12:41 AM
0

Someone sent me a photo of the last few lines of a puzzle. They were: BULLDOZER OVENPROOF BROADTAIL BREAKER ASYNTACTIC TIFF ALKYNE ABOUND EVASIVE BEVERAGE HILARITY COOTIE What was the point of the puzzle? This is a true story — someone did send me such a picture. The pi...

1 hour later…
1:59 AM
@Avi wait, puns like that are allowed?
never knew

@oAlt Only as the 'theme entries' -- the three to six longest entries (usually), which all follow a similar pattern.

2:17 AM
3

You have probably heard of code golfing? There the task is to find the shortest computer program that produces the required output. Here we want to perform math golfing - find the shortest equation that produces a given number. The length of the equation is measured as the number of characters. T...

1 hour later…
3:17 AM
@Deusovi oh, interesting. I never knew about that convention

3:52 AM
0

Determine all functions $f:\mathbb{R}\rightarrow\mathbb{R}$ such that $$(x-2)f(y)+f\big(y+2f(x)\big)=f\big(x+yf(x)\big)$$ for all $x,y\in\mathbb{R}$. Source will be given after the problem is solved, or the solution to the problem can be easily found.

4 hours later…
7:53 AM
0

Find all functions $f:\mathbb{R}\to\mathbb{R}$ satisfying the following functional equation: $$f(\lfloor x\rfloor y)=f(x)\lfloor f(y)\rfloor\quad\quad\text{for all }x,y\in\mathbb{R},$$ where $\lfloor\cdot\rfloor$ is the floor function (largest integer less than or equal to its argument). (Pendin...

2 hours later…
9:28 AM
0

Yep, this is my 100th puzzle here in PSE~ I'm really having a wonderful time here, thank you so much guys! >< I planned to write a harder and bigger one, but it turned out I was too lazy to do that.. So anyway, this is Minesweeper (Mine Clones)! Rules: Put exactly 100 mines in the e...

9:42 AM
Top cut from this dipper served up for royalty (4,3,7) - JOHN THE BAPTIST
can somebody explain this? "This dipper" seems to be a pun
may/may not be cryptic, I'm unsure (but probably is)

10:19 AM
It's a reference to the story of Salome.

a baptist "dips" people, and john's head was cut off and presented on a platter to some king/queen/who was it?

Salome, daughter of King Herod.

top cut = head, dipper = baptist, served up = on a silver platter in a very literal sense.

(The story in, I think, John's gospel [different John] is that JtB had criticized Salome for some moral impropriety, and at some big party -- I forget what its occasion was -- she did a dance that so delighted her father that he offered her anything she asked for. "The head of John the Baptist on a plate, please", she says.)

is anybody there

10:24 AM
where?

in TSL

I skip this review. Here's a new link to this review: onetimesecret.com/secret/pvdflo33g6z7eve0myssb625jwowl0c

@GarethMcCaughan probably ^
ping me with comments - I'll see them when I wake up

11:05 AM
Both of those give me "no such secret" which I assume means someone else is already looking.

@Avi I am late to this, but indeed gareth's explanation is correct
ok gotta shrink back to nonexistence for a while again

1 hour later…
12:17 PM
0

Start with a bag containing one red marble and one white marble. Reach into the bag and pull out a marble at random. Put it back and do it again. If, on both times, you grabbed the red marble, stop. Otherwise add two white marbles to the bag and repeat these steps. What is the probability ...

a lot of maths questions lately

12:35 PM
Indeed
And quite a few functional equations among them

2 hours later…
2:49 PM
Unfortunate that somebody else has already looked
@GarethMcCaughan Whenever you're ready just send me a ping

Maybe to make sure no one else opens it, you could send the link privately (email or something) :)

@Avi Try again if you like.

@Avi Clue seems sound. Surface is a bit meh.

as long as it's meh
was having trouble getting even to meh

I've seen worse.

0

The following figure has two axes of symmetry which define its width and length. The length is larger than the width by a factor of two. The largest circle has a radius of 2005 and all the contacts are tangent. If the six smallest circles have the same radii, then what’s the radius of the mediu...

3:59 PM
can an indicator be used to target multiple neighboring words as a group?
eg, last of the Jedi = "the Jedi"'s last, which is I

don't like it in that example... that basically leaves a word unused

fair enough

i wouldn't have a bad conscious about using "borders of ivory coast" for IT, though

but not "borders of the ivory coast" as TT, because it would leave ivory unused

as both words are still relevant for the cryptic reading and the phrase reads naturally as one unit

4:07 PM
I probably wouldn't use "borders of ivory coast" for IT, but that's personal preference

hi-jacking isn't a thing for cluing "J", right

I don't see how that would work

ok, good

2 hours later…
6:19 PM
So what's the procedure in enlisting help for clue design? I have one clue that I'm totally stuck on, and I'd like to get Gareth's help

7:08 PM
@Avi Send him a carrier pigeon.
Truth is, a PSE mod can make a chat room that only you, current and future PSE mods, and current and future SE employees can see. I think we're supposed to do so only for purposes of moderation, though. ("We" not because I'm a PSE mod but because I'm a mod elsewhere and can do the same thing m.m.)

The latter has been done but it would be inconvenient to put up a bunch of rooms for one-time queries similar to this
I'm thinking carrier pigeon is the way to go

7:30 PM
@Avi You can reuse them.
@Avi You can reuse them, too.

0

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. Since the definition part of a cryptic clue would give away the theme, these cryptic clues use a family member (e.g., mom, siste...

heh

7:55 PM
0

This is in regards to the solution in Slitherlink - It's all in the 2s I know it may seem dumb, but I don't understand the logic behind the second 2 chain in the solution. To help provide clarity in my question, imagine that each dot corresponds to a Letter-Number coordinate like 7 6 5 4...

8:19 PM
1

Stuck with this for long time now, I have tried all the techniques yhat I know

8:58 PM
I love that people discussed my puzzle! But... my pronouns are she/her, please, not he/him.

9:15 PM
Will try to remember, don't blame me if I forget
Everybody's just an amorphous blob of internet data to me
Skilled puzzling blobs

I won't, just wanted to throw that out there.
And puzzling blobs are insulted when I'm called skillful.

blob
blob blob blob blob. blob?
@msh210 Puzzling.SE has explicit permission to use private rooms for puzzle collaboration.
9

Here on Puzzling, we're a little different from other sites. Like, we know the answers before we post the question (usually), and we want other people to come to the same conclusion. And sometimes, we work on puzzles with other people. Take my Clues series. There is a list of Clues, and the puzz...

Be careful with that carrier pigeon. Those are getting arrested these days

hmmm
if we resurrect passenger pigeons
we can send the same encrypted message 500 times, and they can't catch 'em all, can they?
inb4 Gotta Catch 'Em All Law Enforcement Agent makes an appearance

Just got to make little pigeon Invisibility Cloaks
(rereading HP one too many times)

9:23 PM
Then... owls

yes yes

can somebody draw a very angry pigeon

I can't draw a stick figure

9:46 PM
@avi give me a bit I’ll see :P (I like drawing so more than happy to)

:)
Looking for cryptic validity check :o

10:05 PM
Definitely not the best thing I've ever drawn, and can't tell if its angry, fed up or knows something you dont but...
And yes, pigeons have eyebrows... don't ask :P
Hopefully thats what you wanted @Avi sorry for rushing it :P

Give it a top hat!
Everything can be improved with top hats

great

@bobble ^she speaks truth

@GarethMcCaughan are you there?

10:20 PM
ah yes

@bobble agreed, much better

@BeastlyGerbil it needs a monocle

Aha, now thats an idea I can get behind
I'll add a cane for good measure too

Yes!
Mr. Pigeonut!

Is the pigeon still angry?

10:28 PM
@bobble He has one bad eye and needs a cane. Wouldn't you be angry?

He could just brood all the time

claps

very nice

Hey msh
can you check a CC for me

10:32 PM
Someone's calling my name!
yeah, sure

@BeastlyGerbil, what's the pigeon's name?

This pigeon has a small blue tit that flies after him, carrying his luggage. He could never be seen out in public doing such a thing

ugh I hate it when there are flies after me

I think Deusovi wouldn't like it but it's barely ok

10:35 PM
there's a POS mismatch: first two words of the clue are an adj (or a form of a verb) cluing a noun

@bobble Sir Featherwait
I wonder if hes left or right wing... :P

Isn't it using an example to identify

also you're going to get some detractors to the 5th & 6th words of the clue meaning what they do. I personally would try to avoid it. I can explain more in OTS if you want.

for example, the current (noun) could be (adj)

@Avi no, my current (noun) is that I'm (adj)

10:37 PM

"that I'm (adj)" = a nominal, or whatever it's called
@Avi yeah, that's fine

Sir Featherwait is quite right-wing, he never forgave his left wing for going out on him
His left eye too!

erm, sorry, I just realized I'm not sure "POS" = part of speech for most people. (I am used to it from Wiktionary discussions, but am not sure whether it's standard elsehwere.) I certainly did not mean "piece of" anything

can you send an OTS explaining the 5/6th words part
don't worry I've spent enough time to know that meant Part of Speech :P

10:40 PM
absolutely
Deusovi would be unhappy with it
couldn't find a better way to alter the surface though

@Avi I wouldn't be so unhappy if I saw it. But I would try to avoid cluing it.

Right now the best I have is:

@Avi that's better

I tried doing a homophone but the homophone method is way overdone

@Avi I'd go with that, that's almost unobjectionable. :-)

10:44 PM
@BeastlyGerbil May I determine Sir Featherwait's favorite anime with a cryptic crossword

@bobble My left foot!

:)

@Avi of course! :P

@GarethMcCaughan Maybe it's time for a hint?
I could use one, that's for sure; dunno about anyone else.