The Sphinx's Lair

1:44 AM

@GarethMcCaughan ROMANTIC, from RON (Eglash's Race, Sex, and NERDS)+AC (a current)+MTI (University in Cairo). Genre of literature is the def

AncientSwordRage

2:37 AM

On second thought, that's quite the stretch

Jafe

2:51 AM

i think it's SF (sci-fi, a genre of literature) plus I (current) inside MIT'S (technical university's) for MISFITS (nerds)

bobble

that is less stretchy

AncientSwordRage

3:06 AM

That's practically rigid

Sphinx

5:26 AM

0

Q: Show that every finite directed acyclic graph has at least one source vertex

Easy puzzle courtesy of a paper I'm reading rn: Show that every finite directed acyclic graph has at least one source vertex. That is, a vertex such that all the directed edges incident to it are directed away from said vertex. Source : The above is the exact text from a post on the facebook grou...

graph-theory

Gareth McCaughan

10:05 AM

@AncientSwordRage nope!

@Jafe yup!

msh210

@Jafe The genre in question is indeed current among technical university's nerds.

And current (I) is another genre (well, topic) of literature among said nerds.

Gareth McCaughan

10:29 AM

The first of those observations is one reason why I like the clue. The second is not. (And, actually, maybe it would have been better if the genre hadn't really been one that "fits" so well, on the general principle that you want the surface reading and the actual wordplay to be as far away from one another as possible.)

Jafe

CCCC: Lose dairy-based beverage competition? (5,3)

msh210

@Jafe shake off ddef :-)

Gareth McCaughan

that was a very swift solve

msh210

10:45 AM

I spotted the "off" part pretty much as soon as I saw the clue, and then spent several minutes wondering what the drink could be. I even checked a milk-based drink list online (though "shake" didn't appear).

Gareth McCaughan

(note: while this was indeed an admirably swift solve, that wasn't the only reason for my comment)

Stiv

Ha! I get it...

Jafe

11:06 AM

that's correct!

msh210

@Stiv ahh, thanks

msh210

12:24 PM

CCCC: Game player is keeping track (4)

AncientSwordRage

RISK

Def: Game, playeR IS Keeping... I'm not familiar with track being a containment indicator but it must be right?

msh210

12:57 PM

@AncientSwordRage yep! I was thinking of a track meaning a segment of a longer thing, like on a music CD.

AncientSwordRage

AH!

gotcha

CCCC: State 31 or 99 of heat ( 7 )

Chris Cudmore

CCCC: CALORIC - CALifornia OR IC

AncientSwordRage

1:17 PM

@ChrisCudmore correct!

Chris Cudmore

1:58 PM

CCCC: Position in the penalty box perhaps. (6)

Anonymus 25

Does Position clue PEL? I was thinking of P (ARC) EL

Chris Cudmore

No.

bobble

2:35 PM

I don't understand the rest of the logic there either

Gareth McCaughan

2:50 PM

Nor me.

hexomino

@ChrisCudmore Is this OFFICE (as in "OFF ICE" which is where the penalty box would be in ice hockey)

Chris Cudmore

That's it.

hexomino

@ChrisCudmore That's a good one

Chris Cudmore

Thank you.

hexomino

CCCC: Rob your secret (8)

Gareth McCaughan

3:29 PM

@hexomino Answer to your CCCC is STEAL + THY = STEALTHY.

hexomino

@GarethMcCaughan Yep, that's it!

Sphinx

3:43 PM

0

Q: Why can R2c3 not be a 4?

Take the following Killer Sudoku I have been struggling with for the last few hours. "Penciled" numbers are my notes about which numbers are possible in the cells. I cannot seem to find the next step. The App I am using says that R2c3 can only be a 5. However, I fail to see the reason. Anything ...

sudoku

bobble

@Sphinx it's not that it can't be a 4, it's that it must be a 5. But I'll wait for OP clarifications & sourcing information before I post an answer

Sid

I think OP meant R1C3 instead of R2C3

bobble

I assume so as well, but I'm feeling nitpicking about sourcing right now

@mods (I would @Rubio but they're not pingable) I think I will write up a draft of an FAQ/summary for our attribution policy at some point Soon (tm).

Unless anyone else wants to, but with the lovely level/lack of meta participation on my custom close reason I doubt so...

... and someone FGITW'ed an answer before the clarifications. Of course.

Chris Cudmore

What's FGITW?

bobble

Fastest Gun In The West

1465

Q: Fastest Gun in the West Problem

I feel like there's a problem with Stack Overflow, as the number of people prowling it increases. Each question's answers are sorted by descending score and then by descending time of posting. This means that if a person sits down and answers a question in a long, thorough way, going through eve...

discussion questions answers fastest-gun

infinigon

4:00 PM

oopsie, sorry bobble.

bobble

's kay, the answer's been given and the clarifications were provided. Everyone goes home happy.

infinigon

didn't see this discussion in the chat, and the "ooh finally a question that I can answer" temptation was too great.

bobble

It's more of a worry when, for example, someone posts an answer to a question that looks like it could be an attempt to cheat on something. Then we'd prefer for answerers to stay out until enough sourcing information is provided to be sure that we're not helping people cheat

@infinigon I know this painfully well - a few of my early answers I have deleted, realizing later that I sacrificed quality for "me want some rep!". At least your answer is a good one here.

If you're interested in Sudokus, may I ~~indoctrinate you into the cult of~~ introduce you to grid-deductions in general? There are a bunch of genres, and I would love for there to be more setters around here.

(setters = "people who set/make grid deduction puzzles")

infinigon

I do like my grid deduction puzzles!

They're a huge time sink though. I've more recently been trying to channel my time into learning to solve cryptics instead :)

bobble

Which are somehow less of a time sink? I think not! ;p

infinigon

4:08 PM

dropped into the chat because I saw the CCCC series. They're really cool, but I can't solve them (quick enough) yet :P

bobble

Oh, we're not always so fast. There have been clues which were up for days on end before.

infinigon

well, I gotta pick a sink to pour my time down

bobble

Feel free to check in every once in a while to see if there's an active clue. Or more often if you want to be privy to all the randomness that happens here.

infinigon

I tried my hand at making my first cryptic clues last night. Hoping to make it a CCCC and seeing how others feel about it. But it might take a while before I crack someone else's.

bobble

If you want practice, just post your clues (not part of the chain) and this chatroom is happy to offer constructive criticism

That's how I learned cryptic clues, a while back - trial and error (with a distinct emphasis on error) until the rules finally clicked

Also, don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm bobble, a sentient crown and/or incoming first-year university student :)

I am also a bit much, a prolific linker, and a fast typist

infinigon

4:17 PM

honoured to be graced with your presence.

being a student right now must be rough, I imagine.

classes all still remote?

bobble

My university's fall classes haven't started yet, but they're going to be primarily in-person.

infinigon

I did the whole education thing and now I'm doing the whole work-from-home thing, and soon the work-from-office thing, but sneaking in a few puzzles whilst I'm still working from home.

whilst I still can, during the workday :)

bobble

They also have a vaccine mandate, testing/contact tracing protocols, and hopefully that'll be enough. Remote high school was a pain.

infinigon

that is good to hear. exciting times for you!

Chris Cudmore

I'm back in the office mostly. I can't stand work from home, especially when the kids are off school.

bobble

4:21 PM

One of my parents is work-from-home (but that was true before the pandemic, too) and the other is effectively hybrid because he keeps getting called in for Important Meetings (tm)

infinigon

my colleagues are split between the opinion of work-from-home being difficult with kids, and work-from-office being sad because you can't spend time with the kids

Sid

All my friends have started Work-From-Home while I have to go join the office, in person. :(

Chris Cudmore

My kids are 15, so they're not needing as much time with me as before.

infinigon

I think the conclusion is, kids are just hard.

Chris Cudmore

Actually, the pandemic came at exactly the right time. 14-15 is peek a**hole for boys. So we more or less avoided it.

With twins, the worst part is 2-4. When they can't be left alone for even a minute, and there's two of them going off in different directions.

Sid

4:26 PM

@ChrisCudmore Ha! I have twin nephews and they turned 2 on, I think April.

Chris Cudmore

Don't let yourself be outnumbered.

AncientSwordRage

@bobble good advice. I should stop umming and ahhing about then not being able to use it in CCCC

infinigon

my very first clue is not PG, so let's go with the second one I made:

Turn words into actions, say (9)

bobble

whispers I would like a hint

Chris Cudmore

I don't see an obvious def/wordplay split here.

infinigon

4:38 PM

it's a double definition

Chris Cudmore

So Turn isn't and anagram indicator.

an.

infinigon

ah, I see what happened here.

no, turn is not an anagram indicator

bobble

I would more naturally see "turn" as a reversal indicator, but then

Jan 4 at 15:11, by msh210

@LukasRotter Leur's rule: For every word, there's at least one person who considers it an anagram indicator.

infinigon

how do crossword setters (or any puzzle setters) gauge difficulty

Chris Cudmore

IMPLEMENT fits one definition before the comma, but "say" doesn't fit.

bobble

4:44 PM

In generally, badly

infinigon

in my mind I had convinced myself "this is obvious" and "someone's sure to have seen this before"

Chris Cudmore

.. And it's only 8 characters. Never mind.

infinigon

it is not implement

the split is at the comma though.

bobble

there is also this

48

Q: The many-eyes effect

I want to alert puzzle writers to a potential cognitive bias I'll call the many-eyes effect. Many people try to solve your puzzle, but only those who succeed post. It's tempting to imagine the posters as typical solvers and forget the many invisible people who tried and got stuck. As a result, yo...

discussion

Chris Cudmore

sometimes it's really obvious after the fact. You struggle for a while then it's "Duh! of course!"

infinigon

4:46 PM

ah, yes, interesting bobble.

Chris Cudmore

VERBALIZE ?

infinigon

yes!

I only realised after you mentioned turn that the clue is actually misleading with its faux indicator words

bobble

I'm not sure on "Turn words into actions" = VERBALIZE - isn't "verbalizing" when you say something, not when you do something?

infinigon

ah, that refers to the definition of verbalize as in to turn a word into a verb

bobble

oh, like verbing

infinigon

4:53 PM

yeah, that's what I was going for.

bobble

okay :) it's a fair clue, and a pretty nice one too, in my book

infinigon

why thank you kindly

though most of the credit has to go to the word verbalize for being such an oddball

bobble

That's the point of good cryptic clues - exploit the weirdness of the English language

infinigon

I feel like choice of word does most of the work in making a DD

for the setter it's like "just add water"

bobble

Completely unrelated, I saw this on the sidebar and it annoyed me:

terrible, terrible titles

infinigon

4:56 PM

hah. let me guess

stackexchange won't let you create a question if the title has been used before

bobble

I usually try to stick the sequence itself into the title to make them at least semi-useful

@infinigon yup! There are workarounds, of course, but the easiest is to change some of the small words around

infinigon

hence all of the small variations

amazing.

Chris Cudmore

I hate sequence puzzles.

This one is apparently from an MCAT test review. What aptitude does it even test for? puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/111316/…

bobble

I downvote the ones that seem to come from IQ-adjacent tests and the ones which appear to be guess-what-I'm-thinking puzzles, and upvote the rare interesting one

Mithical

@ChrisCudmore When I started my draft process in the military, there were a couple tests where you had to figure out "what shape is next?" within a time limit. The result was basically how they computed your "intelligence score".

(Which itself was a major part of your overall score, which affected what positions you could get into.)

Chris Cudmore

5:04 PM

Let me guess - Triangle, Square, Pentagon ...

Mithical

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