The Sphinx's Lair

12:10 AM

(is anyone willing to test my shingoki? :0 i've been test-solving it by myself for some time now and now i think it seems best that i need another person's input)

bobble

no time, sorry

oAlt

that's fine

Sciborg

I'm gaming at the moment, but I can try it later!

oAlt

oki

Prince North Læraðr

Gotta study math :(

oAlt

12:16 AM

it fine and good luck :0

bobble

I'm doing "fun" tax diving again. Currently trying to figure out how to tell if my parents filed a 1040 Schedule 1.

"how to tell" turns out to be using control-F for "schedule" on the tax documents

okay, now they want me to enter literally every single line of one of the sections

oAlt

D:

Sciborg

Sounds like a blast

bobble

> Also I don't like this downvote here.

this question now has 3 downvotes

complaining about downvotes in the comments won't make anyone like you

Sciborg

12:31 AM

It's okay to be like "hey could somebody explain why they downvoted so I can improve the question?" but complaining is just kinda immature.

oAlt

12:43 AM

(yo, never mind about the shingoki-- i think i got it all figured out now (though if you still wanna try it then why not :0 ) ~~and i really want to post it :P~~)

ThePuzzlingPlatypus

@oAlt want to play contact?

oAlt

12:59 AM

hmmm ill pass for now-- i'm not interested (yet)

bobble

I'm supposed to predict how much I'm going to get in scholarships, how much I'm going to earn over the summer & next school year, how much money my parents will give me, how much money my other relatives will give me... how would you predict any of that?

Everything depends on how much scholarship money I get, but I have no way to predict the amount of scholarship money

matt

@Sciborg like how would that even work

@bobble :(

Sciborg

@matt how would what work?

bobble

1:14 AM

pointie crossing

Sciborg

Hmm, maybe I'll try to draw it later :p

ThePuzzlingPlatypus

anyone up for a game of contact if there are enough people?

bobble

'borg, you know, it'll probably be slower since less players

Bubbler

2:35 AM

I don't really like the recent influx of so-called IQ/Mensa questions. I can't explain why though

Sphinx

2:54 AM

0

Q: Santoitchi: Crowded?

Santoitchi is yet another genre involving trominoes. The name seems to mean Three-and-One in Japanese with a deliberate misspelling (イッチ instead of the usual イチ for "one"). Here is an example puzzle with solution: Rules: Shade some cells. The shaded cells are not allowed to share an edge. Divi...

bobble

3:20 AM

I can. I think they're poor puzzles, which show no effort, are useless to anyone beyond the asker (and even that's debatable), and too often rely on "guess what I'm thinking" solutions. And if they're from online IQ tests (which is often), they show the asker is the kind of person who wastes time on such tests and places some value in their useless scores.

I will keep editing their titles, because that's the only way I can see to improve them. Though it isn't much.

Ankoganit

Not sure the poster caring about useless scores is relevant to the quality of their posts

but agree on the other points

Prince North Læraðr

> Originally from Puzzling.SE - North tempted me with sweet promises of moderation tasks, and I came.

^@bobble

Hehe

bobble

3:42 AM

hehe you found it :D

Bubbler

@Sphinx I changed the puzzle to eliminate a trivial solving path. Sorry for anyone (if any) who already started working on it.

bobble

I'm not sure of how to even start it, so I'm leaving it alone and will read the solve path of whoever posts an answer.

Bubbler

Very unhelpful hint: the "key deduction" is at the start. The rest is easier.

@bobble If you haven't already, you can try out the introduction puzzle, which covers various kinds of logic hidden in the genre.

bobble

3:58 AM

My plan right now is to work on solving Fillominos while idly planning Pentomino Nurikabe

Prince North Læraðr

5:41 AM

pfffft

I just got a mail from Standford inviting me to sign up for their summer classes

Like I know it's a form letter

but still

bobble

they would be stupid expensive

Prince North Læraðr

Ugh

4k for 3 units, 10k for 8 units

I guess my dream of taking summer classes at Standford just went out the window :((((((((((

Scam

bobble

wait, is that with dorm? are they even offering dorming?

matt

scams are Not Good

Bubbler

Educational segregation by money is real

Sphinx

7:51 AM

3

Q: Shingoki: An Exploration of Unicode

An entry in Fortnightly Topic Challenge #42: Wordless Connecting Walls-- wait, what? This is a Shingoki puzzle. The rules are as follows: The aim is to form a single loop without crossing or branching paths. For the loop created to be valid, it must pass through all of the given circles. The c...

enigmatic-puzzle visual grid-deduction connect-wall

Sphinx

9:05 AM

-1

Q: Mensa practice test question need help

I took a Mensa practice test, which is found on the r/mensa subreddit. Somebody claimed that this was the most accurate Mensa practice test. The link to this test is http://www.mensa.fi/test/test_frameset.html. I came across a question in the test which I wasn't able to solve: I could not find o...

pattern visual progressive-matrix

Sphinx

12:23 PM

0

Q: Lasers: Moving Mirrors (Level $7$)

Previous Level:- Lasers: Doubled Bridges (Level $6$) Here is another level for the game. I have added nothing new, but the level can be a bit tricky this time. Rules : There will be lasers which are shaped like an arrow. The arrows pointing in the respective direction shows where the laser goes ...

visual physics sliding-blocks

Sphinx

1:37 PM

0

Q: Optimal refuelling strategy

On the way from work I want to refuel my car. There are 5 petrol stations along the way that all have a different price for petrol. As I approach a petrol station I see the price of its fuel. At this point I can either go in and refuel some percentage of my tank or I can keep driving. Once I've p...

strategy real

Prince North Læraðr

2:57 PM

@bobble " The estimates below include Stanford's per-unit tuition of $1,233 per unit, the Application Fee, and a Document Fee."

That's without a dorm, I think

bobble

3:21 PM

whistles that's quite a bit

Prince North Læraðr

Yeah

A bit of a rip-off IMO

hey North! bobble!

yo!

!oy<

how's it going?

3:41 PM

I am solving Fillominoes

Prince North Læraðr

I am in English class

matt

@bobble nice

nice
unless you don't like English

Prince North Læraðr

I like English

I lovveeee my English teacher

He's a strict grader but is super nice

matt

nice

also, Mick has said "ooh" 50 times in TSL

Ankoganit

4:07 PM

Curious why you searched that

matt

4:27 PM

i dont even know

Sphinx

6:10 PM

0

Q: Slitherlink/Area 51 next steps/strategies

I've been doing quite a few Slitherlinks recently (and puzzles containing Slitherlink elements, such as Area 51). I'm familiar with all the patterns described on the Wiki article but I feel like there's some stuff I'm still missing with them. I'm currently stuck on this Area 51 puzzle, and would ...

slitherlink unsolved-mysteries

Sphinx

6:35 PM

0

Q: Sum of digits of sum of digits of sum of digits

The following question was asked in a competitive exam for which I am preparing an d I was unable to solve it ( In fact I am completely clueless about it) So, I am asking for help here. Given a number with 1998 digits which is divisible by 9. Let x be sum of its digits and y be sum of digits of ...

mathematics formation-of-numbers number-theory

matt

6:50 PM

hey gerbil!

bobble

7:02 PM

I just fixed a question that had a link to an image of the rules for a puzzle genre. That's just layers and layers of inaccessibility.

Prince North Læraðr

7:21 PM

C4 Hint #2: The first letter is O

Sphinx

7:50 PM

0

Q: Numbers side by side

Ok, so here's a little puzzle I got. I have five different numbers. They all have different amount of digits. If you place them side by side you see the number 32767 How is this even possible!? And more importantly what are the five numbers?

formation-of-numbers

matt

8:20 PM

cc for fun: Endless phone or logs, yo! Sounds! (9)

Gareth McCaughan

If the CCCC starts with O then it must be ... ONTOLOGICAL, which means something like "concerned with existence" (which isn't really what "existential" means, but then North did say the def was iffy). I guess "start to nothing end in naught" means N+T, so then OOLOGICAL needs to be "hollowed sound". But I can't quite make it work. OO could be a "hollowed sound", or LOGICAL could be "sound", or maybe OO could be "hollow_s_", but I think I'm missing something.

There are various O...OLOGICAL words (besides ONTOLOGICAL itself) but none of them means "sound" so far as I know, though I suppose something OCEANOLOGICAL would be concerned inter alia with the study of sounds (in the sense of marine inlets) :-).

Prince North Læraðr

@GarethMcCaughan You basically got it

Gareth McCaughan

I'd prefer to have actually got it :-). It seems there's something I'm missing somewhere...

Prince North Læraðr

Hollowed was supposed to be O (like empty, hollo, circle), but I realized after posting that was a pretty bad uh indicator

(Not really an indicator/abbreviation)

Gareth McCaughan

ah!

Prince North Læraðr

8:31 PM

My fault, really

Gareth McCaughan

(was it supposed to be two Os, in fact?)

bobble

surrounded by Os?

Avi

O(N_ + _T)O + LOGICAL

Prince North Læraðr

Yea

Avi

Is what I think north is getting at

Gareth McCaughan

8:32 PM

yeah, but it says "hollowed" not "hollows" which is what I was whingeing about

Avi

yeah

justified whingeing

Prince North Læraðr

Totally justifiable

Can hollow=O?

Gareth McCaughan

maaaaybe?

I certainly wouldn't feel particularly cheated if I saw it in a clue

Avi

mayyyyybe but that doesn't mean I'd have to like it

matt

@GarethMcCaughan you did see it in a clue though

Gareth McCaughan

8:34 PM

no, I saw "hollowed" = OO in a clue, and that isn't the same

Prince North Læraðr

I saw ONTOLOGICAL as ONTO+LOGICAL and I was like hm

But then kinda failed at cluing it

Couldn't really get a great def either :/

Avi

Upon sound argumentation on the nature of being (11)?

Gareth McCaughan

I think "argumentation" there is superfluous

Avi

though not really sure what ontological means myself

bobble

ontological

Adjective: ontological (not comparable)

Of, or relating to, ontology.
Of or pertaining to the nature of being or existence.
1902, William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, Lecture 3:
Such is the human ontological imagination, and such is the convincingness of what it brings to birth. Unpicturable beings are realized, and realized with an intensity almost like that of an hallucination.

Avi

8:36 PM

o

Prince North Læraðr

Hence, existential, which also means "relating to existence"

Ish

matt

hm

Avi

I usually perceive existential as relating to one's own existence

matt

16 mins ago, by matt

cc for fun: Endless phone or logs, yo! Sounds! (9)

Avi

As in, "existential threat" or "existential crisis"

@matt no yo-yos

matt

8:37 PM

?

Avi

idk

my brain is dead, I'm out

Gareth McCaughan

phonology, obviously

matt

yep

> well obviously it's wa(pal)nt, the capital of eurasia

(sorry, North)

Prince North Læraðr

@matt Wut

matt

8:55 PM

@PrinceNorthLæraðr ?

bobble

9:07 PM

@Sciborg, I have a Doodle Request: a stack of bobblies balancing on top of each other.

Avi

9:28 PM

apologies for lack of art skills

claps

9:54 PM

claps

I just copied and pasted them since laziness

bobble

10:49 PM

thoughts? I debated between VLQ flag, downvote, and comment - you can see that I went with a comment, but if they don't update their answer or reply then I'll go with one of the other options. I'm curious as to what others' opinions are.

hmm, I forgot to put the standard welcome at the start of the comment.

matt

11:10 PM

hm

Sphinx

2

Q: My two button microwave

Long ago, I encountered a microwave with a display in the "HH:MM:SS" format. But instead of a number pad, you entered the desired time through two buttons: An "up" button, which shifted the digits to the left. So "00:00:05" became "00:00:50", and "00:00:10" became "00:01:00". Note how this is no...