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1:06 AM
0
Q: An Letter to My Dear Friend

QuantumTwinkie Hello, my most dear friend, How are you doing, I know why we are such good friends, We can be the go-to and favorite for some people, There is even a song about us, We can even come together, I am salty and you are sweet, I have not seen you in a while s...

 
 
1 hour later…
2:32 AM
0
Q: What is the rule for these number sequences?

tomCan you work out the mathematical rule for these number sequences? It is the same rule for both sequences 2, 4, 16, 7, 49, 25, 9, 81, 9, 81.... 8, 64, 22, 6, 36, 15, 6, 36, 15.... Hint 1 From time to time hints will be updated. Note: this sequence cannot be found in The On-Line En...

 
2:58 AM
C4 hint: There is a very technical synonym in the clue, and a thesaurus won't help
 
oh great.
 
uh oh
 
that's the sort of vibe I had from revised hint 1, but nice to have confirmation
I also don't see any technical meanings to the words in the clue, so welp :)
 
is this or ? hehe
 
where are the mathematicians when you need them?
I suppose that's the kind of thing Eric would know technical terms from
 
3:01 AM
I guess it's trivia? Maybe I should just give it away? I feel like the clue is beginning to overstay its welcome, even though I still think it's fair
 
welp. We should have two paths to try to solve it, so even if we're somewhat deeply out of our collective depths in having the needed domain knowledge or trivia awareness to get the bit we're missing, in theory we should still have half a shot at it.
Of course, in theory, communism works. So ...
 
Okay, in addendum: It is not expert-level knowledge, and it's not math. (And I don't know if it counts as trivia or knowledge, so don't rely too much on my answer to that question)
 
technical and not expert, huh
I might just follow Rubio and try to solve the clue without a word
 
@ffao wait what
 
@ASCII-only you can help out
 
3:09 AM
> Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
Sadly that won't work for CCs :P
 
Indeed.
 
Sid
sees new hint welp, with that, any chance that I had of solving that clue is now gone...
 
ok so what do we know
do we know which part is the def
 
we know we don't like Eric very much right now
One might even go so far as to call him ...
 
yes that might be useful in solving the clue
 
3:13 AM
... a neener-neerer-head.
Yes. I said it.
 
:O what did you just say
i must report this to a CM
more seriously: remove/inside look like cryptic word things?
 
Sid
what. Rubio is just trying to finally fulfill his campaign promise. :P
 
@Sid he had a campaign?
 
He most certainly did.
But he did not have a campaign promise. It was a campaign platform.
 
Sid
technicalities. Humph.
 
3:17 AM
technically right: the best kind of right to be. :)
 
anyone have an idea what the most likely word Eric is referring to is?
I'd say heart maybe (and probably not red) okay maybe not
 
I'd guess he's referring to a phrase
 
3:46 AM
well apparently cryoablation is "chill heart", not sure if that helps
 
Wouldn't that be removing (layers of) something by freezing it?
 
basically (but here it's referring to removing (layers of) incorrectly functioning heart tissue by freezing it)
so that's not it:/
beat = meter if music is considered technical
 
okay. I was familiar with "ablation" from things losing mass when they enter the earth's atmosphere and burn
 
yeah same meaning just i'm bad at describing
 
Your second description was okay, I was just confused by what you originally said
 
 
5 hours later…
8:50 AM
0
Q: Mysterious Benedict Society and The Prisoner's Dilemma

DragonMaster“The answer to this riddle has a hole in the middle, And some have been known to fall in it. In tennis it's nothing, but it can be received, And sometimes a person may win it. Though not seen or heard it may be perceived, Like princes or bees, it's in clover. The answer to this riddle has a hole ...

 
9:42 AM
0
Q: Made Up Puzzle #1

DragonMasterCool, new pokemon Happy or sad I am bored Lol, this is a joke Disgusting This riddle might be easy due to the fact I made it up on the spot.

 
10:35 AM
0
Q: Find number sequence from a black box

Karthik NishanthI have a black box where I can put in three numbers and get a number out. Find below the list of numbers, where the first number is output and the next three are inputs. How do I generally approach this problem? 1 3 2 1 1 3 2 5 13 3 3 3 14 5 1 4 15 5 4 3 18 1 5 3 19 1 1 4 19 4 5 4 2 2 5 3 2 ...

 
 
3 hours later…
1:12 PM
0
Q: A Suspicious Mail 2

pfgYou sent your response. As expected, a few days later, you get another cryptic mail back: The text reads VC5pDze1col/029903nb6laowU1MOScPqa ZIt6Bhad2swPLj/0McAojIqYhqkQb1scwzQ7 aFyCmoTjQm/RQrNA== and return address https://s.bcg.pw/ hostedfiles/location What should you do? Some files...

 
1:46 PM
0
Q: Who Killed the Biology Teacher?

DragonMasterIt is the first day of school and the biology teacher has been killed. The detective is called and interrogates four suspects. He asks the first one, the P.E teacher. The P.E teacher tells the detective that he was playing basketball with one of his students. The headmaster says that he was worki...

 
 
2 hours later…
3:31 PM
0
Q: Very easy puzzle

DragonMasterI have lost two things but I can win them back by being sweat and wanted. This is a test. Please tell me if it appears if only you hover over it. Thanks. If not please tell me how to make it work.

 
3:55 PM
apparently my riddle is too broad? not entirely sure what that means. there are a few answers that address most points of my riddle, but none that address all of them
 
4:20 PM
I find it amusing to see @Dragonrage shutting down everyone’s answers
 
@TrojanByAccident well, they ignored parts of the riddle. what am i supposed to do?
 
0
Q: I made my first Bongard Problem

SilverCookies I increased the size of each space but the rules are the exact same as in the original problems published by Bongard. I'm adding a link in case people aren't familiar with this type of riddles Click me!

 
@Dragonrage not hating on it, just amused.
seems like a solid riddle
 
oh, ok thanks :)
 
4:59 PM
0
Q: Message from the network

Anouar BelkadiYou guys have to guess both the identity (name) and the message, below the hints. Good Luck ! Identity All the hints share the same classification and each hint represent the first letter once solved. My name is Gregory, and i am a good man. Extraterrestrials are involved. Yellow natural li...

 
5:11 PM
is it possible to leave spoiler in comment?
 
@Jordan.J.D i dont think so
 
any other way of leaving a possible clue in comment, as i do not have enough for even a partial answer?
 
0
Q: We're all at sea!

Jack PettingerMy latest attempt at a riddle, feedback welcomed. In vain I return to you, A few whacks and we got rid of the hare, Can't we just pause for a minute? What could we use to wine and dine? Mussels? Sorry, we're all at sea aren't we? Pretending to be naval. Is this just a waste of my ...

 
@Jordan.J.D not that i know of :|
 
5:32 PM
@Jordan.J.D You can mathjax it
 
0
Q: can you solve these?

user46627Here are some sequence patterns. I have no clue. Pattern 1 Pattern 2 Pattern 3

 
or you can put it in rot13
> Answerers putting their solutions in spoiler tags is of little benefit if people then give the answer away in the comments. Try using ROT-13 encoding or similar to preserve the mystery for future would-be solvers. :)
 
@Rubio what is mathjax
 
@Rubio not rot26? :P
 
yeah that is why i wanted to hide my comment, but i made it an answer anyways
 
5:34 PM
MathJax is the markup for (usually) math formulae and the like. But it has the ability to do other fun, like: > $\color{white}{\text{ my spoiler here }}$ <
 
oh yes! i will have to remember that.
thanks
 
Keep in mind mobile users won't be able to see MJ comments
 
or $\phantom{this text is 100% invisible, aka useless}$
 
of course rot13 isn't all that much friendlier for mobile
sigh.
 
@Rubio dragonrage != dragonmaster i don't think
 
5:38 PM
oops
sorry @Dragonrage hehe
 
no worries
 
see, this is why we need Rubio to ban Rubio
 
so @Dragonrage (for real this time) - you've pretty well answered the bad answers to your riddle. two thoughts -
one, your "hint" maybe shouldn't be a hint - it might be needed to keep this from being "guess what I'm thinking of". only you know that, so this is just a thought.
and two, you might ask if people think your riddle is reopen-worthy now that you've gone on the warpath demonstrating it's not too broad.
3k users can vote to reopen.
if you had, I think, 250 rep, you could vote for that yourself.
 
seems better now, i'll start the reopen
 
ok, thanks for that advice. i suppose i could add the hint into the main riddle, as far as i know the riddle would be sufficient by itself though.
 
5:46 PM
A riddle is always the easiest for the setter. Plenty of experience here, from Contact
 
i went through and thought of all the characters i know of that could fit the riddle, and i dont think anything else fits it exactly
 
perhaps. remember that "sufficient to prove the answer is correct" is not necessarily the same as "sufficient to solve". :)
 
thats true. ill just go ahead and put it into the riddle
 
I suspect you're right, though. It's always hard having to defend a riddle against many many answers, all of which play way too loose with the riddle itself
 
i think i know the answer - but i havent played the game so it may be difficult to connect all parts accurately
 
5:48 PM
too much to do, too little time
 
Sid
6:00 PM
I think the last 2 lines in your riddle(@Dragonrage) are the ones that are non-generic and far more useful to get the answer.
I have nominated to reopen it as I think those lines should be enough to get someone a unique solution.
Also, whenever you are looking for a specific character, it's always better to give some sort of wordplay that helps to confirm the answer.
 
@Sid thanks for the tips, ill keep that in mind for the next i create a puzzle
 
@Dragonrage i am going to take a stab at it when it get reopened :)
 
@Jordan.J.D go for it :)
 
6:15 PM
(Galactic Puzzle Hunt starts in an hour!)
 
not sure what the rules are for helping out, but i could maybe help you make connections if you get the correct answer
 
also not sure, if you say the guesses are on the right track i am sure other users will chime in to help
 
helping people out with a puzzle is perfectly fine - we've had massive group solves of long and complicated puzzles before
 
@Deusovi i was meaning as the asker, if someone gets the correct answer, but doesnt have all of the connections to the riddle can i help them?
 
@Deusovi , who is on your team
 
6:18 PM
@Dragonrage Sure, that's perfectly fine!
 
ok, cook
 
@Jordan.J.D I'm on team Tasty Samoas, Please Ingest.
 
Sid
@Deusovi Name change?
 
i dont have a team, but also not sure how much i can participate anyways. but it looks pretty amusing
 
The hunt is cookie-themed, so we took up a temporary name for it. Plus, we had to split into two due to team size: Sp3000 and ffao are on our rival team, Tantalizing Snickerdoodles Produced Incrementally.
 
6:21 PM
if someone wants to pick up a sporadic and not great puzzler for puzzle-off, let me know
 
Sid
I love some of the team names in that hunt.
 
(we often take up temporary names with the TSPI acronym - for Puzzle Boat 4, we were called Trade Ship, Please Ignore)
oh yeah, the team names are often one of the best parts of a hunt
 
Hey anyone wanna team up?
 
@North kind of
 
"\mathcal{BERKELEY}", "I Have No Friends" (a solo team), "The Lesser Known Larry Houdini", " let's just make one now and people can deal with the name"...
 
6:26 PM
I can't believe how much ruckus I created last night with mbaqangas
Deusovi missed out
 
Did you use that word in Contact?
 
Uh huh
Read the transcript
 
And you expected people to know it?
 
... Kinda
I figures somebody (cough cough Gareth) would know
 
When did you learn the word? (Did you specifically look it up to find a hard Contact word?)
 
6:29 PM
Like two months ago
Or three months
No, it was before I found out contact was even a game
I was actually just scrolling through a list of words that has q without a u after it
For scrabble
I'm kind of a die hard scrabble guy
 
Sid
@North that is not even a Gareth-esque word. It's beyond it.
 
I can die in peace now knowing a)I confused pretty much everyone that was playing contact, b) I created a general mayhem c) I have achieved a new word beyond Gareth-esque
This is SATISFACTION
 
anyone wanna do galactic puzzle hunt, or shall i solo
 
@North None of those are good things.
 
Incan team
@Deusovi I know
 
6:33 PM
@North did you make a team?
 
@Jordan.J.D Nay
In the process
 
teamname?
ah ok
 
Any team name suugestion?
 
let me know if you want +1
no idea
that is the hardest part of life for me
 
No idea is a good team name
 
6:34 PM
perfect i helped
 
@Jordan.J.D sorry, team "this is the hardest part" is already taken
 
ok time to create Transplanted StackExchange Puzzlers Invasion
 
@Rubio you aren't on a team?
@Deusovi, hilarious
 
no, I've never done a puzzle hunt
 
You should try it sometime!
 
6:36 PM
I don't have the time, and I'm not convinced I actually have the aptitude :)
 
@North is making a team now, i assume you can join
 
Sid
@Rubio Same for the second part.
 
maybe our team should be
struggle2puzzle
 
@Jordan.J.D I need an email from you
Thats better
 
puzzledPuzzlers?
how do i pm you, i would prefer not to mass share
 
6:40 PM
@Sid and @Rubio Jordan wants to invite you to our team
Wanna join?
 
ICPC had lots of really good names too
 
I really wish I could but I can't participate in this hunt, sorry
 
One used "This space available for advertising" (the team name is printed on the back of all shirts)
 
Tis fine
@ffao XD
 
Another team was called "Your Mom" (the announcer was more than happy to keep saying things like "Your Mom got sixth place")
 
6:43 PM
HAHAHA
 
Sid
@North Sorry, I will pass.
 
Alright
 
My team name was a pun on a Brazilian song, so you wouldn't understand it. A picture of me wearing the shirt with the name on the back got something like 1000 shares on facebook, so I think people liked it though :P
 
Sid
@ffao sounds like you are a mini celebrity or something. :P
 
I don't know, I somehow get the impression people weren't sharing a picture of a person turned around because of who the guy was :P
 
Sid
7:46 PM
CC- question: Can we use something like "blend small Camps" to get maps? i.e. anagram only the non-capitalized letters?
 
8:20 PM
1
Q: Paraphrased song lyrics

Daniel ScheplerEach entry in the list below represents a paraphrase of (hopefully) well-known song lyrics. Identify the original lyrics, along with the song they occurred in and original performers. The person in the extremity of the room, illuminated, and with a steadily decreasing control over their anger,...

 
8:36 PM
0
Q: A Stulano family

DLoscShortly after embarking on your trans-oceanic voyage, you meet an extended family who speak Stulano.* Although you don't share a language, they quickly "adopt" you as one of their own. You pass a couple of days playing with the kids and trying, through much trial and error, to communicate. By the...

 
9:01 PM
@Sid well it makes sense, but then this is not defined on our guide, so I am torn.
@Deusovi I'm not sure that bodes well for the hunt :P.
 
9:32 PM
@Jordan.J.D it go reopened if you want to try your luck
 
9:52 PM
@Sid I think that seems fair, if awkward
 
I'm not too sure about having to rely on capitalisation.
 
You have to rely on it for other things, so why not this?
 
@EricTressler huh, really, which ones?
 
0
Q: Puzzling Number Boxes

David LiuFound this puzzle as a translation question. The Chinese is fairly simple, it just asks to solve for the ? in the bottom right square. The actual puzzle though, I have no clue about. Can any of you solve it?

 
Well, if a clue refers to a proper noun, the relevant piece has to be similarly capitalized. So for example, "broken Bond" can refer to a generic bond, or a James Bond; "broken bond" is not allowed to refer to James Bond
 
10:09 PM
there is no reliance there, just a rule
(well, I guess you can rely on bond not reffering to Bond)
 
Both of the things you just said went through my head as I was typing the explanation, but you know what I mean. The point is, cryptic clues are already not "capitalization-independent", so it seems in bounds to me.
 
@Sphinx this question was better than one of the ozclo family relations questions this year
@ASCII-only heya
 
:O you're back in chat
 
kinda. blocks are being a pain in the neck
 
Oh yeah. Why are you back during blocks of all times
 
10:23 PM
I've only got bio and matc left and I don't particularly feel like studying for either of them right now ._.
 
10:50 PM
@thecoder16 So, going back to your ping the other day, I don't feel I can accept an answer to this yet, not least because AFAICT the bonus question hasn't been fully answered. But if you edit your answer and spruce it up a bit, I'll be happy to accept that :-)
(I just went on an acceptance spree, but had to skip that question.)
 
Do you think adding he extra condition I put in comments suffices?
 
11:08 PM
@Deusovi is there a maximum team size? was hoping i could get in with TSPI, as I’m technically a member
for the hunt i mean
 
@thecoder16 Eek. Possibly?
Sorry, I still have trouble getting my head around this puzzle.
And I haven't got time to look at it properly just now.
About to head out again.
 
I'll edit and also look at this later, also hard for me to think about this puzzle
 

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