The Sphinx's Lair

Stiv

6:39 AM

Ace. Will provide a cryptic clue when I get to my desk - pretty sure I have one written for an old series that I realised I couldn't use when I went to post it...

Jafe

Aug 16 at 14:31, by Jafe

nice try, we'll call this clue 1

Sphinx

7:20 AM

0

Q: When Mo and Bo met Jo, Mo asked, “Are Bo and I both negative?” What can be deduced about Mo and Bo?

Beginner puzzle (suitable for people who are new to puzzle solving). A certain city has two types of people: the ‘positives’, who only ask questions for which the correct answer is “yes” and the ‘negatives’ who only ask questions for which the correct answer is “no”. When Mo and Bo met Jo, Mo as...

logical-deduction

192927376337929292283737373773

This is weird.

It's at 5 downvotes.

With literally no other interaction.

No comments, answers, or anything.

Stiv

7:51 AM

@Jafe Ha! Honestly - you'll see which series it fitted in but didn't fit in... (But now I'm wondering if there's a sequence I can start with it... AIR OF MYSTERY)

CCCC: Hill is focus of this movie, which is basically about a hill (10)

Jafe

@1929 "the west is defined as above the tropic of cancer" <- that makes no sense, is that intentional?

(west is to the left in a normal map, not up)

hmm wasn't there just a sequence with all 10-letter answers

Stiv

@192927376337929292283737373773 Got to be honest, I think -5 is probably overkill right now without people being able to see what the puzzle leads to... I've had a look at the puzzle and I just can't satisfactorily ID most of the places being referred to - I wonder if the clues are just too oblique for people to spot a way in?

192927376337929292283737373773

@Jafe It's to the left and above the Tropic of Cancer. Although I should probably tweak that somewhat or maybe change that clue entirely.

@Stiv Hmm.

Lukas Rotter

I got Cuba, Illinois and Xinjang, probably already containing a wrong one.

192927376337929292283737373773

Well that's not entirely a failure.

Lukas Rotter

8:04 AM

I don't understand what "which had the same case" means? As in, is also an island nation?

192927376337929292283737373773

I'll add some more clues that might help on this or like change the wording a bit.

Stiv

@LukasRotter I was thinking Illinois, Xinjiang and also possibly Sudan for the wartorn nation

192927376337929292283737373773

@LukasRotter No it refers to the latter, as in the first letter of the name of the disease.

And now the last letter.

So it overlaps.

Okay well edited.

So it makes somethings clear.

And hopefully makes it easier to get.

@Stiv Actually I should probably clue more on the specific zone.

I'll add that as a third clue.

Added new hint.

This should hopefully narrow things down a lot.

Lukas Rotter

I want it to be hiccough, but can't make it work entirely.

(which of course isnt an actual illness, but it would be funny if the patient said so)

192927376337929292283737373773

It is an actual illness that I can say.

Also I am not completely guranteening that the final word will not have to be shifted in some way to get a real illness.

But the hard part is getting to the word itself, afterwards it is pretty easy.

oAlt

8:38 AM

@192927376337929292283737373773 yeah I think that's too much

192927376337929292283737373773

Alright then.

oAlt

Also out of curiosity what's the significance of your number? Only the 1929 part is explained by your profile description haha

msh210

@Stiv Hill is the focus of Goodfellas, which is "good as" (basically) about "fell" ("a mountain, hill, or tract of upland moor")

oAlt

Or is it just random

msh210

@Stiv nice clue

192927376337929292283737373773

8:41 AM

Well it sums to 152.

oAlt

Yeah

192927376337929292283737373773

You can shift the last two numbers to 25 and that is the date of my birthday.

msh210

You were born in January of 1925?

192927376337929292283737373773

No.

It's the day.

msh210

Man, I was so close.

192927376337929292283737373773

8:44 AM

As in [month] 25th.

Interestingly 152 has 8 factors, and 25*8 = 200.

oAlt

@192927376337929292283737373773 Ahh

192927376337929292283737373773

But yeah it's also random.

msh210

So is 4.

(xkcd)

192927376337929292283737373773

4 is the number of wheels on a car.

@msh210 yeah.

msh210

@192927376337929292283737373773 most cars

Reliant Robin

The Reliant Robin is a small three-wheeled car produced by the Reliant Motor Company in Tamworth, England. It was offered in several versions (Mk1, Mk2 and Mk3) over a period of 30 years. It is the second-most popular fibreglass car in history after the Chevrolet Corvette, with Reliant being the second-biggest British car manufacturer for a time. == History == === Mk. 1 === The Robin was first manufactured in October 1973 as a direct replacement for the Reliant Regal. These models feature a 750 cc engine, but in 1975, the car gained a number of improvements including an engine boost to...

192927376337929292283737373773

8:48 AM

4 is also the number of people in a medium-sized family.

That has stopped production.

So I will pull a Scotsman and say I am talking about all currently produced cars.

Stiv

@msh210 Yes! Over to you. And thanks - I really liked this one and was ready to use it for the 'O' in dOubleletters without twigging the additional double 'L' until the last moment! Hence its rejection and later use only now.

oAlt

@192927376337929292283737373773 I guess at least it's not one of those numbers that say they're composite but turn out to have only one factor aside from 1 and itself

msh210

CCCC: "I love King Richard III's portrayer in the 1995 film adaptation": so rave nuts. It's a mental disorder. (8,7)

Lukas Rotter

@msh210 AN + O + REX + IAN + ERVOSA*

oAlt

@msh210 an (I, one) 0 (love) Rex (King) Ian (Richard ... adaptation; last name McKellen) sorave* = anorexia nervosa. Got help from Wikipedia

Oh my gosh

Lukas Rotter

9:03 AM

you have the better explanation though :D

msh210

I think you must've been within a second of one another.

oAlt

I think Lukas should go next

I have no clues prepared :p and you got it first anyway

192927376337929292283737373773

That was fast.

msh210

Yeah, these guys are good. (Or my clues are too easy; but I think it's that these guys are good.)

2

Lukas Rotter

(according to the timestamps, 1 second apart)

CCCC: Treated them with a perfected medication (9)

192927376337929292283737373773

9:07 AM

That would be 3,284 years.

So if the timestamp was in seconds, about 1,270 BC.

Which is an interesting epoch.

@LukasRotter Well the only thing I can say, and which is probably wrong, is that "with" might be the separator here.

oAlt

@LukasRotter oh apparently meth* + a + done exists as a medication

192927376337929292283737373773

And "a perfect medication" seems like the definition and "treated them" as wordplay.

Lukas Rotter

@oAlt correct!

192927376337929292283737373773

Well you got it anyways.

oAlt

CCCC: Try photographed serving of alcohol (4)

Lukas Rotter

9:19 AM

A shot is a serving of alcohol and means photographed

oAlt

@LukasRotter And also?

Lukas Rotter

and halso have a shot, so triple def?

oAlt

yep!

Lukas Rotter

nice

192927376337929292283737373773

@msh210 Shouldn't this be "puzzle being hard"?

I don't see any reason for the "puzzle's" there unless you mean "puzzle is being hard".

msh210

9:25 AM

the being-hard of the puzzle

192927376337929292283737373773

But grammatically "of course 'puzzle is being hard' is not a reason to downvote" might make more sense.

@msh210 I see.

Lukas Rotter

CCCC: Key soldiers at home on purpose, avoiding unit, for fun (13)

msh210

Either way is acceptable: with or without the possessive 's. I think with the 's is more traditional.

192927376337929292283737373773

Making sure the current C4 is always on the starboard.

Jafe

as opposed to port side

192927376337929292283737373773

9:28 AM

Yes.

Lukas Rotter

@192927376337929292283737373773 We usually pin it (privileged users with an italicized name can do that) so it's at the top of the starboard as long as it remains unsolved.

But I won't complain about an extra star :P

192927376337929292283737373773

Ah

Alright.

Privileged users means ROs and/or mods?

Jafe

yeah

@LukasRotter enter + TA + in + me(-a)nt

Lukas Rotter

@Jafe yep!

Jafe

CCCC: Rubbish singer from Australia, a real stinker! (9)

192927376337929292283737373773

10:02 AM

@LukasRotter I'll confirm Illinois from here.

1818 as in repetitive since it repeats 18.

(1818 is it's year of admission.)

And this is the only state that has that case.

So odd from there.

192927376337929292283737373773

10:52 AM

@Jafe This sounds double def.

TakingNotes

@Jafe is this TRASHFIRE; a rubbish singer (thing that singes) and also an Australian term for something poorly done? i can't find any online sources that support it being one word and not two, but it's the only term i can find that matches both the defs and the enumeration

Jafe

@TakingNotes not the intended answer, i'm afraid

TakingNotes

thought as much

Sphinx

12:56 PM

0

Q: problem about pigehole principle

During a lecture, each of 26 mathematicians falls asleep exactly once, and stays asleep for a nonzero amount of time. Each mathematician is awake at the moment the lecture starts, and the moment the lecture finishes. Prove that there are either 6 mathematicians such that no two are asleep at the ...

logical-deduction

juicifer

@Jafe apparently RAFFLE can mean rubbish, and the singer from australia is (as usual) SIA, so this is RAFFLESIA, a flower that emits the smell of rotting flesh

Jafe

correct!

sia just is a more useful string of letters for wordplay than "kylie minogue"

juicifer

CCCC: Flower that reportedly contains "rubbish smell" - primarily one in Germany (5)

Jafe

hehe this is S+eine, a flow-er that reportedly contains rubbish

juicifer

yep!

Jafe

1:10 PM

nice continuation

juicifer

thanks :)

Jafe

CCCC: Looking back, a line overlooked by grandmaster Firouzja, a native of northern Iran? (5)

192927376337929292283737373773

Damn it.

TakingNotes

@Jafe AZERI (a native of northern Iran) = ALIREZA (grandmaster Firouzja) - A L (a line), all reversed (looking back)

Jafe

that's right

192927376337929292283737373773

1:24 PM

New CCCC?

Lukas Rotter

this was the last one, ever

Jafe

chill, it's been like six seconds

192927376337929292283737373773

NINE MINUTES.

Not six seconds.

Jafe

same thing

192927376337929292283737373773

No it is not.

9 minutes has 540 seconds.

9,000x more!

It's been TEN MINUTES NOW!

Jafe

1:26 PM

take a walk or something

juicifer

or maybe take a look at this channel's archive and see how many other c4's have taken longer than six hundred seconds to post

you'll be astonished by what you find

Stiv

I'll bet mine have the longest average delay...

juicifer

somebody else can make that spreadsheet

Stiv

resist... resist...

msh210

@Stiv you'll have to first find all the acknowledgements-as-correct

have fun

TakingNotes

1:47 PM

CCCC: Ken works, as this babe aches at heart (5)

Jafe

_be ach_, ken's job in the barbie movie!

juicifer

lmao I just got there too

msh210

He… works as a beach??

goes to check Wikipedia

juicifer

knowyourmeme.com/memes/my-job-is-just-beach

msh210

Ah, thanks.

TakingNotes

2:26 PM

@Jafe you got it!

Jafe

CCCC: Of course I'm going to pay this back, I love you! (3, abbr.)

TakingNotes

@Jafe IOU ("Of course I'm going to pay this back") = I + O (love, in tennis) + U (you, in texting)

Jafe

yup yup

TakingNotes

CCCC: Creepy crawly is atop huskless pasties (7)

Stiv

2:48 PM

@TakingNotes BEASTIE = BE (is) + _ASTIE_

TakingNotes

yep!

Stiv

3:44 PM

CCCC: Family: Girlfriend, me, son, 'that woman', and bird (10)

juicifer

@Stiv kin gf I s her

oAlt

@Stiv kin GF I s her. GF was my break-in point

Oh come on HAHAHAH

juicifer

lmaooo

Stiv

Ha, here we go again!

Anyway, you're both wrong

jk jk

juicifer

lol

Stiv

3:49 PM

Correct of course

juicifer

4:02 PM

CCCC: A route (a "motorway" in the UK) is something that can take you to a very faraway place? (7)

Ankoganit

4:30 PM

@juicifer A+RTE+M1+'S=ARTEMIS

(M1 being this, of course)

juicifer

4:45 PM

@Ankoganit spot on

Ankoganit

CCCC: Rent perhaps is going up in India — one hundred thousand and one, total (7)

juicifer

@Ankoganit MUSICAL (Rent, perhaps) = LAC I SUM<

Ankoganit

@juicifer yep!

juicifer

5:02 PM

CCCC: 11-minute song on incomplete record, with backmasked sort of "code" hidden within line (11)

The Empty String Photographer

5:14 PM

I don’t know songs 😮‍💨

Sphinx

5:47 PM

0

Q: An 18-Letter Challenge: three 6-letter words, with limitations

Please use the following 22 letters to make three 6-letter words (it's the alphabet w/o H, M, Q, and S): ABCDEFGIJKLNOPRTUVWXYZ Here are the limitations: Use YAWL for wordlist: https://github.com/elasticdog/yawl/archive/master.zip Each letter can be used only once. Maximum of 5 vowels between ...

letters pangram

Sphinx

6:32 PM

0

Q: An 18-Letter Challenge-B: three 6-letter words, with limitations

Using the YAWL wordlist https://github.com/elasticdog/yawl/archive/master.zip: Locate three 6-letter words comprised of 18 unique letters, Using C and V, Not using KRANTZ / PLONGD / PRANCK, Using a maximum of 3 vowels total. (I tried to make this work with CRWTHS, but couldn't find a single oth...

letters pangram

Sphinx

9:09 PM

0

Q: Connections vertically and horizontally

quarter blow kill bill two punched through decree pound sent law executed passed draw too cuff cent The goal is to rearrange the sixteen words above so that the four words in each row, AND the four words in each column, have some sort of connection. Here is a barebones interac...

connect-wall

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