The Sphinx's Lair

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oAlt

02:19

@TakingNotes agreed, more or less

PolygonPotpourri

03:04

@TakingNotes Yeah, the GH digraph is important for the F sound in TOUGH.

Vowels don’t make consonant sounds, after all.

Jafe

03:16

i have a hard time picturing the word TUGH pronounced like tough instead of rhyming with Hugh and Pugh

but then again english spelling and pronunciation is like the wild west with no sheriff in sight so if you consider the o in tough silent i guess this town is gonna have to be big enough for the both of us, cowboy

TakingNotes

i suppose it's just breaking it down into phonemes: T makes the /t/ sound, U makes the /ʌ/ sound and GH makes the /f/ sound so the O is useless

when you put it all together it does seem kind of weird though

Jafe

04:00

o can make the /ʌ/ sound as well like in love and dove, but yeah if you're gonna drop one of them and preserve the pronunciation i'd probably drop the o and leave the u in

i've just always thought of the ou as a unit that can make several different sounds, mostly long like in round or like in touche but sometimes short like in double, touch etc

msh210

04:30

@juicifer certainly

@Jafe yeah, this

I'm not sure I'd even call the O in 'people' silent.

Jafe

04:42

yeah not sure about "people"... "foetus" surely yes

Jafe

05:09

throwback to eight years ago when i tweeted "if trump wins, i'm moving to canada" and went to bed

woke up to some guy tweeting back "have you packed your bags?"

msh210

05:30

@Jafe and then you did move, albeit not to Canada

juicifer

CCCC: They've been accused of paying their employees less than minimum wage, but they can put $1400 on the second round of the MLB playoffs (8'1)

Jafe

05:48

MCD on A.L.D.S.

TakingNotes

was just about to type it out, damn

good get

Jafe

is "...but they can" really part of the def there?

oAlt

Oh ALDS is an acronym, not a selection of letters from a string

My brain slow

Dannyu NDos

06:04

McDonald's good. At least outside of the US.

msh210

06:18

@Jafe "but they can put $", I guess

juicifer

06:34

@Jafe yep

@Jafe I was going with "... but they can [pay minimum wage]"

as the def

Jafe

06:49

CCCC: Constantly criticised the guy for what Jesus did when arriving in Jerusalem (4,3,3)

msh210

07:12

ride ado nkey?

PolygonPotpourri

@juicifer …but what’s the $ for? Punctuation?

Stiv

07:49

@msh210 I'd have gone for RODE THE ASS...

msh210

08:01

@Stiv that works if ass=guy, which I don't see

(or if ass = guy for)

ah, it's probably RODE HIS ASS (though Wikipedia claims that Mark claims it was a loaner)

(ddef)

Jafe

correct!

msh210

Oh, wait, according to Mark it wasn't an ass at all, so never mind.

Jafe

i may have misremembered, i was under the impression the ass was given to him but that may be completely wrong

well done regardless

msh210

I haven't checked the Scripture. Just going by Wikipedia, it seems Mark says it was a lent colt, and the other gospels say it was a gifted ass.

I mean, given as a gift, not especially talented.

Jafe

heheh

putting all that together, we can assume it was a lent, gifted-ass colt

msh210

08:16

CCCC: In Indiana, three price a rover? (6)

msh210

08:53

Oh, shoot, my clue has an error. Shoulda researched before posting. Lemme replace it:

CCCC: In the Bible, three price a rover? (6)

PolygonPotpourri

'In the Bible, three' could mean TRINITY, but that's 7 letters.

msh210

Ugh, I've been found. (Hi, @SquareFinder .)

PolygonPotpourri

@msh210 ...are you, perchance, a square?

msh210

I am.

PolygonPotpourri

...which means that you don't have to be there, because you're already square!

msh210

09:03

(Wiktionary: "A socially conventional or conservative person; a person who has little or no interest in the latest fads or trends.")

@PolygonPotpourri right — that meaning of square.

SquareFinder

09:19

@msh210 hi

1 hour later…

msh210

10:38

@PolygonPotpourri among other things

PolygonPotpourri

SPIRIT ddef?

@msh210 [in the Bible, three] [price?] [a rover]

msh210

10:52

Not my intention, I'm afraid. Nor do I see how "spirit" means "in the Bible, three" or "price".

Well, I guess "in the Bible, three" can mean "in the Bible, number three on a list". And then assuming the Trinity is listed in the Bible explicitly and in the order we know (is it?) that'd work.

PolygonPotpourri

(Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; the SPIRIT is #3.)

msh210

Assuming the Trinity is listed in the Bible explicitly and in the order we know (is it?) that'd work.

PolygonPotpourri

11:23

@msh210 Still, 'price' doesn't.

msh210

11:38

afaict

2 hours later…

juicifer

13:37

@PolygonPotpourri yeah using money was the most reasonable way I found to work the number 1400 into the clue

@msh210 this is pi + rate

Jafe

14:08

ah, the indiana pi bill!

juicifer

yeah that was my in lmao

except of course that pi wasn't gonna be 3, it was gonna be 3.2

oAlt

@juicifer ah I get it now

2 hours later…

msh210

16:03

@juicifer yes indeed

@juicifer yeah, sorry about that

juicifer

no worries

CCCC: A very loud song at party (6)

oAlt

16:23

@juicifer a ff air

juicifer

co rr ect

oAlt

Lol

CCCC: Great happiness is found in boring lessons shunned at the start (5)

Stiv

17:17

@oAlt BLISS (Great happiness) = B_ L_ IS S_

oAlt

@Stiv yep that's it

Sphinx

17:39

Q: Sudoku variants #3: Schrödinger's Grave Remastered (8x8 grid)

Previous variant Originally inspired by Cracking the Cryptic's video "The Graveyard of Schrödinger" (original gimmick by fjam) Background On Nov. 6, 2023 (1 year ago!), I posted the puzzle "Sudoku variants #1: Schrödinger's Grave (6x6 grid)", which was a Sudoku variant puzzle dedicated to an od...

Stiv

CCCC: Heavy day - rub dog sadly (9)

bobble

sad doggie?!?

msh210

No, you rub him sadly because he's too happy.

@Stiv bodyguard*

Stiv

@msh210 Indeed. No dogs were emotionally harmed in the making of this clue.

Two sparrows and a possum are now thoroughly depressed, however...

msh210

CCCC: Will all heavy men avoid taking sides? (5)

juicifer

17:54

@msh210 leave (will, as in to will something to your family) = .l. .eav. .e.

msh210

18:13

@juicifer aye

juicifer

18:30

CCCC: Killer's end at home (4 2)

juicifer

18:59

wait oops

CCCC: Killer's end at home (2 4)

sorry I'm stupid

2 hours later…

msh210

20:49

It's gotta be BO PEEP. "Lost" indeed.

3 hours later…

Sphinx

23:59

Q: Different numbers in all cells of a 3x3 board v2

You are given a 3x3 grid filled with zeroes: Each turn you can select a 2x2 sub-grid and increase each of its numbers by 1. Is it possible to obtain different numbers in each cell? Bonus: what is the least number of turns needed to achieve this?