The Sphinx's Lair

Deusovi

16:01

what makes them different from normal entirely unconnected puzzles? it sounds like there won't really be a link between them other than the theme, which I think a FTC could accomplish equally well

Stiv

The link is in reusing the answer of the previous in the construction of the next

A theme unifies all puzzles in a chain but the answer to one becomes the inspiration for the next

matt

so like if the answer to #1 is LAIR the next one could be SPHINX?

Deusovi

ah fair enough

somehow missed that part

Stiv

No worries. I realised it needed to be sufficiently different to FTC, otherwise it's just reinventing the wheel... and in a really weird way

bobble

in Chain Puzzles, 17 hours ago, by Stiv

Cool. Let's say the theme is 'Movies'. Puzzle #1 in the chain has the answer SCIENCE FICTION. The person who takes on Puzzle #2 can then frame it in a sci-fi context, maybe base the puzzle's background story in the genre, use components of certain sci-fi movies...

Deusovi

16:03

even then it seems to me to be a bit "unnecessary", in a sense? but hey no harm in trying it out

matt

@bobble right, right. :)

Stiv

I think it would be worth running a chain experimentally and seeing how it is received. If it bombs I'll happily write it off as a failed experiment, but I think it's something that's at least worth giving a shot

I've amended the meta page to remove references to the tag

AFK for a while now but will check back in later

Prince North Læraðr

Do y'all have to do digital citizenship in your schools?

Ugh I hate it

bobble

there was a lot of that in elementary school for me

Deusovi

do you mean a class called "digital citizenship"? never heard of anything like that

Prince North Læraðr

16:12

@Deusovi Not a class, per se. Rather, they take time out of "class time" to make you go through how to act properly online

bobble

and also to say Don't Trust Strangers On The Internet

Prince North Læraðr

Yup

Well that was a completely irrelevant video considering I DON'T USE SOCIAL MEDIA

matt

@bobble yeah same ... every freaking year up to like 5th grade

Prince North Læraðr

@matt Hah! At least its ended for you guys

bobble

the cheesy "educational" games were the worst

matt

16:16

and the video they used was the shittiest possible video

Prince North Læraðr

"Which of the following is NOT a way to express different things about yourself online?a.Posting creative videos showing your talents or things you love.b.Watching your favorite show when a new season comes out.c.Experimenting with different profile pictures.d.Sharing risky photos with strangers."

"Risky photos"

matt

RiSkY pHoToS

Lukas Rotter

2

matt

r/technicallythetruth moment right there

Mithical

@bobble I trust lots of random strangers on the internet

matt

16:22

@Mithical i assume you mean us?

Mithical

I'm currently trying to get an official (nonprofit) company set up with internet strangers, actually

bobble

well, according to those classes that means you will suffer some Horrible Fate

Mithical

woe betide me

bobble

Because apparently you have to assume that everyone is some sort of predator

matt

pReDaToR

Mithical

16:24

@BeastlyGerbil are you going to eat me

matt

??

Mithical

;)

beastly gerbils are a predatory species, didn't you know

Beastly Gerbil

@Mithical I don't think a gerbil's stomach can physically expand to that size sadly

bobble

they're beastly, after all

matt

i- i- sigh

Mithical

16:25

> sadly

Beastly Gerbil

But you never know... better not downvote my posts or the beast will be unleashed!

matt

oh no

Beastly Gerbil

@Mithical it would be awesome if gerbils could eat humans!

matt

ahhhhhhhhh

Mithical

sounds apocalyptic to me but alright

bobble

16:27

Can gerbils eat bobbling crowns?

Beastly Gerbil

Depends if they're beastly

bobble

The gerbils or the crowns? :P

matt

yes

Prince North Læraðr

@bobble Are you actually a predator?? Trying to steal my identity or kidnap me???

Thankfully I'm a tree, so no human can detect me

matt

better take off that crown then North

bobble

16:31

I've been found out! Bobblies, kidnap North and silence him!

matt

baa-boww

baa-boww baa-boww, baa-boww baa-boww

Prince North Læraðr

Oh no!!!

matt

they are coming closer

Beastly Gerbil

Not sure how I feel about beastly crowns

bobble

that is cool

Prince North Læraðr

16:32

There's nowhere to flee! (because I'm stuck in one position)

matt

@BeastlyGerbil HOW DID YOU

@PrinceNorthLæraðr BAA-BOWW, BAA-BOWW

bobble

you can try to pull a Whomping Willow and hit the bobblies away

Prince North Læraðr

Key word, try

Beastly Gerbil

@matt its a MW filter

Sadly they updated it so it looks less terrifying when applying it to pictures now

Prince North Læraðr

Why is there a bobblie on my head?

matt

16:45

because you put it on, remember?

Prince North Læraðr

There are more bobblies coming

matt

indeed

ba-bow ba-bow

bobble

@PrinceNorthLæraðr Slow draining of puzzling ability, to allow for some "recharging"

Prince North Læraðr

Oh no!!

matt

oh yes

Ankoganit

16:47

@BeastlyGerbil what's an MW filter?

matt

from modern warfare apparently

Beastly Gerbil

Microsoft word :)

Ankoganit

Ah * facepalm *

Beastly Gerbil

Dw not many people think of word when they think photo filters lol :P

Ankoganit

Hehe yeah

matt

16:49

yeah how does that work

Ankoganit

I didn't even know MS Word had photo filters

Beastly Gerbil

Yeah so if you double click on a photo it will take you to picture format, and then under 'artistic effects' is basically a load of filters

Backstory of my profile pic is I was just messing about with them and thought the image was funny :P

matt

dammit google docs

Ankoganit

Nice

I haven't used Word in years

Beastly Gerbil

Id say theres... definitely better photo editors out there though...

I use word occasionally but google docs more often

Excel I still use a lot

John Dvorak

16:53

LibreOffice FTW

Ankoganit

I use Linux now, so anything MS is right out

@JohnDvorak yep!

(and I mostly latex my documents anyway)

matt

except latex hates right-to-left languages

John Dvorak

~~why not HTML printed to PDF?~~

Ankoganit

Ouch that hurts

@matt oh? I had no idea

matt

it displays the letters properly but the words are still left-to-right
it's like typing "this like" instead of "like this"

Ankoganit

16:56

I see

matt

@JohnDvorak there's actually a builtin in JS - window.print() - that prints the current tab

@Ankoganit at least without any special packages and other things

Ankoganit

@matt ah

So there are packages to help with that, right?

matt

yeah

Ankoganit

Cool

matt

solution if you don't want to use the packages: either don't use latex or don't use arabic/hebrew

matt

18:05

aaaand I'm back

Lukas Rotter

where did your crown go

matt

i decided to take it off

Avi

18:34

@JohnDvorak D: I tried using it and it was not microsoft word

latex is the only option for linux imo

msh210

19:33

@PrinceNorthLæraðr I'm unfamiliar with that meaning of "citizenship".

Avi

19:55

The only "citizenship" I know of is this one boat with a load of Zen Buddhists that used to work at a bank...

Sphinx

-2

Q: With three lines cut 1/7 of a triangle

The challenge is to draw 3 lines over a triangle ABC and cut a triangular piece LKJ of 1/7 area of the original triangle

-2

Q: What is the next value of this sequence?

What is the next value in the list - 21, 52, 105... Hint: It is related to this With three lines cut 1/7 of a triangle

geometry number-sequence

0

Q: Cryptic Family Reunion: Is the election over yet?

The answer to this puzzle is a list of ten thematically related words or proper names or phrases. Each of these is clued cryptically, and the theme is to be determined; in this puzzle, the clues are in a particular order relevant to the theme, which is also to be determined. Since the definition ...

knowledge cryptic-clues

Voldemort's Wrath

Digital citizenship is how to act as a citizen of the internet. It's like etiquette for the internet. (The official term is netiquette; I'm not making that up.)

@Sciborg What about me???

Avi

@Mithical tabs, you say...

Mithical

Lukas Rotter

@Voldemort'sWrath Like 1) "You do not talk about /b/" and 2) "You DO NOT talk about /b/"?

Mithical

20:00

you have too many YT tabs open

Voldemort's Wrath

@LukasRotter Yeah sort of

look up netiquette

we had to do it all the time before corona

Avi

@Mithical yeah usually I have other things open instead

Voldemort's Wrath

its so annoying

Avi

but I was able to clean most of them up recently

bobble

@LukasRotter one thing that my school system emphasized was being nice on social media. You were supposed to think before you post if what you were saying was nice, kind, needed, ect. (there was an acronym)

matt

20:01

@LukasRotter ah yes, /b/, the voiced bilabial stop. no one can discuss it here.

Avi

/b/ nice

Voldemort's Wrath

hey bobble, what would i be in the pse boss fight?

Avi

Spell checker

Voldemort's Wrath

no

Avi

yes

bobble

20:02

Sciborg is the one who decides your role, I cannot say.

Voldemort's Wrath

Yeh i suppose

i would destroy

everything

b/c im so amazingly powerful

and awesome

matt

apparently mick was last active 1 hr ago.

Voldemort's Wrath

yep

matt

sorry voldy

Voldemort's Wrath

thatsok

just...

crucio

Avi

20:03

Spell checker - unique power: can only spell spells correctly, nothing else

Voldemort's Wrath

lol exactly

k homework (ugh)

matt

@Voldemort'sWrath oh no

also yes i took off my crown

bobble

You have to mean it for any Unforgivable curse to have an effect. I don't think our dear Voldy is that evil... yet.

matt

> ... yet

Avi

I'm pretty sure that Avada Kedavra isn't the worst spell

cause otherwise they could've just got a gang of people whose relatives had been killed by Voldy

and try to AK him

inside a circle

probably a lotta crossfire but would've been GG

bobble

20:08

how would they get close enough?

Avi

using more AKs

bobble

> “The trouble is, the other side can do magic too"

Avi

I have no reason to believe that a sufficient amount of wizards and witches from the good side couldn't take down the Death Eaters

Molly Weasley took down Bellatrix, Voldemort's top lieutenant

matt

this is becoming SF&F SE again
ahhh

bobble

no, it's SF&F

Avi

20:11

this showed that, in the older generation of witches/wizards, there were sufficiently talented witches and wizards

not to mention, Dumbledore vs Death Eaters would've probably been a one-sided massacre

similar to how Voldemort vs normal wizards is a one-sided massacre

bobble

@Mithical some help?

Mithical

?

Avi

imo the main reason that Voldemort was so successful was because of fear and apathy - fear that you would be next to be targeted by him, apathy thinking that if you didn't do anything, you wouldn't be targeted

bobble

explain to Avi why everyone can't just circle around Voldy and kill him

you know harry potter stuff

Mithical

Ah.

Avi

20:14

especially, purebloods tended to live in historically occupied locations

so dumbledore could just go to their houses and GG no re them

he was overly pacifistic

to be fair

once Voldemort died, the whole death eaters pretty much crumbled, so it wasn't strictly necessary to kill them all

Mithical

First off, there's the whole "getting near him" problem; he's surrounded by DE's and Nagini etc. You'd have to wade through a whole squad of ruthless killers who are willing to kill innocent bystanders (see: Pettigrew) before even getting close to Voldy. Next, there's the whole "Voldy's extremely powerful" thing; remember that silver shield on OotP? He can deflect most spells cast at him. Third, he's got the Horcruxes so can't even be killed properly.

Avi

Just go to the death eaters' houses

kill them one by one

Mithical

You don't know who's been Imperiused.

Avi

better safe than sorry

Prince North Læraðr

@msh210 What do you mean?

Avi

20:17

@Mithical AK is unblockable though

I'm sure enough people wanted him dead

bobble

> Third, he's got the Horcruxes so can't even be killed properly.

Mithical

@Avi No, it's not.

Prince North Læraðr

@Avi AK is a curse that's pretty much avoided at all costs anyways

Unless you're a death eater

Mithical

It's not blockable by a Shield Charm or similar. It can be deflected by physical objects.

Avi

!!!! evidence?

Prince North Læraðr

20:17

See mirror from

Order of Phoenix?

bobble

See here

> It, like any spell, can be blocked by physical objects (though it doesn't seem to be stopped by magical shields), it can be dodged, and (as we see in the climax of book 4) it can be struck by other spells.

Prince North Læraðr

Funny how a basic spell like "Experlliarmus" defeated the literal most dangerous curse in the entire universe

Avi

so basically all Voldemort needs is a dirt shield to block AK from every direction

Mithical

> [...] and this time Voldemort was forced to conjure a shining silver shield out of thin air to deflect it. The spell, whatever it was, caused no visible damage to the shield, though a deep, gonglike note reverberated from it, an oddly chilling sound.

Prince North Læraðr

@Avi It can pass easily through dirt, pretty sure

Avi

20:20

I'd not consider regular spells a good idea to use against Voldemort

Mithical

> Voldemort paid no attention.
“I have nothing more to say to you, Potter,” he said quietly. “You
have irked me too often, for too long. AVADA KEDAVRA!”
Harry had not even opened his mouth to resist. His mind was
blank, his wand pointing uselessly at the floor.
But the headless golden statue of the wizard in the fountain had
sprung alive, leaping from its plinth, and landed on the floor with a
crash between Harry and Voldemort. The spell merely glanced off its
chest as the statue flung out its arms, protecting Harry.

Avi

@PrinceNorthLæraðr then you just need to hide underground of him

and aim up

Prince North Læraðr

I'd personally go with "Confrigo" or "Bombardp"

Avi

AK seems the best option if you don't mind a bit of soul splitting

bobble

thick dirt is basically an object

Prince North Læraðr

20:21

@Avi Exactly. Confringo is one of my personal favorites

Though confringo can be blocked

You can use reducto for the dirt block because that causes objects to explode

Avi

If we assume that Voldy can block pretty much any regular spell

then Unforgivables are pretty much the only option

Prince North Læraðr

You still need to destroy the Hocruxes

Mithical

@Avi *DE Apparates away at the sight of someone at the door*

Prince North Læraðr

There are some powerful spells that can pass through deflections, I think

Avi

@Mithical That would be a shameful experience and would boost morale for non-DEs

Prince North Læraðr

20:24

There's the "Dracofyre" curse or whatever its called that's deadly enough to destroy a hocrux

Mithical

not necessarily

Apparate behind them, kill a few, vanish

Avi

Dumbledore has the Death Eaters on the run - newspaper headline

Prince North Læraðr

@Avi I don't think you understand how the HP universe works

Avi

@PrinceNorthLæraðr Fiendfyre iirc

Prince North Læraðr

@Avi Yes that one

But also super dangerous to control and probably will kill you

Avi

20:25

@PrinceNorthLæraðr yah tbh rita skeeter would be like "Dumbledore on the run from DEs"

Prince North Læraðr

@Avi Now he gets it

Mithical

not to mention, ya know, the fact that the ministry refused to believe voldemort was back and so prroooobably wouldn't look kindly on assassinations of death eaters

Avi

Hogwarts principal hasn't shown up in school for 5 weeks! Who will take responsibility for the children?

Prince North Læraðr

Well the Ministry was kind of corrupted by the DEs sooooo

Avi

@Mithical it would've been a better tactic before he vanished

Prince North Læraðr

20:26

@Mithical What are spells that aurors like to use other than stupefy?

Avi

tbh he should've just killed him as a kid

Prince North Læraðr

He tried to remember

Avi

"This kid looks like future Dark Lord... better strangle him in the cradle"

green flash

Prince North Læraðr

What would've happened if Voldemort tried to like murder Harry via non-magic way?

Avi

Harry would've died

or plot armor

Prince North Læraðr

20:27

You know, gun, knife, literally anything

He's a baby

Avi

then we would have a great story about

Neville and the Vine of Victory

Prince North Læraðr

Would Lily's love have protected Harry from literal buried-alive or bleed to death or like anything

Mithical

well the magical protection obviously doesn't extend to knives (see GoF), so presumably Harry would've died

Prince North Læraðr

@Mithical Stupid arrogannt Voldy

Avi

@PrinceNorthLæraðr arrogant? yes. stupid? not necessarily.

matt

20:29

im outta here

Avi

see you :)

Prince North Læraðr

@matt You got rid of the bobblie!

matt

indeed i did

Prince North Læraðr

Congrats on your victory

matt

thanks lol

Prince North Læraðr

20:30

deep ominous voice *You may have won the battle, but the war is far from over*

matt

oh no

Prince North Læraðr

Uh oh, the bobblies are taking over my brain

Helpp!!!

matt

EVERYBODY RUN

FROM BOBBLE

Mithical

Oct 8 at 20:55, by Mithical

it's too late, i'm afraid

matt

screams

bobble

20:32

I just want to be your frieeeend

7

matt

sure ya do

@bobble ok fine lol

@sciborg - bobblie update?

guess not

Avi

20:59

btw @Stiv how would you go about incorporating the answer to a previous puzzle in the next puzzle?

w.r.t. Chain puzzles and consecutive puzzles by 1 person

bobble

ahh wrong link

in Chain Puzzles, 22 hours ago, by Stiv

Cool. Let's say the theme is 'Movies'. Puzzle #1 in the chain has the answer SCIENCE FICTION. The person who takes on Puzzle #2 can then frame it in a sci-fi context, maybe base the puzzle's background story in the genre, use components of certain sci-fi movies...

there we go

Avi

"B) In a given chain, each puzzle (other than the first) should somehow make use of the answer to the previous puzzle in its construction. For this reason, the answer to each puzzle in the chain should be a thematic word or phrase. Setters should please avoid choosing answers for their puzzles that are so obscure the next setter may struggle to create a puzzle using it."

This is what I'm more concerned about

bobble

only the previous puzzle, and if you click on the above link you can see some more examples Stiv gave

Avi

so it's like, double theme?

msh210

@PrinceNorthLæraðr What do you mean?

bobble

21:10

the answer must be themed, and some element of the puzzle must be themed around the previous answer

(you can discuss this in the Chain Puzzle chat if you want)

Sphinx

0

Q: Messed up function needs uncovering!

You (a python noob) spent 5 hours to make a simple function that takes in a number, and it will print out a grid with the given number as each of its dimensions. Each square of the grid will have a single circle in the center. Satisfied, you save the code in grid.py and go to bed. Later, you acci...

computer-puzzle computer-science

Avi

^ don't really like these puzzles :(

I thought this one was MUCH better

12

Q: The art of computer programming

EDIT: I know we are not supposed to edit in new requirements after first posting but as far as I understand it this requirement is implicit in all questions here: Explain your answer! At least a little bit. So a casual reader has a chance to follow your musings and appreciate your genius. Here i...

no-computers computer-puzzle arithmetic tiling

bobble

yeah that one was cool

bobble

21:31

Someone voted to close this question and migrate to Meta. I mean, it's a terrible puzzle, but it's no meta question.

Stiv

@Avi Okay, here's a more practical example (the other one was one I just riffed off the top of my head). Imagine the theme for the chain is ACTION FILMS and the answer to Puzzle #1 is PREDATOR. Puzzle solver becomes setter of #2 and decides to create a puzzle involving lions and tigers. The answer to THAT one must still be connected to action movies, but the puzzle itself has just cleverly used the answer of the first in a different way.

Avi

I see

0...
13000...
213000...
3000...
43000...
5213000...
6000...
7213000...
8000...
9000...
^ CMC: explain

bobble

it's chat mini challenge. gosh, get the word order right, you silly ambigram!

Avi

(12)43000...

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