The Sphinx's Lair - 2016-09-21 (page 1 of 2)

« first day (860 days earlier) ← previous day next day → last day (2764 days later) »

12:02 AM

@Will It associates your name with the link, so that if someone follows that link, they see something like this:

yesterday, by Beastly Gerbil

user image

You can probably get badges or something if people follow your links to the proposal and join because of your recommendation.

user61230

@Randal'Thor I've been hunting on reddit. I'll go through another trundle around tonight to see if there's anywhere else I can think of.

user61230

I really want it to launch. Literature is a significant part of my life, and it saddens me that there isn't a site for it already.

@Emrakul This, so much this. In my case, most of the literature I read is fantasy, and there's already a site for that, but for other things like Shakespeare or Thomas Hardy, the best I can hope for on SE is finding one or two people in Mos Eisley who happen to have read the same stuff.

Or asking about the film adaptations on Movies & TV, which makes me feel dirty :-P

user61230

@Randal'Thor Same, honestly. There are so many questions I've had, and have wanted to ask, about various books over the years.

user61230

12:19 AM

Particularly nonfiction works. There's no good home for them.

user61230

For many questions about books it's possible to hackney a fit into an existing site, but there's categorically no home for nonfiction on Stack Exchange.

Hmm ... does non-fiction count as literature?

I wasn't expecting that to be on-topic at Lit SE.

Non-fiction is absolutely literature

user61230

Yeah, absolutely.

There was a previous incarnation of Lit SE which got as far as beta stage and appointing pro-tem mods. I mainly know about it because SFF got some of their questions migrated over when it closed, but it'd be interesting to find out why it failed. Adam Lear might be a good person to ask, having been (IIRC) a mod there.

user61230

1:20 AM

If I recall, it just didn't have as many active users as it needed to kick-start the site's development.

user189275

5:03 AM

puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/42881/… the first poem probably means to take the prime initials.

5:48 AM

I added hints in my Lonely puzzle.

5 hours later…

10:45 AM

The elevator button pressed itself. If I were in a movie, I would be chased by something supernatural. But since I am not, it is just odd technical malfunction. :)

11:07 AM

If I were you, I would be scared out of my wits for a couple of seconds...

Was it the button you wanted to press? Or did you end up on the wrong floor? :p

11:22 AM

I actually pressed it before that, so it just repeated the action. It made a sound, showed the floor and then the elevator letter. I was already a few steps away from the control pad. :)

And who said there won't be puzzles for this challenge - 4 in 2 days! :)

user189275

First of prime numbers spells Cwinwardlastwirstltorch. I May make a mistake, but it's readable if you squint.

user189275

Here: puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/42881/…

user189275

11:39 AM

What it's

Gareth McCaughan

I agree with you as far as CWinwardlastw but after that we diverge. Did I miscount something? Are we defining "word" differently?

user189275

What is Cw ? Intuition tells it is probably clockwise. So read clockwise instead on what ? What is torch ?

user189275

@GarethMcCaughan There's 100% chance I counted wrong, I was extremely mindless.

Gareth McCaughan

If yours is wrong, it's interestingly wrong -- the later bits look suspiciously wordlike.

Whereas if mine is wrong it's boringly wrong :-).

The punctuation and spacing is weird enough that it surely must be significant.

user189275

@GarethMcCaughan 2*2 possibilities, count punctuation or not, and count the # or not. I guess, count #, but don't count punctuation.

Gareth McCaughan

11:42 AM

I didn't count the #.

user189275

@GarethMcCaughan What you find ?

Gareth McCaughan

I get cWiNwArDLaSTwfiTLwbRwjTX

(there's another factor of 2: include title or not)

user189275

Count #, intuition tells it should be counted. OP hints too.

Gareth McCaughan

Doesn't seem any better; after the i I then get #CwtLsids instead of TLwbRwjTX

user189275

@MariaDeleva How far I am in the lonely words ?

user189275

11:47 AM

@GarethMcCaughan I guess something is wrong. Let me check.

Gareth McCaughan

including punctuation-surrounded-on-both-sides-by-spaces gives c?rlpbboaKS!e etc. if I'm counting right

it is ridiculous to be doing this by hand rather than by computer

user189275

I am getting something like Cw inward - last l - first w - torch something like that. Torch - vignere/platform key ?

@ArkaKarmakar I added some hints and responded to your comments. Let's just say you are in the right forest.

user189275

Tor rot. Anagram. Just saying.

Gareth McCaughan

0 0 cWiNwArDLaSTwfiTLwbRwjs
0 1 cWiNwArDLaSTwfi#CwtLsiT
0 2 c?rlpbbrW??Cdusyw;t!wtwwHst
1 0 GYWitwbraoauawvBpLOwRTds
1 1 GYWitwbraoauawvBtCsDLyHn
1 2 GY?rcpAbD??rSd!muwB!!s?s'!ss

first number is 0 to exclude title, 1 to include
second number is 0 for no isolated punctuation, 1 for just the #, 2 for all of it

isolated means spaces on both sides

12:06 PM

@MariaDeleva Hmm, I have a song and a pattern that fits every word but 'Shiny'

Shiny is usually my friend, not my nemesis!

therefor I obviously need to create a dozen sockpuppets to downvote this puzzle to oblivion

user189275

OP accepted my edit (I thought it was wrong by rhythm and words in each line).

Gareth McCaughan

0 0 cWiNwArDLaSTwfiSCwtLsiT
0 1 cWiNwArDLaSTwfiSpLOwRTds
0 2 c?rlpbbrW??CdusywwtCLODw-Tt
1 0 GYWitwbraoauawvBtCsDLyHn
1 1 GYWitwbraoauawvBtptbwcjt
1 2 GY?rcpAbD??rSd!muwTpCtbRjdTn

user189275

@GarethMcCaughan: I guess it's okay upto CW inward last w (w - word ?). Then we may be missing something.

Gareth McCaughan

12:25 PM

Could be.

user189275

@GarethMcCaughan: OP added "But some may not; Ranters Kip"

user189275

I guess I was accidentaly right !

user189275

Now try with CWinwardlastw ... again.

Gareth McCaughan

0 0 cWiNwArDLaSTwfiRSBwstsyT
0 1 cWiNwArDLaSTwfiRSTLtORcd
0 2 c?rlpbbrW??CdusysnwTtLtDcj-Tt
1 0 GYWitwbraoauawvmBSCDsLwH
1 1 GYWitwbraoauawvmBSpwtwwjs
1 2 GY?rcpAbD??rSd!muswSTCwbwTjdTn

cw inward last w first ltorcd

well, it starts sensibly enough

user189275

Exactly !

user189275

12:29 PM

Last w -> Last word ?

Gareth McCaughan

so I would assume

user189275

First l -> First letter ?

Gareth McCaughan

but maybe not

user189275

Yeah.

Gareth McCaughan

yeah, first l is plausible too

user189275

12:30 PM

I may be some key to something.

Gareth McCaughan

but any of this might be wrong given the scattering of peculiar letters

I'm sure you are :-)

user189275

Cw (clockwise ?) inward last w(word ?) first l (letter ?) torcd (rot ? Vignere? Playfair?)

user189275

Amazingly, 16 last words, so Cw inward might be plausible.

Gareth McCaughan

their first letters don't look much like they could possibly be an anagram of anything

lbok
slyc
cxds
skum

(their last letters are possibly even worse, no vowels at all and only one Y)

1:06 PM

@Sconibulus why would shiny not fit?

probably because I have the wrong rule

I am just interested in your reasoning

To see if you are on the correct train so to speak

oh, it looked like all the words that weren't lonely had at least 3 sub-words in them, no word other than shiny on the left had more than 2, but shiny has shin, hi, in, and I

and one is the loneliest number, but two can be as bad as one

OK, what are the definitions of the words lonely and alone? Could you be alone in a crowded room? How about lonely?

Well, mentally, you can be both...

1:17 PM

But what do you actually need to not be lonely?

booze?

Gareth McCaughan

you're presumably looking for some answer like "a friend"

which in this context must mean a similar word or a related word or something

but the Not Lonely words don't seem to all contain other adjectives or other words if closely related meaning (I think)

Hahaha :)

A friend could be different but still you might feel good with them.

And your friends are called Rob, Ken and Hazel?

Nope.

1:22 PM

@Emrakul Not quite sure what happened today (maybe my posting more Community Promotion Ads on various sites helped draw attention), but whatever it was, it worked: area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/93238/…

If the names were Rob, Ken and Hazel, the meaning of the words themselves and whether they are meaningful words would not have mattered. @MOehm

@Will The numbers of the grid on this puzzle don't represent what you wrote in your answer (even if your answer is the good one). Try to think how a minesweeper game is played, and include a nice/beautiful grid to your answer, and get the tick :)!

Gareth McCaughan

so FRIENDLY contains FRIEND, DELICIOUS contains DELI, BROKEN contains BROKE, COURAGEOUS contains COURAGE, etc. Is that the point? A not-lonely word is one that contains an approximate synonym or otherwise closely related word?

18 would have filled itself in, wouldn't it?

Gareth McCaughan

though I'm not convinced that works for HANDSOME or RECTANGULAR

so maybe not

but it looks like that principle kinda works for all the others

1:28 PM

Significant?

Gareth McCaughan

though arguably OVA and OVAL are too closely related

SIGN

since an oval is a thing shaped like an egg and ova are eggs

also VACUOUS contains VACUO which is Latin but does get used (one talks about doing things in vacuo)

@GarethMcCaughan no. And as you see it doesn't work for the others.

@IAmInPLS Alright, I'll keep scratching my head, thanks. :)

@Sconibulus Yes, I do think you're correct...

Maybe, it has something to do with syllables..

No, with words. :)

I thought someone would have figured it out by now.

I don't know what else I can do - I can't possibly hint more without giving out the answer.

1:35 PM

hmm, with the direction you're hinting, most of the non-lonely words seem like they might be positive attributes in a companion...

although I'm not sure about Broken and Miniature

You can wait until whoever just looks at it and says "I have it!" returns from their holidays. I'm afraid the rest of us have looked at this too long and we always attack it from the same, wrong angle.

I will wait. :)

What is one-step closer to Non-lonely?? How far was Ulotricious anyway??

@Sconibulus are your companions always delicious? do you eat them? :)

no, but I might lick, bite, or kiss them, also yes

1:39 PM

@Sid just a couple of steps.

@Sconibulus nsfw

@MariaDeleva I always compliment my friends on how rectangular they are, as a matter of fact

@Wu33o lol

Perhaps, lonely words mean you can add something in the prefix or suffix to make a new word. Eg. Civil-Civilian

Gareth McCaughan

unbroken

insignificant

etc

I like how you guys find the flaw in a logic on your own

1:42 PM

Damn!! The question is wrong!!

If I give you the answer, you will kill me with stones :P

Wow, is it that obvious?

Once you see it, you can't unsee it, I guess.

Gareth McCaughan

the not-lonely words often contain things suggestive of combination or companionship (FRIEND, AND, US) but not always; and KEN is suggestive of knowing which is kinda like friendship, but I can't find anything remotely like that in e.g. POLISHED.

but evidently we need something that somehow makes use of the meaning of the original word

which is entertaining for words as obscure as ulotrichous and jussieuan

though maybe the condition for "lonely" is "X never happens" and for sufficiently weird words X is very unlikely (e.g. X involves some relationship like synonymy)

Yeah but apparently the individual letters also matter, since changing an I to an H makes ulotrichous closer to not lonely, while it doesn't change the meaning

Gareth McCaughan

1:48 PM

though maybe the condition for "lonely" is "X never happens" and for sufficiently weird words X is very unlikely (e.g. X involves some relationship like synonymy)

oops, sorry about the multiple posting there

Wu33o, my impression is that we're looking at something involving relationships between the whole word and its substrings / anagrammed substrings / words obtainable by adding bits / words obtainable by changing a few letters / whatever

so the meaning matters (via the whole word) but so do the individual letters (by changing what other words we can derive from it)

Maybe the loneliness is measured in steps that it takes to make a synonym or an antonym.

@MOehm it is not that complicated

Gareth McCaughan

and then we have Maria's hint (in the question itself) that "lonely" doesn't mean "alone" (and her remark earlier about whether you can be lonely in a crowded room) -- all of which presumably means we're interested only in some of the words derivable by whatever means

this is presumably all a wonderful illustration of how things can seem obvious to one person but not to another...

And now I have an idea for a more complicated tm puzzle, but knowing you, perhaps it would be easier for you to solve

2:07 PM

I wqs actually planning to use "Lonely" for a TM puzzle

but now I'm gonna have to think of another word

You can use Alone :)

or Solitary

thesaurus.com/browse/lonely

There we go, posted my first contribution to the topic challenge:

0

Q: What kind of puzzle is solved by this sequence of 26 numbers?

Samantha had been fiddling with something at her desk for ages, and constantly scribbling notes on a piece of paper. When my curiosity eventually got the better of me, I wandered over to ask what she was up to. "No, no!" she exclaimed. "Don't look yet! I'm still on the simple version. Once I wor...

number-sequence reverse-puzzling

This is just an easy one, not the interesting one I was talking about the other day. That one will come in a few days' time once I've hammered out all the details.

6 and counting

@Rand: Solved!

That was a fun one.

I recommend not looking at my answer and trying to solve it yourselves.

Gareth McCaughan

6 what and counting?

2:21 PM

puzzles in the fortnightly challenge. Someone said there won't be many puzzles, but that is not the case :)

Puzzling — BOUNTY!

6

Q: Cipher Ciphe Ciph

"What is this?", he asked. Looking at the paper, it read "Amw ytc xffu tx honzarz vmghers." "Do you have some clues?", he asked. His friend replied, "Turn the paper" The below were the clues: Cipher. | A | The first letter. You wish to find it. | piece | The last letter too, is that ...

And obviously rand is considering a new one, so there should be at least a 7th.

Gareth McCaughan

ah!

@Deusovi Damn, that was fast. I was really unsure how hard this one was going to be.

How did you work it out?

@Randal'Thor my first thought was sudoku, but there weren't nearly enough numbers

2:23 PM

Mind if I spoil it here? I'm on mobile at the moment, so the best I could do besides this would be to rot13 everything.

@Deusovi I already saw your answer. :) I wouldn't have figured it out

@MariaDeleva There's a (probably intentional) Sudoku red herring in @IAmInPLS's reverse-puzzle too. At least I think it's a red herring ...

I guess everyone wants to see a sudoku reversed :)

@Randal'Thor It is a red herring. Your suggestion was definitely correct... and after working it further both on paper and with some Python my answer works except for the 18 @Sconibulus pointed out... though I'm still not sure what else the numbers could mean

(also the bottom portion would get flood filled with "0"s as well)

no, that works, 4 flood fills the blanks, 5 is the next you have to click, and there's no other 0 in the bottom.

2:35 PM

Right, I was making that more explicit than what's in the image (just the first click + deductions) - not saying it doesn't work

Though I can see how my wording was confusing...

Dammit, @MariaDeleva - I spent a few extra seconds explaining how the solution fits one of the lines of the riddle, and you got your answer in first! :-P

:) @Randal'Thor you still have the chance of better explaining every line

or faster

0

Q: What is an Isolated Word™?

This is in the spirit of the [What is a Word/Phrase™][1] series started by [JLee][2] with a special brand of Phrase™ and Word™ puzzles. If a word conforms to a special rule, I call it an Anagrammable Word™. Use the following examples below to find the rule: Isolated Words™,Not Isolated Words™...

is that a puzzle?

it... needs work

Anyway, my reasoning (rot13ed):

Zl svefg gubhtug jnf nyfb n fhqbxh. Ohg jr'q nyernql unq bar bs gubfr, fb V gubhtug nobhg bgure guvatf vaibyivat ahzoref. Fb V jbaqrerq jung pbhyq vaibyir n frdhrapr bs ahzoref va gur fnzr enatr. V gubhtug nobhg crezhgngvbaf bs ahzoref va gur fnzr enatr, naq vafgnagyl uvg hcba gur fyvqvat oybpx chmmyr. Nsgre gung, vg jnf whfg n znggre bs svaqvat gur fgnegvat cbfvgvba naq purpxvat gur svefg pbhcyr bs zbirf va zl abgrobbx gb znxr fher vg jbexrq bhg.

2:51 PM

I am trying to post an answer to the Isolated Word and "The site is offline for maintenance"

Is it literally just "words that mean "isolated" "?

I have another idea - but not really sure about it :)

I just posted it.

Perhaps I am wrong

Dammit, that's exactly what I was going to do for my puzzle. D:

Well if you hadn't said that...

Hahah :) I guess it wouldn't lasted long - I was looking recently at these words :)

2:53 PM

Oh well, time to think of something else!

And even considered the idea myself - but was planning on writing a code that would isolate the words

so that I have a bigger set to work with

good thing I haven't started :P

Oh, they deleted the post.

I saw that

Not sure why

Because it got downvoted, I guess. Some people do that.

Speaking of which, someone just downvoted my reverse-puzzle D-:

My reverse puzzles got many downvotes

:)

2:58 PM

Mine got downvoted as well. I guess we have someone who isn't very fond of reverse puzzling...

I am leaving for a couple of hours. If you haven't solved my puzzles when I come back, you will be grounded. :P Just joking :P :)

@Deusovi ... and re-posted.

oh wow, lots of Word puzzles in the last 20 minutes

@MariaDeleva Then I'll probably beat you to a full solution of the ravel riddle ;-)

Nice, three Word puzzles in a row... Although I'm not too sure about @Sconibulus 's, though.

3:04 PM

... wait, what? — rand al'thor 1 min ago

@Randal'Thor Good grief, mine has two DVs!!

I assumed there was a decent list in the words changed from the standard What Is A Word pattern

@Ankoganit Well, I liked it.

@Randal'Thor You liked that I have two DVs! How very cruel ! :P

@Ankoganit And someone's just upvoted it. Finally, a sound clue!

3:10 PM

Hmmm... ;)

@Randal'Thor And someone's just upvoted it. Nice idea!

@RosieF Danke!

I still think the next one will be more fun, but I haven't fully decided yet exactly how to do it.

in that Isolated word theme, Don't all the words mean isolated in some context??

My reverse puzzle has not been DV yet

But usually, I got at least 1 DV 3-4 days after I posted so ... let's wait ^^

downvotes @IAmInPLS's reverse puzzle

Only joking - I already upvoted it :-)

3:23 PM

Will I be suspended for plagiarising if I posted a puzzle on chat which technically is not a puzzle but puzzled me for some time?

Absolutely (Edit: not)

@Randal'Thor Thanks! cries because faith in humanity restored

@IAmInPLS 's puzzle has an "!" in the title; it hasn't been DV'd. My, MD's and @Rand 's puzzles don't have "!" in q titles; they have been DV'd. My last two puzzles did have "!"'s in titles; they haven't been DV'd yet (IIRC). Coincidence? I think not...;)

This looks convincing:

2

A: The answer to this riddle is a number

Answer: Rationale: The key to this riddle is only for you Below are instructions, above this the clue First strike the one near the head of a year Then remove he who begins a cheer Next take away the end of a tunnel Then let us go to solve this puzzle What you first took you m...

@Ankoganit Who are we looking for then? An amateur of "!" ? Ha ha

3:39 PM

Wow, this one is nice...

4

Q: Oh who wrote the leftmost part?

Oh who wrote the leftmost part? Results in tripping if you add its start Ecoutez: a clue you'll find Let's entangle yet unwind On the twelfth a party too Bread if you make me a stew So who am I? And explain each line ...

riddle wordplay cryptic-clues

hehehe @Deusovi played along

What is the rollback badge?

@Sid Cleanup?

Yeah.. which means?

Look at the revision history of any post; you'll see a little 'rollback' button next to each revision. If you click it, you edit back to that version of the post.

Not sure if it's visible to <2k rep users who can't edit unilaterally though.

3:42 PM

No, it is visible.

Does site association bonus count in your chat rep?

@Ankoganit I think chat rep only counts sites where you have >200 rep.

@Randal'Thor Oh, okay, makes sense. Thanks.

@Sconibulus I thought for a short time to close as "too many choices" but then said no. Then I saw the law that said what was an Explain Word and thought it was a good idea. And I had to give the law in the same way. :P

(Damn, writing like that is hard. "Rule" really isn't in the top thousand?)

I used this to help: splasho.com/upgoer5

yeah, I had a hell of a time coming up with 'word that fits pattern'-like statements

I ended up going with 'is the best' but wasn't terribly happy about it

3:47 PM

@Deusovi "Ten hundred" is the strangest way to say "thousand" I've seen for a while ...

That's how I finally broke into the puzzle. (I used the official XKCD checker for my response)

@Randal'Thor You have any better ideas? :P

'ten to the third' works, but feels like it's missing the point

@Deusovi Any leads in this?? puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/42872/…

Nothing solid, but "UDLLU" from the hint reminds me of "up, down, left, left, up"

Here's another: http://www.bartleby.com/246/637.html
And yes, "ten hundred" does sound odd. Like, e.g. "twenty-five hundred".

Gareth McCaughan

3:54 PM

gives me the same thought, but could also be uppercase/lowercase/digit

user230888

Okay, sorry in advance for self promotion, but could anyone add a 100 or so bounty for my Hit..Hiss puzzle ? I accept healthy criticism, but people are neither telling what is wrong with my puzzle or up voting it.

A few people are working on it, or at least were relatively recently

Gareth McCaughan

I think that's because they're too busy trying to solve it.

I have a pattern that's semi-supported by the text, but you said a box wasn't missing, so I think it must be one of those red herrings you mentioned

Well, your puzzle is less than 24 hours old and has a decent number of views.. So, I don't think bounty is needed right now. Plus GPR did say he would comment after the answer..

user230888

3:58 PM

@Sconibulus Don't be afraid of plagiarism. What's the pattern ?

@Deusovi Ohhh, now I get it! I didn't realise you were writing your answer using just Explain Words :-D

@tpk basically, let the number on the left of the arrow be x, let n be a set of natural numbers that sum to x, and let the numbers on the right of the arrow be described by foreach(int i in n){total*=GetIthPrime(i)}

As an example: 4th prime = 7, 3rd * 1st = 5*2 = 10 2nd*2nd = 3*3=9 2nd*1st*1st = 3*2*2 = 12 1st*1st*1st*1st = 2^4 = 16

(full values for n=4)

probably ordered by total ascending, rather than the way I did the math, but still

@Deusovi Hey I can do this: "Large number of tiny bit beside you (8)" ;)

err, x=4 rather

my notes and my explanation diverged a little

did I completely miss the mark?

user230888

@Sconibulus

Gareth McCaughan

4:21 PM

@Sconibulus why does this mean the number of boxes is wrong? The partitions of 4 are 4,31,22,211,1111 yielding 7,10,9,12,16 (though as you say they might use 7,9,10,12,16 instead); why should a box be missing?

or has the question been edited?

@Emrakul Literature has entered Commitment stage, and I'm honoured to be the very first committer :-D

Gareth McCaughan

(no, it hasn't been edited)

user61230

@Randal'Thor Just committed, myself.

Gareth McCaughan

oh, sorry, I see, you think one of the other lines has the wrong number of boxes

pardon my stupidity

user61230

Or, alternately, just committed myself. I'll be posting to Stack Exchange from an asylum.

5

4:22 PM

If that's right, for x=6 the results should be "13, 21, 22, 25, 27, 28, 30, 36, 40, 48, 64"

Woo me too

Gareth McCaughan

I have to say that's convincing enough that I bet there's a mistake in the question

and parts of the riddles mentioned primes, and ordering alphabetically yielding EDF, which could be the X values; Five Four Six.

but the numbers to words and digits to binary stuff I don't get

Gareth McCaughan

it would be highly entertaining to solve the puzzle just by identifying the numbers without figuring out any of the riddles.

which I suspect you have in fact done

that's basically what I did, I saw x->xth prime,stuff,2^x

Gareth McCaughan

4:30 PM

The "Hit! Hiss!" stuff looks like it should be an anagram but most of the words that seem like they ought to be there if this theory is right can't be made from it (product, multiply, partition, integer). You can make "prime" and "times" but that's not super-useful.

4:40 PM

@tpk Is further comment coming?

Gareth McCaughan

tpk no longer appears in the list of current Sphinx's Lair users at the top right of this page for me... (And hasn't since shortly after mysteriously saying "@Sconibulus" and nothing else.)

mysterious

user189275

4:57 PM

I solved puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/42881/…

user189275

Feel free to edit.

user189275

I am too lazy to type completely.

I am currently thinking of a puzzle that may have many variations. But the variant I am considering, the possible titles could be: A) Too obvious (the puzzle will be solved in minutes) , B) Misleading (leading to you fishing for many red herrings indefinitely), or C) A bit obscure but still easy to come to the solution. And I can't think of a D) option

So perhaps I will just discard it

Gareth McCaughan

@ArkaKarmakar I edited in a brief summary of what the rule actually is and what therefore needs to change in the question.

5:13 PM

Grr, Engineer Toast has filled up most of the front page of the site with word-property tag edits :-/

@MariaDeleva No more hints in the lonely word puzzle??

how many do you want? I almost spelled it out :)

I have got this weird feeling that once the answer is out, I am going to hit myself hard for missing it.... I am sort of getting frustrated now..

don't :) someone would have an "aha" moment and it will be solved...

5:43 PM

OK, I posted a Devilish puzzle :)

this time you have 18 examples of each :)

@MariaDeleva +1 :-)

Somebody downvoted it already...

Thanks @Randal'Thor

The existence of both Satan and Santa in the top few examples immediately put me in mind of anagrams ...

Seems like someone doesn't like Word puzzles, lol. At least one downvote on all the latest word puzzles.

That makes me feel better :) Thought it might have been retribution for my previous still unsolved puzzle. :)

@Randal'Thor note that you have Satan and Lucifer in the Not Devilish Phrases/Words :)

5:51 PM

hello world :-)

@ABcDexter Hi, you had gone missing I notice...

Hi

@Sid Yes, took some time off the internet, enjoyed solitude O:-)

@MariaDeleva ^_^

@LukasRotter Someone might be pissed off that the front page of the site is currently flooded with them, but of course that's not MD's fault.

I can't do that. :)

5:53 PM

Hi @Randal'Thor :)

@MariaDeleva Solitude is bliss, a great teacher...

Even on a vacation, I take my phone and possibly a laptop, lol.

@Randal'Thor Seems plausible, "Newest" tab for the win :P

Wow, a new TM puzzle

reverse puzzling :D

@MariaDeleva hahaha xD

Let's see how long it takes for the downvote. I say 17:57:42 UTC

5:56 PM

The downvoter might have gone off the site :) you never know

@ABcDexter waves

@LukasRotter But then you miss all the great old puzzles you've never seen before that get bumped by edits!

Or new answers to old puzzles which might need voting on or flagging.

I see a lots of ^{tm} question in the site... fascinating, so many trademark registrations are done these days :D

@ABcDexter hahhah :) indeed :)

I think this is a dupe of rotten words.

Yeah.. Solitude is indeed bliss. I am going to take some time off the site myself.

« first day (860 days earlier) ← previous day next day → last day (2764 days later) »

Transcript for

Sep '1621

The Sphinx's Lair

General discussion for puzzling.stackexchange.com

join this room
about this room

00:00

06:00

12:00

18:00

all times are UTC

site design / logo © 2024 Stack Exchange Inc; legal

mobile