The Sphinx's Lair

But I wanted to be double sure to trip someone up before they offered an incorrect pattern that just made the real one trivial to arrive at for the next person.

Deusovi

Another nonword? What do you mean?

Rubio

1:16 AM

BEGONE

Deusovi

Oh, BEGONE being a non-Koffka word.

Rubio

yeah

Rubio

1:55 AM

Huh. Got my Curious badge. Didn't even know that was a thing.

GentlePurpleRain

3:16 AM

@Rubio Semi-intentional. I purposely didn't accept it right away, but I've been AFK most of the last 3 days, so haven't really had an opportunity.

@Rubio Have 15 rep.

Rubio

Gotcha - thanks

Rubio

6:02 AM

Lol. That went fast.

user189275

@LukasRotter @Sid Wait for evidence, instead of just assuming the MBB as a sockpuppet of mine. As I told before, this and tpk are the only two accounts I use, and tpk is not three random letters.

Sid

7:19 AM

Any mods, around? Could you add the featured tag to the new fortnightly topic post?

Puzzling Meta

7:59 AM

0

Q: Fortnightly Topic Challenge #20: Pattern

This is the twentieth instalment of the Fortnightly Topic Challenge described here, with topics suggested and voted on here. This fortnight's topic is "Pattern" (suggested by BmyGuest), and will span from the the 14th of November to 28th of November. During this period, we will compile the list o...

Lukas Rotter

10:13 AM

@ArbitraryKangaroo It's not like this is a serious investigation (or is it?), so I just pick what seems like the plausible person to me. I'm aware that it can easily be wrong. I also have some secondary suspects in mind.

Sid

11:11 AM

@LukasRotter and @Randal'Thor don't mind that I have done the honours of the fortnightly challenge this time. :-)

Lukas Rotter

@Sid Could you also post the CW answer?

Sid

11:32 AM

Alright, would do that as well..

@Randal'Thor Could you do that? I am a bit busy now...

Rand al'Thor

@Sid So am I, but done.

user189275

11:49 AM

@LukasRotter It's a matter of life and death - half dozen's life is at stake. :P I am joking, of course, I also take the investigation as a joke, I am just telling don't jump to random conclusion so quickly.

Lukas Rotter

12:10 PM

@ArbitraryKangaroo "random conclusions"??? I spent 34 hours gathering evidence, and all of them point to you, mr. kangaroo. You better get a good lawyer.

Sconibulus

2:58 PM

@LukasRotter They're pretty clearly arbitrary...

Sid

And be ready to pay a good amount to the lawyer(in 100 rupee bills, that is) :P

shouldn't question titles be of some value in the real question?

Sconibulus

I was about to make a comment about an orange crystal, then I remembered that real life isn't Zelda, and Rupee is an actual currency

@Sid The bottles of beer? It was a hint

Sid

Well, I don't know how to react to that. Should I laugh at that or should I be sad that the rupee has become almost non-existent?

Rubio

@Deusovi I didn't even notice your error in your bolding of the Koffka words' letters. Nice fix :)

Sid

AH, 9 bottles, one fall off. So, base 8.

Today seems like a good day to post a puzzle...

Sconibulus

3:18 PM

@Sid Just treat it as another shining example of America's shocking lack of global awareness

Sid

Yes, after all you guys have become more "inward-looking".

Sconibulus

3:50 PM

Is that a euphemism for terrifying?

Sid

We need to wait for 4 years to find that out. Do give Trump a chance. :-)

dcfyj

We'll see how it turns out

Ankoganit

@dcfyj We'll also see how many people are turned out

Sid

I am pretty sure, all of that was election rhetoric. If it really happens, then, good luck, America. :-)

Lukas Rotter

4:05 PM

Wow... I have an answer for @Sid s question which works with all VP numbers, but only not with one non-VP ;(

Sid

So quick?

Lukas Rotter

It's wrong anyway, so it's not that impressive :D

Sid

I thought it would last at least a day.

It's actually a pretty easy pattern. If you get two or more, you will easily get the rest.

@Rubio Care to explain in a more simpler way? :-)

Rubio

yeah adding that now

Lukas Rotter

I thought that a VP number is a number that 1) is prime 2) the position of it in the prime numbers is also prime. Turned out to be wrong.

Sid

4:09 PM

@LukasRotter Bingo. Just a small correction to that has to be added...

@Rubio Bingo. It was that easy?

Lukas Rotter

Damn it :D

Rubio

I had to work on it a little, but it wasn't that hard once I knew they were all prime, but so were a few of the non-VPs

I figured it couldn't just be their primacy, it had to do with which ones they were; i have a handy list of primes that I could then easily check against to see which prime number they were, and it was simple enough then to see the pattern

Sid

Well, I should have made it harder. :-)

Lukas Rotter

That's probably also why someone downvoted it; they thought it was too easy.

Rubio

Nah. Honestly I think someone is hacked off at the pattern puzzles and is just knee-jerk downvoting.

Sid

4:21 PM

That is a very poor reason for a downvote. If it was easy, they could have answered it. (unless Rubio downvoted) :P

Rubio

My recent one got downvoted before anyone had had a chance to do anything with it, and while not super hard, it was definitely non-trivial

And no, I didn't downvote. ;) In fact you now have my up-vote.

Lukas Rotter

Wow... You can't even see how many downvotes a question has in data.SE... Or ist that also only available to 2kers there?

Sid

to 1kers... Just click on the votes

Lukas Rotter

I mean in data.SE queries

Sid

Oh, sorry, never used that.

Rubio

4:26 PM

Yeah neither have I

Sid

Now, no new questions... so back to the old pastime of who mushroom bang boom is.. :P

Lukas Rotter

It's probably you, me or Beastly Gerbil :P Because it's always the one who tries the hardest to be unsuspicious :P

Sid

Lol, yeah.

I choose you. You brought it up and then proceeded to blame AK. :P

dcfyj

Lukas Rotter, I choose you! Throws Pokeball

Lukas Rotter

I choose you. You deliberately waited to accept the answers just to blame Rand. :P

Sid

4:35 PM

I am struggling to have time with one account here(These are holidays. So, I have some time) and you expect me to have 2 accounts? Plus, I have already forgotten my password for this account.

Lukas Rotter

@Sid If I was MBB, would I really publicly suggest it could be me in chat?

Sid

Yeah, for exactly this reason. To deflect suspicion :P

Nah, that's taking it too far.

dcfyj

If you look at MBB's gravicon the owl's eyes are different directions. A hidden message perhaps?

Sid

It's not you, it's not me.... who remains?

Lukas Rotter

31

Q: Owls at sunset - find the odd one out

Quite contrary to the common belief, owls are very social animals and indeed form flocks or rather tightly bound families with a common social codex. At sunset, they all meet before going on their individual hunting trip, and they eye themselves very carefully. Any owl not belonging to the group ...

pattern visual

Sid

4:39 PM

BmyGuest? Can't tell about him/her. Enigmatic person.

Beastly Gerbil

Seems mystery solved...

Lukas Rotter

@BeastlyGerbil Now you're just trying to close the case because it's actually you :P

I don't think BmyGuest would make it so obvious.

Beastly Gerbil

@LukasRotter it can't be me. If I was to create a sockppuppet I would name it something else...

Lukas Rotter

@BeastlyGerbil I think Beastly Gerbil has as much of a deep meaning as Mushroom Bang Boom, so it seems plausible :P

Sconibulus

especially because Gerbils eat Mushrooms, and then grow in stature like a Mario to become Beastly, and defeat Goombas, Bang, Boom.

Beastly Gerbil

4:43 PM

I just realised the flaw in my point. I'm saying i wouldn't name a sockpuppet something silly like Mushroom bang Boom when my name is Beastly Gerbil... Hmmm.

Rubio

Maybe it's me, and that's why I haven't said anything at all on the subject up until now.

All the speculation aside, fun as it is, and frankly, likely as it is -

anyone with, what, 10 rep can use the chat rooms, and you can read the transcripts in chat rooms without ever entering t hem.

Sid

The person himself/herself says he/she is a sock-puppet.

Rubio

Oh. I missed that. (you can tell how much I've been paying attention hehe)

Rubio

5:13 PM

3333 rep.

neat :)

Such a nice number, and - ironically -

Beastly Gerbil

3333 rep, 3 silvers, 33 bronze

Rubio

i have a downvoter to thank for it

Sid

I would spoil that soon.

Rubio

already screen-captured :)

Deusovi

6:01 PM

I know how MBB is. :P

dcfyj

I take it he asked you before making the puppet

Deusovi

Nope!

Lukas Rotter

@Deusovi You as a mod got his e-mail hash and cracked it with your mod-tools!!!

Deusovi

There are special tools to inform us mods of sockpuppets and various other potentially problematic issues.

Sid

Yeah, probably because you are him... :P

Anyone tried "The Lone King puzzle"?

Lukas Rotter

6:08 PM

BTW, I finally managed to make this damn query work... The duplicate subquery is there because I couldn't figure out how to use my own fields as variables.

data.stackexchange.com/puzzling/revision/577970/726619/…

Deusovi

@Sid Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. It's fun watching you all try to figure this out.

Lukas Rotter

The most hated tag on Puzzling is humor according to my rules :P

Deusovi

Yeah, sounds about right.

Sid

Right, So, Deusovi is ineligible for the 500 rep points. Perhaps, try guessing all the users... someone would eventually be the one.

Lukas Rotter

No one is eligible for the 500 rep points yet, because no one made an offical guess yet :P

2 days ago, by Lukas Rotter

@ArbitraryKangaroo K. +500 for the person who gets it correct (only one guess, the winning person can't be owner of MBB account, obviously). (My bet with Beastly Gerbil is also still running). A valid guess must be in the following format (posted in chat): "I think Mushroom Bang Boom is: [insert username]" I only count the first guess from each person, and it must obviously be posted before MBB reveals their identity.

2 days ago, by Lukas Rotter

+500 for the first person who gets it correct, of course...

Matt

6:15 PM

what's this guessing all about? clearly I've missed something ...

manshu

@Sid look for those people who are not active on this site anymore... They should be doubted as they have ample amount of time to manage another account.

omg... @Matt

you are here again...it's so nice to see you

Matt

oh hey, @manshu

it's nice to be seen again :)

Lukas Rotter

@manshu I think MBB is constantly inactive except when they post a question.

manshu

@Matt when did you return?

Matt

last week, sometime

manshu

6:17 PM

@LukasRotter err...who is mbb?

@Matt where were you

Matt

I came back just in time to snipe that Dvorak question

Lukas Rotter

Mushroom Bang Boom

67 6

cipher enigmatic-puzzle

dcfyj

@manshu That's the question everyone is asking :P

Matt

I was around, but my activity fell off with the decline of the Puzzling, Etc. room

oh, this should be fun

Sid

@Matt The century? Well, I can tell you, I was no fan of that puzzle..

manshu

6:20 PM

That room went down a month ago. But you left like 6 months ago. So did KK and q_a after you.

Matt

no way it was 6 months ago

omg

manshu

That's what happens when you are at a very high speed relative to earth :p

(ref. to Time Dilation)

Matt

@manshu I'm so sorry I left you

never again ... until I forget

manshu

MBB is gonna do some good I hope.

when you guys left, I lost my interest in puzzling.

I mean, I had no master to learn from.

Sid

Well, at least the guy uses acronyms for names.

Sconibulus

6:26 PM

I hate the stealth edit rules for newly posted answers...

Matt

6:59 PM

I have a riddle in mind that has most likely been thought of before, but the key words are too generic to search for :(

Sconibulus

7:40 PM

Eh, what's the worst that can happen...

Sconibulus

8:49 PM

Random question, do we play with Winterbash?

dcfyj

Or do we bash with Winterplay?

Sconibulus

The site as a whole has an opt-out option I think, I was wondering if we took it (I wasn't really here last time)

Deusovi

I don't think we opted out.

Beastly Gerbil

9:18 PM

Stack Overflow election in primary phase...

They get so many votes. The winning vote on ours was, what, 350?

Lukas Rotter

@BeastlyGerbil Emrakul had 265

Beastly Gerbil

Wow. The primary phase has 4 days left and 3 people already have over 1000

Rubio

@BeastlyGerbil new hires: Code of Conduct

Beastly Gerbil

Thanks @Rubio!

Rubio

@BeastlyGerbil assembly code can be assembled

Sconibulus

9:23 PM

on fire?

Rubio

no idea on the fire, or the d-ring, or the out on the town

Matt

@BeastlyGerbil every line is its own clue

Sconibulus

if it's code, monkey has to be a reference to Code Monkey

Beastly Gerbil

Thanks @Sconibulus

Matt

I'll give you a checkmark when the edits stop rolling in haha

Rubio

9:24 PM

@Matt it is? cuz that's an amazingly good fit if Code isn't the intended answer :)

Matt

the answer is as intended

just giving the reasoning time to get worked out

Rubio

Ah, gotcha

Sconibulus

on fire could maybe be a reference to the practice of 'smoke test' but that seems like a stretch

oh, wait, 'Fire Code' for buildings, rules about how not to have everyone die in a fire

Beastly Gerbil

Of course

Thanks again!

Matt

"de-answering ring"

what is this

Deusovi

9:26 PM

Decoder ring.

Sconibulus

and then 'code red' for a serious situation, not sure about 'code brown'\

Deusovi

I didn't want to spoil it in the comments.

Matt

I know, I just think it's funny that the quoted text was in the answer

Rubio

oh. Code Brown is definitely a thing.

Beastly Gerbil

So missing 'out of town'

Matt

9:28 PM

lol @Rubio it sure is

Rubio

it's a messy thing. medical staff dislike it a lot. :)

Beastly Gerbil

@Matt the thing that gave it away for me was 'At a bar you can read me'. Obviously barcode

Matt

I forced that in there because I really liked the line about monkeys

Rubio

Yeah I had just started looking at that, got as far as "menu" when your "A new answer" popped up

Matt

where things went wrong and out on the town are two separate concepts

Beastly Gerbil

9:30 PM

@Rubio 'menu' I like that :P

Code of silence, clean code...

ah! error code

Matt

bingo!

Beastly Gerbil

So 'out on the town...'

Matt

yeah ....

Beastly Gerbil

Oh! Post Code?

Matt

:D

good job, team

Beastly Gerbil

9:38 PM

And the most obvious one was the one that stumped us all... Sums up life :P

Matt

always does

don't forget the title!

Beastly Gerbil

Talking in code :) I'll add that

Matt

huh ... when there's 100 downvotes or more, the hyphen gets eliminated in the upvote/downvote view

Beastly Gerbil

Theres a question with 100+ downvotes?

Sconibulus

It's probably the StackOverflow mod primary

Beastly Gerbil

9:43 PM

Or its the weird deleted one :P

Lukas Rotter

This question is a real legend: (more than 200 downvotes)

-147

Q: How to send 100,000 emails weekly?

How can one send an email to 100,000 users on a weekly basis in PHP? This includes mail to subscribers using the following providers: AOL G-Mail Hotmail Yahoo It is important that all e-mail actually be delivered, to the extent that it is possible. Obviously, just sending the mail conventiona...

php email email-integration mailing-list massmail

Sconibulus

Yeah, ArtOfCode is at +561-150

Beastly Gerbil

Ok Night all

Deusovi

Night!

Rubio

@BeastlyGerbil Seeya even

Rubio

10:08 PM

man. what is up with people. 3 downvotes on What is a VP Number ? why?

Alconja

11:20 PM

@Rubio I didn't downvote, but the way I see it is this: "What is a Word?" type questions can be interesting because there's lots of angles to attack from (shapes of letters, relationships between letters, meanings of words, etc), allowing people to pick around the edges, testing examples/counterexamples, to slowly unravel the puzzle. Numbers are more abstract, so have less potential depth and less apparent inroads for trial/error, and are therefore less interesting subjects as puzzles.

My prediction is that although "What is a Number?" puzzles were almost inevitable following the "What is a Word?" craze, they will ultimately go the way of the "next in the sequence" type questions, and for the same reasons.

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