The Sphinx's Lair

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2:10 AM

Another puzzle, yay! What do I want for dessert? An element, a blue liquid you breathe. The end of a sentence. wgpz tzggjr wgvxf bmzzi mzy It's three til' 4, plus forty more. Hint:

Eric Tressler

2:33 AM

Anyone looking at the cryptic?

Gareth McCaughan

I looked at it a little earlier, but without success. It took a minute or two to convince myself that although AMATEUR has 7 letters and means "non-professional" it matches nothing else in the clue. ETHIOPE or AETHIOP could mean "in an African country once" and contain OP (= work) but I couldn't make either work.

I would be unsurprised if "I abandoned for a" meant I->A, and/or if "in an" meant A()N.

I wondered whether "non-professional work I abandoned for a" might be DAY (from DIY) or DAYOP (if "work" is its own thing rather than the noun qualified by "non-professional") but again failed to fit either into an actual solution.

Eric Tressler

I was looking at all of that as well

One thing I was pursuing was "DIARCHY"

but that's a real stretch; Swaziland is currently a diarchy, so "once" makes no sense

Gareth McCaughan

Feels like a most unfair definition even if it's referring to some former diarchy.

Eric Tressler

But I ran dry both on the "amateur" and the "d()y" paths

Well, I had tried almost everything you did -- I didn't consider anything with "op"

I still wonder if it's more straightforward wordplay, and the definition is just something obscure about either structures or governments in an African country. I googled "charaty", for example.

2 hours later…

Sphinx

4:45 AM

Q: Random dates turning into Christmas

These days, I saw a rebus on the net that shows a calendar of December, with some random dates turning into Christmas. I feel very puzzled about this. Can you help me? Edit: I found that rebus on Bing.

rebus

Eric Tressler

@MOehm D(A+HOME)Y

Dahomey

The Kingdom of Dahomey () was an African kingdom (located within the area of the present-day country of Benin) that existed from about 1600 until 1894, when the last king, Béhanzin, was defeated by the French, and the country was annexed into the French colonial empire. Dahomey developed on the Abomey Plateau amongst the Fon people in the early 17th century and became a regional power in the 18th century by conquering key cities on the Atlantic coast. For much of the 18th and 19th centuries, the Kingdom of Dahomey was a key regional state, eventually ending tributary status to the Oyo Empire. ...

That's DIY with "I" replaced by "A HOME", for "an African country once"

1 hour later…

M Oehm

6:09 AM

@EricTressler Yes, well done!

M Oehm

6:20 AM

I didn't expect the C4 to elicit that much discussion. :)

Sphinx

7:03 AM

Q: Make all numbers 4-100 using the digits 2, 0, 1, 9

You may use the arithmetic operations +, −, ×, %, //. You CANNOT use √, ! or ^. You may NOT use any other numbers except 2,0,1,9 You can use the numbers as integers or float You can use double-digit numbers or decimals to get answers

mathematics cipher knowledge geometry computer-puzzle

5 hours later…

Puzzling Meta

11:35 AM

Q: Best puzzles of 2018 Q4 (October - December)?

This question is part of the best-puzzle award series. What are your nominations for the best puzzles, here on Puzzling.SE, of the fourth quarter ( October / November / December ) 2018? Suggested guidelines for nomination: Nominate each individual puzzle in a separate answer, so they ca...

discussion best-of

2 hours later…

PotatoLatte

1:59 PM

Guys does anyone want to have a Secret Hitler chat room?

Sphinx

2:29 PM

Q: I may be small but my maker is big and powerful

As is you need me on your trips Left alone you use me on your trips Rearranged some use me on their trips Short and thin I carry a pin Who am I?

riddle

2 hours later…

Mithrandir

4:16 PM

The joyful, perplexing world of puzzle hunts | Alex Rosenthal

►

The joyful, perplexing world of puzzle hunts | Alex Rosenthal (TED)

ABcDexter

Yesss, was just about to paste this

Does anyone from our community know him?

@PotatoLatte I concur.

Mithrandir

I don't know if anyone knows him personally, but I know that, for instance, @Deusovi does the MIT hunt.

ABcDexter

Yes, that I know.
Maybe they know each other :)

Or is it him :-?

Sphinx

4:32 PM

Q: I'm famously rectangular

I'm famously rectangular Sometimes it's dark Sometimes it's not If you use me while I'm wet You might get killed!

riddle

Deusovi

4:42 PM

Nope, don't know him personally. (But I will be going to the MIT Mystery Hunt, and I've met a few other prominent puzzle people there.)

Sphinx

Q: You can't win without clues

In year 2008 something happened, can you tell me exactly what? 1974, something happened on day 228, An animal is holding, full of hate, A wooden device on which we can read, The cetacean doesn't keep an air of mystery about itself, indeed. In one solid tint i appear, for sure,...

riddle rhyme

1 hour later…

Sphinx

5:50 PM

Q: Help me with this riddle please

I am either your love or a ghost I am a synonym for thin I am all, but not the whole I am the earth I am the sun And altogether, I am either true or false

riddle

Puzzling Meta

6:47 PM

Q: may I post here limericks asking for the last line?

I have a paper pack book with a nice collection of "shocking" limericks (some may be for certain people a little bit obscene. but principle I think this might be a good idea to post a limerick and ask for the punchline (the "pointe".) Example: A priest and a shepherd from Australia participate ...