The Sphinx's Lair - 2017-09-14 (page 3 of 3)

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9:00 PM

Crappies ( or ) are a genus, Pomoxis, of North American fresh water fish in the sunfish family Centrarchidae. Both species in this genus are popular pan fish. == Etymology == The genus name Pomoxis derives from the Greek πώμα (cover, plug, operculum) and οξύς (sharp). The common name (also spelled croppie or crappé), derives from the Canadian French crapet, which refers to many different fishes of the sunfish family. Other names for crappie are papermouths, strawberry bass, speckled bass or specks (especially in Michigan), speckled perch, crappie bass, calico bass, (throughout the Middle Atlantic...

speaking of carp pies, anyone willing to experiment in the kitchen?

We've switched from electricity to sea dwellers? What, just for the halibut?

@JohnDvorak I'm listening

Fish puns? You've cod to be kidding me.

but sure, if I can salmon more fun, I'm all in.

Don't get too roughy with it.

9:02 PM

I'm INKlined to start with cephalopod puns, too

Whale you'd be in your right to do so

bring it in guys, I want to be kraken up at your jokes

I can't. All these puns are making me feel icthy.

Perhaps they prefer to direct their energies to the reel world.

Really? I thought it was had been going swimmingly so far.

Maybe it's the way you're angling for it.

Put some mussel into it!

I can't bear to see such a great idea flounder

9:07 PM

you're just crabby

So, I can't just go fishing for words?

@Rubio Scale it down, would ya?

This conversation smells a bit fishy.

I'ma drop da bass

But at least you're all having a whale of a time in here.

9:09 PM

I'm having a tuna fun

@Rubio Eric the halibut?

Admit it, you just want a pisces of the fun

I couldn't imagine that the flood of puns could reach this scale

We could turn this into a story ark.

Actually I came in to share an HNQ which will give pure mathematicians a snigger (@Gareth, @Deus, @Anko, ...)

But then I couldn't resist diving into the fun.

9:11 PM

Just watch the puns come streaming in

@Randal'Thor Just couldn't skate on by, eh

But is this enough tripe for one day?

There's never enough. My mind is racing with sports puns.

There's never enough tripe.

We're all on the Net, after all.

I'm a sucker for good ones.

There can be more than enough tripe once you've had all you can stomach.

9:15 PM

I'm on tentacles waiting to hear the next ones.

Dang, not even my non-sequiturs can turn the tide. I must really be floundering here.

whoa, she's going off topic again! snapper back to the fish puns!

You'll have to mackerelly good argument to convince me

Aug 16 at 17:30, by Sconibulus

[cetecean needed]

Ok now she's just trying to pilot us off course. Git'rout of here

9:17 PM

The bubble may have burst

@MikeQ oh well ladeedah, look at mr high-n-mighty up there on his perch

@Randal'Thor ah, you're here. Would love to hear your opinions on whether the lateral thinking tag is too fishy for Puzzling?

Fintastic. I'm over it.

let squid this wave of puns already... or not, perhaps

@Rubio If she's going round in circles, then the course she's describing would be her-ring.

9:18 PM

^That is a red herring.

Let minnow if you all decide to stop being so childish

We never fin ished the sea sea sea sea

Well, I never. With fronds like you, who needs anemones.

OH, clam down Rubio.

@Rubio Are you planting the seed of a new pun subject, or am I barking up the wrong tree?

9:21 PM

It's time to call a spadefish a spadefish — @feelinferrety, you're being shellfish.

There's no gillt to be felt from making puns.

oh, tree puns, what wooden I do for them?

@JohnDvorak Who's beating around the bush now??

I hope it's oak-ay, though

@Sid Lateral thinking puzzles have a looooong history on this site. A long history of crap ones, but also some good ones, and often the problem is more in the answers than the questions - there's one "classic" answer which is the expected one, and then a bunch of people get more and more lateral in their thinking until they go completely out of sight.

9:22 PM

If it is, I'm gonna stick to them for a while.

uhoh. this conversation went off course again ... 'Elmsman, turn us about

@JohnDvorak You're going to be birched for this ...

as in, forced to leaf?

Forest to leaf, even.

On the bright side, you could go to the seaside and sit on the beech.

Life's a beech.

9:23 PM

That's a lakely story.

@feelinferrety oh, I should have noticed. Willow ever forgive me?

@feelinfirrety your criticism turns my heart to ash

@JohnDvorak Fir now.

Ninja'd

You're leaving me in the larch here

Pining away

I cedar's more than one way to ruffle your feathers

9:25 PM

apple-y puns liberally. The ap-pear to be working.

Maple they are, maple they're not.

@Sid Personally I like lateral-thinking puzzles, and they're a vital part of any puzzle collection, so I wouldn't want to see them banned outright. But I can also see the problems with them, and I haven't got time to write up a long compelling argument for keeping them even if I had one handy, which I don't.

Still, I've been watching them for 3 years at this point and they haven't killed the site yet, nor are any of the proportions (% of LT questions on the site, % closed of LT questions) too ridiculous. I guess there are bigger fish to fry.

(back to fish again, darn)

@Rubio Fjording for the pines!

How many more times is the topic going to branch?

@JohnDvorak Lumber on over. We can root out the tragic hickory that led to Rubio's sappy disposition.

@Apep I think we're really going to seed here.

9:29 PM

Olive yew need to chill if you ashk me

I seed-here would you did.

What wood you like to stalk about then?

In my op-pine-ion, we should contin-yew.

@Randal'Thor (This and this I think say much of what you just did, for questions and answers respectively)

@Will Try again with something that speaks to the organ in my chestnut my head.

9:31 PM

@feelinferrety My bark is worse than my bite.

@Rubio You dogwood you leave me alone already

@Rubio Both of which I've already upvoted :-)

Ah, Thinly Veiled Question Mark ... those were the days.

but then again I wood never berry the topic even when I'm grassping at straws.

Just sit back and let flower your imagination, and watch the puns sprout forth

... end reap the fruits of someone else's labour?

9:36 PM

are you peepul fir real

@feelinferrety I really feel like you like to pecan me. You're hurting my feelings.

@Will I'm pretty shireious.

I think I should s-lumber for a while.

0

Q: Four boxes, four questions, only one truthful answer

This is a harder variant of the following question: Three boxes, Four questions, Three times not true, Once the truth The difference is that now there are four (not three) boxes, one of which contains a treasure. The rest is the same: You can ask exactly four yes/no questions, and the guardian...

logical-deduction liars

Shush, Sphinx :P

@JohnDvorak Yes, keep the puns at bay.

9:41 PM

A harder question about potentially wooden boxes? Seems on topic.

I'm in the "Sphinx can cork it" camp. I assume that's the poplar opinion.

Oh nice, it's a liars puzzle.

relevant XKCD

@JohnDvorak I asked a question based on that once.

How many escaping logicians did you capture?

15

Q: Lies, damned lies, and statistics

A (hopefully) new variant on the Knights & Knaves problem. On the island of D'Israel, the inhabitants fall into three types: Liars, Damned Liars, and Statisticians. They are visually indistinguishable except that each type of person wears a different colour of hat. If you ask them questions, the...

logical-deduction liars

@Apep Dunno about logicians, but I once captured ten Kevins.

9:47 PM

I'm the guard that stabs everyone who asks tricky questions. And I'm pretty benevolent to myself about the definition of "tricky".

ah

A(DO)PT+[l]E[a]D

!

that. was. freaking. hard.

good hard or bad hard

Gareth McCaughan

How does "adopted" mean "constituents"?

9:56 PM

@Rubio Can you spell it out a bit more for CC idiots like me?

good, I think. That "to" has to go, but otherwise that was actually really nicely done

@Randal'Thor Go for it Rub

Gareth McCaughan

I think "to" is OK, meaning something like "next to" or "added to".

APT is likely

DO is act

@GarethMcCaughan That was my intent. The "-->" indicator that also made the language much nicer

9:57 PM

I thought that lead regular could mean ED, but saw no way a word ending in ED could possibly mean "constituents"

"penned" means act is inside likely, so A(DO)PT

it could be removed and lead turned to leads.

^

So, it was supposed to be an &lit

eh, it's not though

9:58 PM

adopted being as it relates to law

or rules

Gareth McCaughan

Whether as an &lit or with just "constituents" as def, I still don't see anything that means "adopted".

adopted
1: acquired as your own by free choice; "my adopted state";
"an adoptive country"

in that sense, with some mildly tortured reading, you can get "constituents" out of it

The "likely penned act" was meant to be the true "lit" part

That it extends past that is one naughty part

... mildly?

But I excused it in that the act being penned would need a purpose :\

10:00 PM

ok, moderately tortured. ;)

if it makes you feel better, ferret, Rubio's first CCs weren't exactly conformant either

"constituents" was the other naughty bit. It was my original preference for a partial indicator for "lead" as it also fit for the people being ruled

and - well - a &lit means the entirety of the clue is the wordplay, and also the entirety of the clue is the def

@ffao My first CCCC that I remember setting was an unmitigated disaster

But I felt that constituents alone could mean any combination of letters, hence the "regular"

So yeah I doubled up on indicators for the shortest word :P

I read up and there is a semi-&lit but it seems to apply to definitions that extend past the wordplay as opposed to wordplay that extends past the definition

So yes the second half of the clue was extraneous but contributed to the "story" XP

10:39 PM

time for my daily crack at the CCCC, after which i feel really depressed about my skills

CCCC: Pests distressed moose without relent before ruinous end. (10)

... nice timing?

Same for me. I was just about to bug you.

Quite coincidental.

I hadn't even looked to C if there was a CCCC available.

But all there was to C C C was the bottom of the deep blue C C C! (C?)

But C-ing might not B A great w-A to B in the C! (D?)

10:42 PM

Veggietales: come veggies went to sea sea sea.

Solved

i got the word(probably) but can't fit

the clue

mos(quit)oe*+s

MOOSE* around QUIT -S

@ASCII-only 'twas unintended

10:44 PM

I actually got that far but where do you get around from?

@thecoder16 "without"

without in not within

UGH i never remember that

^

i actually had it was the frustrating part

where does relent come in?

10:45 PM

It might have actually taken Will less time to solve than it took me to type, let alone construct. :)

@thecoder16 Relent = Quit

oh i took ruinous end as quit lol

I think like 4 of us solved it simultaneously XD

first to type it in, first to get the win. :)

I mistyped anyway

10:47 PM

it's probably better i didn't get it

it would take me a year give or take to make a clue

@feelinferrety as did I

ha

I was thinking it should be MO(S + QUIT)OES*

Goodness I haven't opened this text file in ages. Some of these cryptics I wrote are making me scratch my head.

but before*

Hrmm. I still have to face Deus for my crimes against the 4C.

Ah, so what % of hate did my 4C solution get me?

10:51 PM

You're better off knot knowing.

It might fray your day.

How would y'all feel about one with a vulgar surface reading? :/

pretty sure we would be fine with it :)

ask Rubio though

Me too, 'slong as it's not too difficult

lol

10:55 PM

Oh.

I guess it depends on how vulgar

Nah, it's your 4c, do whatever you want

and vulgar in what way

Gareth McCaughan

we've had vulgar-surface ones before

(some of which were mine)

it's a dick joke.

10:57 PM

DO IT.

make my day

i'll be sure to share if it's good :P

suggestive wording is fine, outright swearing is probably best left not done :)

2 mins ago, by Wen1now

Me too, 'slong as it's not too difficult

*schlong as it's not too difficult

CCCC: "Hard, wood!" is order to cock in bed. (7)

i like it

lol

10:58 PM

oh my. hehe

BELAYED ?

nope

that would have been interesting.

i hope cock isn't the definition :P

did you have any construction in mind for the ELAY? :P

"Cock" can't be the definition :)

eh. I lost an E somewhere

11:07 PM

hmm I have an urge to change my avatar but

I like your hamdog

Well, I have to go, so I think "hardwood" is the def

Gareth McCaughan

that is also my leading guess

That was my thought too but I gave up after looking at wiki's page of hardwoods

lol

Gareth McCaughan

though of course "hard, wood" could also lead to HASH or FELM or something of the kind. (And there are a bunch of other parsings. None of which has led me to the answer yet.)

11:14 PM

order possibly could be def

Gareth McCaughan

well, then "order to cock in bed" would need to be the def

no it could not

Gareth McCaughan

which is too close to the surface for my liking

we don't need that many hints ;P

it's not a hint, it's affirming good form :)

Gareth McCaughan

11:15 PM

I mean, this sort of joke is much funnier if everything except that surface reading is perfectly innocent and decent

and I endorse Will's comment: saying that the def isn't in the middle of the clue isn't a hint.

(but it's possible that thecoder meant that "order to cock in bed" could be the def, hence my reply)

i can think of many defs for "order to cock in bed" :P

Gareth McCaughan

of course "order to cock in bed" could be the def without being indecent, if it's a rooster in a flowerbed or something, but I can't think of anything of that kind that works

(I am guessing the actual solution is not indecent for the reason above: it would be funnier.)

What actually happens when one cocks a gun, out of curiosity? Is it load? Reload? Aim?

it's to pull back the hammer, iirc.

To load, I think

11:19 PM

so, there's a kind of hardwood tree called a BANGLAY. You might order a hen to LAY. Or a rooster to BANG, I suppose. I mention this for funsies.

Gareth McCaughan

my understanding is the same as Apep's. So it's more "prepare to fire".

So in the traditional "ready, aim, fire" it would be part of the "ready" stage, I guess.

Yup that is also what I thought

Yes. Cocking a gun after aiming wouldn't exactly keep it aimed. hehe

@Rubio that is almost perfect lol

actually it is perfect

@Rubio I can only find a tree called Bangalay (with an extra A)

curious where you found BANGLAY

11:22 PM

huh. You are correct; this list has a typo.

its other name, woollybutt, is more amusing anyhow

or bastard jarrah. Isn't that a GoT character?

(to video game devs) - to find inspiration for names, don't forget to look on the list of woods!

Yeah. It's pretty fun. Let's see... In softwoods, we've got CYPRESS, DOUGLAS, HEMLOCK, REDWOOD... In hardwoods, we've got AFZELIA, BOXWOOD, BUCKEYE, CAMPHOR, CATALPA, DOGWOOD, HICKORY, LAPACHO, MERANTI, OVERCUP, TAMBOTI, ZINGANA, and maybe COCONUT

you considered the coconut

11:40 PM

Weekly game of contact, anyone?

o/

Linky for mobile users:

Contact

For playing the game Contact, where one person tries to "defend"...

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Sep '1714

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