The Sphinx's Lair

4:50 AM

CCCC: Artist whose previous recordings have been hip hop is going to work with metal (4,5)

2 hours later…

6:24 AM

@Jafe WILL (is going to) SMITH (work with metal)

@oAlt that's right

6:49 AM

Tryna find another title to incorporate into a cryptic clue lol

7:34 AM

I give up

CCCC: Start of career: Kline is confused with metal (6)

@oAlt Nickel - (C(areer) + KLINE)* = metal

@Alconja yup!

8:27 AM

how bad was the storm last night @oAlt? is everyone okay

CCCC: Metal singer offends extremes - bit off heads and burned insides (8)

Also, I've been absent for a while, so it's awesome to see the C4 is still going strong. Never imagined it would last this long when I kicked it off nearly six(!) years ago. That's one long, unbroken chain! :)

6 years? holy cow

nice to see you back here!

@Alconja this is O_S + B_+O_ + (-b)URNE(-d), a metal singer!

8:45 AM

@Jafe It continuously rained during midnight. :0 I and others here are fine, but I'm not sure about the other people (developing country moment... some have unstable shelters and some don't even have shelters).

@Alconja I wasn't going to say this since we didn't really interact much, but since Jafe initiated, I'll also say: welcome back :)) thanks for inspiring me to edit the C4 archives. :P always nice to see a familiar face make a comeback

@Jafe That's the one.

And good to be back. I got a bit distracted by other things, but rediscovered an overly ambitious 80% draft of a puzzle in my google drive and it made me want to make a return and get it finished... (no promises - I already feel guilty that I implied it was coming "soon" before disappearing last time)

9:00 AM

sounds exciting

CCCC: Metal singer, god in Mexico, in need of backing in Honduras (3)

ugh, missed the opportunity to use "Metal singer (7)"... oh well

9:24 AM

wait just three letters

yeah

9:40 AM

I feel like I know what it is, but not getting the Honduras bit...

9:50 AM

Unless I'm over thinking...

@Jafe Is it DIO (metal singer) = DIOS (god in Mexico/Spanish), but without (in need of) S (backing in honduraS)

@Jafe and this one is (Freddie) Mercury :)

right and right :)

10:16 AM

ahhhh i should have realized that trick sooner

i even went down the rabbit hole of aztec deities and wondered why none of them had an S

CCCC: Trumpets thrown at metal concert (5)

2 hours later…

Gareth McCaughan

12:01 PM

@Jafe I claim this one would be even better as "Heavy metal singer".

1 hour later…

1:12 PM

Q: A Two Part Puzzle

Part of me is injured, but there is no drop of blood. The other part is mushy, but there is no sign of mud This is my new address, because I belong here. Place I came from, now no one lives there You can’t tell what happened, after you are done with me. This could happen again too, and that my fr...

word rhyme

1:34 PM

I'm puzzled as to what "thrown" does in the clue

Yeah. Looks like an anagram indicator, but no obvious fodder.

Q: What is this solution to this logic grid puzzle?

2:29 PM

I would like to know what's the solution to this raven's advanced progressive matrices logic puzzle and why.

logic-grid

2:57 PM

Today being Rosh Hashanah, I want Trumpets to refer to a Ram's horn or Shofar.

But it's not leading anywhere.

2 hours later…

word pattern english crosswords

4:38 PM

Q: A Crossweb Puzzle for Herb

I brought my buddy Herb my new Crossweb puzzle to try, and he wrinkled his nose. "No way. Far too difficult. Besides, there's only one type of Crossword puzzle I like and this is NOT it." What is Herb's favorite type of Crossword puzzle? (2 words) To find out, solve the Crossweb. Crossweb rules: ...

4 hours later…

AncientSwordRage

8:22 PM

@Alconja HORNS 🤘🎺

@ChrisCudmore thanks for the assist

juicifer

8:36 PM

oh duh

9:12 PM

@AncientSwordRage Completely missed that split.

juicifer

I was convinced that "thrown" (or maybe even "trumpets") was a homophone indicator

It kept coming to me as "Trumpets thrown | at metal concert" or "Trumpets thrown at metal | concert"

AncientSwordRage

9:24 PM

@ChrisCudmore I was initially thinking how does ~throne fit a metal concert venue I checked the enumeration

Q: Sergeant Sequence leads the way

9:45 PM

Sergeant Sequence entered the Chief Investigator's office to find his boss in some agitation. "Patrick Terne is on the move again, Sequence," sighed the Chief, "and once more I find myself completely clueless as to where he might be heading next. Well, 'clueless' might not be the right word. One ...

knowledge pattern geography crosswords sequence

Stiv

I was stuck for ages on BRASS, wondering if 'BRAS' was being used in the wordplay - but that would be far more likely at a Tom Jones performance than a metal concert per se...

10:45 PM

Dammit Stiv! I thought I had it. But no.

My original idea - Letters from crossword - letters from Capital Cities = Anagram of the solution. And it looked good on a quick scan, but the crossword has no I's. Stymied at Cairo.