzle with a mathematically correct equation 68053 + 2531 = 70584 Replace all the numbers with english letters (same number: same letter, so totally 9 seperate letters used) and create a correct word equation.( A five letter word plus a four letter word equals a...

lateral-thinking alphametic

Mike Q

Is it possible to adjust the edit comment on a rollback edit?

humn

(Not that I know, but you can make a regular edit that copies the source from a previous version, and call that a "rollback" with explanation.)

Sid

@Sphinx that seems harder than a normal alphametic puzzle...

Ankoganit

3:14 PM

I'd say it's basically a cryptogram with a fairly short ciphertext.

Mike Q

Yes, and those 2 additional clues help narrow down to the author's intended answer

(I rolled back another person's edit that hid the clues as if they were optional hints)

humn

@MikeQ , safe thing to do, as the poser's intent wasn't clear.

Hopefully they'll see the revisions and clarify.

Apep

"Try these clues if you find it very hard" Doesn't that mark them as optional?

Sphinx

0

Q: "What's an engineer's favorite music to listen to?"

The answer is within the following scrambled letters, but there is also a missing letter: R-O-M-T-A-H-H-? I've been at this for hours and I cannot come up with anything whatsoever. I strongly believe the scrambled letters equates to two words, not one.

word-property anagram

Sid

@Ankoganit I plugged that into quipqiup and it gives me a hell lot of answers...

Deusovi

3:23 PM

@Sid That's what I did too.

humn

@Apep , looked to me too like they were meant as hints, but the user has been around for a while so it'll be interesting to see future edits.

Sid

I think we need a script to take only those answers which have 3 vowels. And then, choose whatever makes "the most sense".

humn

Fun puzzle concept in any case.

Sid

(which is excellently defined, btw. /s)

Deusovi

Interesting concept, yeah, but too much of a search space.

humn

3:26 PM

I assumed it would be something like TWO+TWO=FOUR, but wasn't about to try until the dust settled.

Mike Q

@Deusovi GREAT CATS LEARN, GREAT PATH FEARS, etc = 2 vowels

Deusovi

Yes, I didn't go for the optional requirements.

Mike Q

And "logical sense" probably means something along the lines of "combine the two concepts/things on the left, they become/equate to the concept/thing on the right"

Sid

It's obviously PLAIN WINE DAILY.

Deusovi

Possibly. But like I said, there's way too large of a search space.

Sid

3:29 PM

It makes sense. And is bad in the long run and is (maybe?) enjoyable in the short term?

Mike Q

Well sure, if you interpret the extra clues as optional, then you'll get a huge chunk of the entire search space, more or less

Deusovi

(I like "Those used = Yoshi". Those poor dinosaurs, falling into pits just so Mario can get an extra jump.)

Mike Q

I figured they were necessary to finding a unique-ish solution

Deusovi

Probably, but I have no easy way to programmatically search for those. (Especially the latter.)

Apep

"water + very = steam" seems to fit the most at a glance. Could be harmful if too hot or enjoyed in a bath. How much sense it makes is debatable, though.

Mike Q

3:36 PM

Is quipqiup supposed to say "Solve request failed; see console"

Sid

...No?Never seen that happen.

Mike Q

Wait, no, never mind. Figured out the error, still haven't figured out how to use the tool.

Sid

i.stack.imgur.com/fW9KU.jpg - Some people just don't want to use mobile phones

Mike Q

OCEAN + WANT = BEACH kind of makes sense. If you want the ocean, go to the beach.

Hmm, quipqiup only shows the first 200 results

Apep

OCEAN + LAND = BEACH is also one.

Ankoganit

3:46 PM

This one is actually convincing

Deusovi

Ah, that's probably the intended answer?

Wait, no.

SAND.

Ankoganit

Oooh

Deusovi

I added both to my answer.

(I still like PLAIN WINE DAILY and THOSE USED = YOSHI. ~~They fit all the requirements (counting Y as a vowel in the first but not the second).~~ edit: cannot count, please ignore)

Apep

second has oeui, 4. First also has 4 if you include y.

Deusovi

Oh, apparently I can't count.

Mike Q

4:06 PM

Dangerous words, coming from a mathematician.

Deusovi

Actual numbers are the worst part of math.

Apep

I've heard a few math profs jokingly remark that one ability to do complex math is inversely proportional to their ability to do simple math.

Sid

@Apep why would that be bad?

(bad as in a necessary requirement in the puzzle or so the OP says)

Apep

Bad for a boat or large sea animal.

dcfyj

Oh wow, this last section is going to be brutal to complete :(

Sid

4:14 PM

@dcfyj New puzzle?

dcfyj

Same one I've been working on for months if that's what you mean.

Mike Q

That's pretty brutal?

dcfyj

(not constantly working on it for months, but on and off)

@MikeQ I don't know if you saw my earlier comments but it's a steganographic puzzle and this last section is going to be really hard to put together...

Sid

@dcfyj That's how steganographic Puzzles usually are..

dcfyj

@Sid It's been a battle the whole time, it just got harder :(

Sid

4:19 PM

Arrgh this C4...

Regular could mean letters at nth position, right?

dcfyj

yeah

Apep

perhaps

Sid

Do we need 24 hour hint? Or a letter Or do people want to spend more time on it?

Mithrandir

4:48 PM

@rubio puzzling.stackexchange.com/users/40806/greenbaypackers puzzling.stackexchange.com/users/40797/texansvbengals

humn

Apep

How many letters are in "the correct answer"?

feelinferrety

um what

Sid

@Mith you are running out of time in our game...

(fair warning: I might be a bit busy in the next week. So, there is always a chance I would lose in time)

feelinferrety

For those stuck on the C4, note that I'm not very good at writing them as of yet and I unexpectedly solved one while I had a bunch of half-baked ideas and threw this one out there after not-enough work. It is a bit subpar as there is one naughty thing I've done.

I went for one with a higher difficulty level simply because it was the most complete/considered at the time

Okay, maybe two naughty things

Mithrandir

5:03 PM

@Sid ah thanks

I didn't get a notification for some reason

Rubio

@Mithrandir guess which two IPs these are from. mutter

Mithrandir

@Rubio post

On Puzzling Meta

Rubio

@feelinferrety "naughty things" may range from a slight mismatch somewhere, to an issue that makes it something almost unsolvable.

feelinferrety

I know, and I warned you guys :|

You said I had to post

Sid

Else, the Eldritch abominations will strike. :)

feelinferrety

5:06 PM

Both naughty things are that I was a bit "extra"

Rubio

@Mithrandir ?

Sid

@feelinferrety Not required things are present in that C4? :o

Rubio

ah. if there are words that do not (... cannot) participate in the wordplay, that's Bad™.

Mithrandir

@Rubio Write a meta post about preventing those IPs from creating new accounts.

Rubio

@Mithrandir Oh. that. I was going to do that on main Meta

feelinferrety

5:08 PM

They all can. It's not so much a "reach" in usage or meaning, just that it's... perhaps wordy

Rubio

specifically: spam-rammed IPs should not be able to create new accounts. because Why Should They

feelinferrety

I actually hoped the ...wordiness... might make it easier, but may have also contributed to making it more difficult?

I feel like I would have been pinged for a full (even tentative) solution, so has anyone had any need for a partial confirmation/denial?

Mike Q

@feelinferrety Possibly, because more words in the clue = more potential for ambiguity between wordplay and indicator words

There haven't been any guesses yet AFAIK

feelinferrety

Again, as my experience is limited, I apologize. I hope you all will not *totally* hate me when it finally comes out.

Mike Q

What percentage of hate would you prefer?

feelinferrety

5:15 PM

I would be quite happy with begrudging clarity

The kind of thing you hear after making a bad pun?

Mike Q

That's usually between 15-25% hate, depending on the weather

Sid

@feelinferrety That sounds scary.

feelinferrety

My source material may not comply with the collective headcanon of cryptic rules at TSL, and I'm unskilled with construction, so I wasn't sure if a shorter clue would cover it.

Sid

Okay, a clarification: Is "to" part of the wordplay or extraneous?

You can choose not to answer that question

feelinferrety

Unknown.

Sid

5:17 PM

(unknown means, you choose not to answer it?)

feelinferrety

I'm not sure how to answer it.

It may have a function but I could be wrong

Sid

um...what? Does the solution you have in mind use it?

feelinferrety

Okay, fine. I think it's a directional/order indicator, but I don't remember if it's been on any of my sources, and it's hard to google "to"

Seeing as we're coming up on the 24h mark, I feel that's a fair thing to say at this point?

Apep

In that case, it's used in the solution. It just might be an uncommon indicator/usage.

Rubio

I don't know of any circumstance in which "to" is an indicator per se. It can be a connector between wordplay and def (in that order), but not much else.

(at least - not on its own)

feelinferrety

5:23 PM

I suppose it could be extraneous, then?

I mean, the clue certainly reads better with it

Sid

Okay, the clue follows the first point of Cryptic Clues right?

(That is, it has a def and wordplay?)

feelinferrety

yes

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