The Sphinx's Lair

ThePuzzlingPlatypus

12:00 AM

@HTM Yes, and welcome back

I know you've been back for a while, but stil

HTM

Eh, more like a week or so now, but yeah it's been a while

Mostly been hanging on the CGCC Discord playing chat games like Codenames

ThePuzzlingPlatypus

I miss doing that

but I can't exactly play at work

After I could, but i'm lazy like that

Gareth McCaughan

12:23 AM

@Avi Yes, that's a reference to the Mumonkan.

oAlt

ugh i'm stuck on msh's crossword

ThePuzzlingPlatypus

think I"ll leave the chat for now

oAlt

12:38 AM

nooooo gareth why must you do this :P

Gareth McCaughan

sorry, did I snipe you?

(wait, does "snipe" have that meaning around here? maybe not. "ninja", perhaps)

oAlt

it's fine-- im way behind, although i did fill up a significant area of the grid already

Gareth McCaughan

I don't suppose you solved 2?

oAlt

yeah i have not either

Gareth McCaughan

darn

bobble

1:04 AM

I edited out all the parts of this answer which I felt weren't addressing the question - can you see anything important that I took out?

Gareth McCaughan

Yes: the context that explains that the numbers he's putting dots above are ones already written in the cells to indicate what numbers are possible.

(I'll fix it.)

bobble

thanks!

Gareth McCaughan

(done)

bobble

1:22 AM

@Bubbler, I have to leave soon... :( No Nurikabe-solving for me this time

Sphinx

1

Q: A 5-out-of-9 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, ...

Prince North Læraðr

^Something about that is just so cute to look at

bobble

Even when you consider how the crown is a bobblie wanting to suck you puzzling abilities?

Prince North Læraðr

Yes

bobble

May 26 at 19:13, by Sphinx

0

Q: Puzzling at-home-order

A standard nonlinear, non-clued wordsearch. Similar to the Cluelessly searching for words series, but here letters can be used by multiple words. Rules The words can run in any direction (orthogonal or diagonal) and do not have to be in straight lines Words cannot use the same tile twice, but ...

word-search

Prince North Læraðr

1:25 AM

I think it's the "new contributor" that idk adds to the flair

bobble

I used to use the standard avatar... I switched away pretty quick, but there's my old avatar

Prince North Læraðr

@bobble First post, I assume?

bobble

yep :D

Prince North Læraðr

My old avatar was a compass

Because, you know... "North"

And then, I became a tree

bobble

I can almost access review queues on Lit - though I'm probably going to wait a bit (First Posts especially), since I don't feel that I've gotten a decent handle on the culture yet

Bubbler

1:27 AM

I chose Kirby simply because it's cute

bobble

valid

Bubbler

then some years later I found there's Bubble Kirby so I changed to this specific one

Prince North Læraðr

@bobble Well, you're in for a joy ride! Eddie Kal is a great user- also shaking some stuff up in the Lit. SE

Hence all the conversation about improving site scope, etc

@Bubbler Nice

I was actually trying to find the corniest picture of a tree, and this is what I found

I took one look at it, and I loved it

bobble

Oct 12 at 14:58, by bobble

I used it as a stock image for an AP US History project, and I like it. It's cute! Little button eyes and a smiley face.

as for how I chose the crown

oAlt

2:13 AM

i chose my avatar because... yeah

Prince North Læraðr

2:33 AM

has your name :P?

oAlt

:D

Prince North Læraðr

You know, I've been wondering what I could do once I start to venture into getting a degree in music

I was thinking, maybe I should go into music law

I could still get my BM in music and maybe even pursue a masters while having a relatively stable job

oAlt

form a band and tour all around the world 😎 ..eventually

Prince North Læraðr

lol

Bubbler

waiting for a more logical solution to the newest Nurikabe

Gareth McCaughan

2:43 AM

@HTM Solution to your CCCC is ASPERGERS (and the dubious enumeration was because maybe it should be (8'1)). AS PER = according to; G = Google; ER(-o)S = loveless love. I have to take issue with the definition, though; Asperger's syndrome really isn't an "emotional problem".

Ankoganit

oh, nice

oAlt

could not freakin remember a good way to "abbreviate" 'according to' D:

Prince North Læraðr

@GarethMcCaughan Yeah... that's a bit offensive

I have an uncle with Aspergers and I'm not sure you could characterize it as an "emotional problem"

Gareth McCaughan

CCCC: Prophetic book's beginning: Jeremiah opposes evil lawyers (4)

Ankoganit

@GarethMcCaughan J_ O_ E_ L_

Gareth McCaughan

2:48 AM

yup

oAlt

ohh

HTM

@GarethMcCaughan Hence the question mark, there's always a tradeoff between accuracy and having a nice surface

Ankoganit

aw shoot now I have to make one

Gareth McCaughan

(Anyone who hasn't cottoned on yet might want to look at the solutions to my last four C4s.)

HTM

@PrinceNorthLæraðr I apologize, I know it's a topic that shouldn't be treaded lightly

@GarethMcCaughan Looks like the pin for the CCCC archive went away

Gareth McCaughan

2:51 AM

ah, nuts. Let me make another one.

CCCC is Cryptic Clue Chat Chains! Latest clue is ⤴/⤵ there! Join the fun! See Deusovi's Cryptic Clue Guide and GPR's Archive & Statistics of past clues.

5

Bubbler

Except that there's no latest clue :P

Gareth McCaughan

Well, no. That happens sometimes.

oAlt

heh

Gareth McCaughan

anyway, long past my bedtime now. My belated congratulations to KAMPALA ARRIS and JOEL BIDENT.

HTM

@GarethMcCaughan Eugh

Ankoganit

2:53 AM

AHHH

oAlt

oohhh

Gareth McCaughan

If the election had gone the other way I might have left the names unaltered since TRUMP, MIKE and PENCE are all words already. (And offhand I don't think there's anything off by one from DONALD.)

Except that of course I already did a (slightly scurrilous) C4 clue for TRUMP, back near when the CCCC was new and (IIRC) he was running for president but not yet elected.

Ah, no, on checking it seems he had in fact been elected.

Just a few days short of four years ago. How time flies.

oAlt

truly

Bubbler

So the chain has been running for four years?!

HTM

@GarethMcCaughan Is it this one?

Gareth McCaughan

2:58 AM

A bit more than four years.

HTM

Nov 16 '16 at 2:12, by Gareth McCaughan

CCCC: One who might grab model's ass (5)

Gareth McCaughan

That's the one.

(T + RUMP; you need to interpret the "'s" as "has" if you want it to be strictly Ximenean; def is "One who might grab", and of course at the time it wasn't his penchant for grabbing asses, as such, that was in the news.)

HTM

Donald Trump Access Hollywood tape

On October 7, 2016, during the 2016 United States presidential election, The Washington Post published a video and accompanying article about then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and television host Billy Bush having "an extremely lewd conversation about women" in 2005. Trump and Bush were in a bus on their way to film an episode of Access Hollywood, a show owned by NBCUniversal. In the video, Trump described his attempt to seduce a married woman and indicated he might start kissing a woman that he and Bush were about to meet. He added, "I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you...

Gareth McCaughan

Right. Actually going to bed now. Apologies if anyone was bothered by my covertly political-themed cryptic clues.

oAlt

night

oAlt

3:23 AM

Also late, but noooooo no more Avi ambigram D:

Avi

oooooh!!!!!

alright now I just have to answer a CCCC correctly - easier said than done, though

Ankoganit

CCCC: Watered down porn: suitable for children (11)

(apologies for the surface)

oAlt

3:42 AM

D:

Avi

I'm really thinking "appropriate" but not seeing any wordplay

@Ankoganit ADULT + E-RATED

def "Watered down"

Ankoganit

yep, that's it

Avi

CCCC: What can mess up girls badly?! (14)

4

bobble

4:06 AM

@Bubbler your wish is my command

@Sciborg ping me if you come in

Avi

4:26 AM

gonna be out for a while, @ me if anything important

Sphinx

4:44 AM

0

Q: Odd one out of images

Spot the odd one out. You must justify your answer.

enigmatic-puzzle odd-one-out

bobble

@Deusovi, do you have any tips for how to notate a Fillomino that uses the Sum variety rules? I've been just putting numbers and borders into a Google Sheet, but I'm not sure how to notate the boxes & sums.

(for the Cipher variety I just make a little table below the grid for letter-number correspondence)

Deusovi

5:30 AM

in google sheets? one option is to highlight the regions and write their sums outside the grid (in the same color)

bobble

ooh that would work, thanks

Bubbler

Maybe have an entire copy of the grid, divided by colored regions and having sums on them instead of clues?

bobble

hmm, that will probably work better

easier to reference, at least

double-boards set up!

...copied it down wrong :(

Bubbler

5:50 AM

Ooh, looks interesting

bobble

the bottom-right 3 should be a 4

if you want to solve for yourself

Deusovi

@Sciborg i "went to MIT" physically for the MIT Mystery Hunt, but did not attend classes there

bobble

standard fillomino rules, and boxes have to sum to their numbers

'night, all

oAlt

Night

Deusovi

night!

msh210

6:18 AM

Good morning, O timezone-mate @jafe.

(And good whatever, the rest of you.)

Deusovi

good whatever to you too!

Ankoganit

Is gAmen still a thing?

Deusovi

haven't seen it used in a while

Ankoganit

That was kinda convenient

jafe

good morning/other

oAlt

6:43 AM

between noon and afternoon here :o

jafe

isn't that just "afternoon"? :P

oAlt

oopsie :p

jafe

hm, can't find any 14-letter words for the construction i want for the c4

i think with the !? it could be a semi-&lit anagram of "can mess up girls", possibly ending either -ing or -ness

if the answer was three words it could be ANGELIC MRS PUSS, who despite appearances can mess you up pretty badly if you cross her

oAlt

Lol

Sphinx

7:15 AM

0

Q: Lasers: (Rotation + Movement) (Level $4$)

Previous Level: Lasers: Cross through the bridges (Level $3$) Here's another level for my new puzzle, after a long time. Some new ideas came too :- Rules : There will be lasers which are shaped like an arrow. The arrows pointing in the respective direction shows where the laser goes and the colo...

visual optimization physics

oAlt

10:25 AM

@HTM , I must confess that for the longest time I've been reading your former username wrong hahah

I was convinced that that was a lowercase L not a capital I and so kept reading it as "PilsNot3" which I thought was pretty odd

Gareth McCaughan

12:22 PM

@jafe or perhaps PRINCESS LA SMUG.

actually it's obviously UGLINESS CRAMPS.

jafe

hah, clearly

Gareth McCaughan

or perhaps they are working at CERN and they got a SUPER CMS SIGNAL.

Sphinx

12:43 PM

1

Q: Lasers: Everything is Switched (Level $5$)

Previous Level: Lasers: (Rotation + Movement) (Level $4$) Here is another level, this is a bit tough I guess, but enjoy solving using the previous rules ! Rules : There will be lasers which are shaped like an arrow. The arrows pointing in the respective direction shows where the laser goes and t...

visual optimization physics

oAlt

12:56 PM

Indeed

Stiv

1:33 PM

@oAlt You're not the only one! In fact, there was a conversation between me and someone else recently in comments on a question (can't remember which) where I admitted to this exact same error! There's been an awful lot of pings going astray there...!

oAlt

1:52 PM

oh gosh hahahah

Gareth McCaughan

I had the same problem for quite a while.

msh210

(I just wanna say, I'm quite proud of two of the clues -- numbers 22 and 23 -- in my beehive. (Some of the others are, um, not as good.))

Gareth McCaughan

2:16 PM

I liked those too. I like the surface of 5, as well. 14 was fun, though also very obvious how it was going to work. I thought most of the clues were good, actually.

msh210

thanks

oAlt

2:31 PM

Can't remember the clues but I liked some there too

msh210

2:55 PM

thanks

@Mithical howzit

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