The Sphinx's Lair

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12:13 AM

I think I know the answer to the cryptic, but not the derivation

That would surprise me a little. (I would not expect it to be very difficult to work out the wordplay given the answer.)

@Alconja Oooooooo!

2 hours later…

Eric Tressler

2:14 AM

@GarethMcCaughan I thought it would be "AUTOMATON", because it's A + (OUT)* + (MA????) + (NOT)*

but I can't begin to justify it. and it's not a guess, so you need neither confirm nor deny. if anyone can make that work, go ahead

Gareth McCaughan

2:39 AM

I will save everyone a bit of effort by revealing that, although Eric is very good at solving cryptic clues, that particular attempt is way off.

Eric Tressler

2:57 AM

that helps to explain why I wasn't able to justify it

5 hours later…

M Oehm

7:48 AM

@GarethMcCaughan it's ENNEAGONS = (ANNE'S GONE)*. Enneagon is the "proper" but little-used name for a polygon with nine sides, viz nonagon. A regular enneagon cannot be constructed by simple geomterical means such as compasses and straight edge, hence the def. "what she could not construct".

I wonder whether there was someone called Anne who famously couldn't construct an enneagon.

Eric Tressler

8:05 AM

nice work

M Oehm

Thanks.

3 hours later…

Gareth McCaughan

11:29 AM

ENNEAGONS is correct. I too would have been happier if Anne (or Enan or something) had been the name of an ancient Greek geometer.

Sphinx

11:53 AM

Q: We solved the invisible maze

We did it! We finally solved the invisible maze! In case anyone else wants to try, I'll reproduce our steps here. Here's the maze: The rules: All walls except for the outer ones are thin, invisible glass. There is no way to know there's a wall there until you touch it. If...

M Oehm

12:07 PM

Well, you can't have everything. At least I learned a new word.

CCCC: Non-professional work I abandoned for a house in an African country once (7)

2 hours later…

Sphinx

1:42 PM

Q: Five sisters in a room

Riddle: There are five sisters in a room

riddle

Q: A Masterpiece: A mirror or a ABC?

I have worked on this masterpiece for soooo long, hope you all like it! The PUZZLE A is for the adventurous who approached the door B bragged his brilliant bronze when there isn't even one C is the Chinese classifier living with a chimpanzee D is the detective against the diamond m...

wordplay enigmatic-puzzle

3 hours later…

GentlePurpleRain

4:40 PM

@GarethMcCaughan Darn it; I was looking at ENNEAGONS, but like @MOehm, I was trying to find some famous person named Anne that was somehow connected. I didn't think "what she could not construct" was a close enough definition for ENNEAGONS.