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12:28 AM
@Sphinx It's been so long since I heard that game
I used to watch Wirtual during the earlier years of the pandemic
1:02 AM
0
Q: Can the distance of any 2 points inside an isosceles triangle be more than the length of the equal sides?

Hemant AgarwalThere's an isosceles triangle. Two of it's sides are equal to x and the remaining side is equal to y. Can there be 2 points inside this triangle whose length is greater than or equal to x? Source: I came up with this question on my own.

 
3 hours later…
3:47 AM
CCCC: Primate wants thousand dollars? (5)
sorry for the delay
no worries
@Jafe that's mon(-k)ey
4:10 AM
yup
4:21 AM
0
Q: A variant of the 2-Chess Games overlapped

JKHAThis is a variant of this previous puzzle. Create two valid Chess games (A and B) with the minimum number of moves such that overlapping the two games creates a valid chess position. The following rule will be considered. Games A and B must have the exact same number of moves. There can't be a ...

4:31 AM
CCCC: Physicist, as a kid, had those battles before, getting fazed at heart, yet you did not appear (13)
Cryptic crossword progress: grid is constructed, started making clues
Anyone willing to test-solve/give feedback once it's done?
Should I be studying for my final? Yes? Have I been distracted making the grid? I plead the fifth
@PrinceNorthLæraðr sure, if I have time at that juncture
4:48 AM
Thanks!
4:59 AM
"i plead five down, um, i mean, the fifth"
0
Q: Prove that there's a consecutive sequence of days during which i took exactly 11 pills

Hemant AgarwalMy doctor wants to establish a dosage for a new drug, so he gives me a bottle of 48 pills and tells me to take them throughout the month of June. I can take as many or as few as I like on any given day, so long as I take at least 1 pill each day. Show that there’s a sequence of consecutive days d...

I haven't made too many clues, but the ones I have so far I really like
5:28 AM
@oAlt SCHWARZSCHILD = CHILD with SUCH WARS before, getting Z but removing U
Nice
That was a long clue
meant to write _Z_, not Z ofc
@Ankoganit that's correct!
 
1 hour later…
6:37 AM
CCCC: Programming language keeps running for loops (5)
7:16 AM
@Ankoganit I think this is C (programming language) oils (keeps running, e.g. any device that needs oil in its system) = coils (loops)
@oAlt yep!
The ambiguity kept me challenged for a while, as keeps can be an indicator and running can be on, and I also wasn't sure which side was going to be the def
7:31 AM
@oAlt glad it kept you running for a while :)
I had some of the same thoughts oAlt did, but I kept going over and over them instead of progressing to the correct solution.
That' s a very satisfying surface!
@Stiv thanks, I was pleased with how it turned out
7:46 AM
@Stiv yeah I agree
I'm almost done... just can't get all of it to work out...
8:21 AM
CCCC: Coup looms: police convocation's omission in circular about made-up disease (45)
@oAlt 👏
I think msh knew what was going on, I just checked the deleted messages hahaha
8:40 AM
@oAlt Well this is definitely pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis = COUPLOOMSPOLICECONVOCATIONSOMISSIONINCIRCULAR*
And I actually checked it too!
@Stiv That's correct!
And because I wanted badly to have a sequence going already but couldn't think of a good one, I just went the easy route and hid the word in the first letters of the previous answers...
And that's why I couldn't do it before... I was saving it up for this moment.
Ah, neat - so it's only the first letters of those answers that are important? You're not sneakily sliding something else past us at the same time?!
I wish I could hahaha (yes, only the first letters)
(And I suspect msh210's comment in the last link I sent was a signal that he knew what was going on...)
@oAlt no, at that time I had no idea
Today, though, I got curious whether you were up to something and decided to check out your last few clues, saw OSIS, and looked further back.
Well done concealing it.
@Stiv Same, I had to go over it slowly several times...
@msh210 Ahhhh hahah that was convenient
8:52 AM
I did wonder how 'ON' was going to be used in a meta...!
(And thanks)
CCCC: Rolling joints containing many an edible leaf (7)
^ Just saw a clue in the Independent today (Aug 15) about a joint rolled too, I think, but couldn't solve it
saw a joint rolled in the Independent today
(oh, dang, that joke doesn't work… I just checked Wikipedia and apparently the Independent hasn't had a print edition in eight years)
Oh wow, TIL
9:08 AM
Vegan food trucks are rolling joints containing many an edible leaf.
5
9:57 AM
hehe
 
4 hours later…
1:44 PM
This question explicitly had the "big list" section edited out, and now someone posts an answer acceptable only to the big list version. NAA?
0
A: How do I find more enigmatic, no-clues-given puzzles?

Stephen SThe Harvard CS50x puzzle day (happening every spring) is a great place to go. I've also written a book of these types of puzzles (link) and am currently posting on this site a few times with drafts for puzzles that will be going into my second book. Hope you enjoy!

2:02 PM
0
Q: Writing a Puzzle Book - Enigmatic Puzzles 2

Stephen SI'm starting to test out puzzles for my second puzzle book (link to the first). They're all word puzzles based on ones you might see during Harvard's CS50x puzzle day. Try out this new puzzle I'm testing and share any feedback you might have to make it even better. Happy to share hints if you ask:

 
1 hour later…
3:25 PM
@oAlt Hehehehe
@Ankoganit How does "for" function as a splitter?
@bobble Yeah, I'd agree
@oAlt Wow, that's impressive
Seems like Msh is indeed a psychic or something
3:45 PM
s/ic/o/
It got another big list type answer
I could raise it on meta, a "what to do with an ex-big-list puzzle which gets big-list answers"
Should we vote to close? I don't want to bring more attention to it
There's a way to close questions for "historic purposes" or whatever right?
idk if this warrants this but at the bare minimum it'd stop people from adding more new answers but closing might be too drastic of an option?
@PrinceNorthLæraðr That would be a historical lock, which also prevents any further interaction on the post, such as answers, comments, and votes.
Would that be an appropriate measure here? If I'm not mistaken those are usually reserved for something that was a pretty noteworthy post that just doesn't meet community standards of today
This post isn't particularly noteworthy for the site
4:20 PM
0
Q: Rubik's cube: Calculating how many times we need to repeat a sequence of moves to return it to its original state

UltraSuppose you repeatedly perform the sequence of moves (U' and R) to an initially solved Rubik's cube until it is once again in the solved state. (So move the top face to the right, then the right face up and repeat). I was expecting this to perhaps take a multiple of 16 repeats of the sequence to ...

@PrinceNorthLæraðr [wordplay] for [def] is pretty common, in sense that that the wordplay part "stands for" the target word, or you perform the wordplay in order to get the word
Ah, okay. Is [wordplay] leads to [def] or [wordplay] becomes [def] also acceptable?
4:46 PM
Yep
As is [def] from [wordplay] if you're looking for examples in the other direction
Ah
scribbles furiously
But [def] becomes [wordplay] or [wordplay] from [def] wouldn't be acceptable right
nor [def] for [wordplay]
Yeah those would be weird
What's the stance on of?
Wait we've had this conversation before
@PrinceNorthLæraðr I've definitely seen it used, not super fond of it though
@PrinceNorthLæraðr lol very possible
@Ankoganit I've seen it, but I don't know if I like it. I think I'd personally avoid it because I can't really make sense of the relationship between the two
@Ankoganit Ohhh okay this just made sense to me
4:52 PM
I think people tend to be loose about connectors in general, but as long as there's a general sense of getting the def from the wordplay it's all good
@PrinceNorthLæraðr yeah agreed
> The answer lies not in the count but in the role played by the connectors. A connector must connect – i.e. link together the wordplay in the direction of the solution, not detract from the solution.
I'd agree with this sentiment very much
@PrinceNorthLæraðr (thx)
I also like how you kept track of who solved what xD
5:11 PM
Hahaha
The little medals
Very apt for the Olympics
Chemistry final in 2 hours!
It's the first time I kept track of who got the most haha
@PrinceNorthLæraðr good luck!!
Thanks! I'm just trying to stay calm
Am I 100% ready? Not really, but I'm trying to not enter panik mode so I can at least do everything I know
Wow, didn't realise I was in a desperate last-second dash for bronze!
👌
5:14 PM
And I think I remember most of the stuff
@Stiv Meanwhile, the rest of us our eating Msh's dust
@Stiv I didn't even realize I had the list wrong at first... I had thought juicifer got it but turns out I forgot to add your name in the last entry
Lol
we need a tie breaker!
I vote we share it like the Tokyo 2020 high jumpers...
No. Break your opponent's knees Stiv
Show no mercy
Your enemies' heads are simply the stairs you take to reach the pinnacle of Puzzling
Ah, so you're a mili-tree, I see now...
5:17 PM
Yeah, tree-ties are for pansies
@PrinceNorthLæraðr 😭
Crying won't save you, only DEATH
rawr
(I'm not going to even attempt to make a tree related pun right now because I know I will miserably fail... improv has not been my strongest point)
@PrinceNorthLæraðr (cute)
North's studying clearly going well... ;-)
Shhhhh
This is calming me down so therefore it's helping me test, definitely
I'm so ready to be done with chemistry
And then I start organic chemistry in 2 weeks
The hell never ends
5:24 PM
@PrinceNorthLæraðr By the way, I'm still okay with this one; for me I can kinda see it as saying that [the word clued by the] definition [is the answer] for [the given] wordplay. Of course, open to other opinions
I guess I could see that
@PrinceNorthLæraðr hi, opponent here, just wanna say I much prefer my knees intact, tyvm
@juicifer Then break Stiv's first
Someone's knees gotta give
although I have killed off stiv in a c4 before so maybe I'm not one to talk
5:27 PM
Hah I kinda forgot about that
From two years ago
Really had to dig through the grave for that one
I think the solution to the CC is something like JOINTS* around "many"
Wikipedia says " Many – Any Roman numeral(s) of considerable size"
So L, M, D, or C
I'm just trying to think of a plant with the letter j
@PrinceNorthLæraðr Juniper?
Wouldn't be an anagram of JOINTS + Letter though
Unless it's not an anagram
maybe XX(ANS)XX?
Most likely not the solution, but I found something funny, there's HEMLOCK, with could be something like
HEM(-p)LOCK (though not sure how the wordplay would work for that), which is a high toxic plant
Everything is edible, somethings are just only edible once
2
It's also a little suspicious though because HEMP is another word for weed, which is what you'd use to roll a joint
HASHISH is a 7 letter word word marijuana
6:04 PM
On the other hand it's also entirely possible the surface is meant to be misleading and it's entirely unrelated to marijuana
Hm, rolling can be a reversal indicator
6:16 PM
@PrinceNorthLæraðr thanks, this is what unlocked it for me
it's HIPS containing C AN, all reversed, for SPI(NA C)H<
@Stiv have a ping
I was looking at reversals too - but didn't consider spinach!
I had a feeling it started with S, I was close :P
yeah I'd been thinking about hips as a short little joint name but hadn't thought about reversing it until you brought it up
hips like your body hips?
6:19 PM
yeah
the ones that don't lie
Idk, mine's a pathological liar
you approach the gate to the dungeon. shakira is there standing guard. one of her hips never tells the truth, the other don't lie
5
I hadn't strongly considered "an" being part of the wordplay
I had a solution that almost worked where BAS (ball-and-socket joints) containing AN AN gave BANANAS, which (setting aside the plurality mismatch) is a leaf that people often eat from, but the banana leaf itself isn't actually edible
plus I have no idea if BAS is actually an abbreviation people use
eh probably not
I was looks at TT or TS for joints but that went nowhere
7:13 PM
@juicifer possibly dumb question from a lurker: why is "many" "C"? Just because it's a Roman numeral?
@RyanM As I used to tell my students, there's no such thing as a stupid question — just a stupid person asking. (You won't be surprised to learn I'm no longer teaching.)
hahaha
Seriously, though, yeah, I think that was the intent.
(Obviously you'd have to ask the setter to be sure.)
Which in this case was @Stiv I believe.
'twas indeed
@PrinceNorthLæraðr the best of luck to you. I remember that when I was in college, those who took orgo (I thankfully did not) said it was the hardest class of their college careers. (Ymmv of course.)
7:35 PM
@RyanM well a roman numeral for a large number
I don't think using "many" to clue "I" would fly
Yeah, a site I checked said "X or L or C or D or M"
@juicifer Absolutely :)
And yeah, I usually avoid using 'many' for big Roman numerals because I dislike the ambiguity but it's a widely used convention so I figured it was ok.
and I think this is a case where it fit too well with the surface to use anything else
CCCC: Sailor Moon needing a do-over? (4)
 
3 hours later…
10:31 PM
Did these sudokus over summer. Highly recommend, all great quality variety puzzles. shop.gmpuzzles.com/collections/the-art-of-sudoku-2/products/…
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