The Sphinx's Lair

North

2:28 AM

CC: Lost a Roman life; inside key is hollow. (6)

Idk I'm trying to practice CCs, I think I get them now

Deusovi

2:53 AM

not sure what you're going for there

Avi

mind explodes from 4d surface

this is like those cube cover problems

so I want to improve the swindle CC

I'm thinking DL (download) in SWINE

Cheat the contemptible out of Internet deliverable (7) maybe?
[Cheat] def
the contemptible = SWINE (plural)
Internet deliverable = DL (download)
out of = around???

meh, I prefer the old one

maybe something with SWI + (-ca)NDLE

or (WISE CANDLE)* - ACE

Put out wise candle lacking first-rate fleece (7) -> (WISE CANDLE)* - ACE

[fleece] for def

also as a wooly thing used to make wicks

I have a feeling Gareth would grumble though

grumbles

Gareth McCaughan

3:12 AM

I would say "what the hell is a wise candle?" :-)

Do get in place when I leave, moving furtively (7)

(SIDLE minus U with WIN in its place; do = swindle)

(and yes, SIDLE can be a noun as well as a verb)

anyway, I should have been in bed hours ago; good night!

Avi

3:31 AM

sidle doesn't have a U in it

Oh, but I see what you did there. Goodnight

Do=swindle is the sneakiest def I’ve ever seen

Sphinx

0

Q: An Attempt at AV Puzzle

Here's another puzzle with visuals and sound. I hope you enjoy it! With Sound: https://youtu.be/yHkQdEu0QpA Static Image: Hint

Sphinx

7:47 AM

1

Q: Almost half a million, yet smaller than a hundred

Consider, for example, the number 420109. It's quite big, isn't it? Not so far from half a million. Yet it can be made to be smaller than a hundred with a very simple trick, without putting any mathematical operators between the digits, without using any mathematical function on it, and without e...

lateral-thinking

M Oehm

10:19 AM

^ "Lose magnitude immediately with one simple trick."

Puzzling Meta

0

Q: Thank you, Robert Cartaino

For those who don't know, the Director of Community Development at the Stack Exchange company, Mr Robert Cartaino, is no longer employed by Stack Exchange. Tributes are already flowing in on main meta (Thank you, Robert Cartaino), but I wanted to drop a brief note of appreciation on behalf of our...

discussion tribute

Sphinx

10:50 AM

0

Q: Quantum tic tac toe strategy

Most of us learn tic tac toe early in our life. Also, it is easy to find an optimal strategy for playing. How about Quantum tic tac toe? What is the optimal strategy for playing it?

tic-tac-toe

Sphinx

11:31 AM

1

Q: Riddle: I can be this, and you can be this, and, yes, we can be this

I can be this, and you can be this. And, yes, we can be this. He can't be this and she can't be this. And no, they can't be this. Dogs can't be this, but cats can. And a kitten can't be this, but a puppy can. Givers can't be this, but beggars can. And humility can't be this, but ...

riddle word

Sphinx

11:52 AM

0

Q: One thousand year old riddle (from the Exeter Book)

This riddle is from the Exeter Book, circa 960-990 A.D.: Clothes make no sound when I tread ground Or dwell in dwellings or disturb the flow. And lofty air and gear at times Above men's towns will lift me: Brisk breezes bear me far and then My frettings loudly rush and ring Above ...

riddle explanation

Gareth McCaughan

12:50 PM

^ That was an interesting one to investigate.

Avi

2:17 PM

A 1
ALL 3
ALLITERATION 12
LITERATION 10
ITERATION 9
RATION 6
ION 3
ON 2
---
46

score 46 for ALLITERATION - can you do better?

sub-words must touch the first or last letter of the word to count

North

2:51 PM

@Deusovi CA(VIT(-A))Y?

Idk if that makes sense

Sphinx

0

Q: wandering knight

Suppose a land with a finite number of castles. Each castle is connected (via roads) with exactly 3 other castles. One knight leaves from his castle and starts travelling. He moves in the following way. 1) When he begins from his home castle (first step) he randomly chooses a road to take. 2)Fo...

logical-deduction topology

Gareth McCaughan

@North Yeah, I think that works.

Gareth McCaughan

3:44 PM

@Avi With one reasonable wordlist I get a max of 93 for INTERRELATIONSHIPS.

(That wordlist doesn't include LITERATION.)

North

@GarethMcCaughan What's the rule on using articles such as "a" or "the" in CC's?

Gareth McCaughan

With a bigger wordlist I get 153 for ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHICALLY. This list includes Y and LY and E and ELEC as words, all of which seem pretty dubious to me, but even without those the score is 145.

@North I'm not sure exactly what the question is.

North

so if i write "Lost a Roman life; inside key is hollow.", I'm not allowed to say inside the key is hollow

bc the split is at the "is"

Gareth McCaughan

I think you could say "a key" but not "the key" in this case. Because "a key" at-least-kinda-defines CAY but "the key" doesn't.

North

hm okay

can articles be used to indicate a split?

Gareth McCaughan

3:49 PM

I don't see how that would make sense.

North

Idk I was curious

Avi

4:05 PM

@GarethMcCaughan nice :D

I especially like INTERRELATIONSHIPS though - INTER :D

Buried treasure!

&lit?

I'm so confused

not quite but almost :O

INTER means to bury

North

What's the whole interrelationships thing

Avi

4:08 PM

RELATIONSHIPS are something you treasure

North

no i mean like what are y'all doing

Avi

@GarethMcCaughan It's the message below this

@North

Gareth McCaughan

@North Score of a word is total length of substrings of it that (1) start or end at one end and (2) are words. Question is what words have largest score.

Avi

Depression's an early sign of turning violent (6) - don't reveal the answer; I just thought you would like it

length of each substring, including the word itself

summed

North

ah

that's

a lot of arithmetic

Avi

4:12 PM

it's more about intuition honestly

North

sounds fun tho

Avi

either that or you write a computer program to go through the dictionary, which is fine

but less fun

xd

North

hmm code golf...?

im just kidding

Avi

I + IN + INT + TUITION + ION?

North

int?

Avi

4:13 PM

merriam-webster.com/dictionary/int

North

that's... a first

Avi

that's a heck of a lot of definitions

North

i think they're all contractions

yeah int isn't a valid Scrabbble word (not that it matters in this case)

Avi

again, it's more for fun

North

yea

Avi

4:15 PM

wouldn't make a good puzzle because defining a word list is bleh

North

i disagree

constraints help to make a clearer puzzle

Avi

Butt has long worn down (5) -> B(L)UNT

defining a good word list is hard, which is why the puzzle would be difficult to create

why take something arbitrary and fun

and turn it into a puzzle where people get easily confused

instead of just doing something arbitrary and fun

North

i mean scrabble valid is usually the best way to define a good word list

Avi

then making a puzzle with 1 clear solution

North

contractions, abbrv, etc are too finicky and you could just make one up on the spot

Avi

4:18 PM

"Butt has long worn down" -> opinions on the surface?

I think it's supposed to be talking about a bird

but perhaps too obvious

North

like there's a reason why Contact only allows the defender to choose Scrabble valid words

Avi

unless put in a puzzle where it matters

North

idk i kinda suck at cc's

Avi

So do I - in solving them

but I hope to become better at making them

North

same

Avi

4:19 PM

the depression one was pretty good imo

now I need to make a snow white one

North

surface reading for Lost a Roman life; inside key is hollow. (6)

feedback?

Avi

terrible

it reads SUPER awkwardly

Would you ever say that in normal conversation?

yea

no

talk like that i do

4:21 PM

ok so now you have ONE task

North

:P

Avi

make a Yoda cryptic, you will.

North

First word baby yoda spoke, second it was

Avi

?! is that a cryptic or not

North

no

Avi

4:23 PM

Ok just checking

North

that was supposed to be a joke

Avi

because we don't know what the first word is yet

...right?

North

his first word is probably his second

idk i haven't actually watched the mandalorian

i want to tho

Avi

Speak, I do.

North

wifi at the forest is pretty bad tho

Avi

4:24 PM

don't worry

North

hard to afford when you're dirt poor

Avi

you can polish your conversational skills in the forest

simply talk to the trees

and they will talk back

North

i mean you're talking to one

most of the other trees don't respond bc they think i'm weird

Avi

no abbreviations for "Tree"?

@GarethMcCaughan Where do you get valid abbreviations for cryptics?

North

?

Avi

4:26 PM

Black and white -> BW apparently has been used

but not sure if all colors directly take their first letter as abbreviation

after all, Aquamarine isn't Apricot

North

Crossword abbreviations

Cryptic crosswords often use abbreviations to clue individual letters or short fragments of the overall solution. These include: Any conventional abbreviations found in a standard dictionary, such as: "current": AC (for "alternating current"); less commonly, DC (for "direct current"); or even I (the symbol used in physics and electronics) Roman numerals: for example the word "six" in the clue might be used to indicate the letters VI The name of a chemical element may be used to signify its symbol; e.g., tungsten for W Country codes: "Switzerland" can indicate the letters CH ICAO spelling alphabet...

that's the standard list, i believe

Avi

BW isn't on there

nor is BLACK -> B

North

"Any conventional abbreviations found in a standard dictionary"

Avi

lmaoooooo

if you search "b" on merriam webster

it DIES

North

Black--> B might be a bit stretched

Avi

4:30 PM

lexico.com/definition/b

North

@Avi Conventional abbreviation usually means something widely accepted

Like using etc. or e.g.

Avi

b

I also see blk and bk

North

Wikipedia gave example as ""current": AC (for "alternating current"); less commonly, DC (for "direct current"); or even I (the symbol used in physics and electronics)"

Why do you need black?

You could say something about removing m from BMW

Avi

Why don't I need black?

I need like

a god list of every letter

and every possible way you could abbreviate to that letter

clueclinic.com/index.php/all-abbreviations

North

black ---> blk is probably the most common way to abbreviate it

Avi

4:32 PM

this is just frankly insufficient

North

abbreviations are kinda meh in my opinion

Avi

that's how you get a good surface

North

Using too broad of abbreviation makes it really confusing

Avi

c r y p t i c, you might say?

North

aight that's it i'm out

Avi

4:34 PM

Former privateer runs off to make amends (7)

one of the most brilliant clues I've seen recently

North

nice surface?

oh i thought you wrote that

Avi

a former privateer is an EX-PIRATE

runs off = remove R

To make amends, is to EXPIATE!

even if you can tell the definition is "to make amends"

finding EXPIRATE to EXPIATE is nearly impossible if you don't know that "Runs" will stand for R(s)

Avi

5:00 PM

@GarethMcCaughan Occasion for facing the future with resolution (3,4) I found this clue online - it sounds like NEW YEAR, but I can't tell what the wordplay could possibly be

"with resolution" could be the R

M Oehm

I think that may just be a "cryptic definition" without wordplay.

Avi

5:26 PM

cryptic definition?

M Oehm

Yes. Only a cryptic, often whimsical definition without any wordplay. (Often, that definition makes heavy use of indicator words, to make solvers think it's a regular clue.)

Avi

this seems very unfair

D:

M Oehm

It's not a device that is used very often. I see it more frequently in the supposedly easier cryptics at the start of the week, but even there it's used sparingly.

Avi

ok, that's good then

how can "facing" be used as an indicator? can it be used as an indicator?

e.g. facing the world

M Oehm

I don't think that facing was used as a decoy indicator here. I meant that I often see such clues with indicator words.

Perhaps "facing" could be used with two words where one of them must be reversed?

Avi

5:47 PM

perhaps

do &lit clues have to be self-referential?

Deusovi

self-referential?

they have to define the answer

Avi

e.g. MELODRAMATIC* - ACTOR = DILEMMA

Disastrously, melodramatic actor left - that's a problem!

Is that valid?

M Oehm

As a cryptic clue, it is, I guess. But it isn't &lit., because the def is only "That's a problem".

Avi

so no exclamation mark allowed?

M Oehm

I think you can use an exclamation mark here, even if it doesn't indicate an &lit. (But I'm not the authority on the finer points of CC etiquette. There's probably not even consensus on such formalisms.)

Deusovi

5:55 PM

that's a cryptic clue but not an &lit

an &lit is a clue where the entire clue is wordplay, and also the entire clue is a definition

Avi

I thought ? and ! were banned unless it was an &lit or strange usage

Deusovi

nope

Avi

yey

Deusovi

you can use extra punctuation whenever for surface reasons

(in general)

Avi

my power increases every time I learn :3

Here's a present:

Poor Santa nearly catches cold (5)

Deusovi

5:57 PM

(also, I don't think cryptic definitions count as cryptic clues and I would never use one in a cryptic crossword. they're great American-style clues, but not cryptics)

S(C)ANT(-a)

Avi

;D

Deusovi

that one's good! very nice surface

Avi

but the surface is good - I'm definitely using it

xd

Avi

7:16 PM

whatttt

these are impossible

Not half bad candelabra prince left in ballroom -> (DANCE(-labra))* + HAL + L

these people are crazyyyy

Gareth McCaughan

7:54 PM

B for black is a standard thing in cryptics, not because every colour can be abbreviated by its first letter but because of the naming scheme for pencil leads (..., 2H, H, HB, B, 2B, ...) where H=hard and B=black. ... Though I don't think I've ever seen "hard" -> H in a crossword, so maybe I'm wrong about why you can use B=black. I think R,G,B for red, green, blue are pretty standard, given their use in e.g. describing computer displays. (So yes, B can be two different colours.)

Puzzling Meta

0

Q: I just joined Puzzling, but can't post an answer

I saw a question that I wanted to post an answer to, so I joined Puzzling. My reputation on other sites allowed me to immediately get the +100 bonus... which should allow me to answer the question. Yet, even after logging out, and logging in again, I still can't. What's going on?

support bug

Avi

8:45 PM

might be confusing, but sounds like it belongs more on general meta than Puzzling meta

msh210

9:10 PM

@GarethMcCaughan I seem to think B for black is used in chess sometimes. Maybe not.

Avi

is it possible to do the "center" or "end" of multiple words?

Deusovi

sure, but you should pluralize it

Avi

as in "blind man's heart"

for nd

Deusovi

oh

I'd say that's generally a bad idea, if not explicitly disallowed

Avi

oof

Skin swine that's dead inside, taking the misleading heart (7) - SWIN(D + _L_)E

RIP

there goes a Snow White clue

shakes fist at the sky

Avi

9:37 PM

literally a misleading heart :o

Gareth McCaughan

9:53 PM

@msh210 Ah, yes, that's a better justification.

Avi

10:14 PM

Stealing infant's bed with search engine (8)

I'm a monster

derp

also I'm a derp

oh, it didn't matter

I don't have any 8-letter words in my grid so I couldn't have used that anyways

Sphinx

10:46 PM

0

Q: How would you solve the following Matrix Puzzle by u/---Kyu---?

I've been staring at this puzzle for too long, but I cannot get how it was solved. Based on the comments in the thread, a user identified that Number 1 is the correct answer, with the comment by u/---Kyu--- stating: Correct! it is a continuous pattern. Can someone share how the pattern is ...

pattern

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