The Sphinx's Lair

Rubio

19:00

@dcfyj Heh, I forgot that was still outstanding :)

Sconibulus

It's so into Schwarzenegger (please say I spelled that right)

M Oehm

"You spelled that right."

dcfyj

Looks right to me

(just googled as a double confirmation)

Display name

*Arnold Braunschweiger

Sconibulus

for some reason my brain keeps going to Terminus (Foundation) but I think that's just because of all the termination in the first halfd

Rand al'Thor

19:12

@IAmInPLS Wait, are you serious?

M Oehm

19:24

The Alpine Taco could be an Alpine Goat, except that we'd need a G instead of a C.

Display name

Is it fine to have a sockpuppet if 1) it doesn't vote on anything and 2) obviously follows site rules, e.g. it doesn't spam etc.?

dcfyj

You know, my (I believe) second desert wanderings would've fit nicely in this fortnight

@Displayname Then what's the point of having it?

Display name

@dcfyj You'll understand :P

Rand al'Thor

@Displayname Yes.

88

A: How should sockpuppets be handled on Stack Exchange?

How can I be sure I'm looking at a sockpuppet? You can't ever be 100% sure. What you think is a sockpuppet could in fact be my good friend Nog Shine, who loves everything I write, copies my writing style, and uses my computer to vote and post stuff when I step away for coffee. But in practice, ...

I've got one myself.

IAmInPLS

:3409270 What do you mean?

@Randal'Thor

Lews Therin Telamon

19:34

@Randal'Thor No you haven't. You are my sockpuppet.

Rand al'Thor

So far the main thing I've used it for is the occasional light entertainment in chat.

As just demonstrated ^^

@IAmInPLS You said "monkey" should be "ape" - was that just a joke like "alpine taco", or were you serious?

IAmInPLS

Haha nooo that is not it! But it is ape indeed. Now it is easy

Rand al'Thor

Huh. How are we supposed to know to get from "monkey" to "ape"?

I mean, what's cluing that?

dcfyj

A monkey is not an ape though...

IAmInPLS

The sentence where I say that I thought it was a monkey

Rand al'Thor

19:38

"lion ape cat" = "ani polecat"? "poetic anal"? "captain ole"?

"capital one"? "into palace"?

dcfyj

It's clearly a card company :P

Sconibulus

Ok, so a sockpuppet of mine wouldn't be allowed to benefit me...

M Oehm

That should certainly be "¡Capitán, Olé!"

IAmInPLS

Three words? Remember, the theme is ANIMALS

dcfyj

You're losing letters though, where's the k and y?

Rand al'Thor

19:39

to a pelican?

in a polecat?

IAmInPLS

God, and I thought the end will be good haha

dcfyj

FISH! :P

Sconibulus

but could I, for instance, have a second account that I answer on when my main is rep-capped, that, say, throws bounties on things that aren't related to me?

Rand al'Thor

@dcfyj Oops, I meant ape and not monkey. Fixed.

dcfyj

ah right, forgot about that already lol

M Oehm

19:40

@dcfyj The MONKEY is gone, it's APE now.

dcfyj

fish doesn't work so well anymore

pretty sure there's no apefish :P

Rand al'Thor

@Sconibulus I dunno, circumventing the repcap might count as "doing something you couldn't do with just one account", which isn't allowed.

IAmInPLS

Come on, except passengers, who do you find on a plane?

Rand al'Thor

On the other hand, both 6-figure rep users on Security SE are actually the same person (I kid you not), so if it works for them, I guess you could do that?

dcfyj

@Randal'Thor I don't see it as a problem if the second account is just trying to raise it's own rep while not going anywhere near the first

Rand al'Thor

19:42

@IAmInPLS A cane pilot?

An ace pilot!

dcfyj

@IAmInPLS Not very many others, passengers are a very high percentage of the plane's populace

Sconibulus

I, Plat Canoe!

dcfyj

I, Duddits?

Rand al'Thor

OK, solution is complete.

IAmInPLS

Nice, it was fun to see you trying hard though

Good job

Rubio

19:47

I was sure it was TOENAIL CAP.

Sconibulus

20:05

In theory, could an on-topic puzzle link to a JSFiddle or something that provides a game, the solution to which is necessary to proceed?

user61230

@ArbitraryKangaroo users.skynet.be/moz071262/Applets/Magic%20Polyhedra

user61230

Used to have an online applet, but apparently disabled for security reasons.

Display name

@Sconibulus I don't think so, it would heavily ignore the "self-contained" principle.

Except it's solvable without the JS game, of course

Then it's OK

Sconibulus

Too bad we don't have code snippets then

Display name

5

Q: Enabling Code Snippets

Note: This was already discussed here, but with this question I want to reopen the discussion in hope of more attention and stronger agreement. Currently JavaScript/HTML/CSS code snippets are disabled for Puzzling. This, in my opinion, should change, and these are the arguments I bring forward...

feature-request

I thought inbuilt snippets had at least some security checks, but apparently they don't.

Sphinx

20:30

0

Q: What is an Aerious Word™?

This is in the spirit of the What is a Word™/Phrase™ series started by JLee with a special brand of Phrase™ and Word™ puzzles. If a word conforms to a special rule, I call it an Aerious Word™. Use the examples below to find the rule. $$\begin{array}{|c|c|}\hline \bbox[yellow]{\textbf{Aerious...

word-property

Mithrandir

20:49

@Sphinx bug? You're showing the code instead of what it's supposed to show...

Display name

Is that an I or l ? :/

I assume l

GentlePurpleRain

@Mithrandir MathJax doesn't render in chat, so it won't render in the oneboxed question, either. e.g. $2 \times 4 = 8$

Sphinx

0

Q: The strange notebook - Clue Seventeen

<<---First clue <---Previous clue The door swings open. You step through, and it closes - thud - behind you. You look around. You are in what appears to be a normal living room, with some chairs, couches, and a coffee table. On the coffee table is a red notebook, marked simply Clue. You op...

enigmatic-puzzle story

Rand al'Thor

Too many imgur mazes around here these days.

I made an imgur-code-based riddle before it was cool. Now everyone's doing it.

Display name

I'm currently making one too, lol. Will be posted in about 1.5 months :)

Sconibulus

21:01

imgur maze should be a tag

GentlePurpleRain

The thing I don't like about them is that they're not transferable. Most of the puzzles on this site, I could print out and solve on paper, but something like that is entirely dependent on being not only on the internet, but specifically on StackExchange.

Display name

*3 months

Sconibulus

I don't like that they make the 'answer' to a bunch of parts be complete nonsense

Beastly Gerbil

My fingers hurt now

Sconibulus

@BeastlyGerbil need help with the last riddle? I'm pretty sure I know it, but I definitely don't want to steal that thunder

Beastly Gerbil

21:06

Er give me a few minutes to work it out myself but thanks anyway :)

Sconibulus

At least something like the Hidden QR Codes thing that was going on for a while actually looked pretty obviously like QR codes

Oooh... actually that might be fun...

Beastly Gerbil

Okay no I have no idea on the riddle. Relieve me of this heavy burden :P

Thinking the moon might be titan but thats it

Mithrandir

Saturn is a throwoff thing

Sconibulus

I... think I'm actually wrong

Beastly Gerbil

Oh ok then...

Mithrandir

21:10

It's actually a different one

Beastly Gerbil

Unfortunately there are a lot of moons...

google.co.uk/…

Sconibulus

Oh, if Saturn is a red herring, then I do think I know

Mithrandir

It's not one of Staurn's.

Sconibulus

and the moon you want is a very very short name

Beastly Gerbil

And you add lunch in front?

Sconibulus

21:12

I'd say you eat it behind

Mithrandir

Fancily.

Sconibulus

or, if you hate these cryptic hints, ROT47: x@5:?6

Beastly Gerbil

Hhhmmm. Still no idea...

And what the hell is rot 47?

Display name

rot47.net

Sconibulus

it's like ROT13, but over printable ASCII I think

Beastly Gerbil

21:14

Oooooh.........

Sconibulus

A couple people in here said they'd gotten so used to ROT13 that they can just read it

Mithrandir

I can basically read A1, but not ROT13.

Beastly Gerbil

Hhmmm, lodine?

Whats that?

Display name

A1Z26 is the root of all evil, please use A0Z25

:P

Sconibulus

An element, like Gold and Phosphorous before it

Beastly Gerbil

21:17

How does lodine fit then? (Or am I just being dumb)

Sconibulus

IO is a moon, dine is eating

Beastly Gerbil

Ooooh so @Mithrandir yes thats a cryptic clue

Sconibulus

Saturn is pretty wrong and misleading though

Mithrandir

@Sconibulus Herring are yummy.

Beastly Gerbil

And im assuming you meant 'LO' was a moon not 'IO'?

Oooh Iodine? I thought you said LODINE!

Yeah I know what Iodine is. Heck, I use nearly every chemistry lesson

Sconibulus

21:19

oh, nah, I guess that site uses ambiguous Il

Beastly Gerbil

Yep :P

Rand al'Thor

Lukas Rot13 ... and his brother, Lukas Rot47.

Sconibulus

but copypasta would have kept you in good stead :)

Display name

The Good (Lukas Rot26), The Bad (Lukas Rot13), And The Ugly (Lukas Rot47) :P

6

Beastly Gerbil

@Mithrandir just wondering how many clues there actually will be before you put up the mega puzzle where you use those clues?

Lukas Rotgre. (Tell me when you actually get that)

Rand al'Thor

21:24

@BeastlyGerbil Well, of course.

Beastly Gerbil

:P

Rubio

ugh. meetings.

Beastly Gerbil

Ugh. homework.

Rubio

I just took a look at the Clue 17 answer and @BeastlyGerbil I don't see where the non-obvious imgur tags came from

would you add their origins to the answer, for the lazy amongst us?

Beastly Gerbil

which lcJCK and yvcSU?

Rubio

21:30

and YQiFl also

obviously i overlooked something but those don't jump out at me anywhere

Display name

@BeastlyGerbil I actually try that everytime a puzzle contains a word that begins with "rot" :D

Beastly Gerbil

Thats from Your Question is Finally Loaded @Rubio

Rubio

oh. yeah actually i did see that one

the other two I didn't see

Beastly Gerbil

For the other two I don't actually know, in my rush to type up the answer I forgot to ask @Displayname where they came from (see the comments below answer) Maybe he can enlighten us?

Rubio

I had a sneaking suspicion :)

Beastly Gerbil

21:33

I've looked but can't see an 'lcJCK anywhere...

Rubio

i'm guessing one is from the notebook image and one from the emoticon, but i'm not seeing 'em

Beastly Gerbil

They must be in the images

ninja'd :P

Display name

It seems like you figured it out by now, but: lcJCK = Click on the "What on earth" image; yvcSU = In the emoticon image; YQiFl = Your Question is Finally loaded

Beastly Gerbil

Er where?

Rubio

oh good god.

I didn't realize "What on Earth" is an image

Beastly Gerbil

21:37

Oh wow.

Clever

Sconibulus

In the emoticon image?

Display name

top right

Sconibulus

ugh

Beastly Gerbil

come on, thats hard

Sconibulus

I mean, it's fine for what it is, I just don't especially like scouring images for hard-to-see details

Rubio

21:39

yeah, personally I'm getting a little tired of the crap hidden in impossible to read color differences

but that's just me

Sconibulus

I vow to make a good imgur maze one day

Beastly Gerbil

I made a few, theyre pretty hard

Sconibulus

(hopefully sometime next week)

Rand al'Thor

@Sconibulus But, like the boy who cried wolf, it won't be appreciated because everyone will be bored of them by then.

Beastly Gerbil

Temple one was probably my best maze...

Sconibulus

21:41

I have a secret

Display name

By the time I post my imgur maze it'll probably be not allowed to post them anymore :D

Beastly Gerbil

Maybe oppurtunity... dunno hard to choose

Sconibulus

I may be cheating on the definition

Beastly Gerbil

What definition?

Rubio

Yeah - I had thoughts to try one a month ago but nowadays it seems like everyone has one out there. The one single-level depth "maze" I did for my animals puzzle is about the limit I'll go for the time being

Beastly Gerbil

21:43

there should be an 'imgur' tag

GentlePurpleRain

Wow! Great answer by Alconja:

1

A: Should we allow re-use of Fortnightly Topic Challenge tags?

Yes, of course we should "allow" reuse of topic ideas. And i don't think we need to impose any restrictions (i.e. minimum gap between repeats). If people want three chess fortnights in a row, they'll vote for it, if not, the subsequent repeat suggestions will be down voted (that's kind of the id...

Regarding Rubio's latest Cryptic Clue: "vanished civilization" of course make me immediately thing of Atlantis, which is 8 letters, but that doesn't seem to fit with anything else, so I doubt that's it.

I think the def is probably either the entire "the younger sibling of a vanished civilization" or just "Terminate".

"an unterminated roof's termination" could be EAV (roof's termination = EAVE), but that doesn't really get me anywhere.

Anyone else have any thoughts?

Rubio

I have some thoughts ... ;)

Deusovi

>Terminate an unterminated roof's termination, or the younger sibling of a vanished civilization. (8)

Roof's termination could be either GUTTER or F.

GentlePurpleRain

21:58

@Rubio Feel free to share them...

Rubio

@GentlePurpleRain Nah. That would ruin the fun.

Deusovi

I have no idea what "younger sibling" could be. Maybe it's separate, and "sibling" is BRO/SIS?

Rubio

Well, ok, it would ruin MY fun

GentlePurpleRain

Is there any way "younger" could mean something like ROT(-1)?

Rubio

I'm not that clever.

GentlePurpleRain

22:01

I wondered if "younger sibling of a vanished civilization" could mean something like MONGOLIA, which is (maybe?) the remnants of the Mongol empire?

Deusovi

Maybe.

GentlePurpleRain

Or any number of other similar examples.

Rand al'Thor

"younger sibling" = KID (as in "kid brother/sister")?

GentlePurpleRain

The "or" seems a little odd, too, unless it's literal.

@Randal'Thor But then "younger sibling" clues KID BROTHER (or SISTER), not just KID.

Rand al'Thor

shrug Just an idea.

GentlePurpleRain

22:03

Not dissing your ideas; just discussing.

Rand al'Thor

There's too much termination going on in this one.

At least some of those "terminate"s must mean different things.

Rubio

You're terminated fucker!

►

Heh, maybe I shouldn't leave that up there ;)

Deusovi

KILL? hm...

Rand al'Thor

When a mod starts musing about KILLing (in all caps), it's probably time to hide.

:-P

Rubio

(incidentally, my video comment is not intended to be a hint. just having a little fun.)

Sconibulus

22:11

'unterminated roof' could maybe be sky, with poetic licence, making the termination possible 'horizon'

GentlePurpleRain

22:24

ENDEAVO(U)R: Terminate = END, a unterminated roof's termination = EAV, + OR, and space shuttle Endeavour was a "younger sibling" of space shuttle Atlantis.

Probably should have had a question mark.

And the correct spelling of "Endeavour".

@Rubio Is that correct? --^

Rand al'Thor

@GentlePurpleRain Nice!

Rubio

You got it :)

Rand al'Thor

@GentlePurpleRain So you're not American then? :-)

Rubio

I didn't realize the shuttle had the U in the spelling ... darnit. sorry :)

Rand al'Thor

checks GPR's profile Ah, Canada - that explains why you run on American time but spell "endeavour" with a U.

GentlePurpleRain

22:27

I'm Canadian, but the space shuttle's name is spelled with a U.

I run on Canadian time. :P

And I spell "civilization" with a Zed.

Rubio

Well... you got it anyway, glitch notwithstanding. Nice job

Rand al'Thor

@GentlePurpleRain I said American time, not US time :-)

GentlePurpleRain

Thanks.

Display name

Or with a zee? :P

GentlePurpleRain

CCCC: Not so nice and sure! (8)

Should be quick.

@Randal'Thor Around here, American means "from the United States". I realize that to others, it might mean something different.

Rand al'Thor

22:29

INSECURE.

GentlePurpleRain

Told you it would be quick.

Rand al'Thor

Anagram of "nice + sure", and definition is obvious.

I had to look up what an "!" means in cryptic clues.

GentlePurpleRain

&lit

Rubio

It's in Deusovi's guide

Rand al'Thor

Dang, now I have to come up with one.

GentlePurpleRain

22:31

Take your time. Better to wait for a good one than have something half-assed.

Rand al'Thor

Anyone got a quick link to Deusovi's guide?

GentlePurpleRain

29

Q: Cryptic Clue Guide

This post is not a puzzle. There is nothing puzzly hidden inside it or the self-answer, posted at the same time. What exactly is a cryptic crossword clue, and how do I write one?

wordplay puzzle-creation cryptic-clues cryptic-crosswords

Rand al'Thor

Thanks.

Heh, I missed that @Deusovi included a "RAND AL'THOR" clue as an example in there :-D

GentlePurpleRain

22:45

@Rubio "The orbiter is named after the British HMS Endeavour, the ship which took Captain James Cook on his first voyage of discovery (1768–1771). This is why the name is spelled in the British English manner, rather than the American English ('Endeavor'). This has caused confusion, including when NASA itself misspelled a sign on the launch pad in 2007." (from Wikipedia)

Rubio

@GentlePurpleRain Hehe

So I'm in authoritatively good company :)

GentlePurpleRain

So you're in good company, with NASA.

Rand al'Thor

CCCC: I inseminate article of clothing (3)

Good time to go AFK for a bit.

Deusovi

...Oh.

Rubio

23:10

Well then! I'm stymied.

GentlePurpleRain

3 letters doesn't give a lot to work with...

Alconja

Agreed... Possibilities: I => ego, one (roman numerals). Article of clothing => hat, fez, cap, tie. Clothing => kit.

incesterror21

Wow that's a very long answer @Deusovi

12878 chars

Deusovi

:D

incesterror21

I hope I didn't miscount

Deusovi

23:23

There was more I wanted to put in there, but it was long enough in its current form.

incesterror21

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