The Sphinx's Lair - 2020-11-10 (page 1 of 5)

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12:05 AM

@Deusovi DIA< + CRITIC

I'm assuming it's used here as an adjective rather than a noun

There's a perfectly lovely intended path for my next Tetrikabe, and then there are a bunch of less-lovely paths. Hopefully someone finds the lovely one :) If no one does, I'll post it in the chat.

12:21 AM

@oAlt wow

Ikr

At first I was so lost on how to parse the wordplay

12:32 AM

ok @deusovi this cccc was just amazing applause

i was trying to look at commentators' names at first and it seemed I was losing hope

also @deusovi i just saw that the typo is in all of your profiles actually (re: "lingust")

oh right i saw that too (but didnt want to tell it just after i told deusovi to fix a formatting error in one of his answers) (also maybe best to not ping too much-- he's eventually going to backread a few parts anyway as soon as he knows he got pinged :0 )

dang the edits are strong with this one

> it do be like that sometimes

12:52 AM

Aww, I made dinner and took a nap and when I came back there was all kinds of cute stuff in my inbox <3

hey, 'borg is back!

hey mick!

do you want me to post the Tetrikabe now?

Sure! I'll take a shot at it

It is here: puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/104681/…

12:55 AM

(will also fix the blog picture, my bad - I posted it and then realized the pictures came out too small on desktop screens)

blog picture?

it's fine, I could still read with squint method

ooh, title is cute :D

something I accidentally posted in North's chatroom instead of here

"socially distance fours" lol

12:58 AM

have you spotted the starting deduction yet?

this puzzle was made to show off one specific type of deduction I find Very Cool

I've got work to do :(

@bobble how Very Cool is it?

poor Bubbler

@matt Very

I did credit you for the name in the question itself

"The new name for this puzzle genre can be blamed on Bubbler" :p

"blamed on"

1:01 AM

hmmmm, i think i might understand the deduction

I'm very interested to see what solution path y'all take: I test-solved this one 5 (?) times, and every single time I found a slightly different solution path.

distant happy puzzle-solving sounds

the bobblies have decided that your puzzle-solving is Too Darn Cute (tm), so they will refrain from sucking your puzzling abilities out

3

Aww(?)

Poofy would never do such a thing, I trust her

Just spotted the solution by mentally shuffling the pieces over the board

Not very answer-worthy

1:06 AM

the ones in the walls don't listen to Poofy, they say she is too young to make decisions for the community

that's probably the most terrifying thing you've ever posted

yeah, this genre is especially vulnerable to intuitive solves

also i just snuck an among us reference into my math homework :p
(i don't play, but i couldn't resist)

Got two deductions now, I think I'm getting what you were going for and I love it

If you spot the right ones, only 3 Big Deductions are required for a full solve (the rest is trivial). There are more required if you take different solution paths.

1:13 AM

5

Q: Tetrikabe: Socially Distanced Fours

Pentomino Nurikabe is still elusive, but here is another Tetromino Nurikabe! I'm not sure if the 4s are actually socially distanced enough. (The ones on the right and bottom are doing better than the others). Nevertheless, they are further apart than before. Rules: (Nurikabe section shamelessly s...

logical-deduction grid-deduction polyomino

1

Q: Generalized color balls in a 4x4 grid

This is a generalization of the Colored balls in a 4x4 grid puzzle that was proposed by Darrel Hoffman. Colored balls from 4 different colors are placed in a 4x4 grid. There is at least one ball from each color. A move consists of swapping two adjacent (horizontally or vertically) balls. The valu...

combinatorics optimization

furious backtracking sounds

oh no!

I placed a piece too early and I had to go back arghhh

this is teaching me good lessons in "don't jump ahead"

I won't be providing any help (to be fair to other solvers), but I will provide you with cheers. Go, Sciborg! WOO! WOO! Sciborg can solve the Tetrikabe, yes they can!

:D

1:20 AM

Okay, I found a path with one large step, one small step, another large step, then a quick case analysis

I thought you had work?

Just finished my work :D

Again, I'm sure there are plenty of solution paths that I didn't find - nature of the genre.

But I don't have time to post it, I have to go to a meeting now :/

boo....

1:21 AM

rip

I have to start making dinner, but I'll leave the computer near me to check if anyone gets it.

I just got it, gotta write up my answer now

yay!

Nice

wait... wait NO I had a 2x2 region I didn't see, CRAP, I gotta fix a step

stand by

1:28 AM

standing by

i think i made a stupid deduction in one of the corners that i shouldn't have made, fixing

the recipe calls for butter, so I'm using the free little cups of butter we got from a take-out. what, that's not the butter they wanted?

Are you baking over there? :p

making butter-garlic salmon

Hot dang, nice

1:30 AM

ooh

and here i am microwaving nachos and pretending i'm a chef

hey, my recipe is 1) cut butter into little pieces in pan 2) put buttered pan in oven to melt 3) put salmon on butter & cover with seasoning 4) cook. Not hard!

i mean hey, cooking is cooking!

now i'm frustrated because every fix i try to make just leaves a 2x2 region floating around mocking me, i must have screwed up my initial deductions. gonna start over from the first one

"mocking" you?

they're taunting me

1:37 AM

singsong voice "The two-by-two is watching you" (best sung high-low-high-low, etc.)

i must have done something super wrong but i can't figure out what it is, everything up to that point seemed logical

I took the butter out of the oven and tilted it around the pan :) Time for salmon & seasoning!

yum

@bobble Things Bobble Is: bobblecrown, tutor, chef

hey avi! bobble is cooking

I just double-checked to confirm that there is indeed a solution

1:46 AM

i think i figured out what i did wrong, let me see if this fixed it

anticipation

more anticipation

I have to go eat that dinner now :) be back later!

2:02 AM

returns from meeting

...i gave in and looked at your answer, and dang, i was struggling hard apparently

good job!

wild Jeremy Dover appears!

2:18 AM

hahah

Prince North Læraðr

@Sciborg Any luck on the connect-wall?

Hm, need to make sure it isn't too vague in the future

@oAlt Hehe, [needs citation]

Loll

ah yes, [blue superscript bracketed numbers]

2:57 AM

Since it's solved now, the theme of the puzzle was juggling the need to cover at least one of any 2x2 with a tetromino. You need to consider several 2x2 areas at once to make progress. I was quite proud of how it came out :)

@oAlt that's correct!

(and yes, the adjective meaning)

we're sorry, we pinged you a lot :D

no big deal!

@matt yeah, i fixed the issue in all of them

epic

CCCC: Gave advice about &lit (6)

nice surface!

3:02 AM

thanx

anyone want to see the intended solution path for the Tetrikabe, or is someone still working on it?

Gareth McCaughan

@oAlt Solution to your CCCC is LED about AND making LANDED or lit.

:D your turn @GarethMcCaughan

nice

ooh neat clue

3:09 AM

aaaaa tenks again

why is lit=landed?

ah nvm got it

nice one

10ks

ah darn, should've taken a picture of my rep before accepting Jeremy's answer. I was at an even 4200!

4200 factorial is a lot of rep

that it is

@Sciborg, out of curiosity: what was the invalid deduction you made?

Gareth McCaughan

3:19 AM

@Ankoganit It is definitely even, at any rate.

CCCC: Sharp edge of bar risks cut (5)

indeed

Gareth McCaughan

(incidentally, of course I agree with everyone else who said that oAlt's clue was ingenious)

:0

Gareth McCaughan

anyway, it's well past my bedtime so if someone solves my clue quickly I'm afraid they'll have to wait a bit for confirmation.

hahah

3:24 AM

good night!

@GarethMcCaughan BRISK = edge of Bar + RISKs cut

dangg (edited to add: never mind)

Gareth McCaughan

Huh, ingenious but that was not the solution I had in mind.

waaaat

Gareth McCaughan

(If I'd noticed that yours was possible I would have rejected or modified the clue.)

4:15 AM

I'm taking a break from making puzzles and will start working my way through that Fillomino pack :D

I've set up another giant Google Sheet of Solving

Prince North Læraðr

4:34 AM

O/

how be everyone

bobble be puzzling

Prince North Læraðr

i just got my scores for mock trial, if anyone's curious

I am

Prince North Læraðr

Defense: I got an 8/10 for opening, 8/10 for cross, 9/10 for direct

Solid, considering I got my stuff for defense literally 30 minutes before the trial started

For prosecution pre-trial I got an 8/10 but that's because I didn't get to have a rebuttal

I don't know what those numbers mean, but you say they're good so yay!

Prince North Læraðr

4:36 AM

5 means you're average (which translates to YOU'RE BAD)

So 8 is like a B performance

good, then

Prince North Læraðr

Above average, but not exceptional, yet

@bobble ya

did you see the new tetrikabe?

@Sciborg, if you're still here: SHIELD update?

5:05 AM

@Bubbler I solved your Nurikabe through intuition but can't see a logical path. Oh well.

Frankly it isn't a 100% logical puzzle. Maybe a 10x10 could be made more logical, as I expect it to have larger variety of solutions

edit: I found a nice step

but yeah, it does make use of certain deductions unique to the ruleset

I can't figure out when to take pictures. There seem to be altogether too many small steps

okay, found a logical solution - just can't figure out how to write it up

I'm going to re-start, maybe I can figure out better picture spots this time around

Just put as many pictures as you need :)

5:18 AM

The problem was I was taking too few pictures

2

Q: A half-shading Nurikabe

Rules of Nurikabe: (copied from here) Numbered cells are unshaded. Unshaded cells are divided into regions, all of which contain exactly one number. The number indicates how many unshaded cells there are in that region. Regions of unshaded cells cannot be (orthogonally) adjacent to one another, ...

(@Bubbler: could you also tag your puzzle [logical-deduction]? using both tags is recommended)

welp, someone posted a no-explanation answer

You now have a non-answer and a no-logic answer to your question. You win a prize! Not a good prize, but it's definetly something

Welp

(For the tags: I thought it was the opposite, as many grid puzzles can't be solved by logical deduction alone)

Is that so?

if there's a unique solution, they can

5:32 AM

Oct 27 at 15:18, by bobble

interruption with something entirely different: when should a puzzle be tagged with both "logical-deduction" and "grid-deduction"?

maybe not in a 'clean' way (though they should be solvable in a clean way, or else they're not particularly good puzzles)

see discussion here

I thought grid puzzles not solvable by pure logic are Frowned Upon (TM)

Ah, makes sense

Hmm, OK

but if there is literally no way to arrive at the solution even through deep trial-and-error and bifurcation, that means there is no unique solution

which means the puzzle is broken

5:34 AM

I used a not-very-deep backtracking twice in my puzzle, so I felt it wasn't that logical

though it does have a unique solution

I got a nice series of pictures, now to race against the other answer & my bedtime

5:55 AM

Posted! Yay!

(Note for Bubbler: my complete answer is posted before the other one updated with reasoning)

By about a minute and a half. I still "won", though :)

I have to leave for the night - guess I'll see which answer is accepted when I wake up

1 hour later…

7:25 AM

0

Q: Diagram Sequence

This was a puzzle given "graduatetrader.com". I don't have its answer but it wasn't E as per them. If you can find some pattern please help me. I found one pattern by giving numbers to each arrows: 1 to 4 Then number way to select a pair for any fixed diagonal(or any pair lets say right bottom a...

7:41 AM

@GarethMcCaughan i could see this being B_R + (-r)ISK(-s), but i think it's actually B_ + RISK(-s)?

4 hours ago, by Bubbler

@GarethMcCaughan BRISK = edge of Bar + RISKs cut

oh sorry i missed that

4 hours ago, by Gareth McCaughan

Huh, ingenious but that was not the solution I had in mind.

hah that's pretty funny

8:00 AM

bruh

reeee i'll have to accumulate c4 material again

8:41 AM

@oAlt could you please not use "reee" like that? it comes from memes mocking autistic people

had no knowledge it came from that, am sorry

(oh right i had a question too: in the C4 sheets, the "date" there is the date the clue itself was made right? not when it was solved?)

(yeah)

(thanx)

9:04 AM

0

Q: Puzzle ideas for distributed team

A distributed team of ~500 people will receive a christmas gift delivered to their houses. There is an option to include some puzzle to the package, adding extra fun. What could it be? A few of my ideas: a part of shared secret, which requires N of M pieces to decode (teamwork required) part of ...

enigmatic-puzzle

0

Q: Is it possible to put numbers and cut a hexagon?

You have numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. It is required to put the numbers in triangles (one number in a triangle), so that when cutting a hexagon into two parts, the sum of all the numbers in the first part is divided by the sum of all the numbers in the second one. You can only cut along the rad...

9:14 AM

@Sphinx Is this on-topic?

9:59 AM

why not? it's a question about puzzles, no?

2 hours later…

Gareth McCaughan

11:40 AM

As a couple of people have spotted, my C4 is "cooked": there's a pretty solution that I hadn't intended. In an actual cryptic crossword this sort of thing seldom matters (though of course it's a blemish in a clue) because other crossing solutions let you rule out the unintended solution. So, even though it's rather early for such things:

CCCC hint: First letter is A. (Given rather early because two people spotted an unintended alternative answer.)

2 hours later…

1:13 PM

1

Q: Fastest draw from opening position in chess

When playing a normal game of chess, assuming the opponents are cooperating: In how many moves can a draw be unavoidable, excluding voluntary draws or draws by repetition of moves? 1 While not capturing anything. (fastest stalemate or ..?) 2 When capturing pieces is allowed. (fastest stalemate, b...

chess optimization checkerboard

1:34 PM

@GarethMcCaughan _arris_, then

ah, nice

1:53 PM

that's not a w-- (checks dictionary) oh, i see

breaking: hexomino creeps within striking distance of top 3

currently 98,612 rep vs gareth's 98,650

the race to 100k is real

@jafe added to the dictionary by Gareth today, and retrospectively to documents all the way back to the 15th century if we believe what he added to the etymology section

heheh

1 hour later…

Prince North Læraðr

3:28 PM

yawn gaMen

hey, North!

I might hit the rep cap today - already at +187 rep for here :D

Prince North Læraðr

3:51 PM

ooh

...scratch that, +197

yep, definitely hitting the cap

Prince North Læraðr

yup, just upvoted your nurikabe :)

Releasing a puzzle + solving a puzzle on the same day, plus some recent puzzles that are still getting a trickle of votes

Prince North Læraðr

terikabe*

The only other times I've hit the cap (I think) are the days where I answered the HNQ'd maze puzzles

Prince North Læraðr

3:53 PM

Aaaannd daily cap hit

:P

not quite yet, it seems: I am now at +207

Prince North Læraðr

ohh right it's 250

some of the rep is from an accept, if that matters

Prince North Læraðr

shuckst thought I could ~~sabotage~~ help you hit daily rep

if you hit daily rep that means more opportunity for me to catch up

:P

Don't scoff at this @Sciborg but it's 49 here at SoCal and 67 inside my house which translates to ITS FREEZING in SoCal

it was hot, and then rained on Friday, and suddenly the temperature just DROPPED'

it's like the weirdest thing ever

is raining on a Friday somehow different from raining on any other day?

hi, gerbil!

3:59 PM

that kinda happened to me too North - it is ~43

Prince North Læraðr

Well, it rained, and then the temperature just dropped all of a sudden

for me it just dropped

Prince North Læraðr

Also it's California- it never rains down here

"High of 69"

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Nov '2010

The Sphinx's Lair

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