The Sphinx's Lair

Saiid

6:00 AM

I have joined winter bash :>

My anakin mask shall update soon

boboquack

@Sid WMA? Do you mean Wolfram|Alpha?

Saiid

I've tried that

Is it considered acceptable to vote to reopen a closed question of yours so that you can give the answer?

Alconja

If you "improved" it (i.e. made an edit that resolved whatever issue it was closed for), then it should automatically go back in the re-open queue I think...

Saiid

hmm

Specifically, I meant this one, which I'm not really sure could be improved without making it super obvious

I already think it's kind of obvious, especially with the hint, but, ehh...

Rubio

6:20 AM

ok sorry this took longer than I hoped.

CCCC: Interrupted paramour, primarily circumventing the start of any serious emotional baggage. (8)

I don't think editing a question automatically puts it on the reopen queue. maybe it gets on the review queue, but I am not even sure of that.

Saiid

First thought: either 'start of Any Serious Emotional Baggage' or start of 'any serious emotional baggage'

most likely the former

primarily: something to do with first

circumventing = going around

interrupted 'paramour'? possibly removing some letters from the end?

Will

I know the word and the second half...

Rubio

@Saiid So your rag man puzzle, I think, looks like it'd take considerable rework to make reopenable; it has so many apparent contradictions on its face that it's going to attract a lot of answers that can't be excluded by arguing they don't fit everything, because nothing is going to fit everything without a lot of leeway.

Alconja

@Rubio SUITCASE

SUIT[-or] (interrupted paramour) C (primarily Circumventing) ASE (start of Any Serious Emotional) (def: baggage)

Rubio

Sad. Took less time to solve than to create. Good job.

Alconja

6:30 AM

:) That's how I feel about every puzzle I've ever created

Rubio

lol. Yes, but your puzzles are freaking amazing.

Alconja

Including my CCs

Luckily I wrote a new one while you were writing yours:

CCCC: Ocean sounds? A headless horseman? Heartless end? Absurd! (8)

Rubio

yeah I started with "serious emotional baggage" and then had a hard time making the rest fit with anything resembling a rational surface reading

Alconja

Yeah, getting a good reading (while keeping things succinct) is very hard

Hence, my cheating multi-sentence abomination just now. :P

Saiid

@Rubio Which contradictions?

Rubio

6:34 AM

"he" is a teacher, and a man, but not a human, and apparently something to do with rags. it's hard to fathom something that qualifies for all of those. (a non-human man who could be a teacher, for one, is hard to grasp, outside the covers of a fantasy novel)

Saiid

Do you mind if I just spoil the answer here?

Rubio

I don't mind...hehe

Saiid

lol

Rubio

there's enough people in here though that it probably means reopening it is then a forlorn cause

Saiid

true

oh well

Will

6:35 AM

The horseman bit is clever, but I'm afraid the ocean escapes me.

Saiid

anyway

Alconja

Might as well. I'm not sure you'll rally the votes to reopen at this stage (FWIW, I probably wouldn't VTC as it stands right now, but it still feels a little too "off" for me to want to VTO)

Saiid

ANAGRAM

He is 'a rag man'

Rubio

well. that's too obvious, and not at all obvious how it fits most of the clues.

Saiid

I guess it's a stretch

yes, indeed. I was rather new to puzzling, though :P

Alconja

6:37 AM

@Will Possibly I'm stretching rules with the ocean, but we'll see...

Saiid

@Will I only understood 'heartless end' V-V

Alconja

Yeah... not sure how you fit that to the clues, sorry. (with the exception of "a rag man"... but even then only kind of, given "a rag man" is an anagram, but an anagram isn't "a rag man")

Rubio

an anagram isn't going to teach anyone, it's not a man, ...

Saiid

ehh... it made sense as I was writing it, and I still understand how I made it, but idk

Rubio

you're sloppily interchanging the answer with an anagram of the answer, and frankly, neither of them work :)

Deusovi

6:40 AM

^

Saiid

also my stories are almost always mostly fluff

Rubio

hey @Deusovi

Deusovi

hey!

Saiid

@Rubio shrugs

"almost always mostly" <- most confusing string ever

Rubio

@Deusovi feel like cleaning up the star board? :)

Deusovi

6:42 AM

hm?

Also, @Saiid: Please don't edit your questions just to bump them.

Rubio

gah. this C4 is harder than it looks hehe

Saiid

I forgot it would bump, my apologies

Deusovi

I feel like one or more of these "indicators" isn't one.

Saiid

smacks self in face

Will

@Alconja thanks for destroying my Google search history.

Rubio

6:44 AM

lol @will

Yeah I'm thinking my first assumptions about heartless end are all wrong, but the other way around isn't making it any better.

Deusovi

Ocean sounds + headless horseman can make CIDER

Will

@Rubio are we on the same page with the first four letters? :P

Saiid

I'm assuming 'heartlesS end'

Deusovi

(hom. sea + (-r)IDER)

@Saiid: Alternatively, heartless end

Saiid

hmm

I see

Will

6:46 AM

I think you're on the wrong track with the horse ;)

Deusovi

Sure, that's possible

Will

(horse puns)

Deusovi

ah :P

Ooh, maybe it's a split - ORSE + M (for male) or something?

Saiid

I think they're galloping off to a good start ;)

Will

I'm pretty sure it's jocKEY

Deusovi

6:48 AM

that would be thrice-headless though

not once

Will

OH

it's

Deusovi

ooh, got it?

Will

C + jOCKEY + EnD

COCKEYED

Deusovi

Ah, nice!

Will

I had it all along

Rubio

6:48 AM

Nice

Saiid

welp

Will

just split up wrong...

Alconja

:) nice work

Saiid

xP

Rubio

I guess my first guess on heartless end was right after all. Good job Will

Saiid

6:49 AM

Will, have the next one ready?

Will

I don't yet :(

Saiid

lol

Deusovi

While you wait, here's a clue I found online:

Volatility

In the meantime, here's mine again:

Deusovi

(NOTE: DO NOT GOOGLE THIS FOR YOUR OWN SAKE)

Volatility

6:50 AM

58 mins ago, by Volatility

Want to have banter? Maybe this recently started event (6,4)

Deusovi

Two girls, one cup (5) [NOTE: DO NOT GOOGLE THIS FOR YOUR OWN SAKE. IT IS THE NAME OF AN INCREDIBLY DISTURBING SHOCK VIDEO (that also happens to function as a valid cryptic clue) .]

2

oh man.

lol

oh boy

yes, it's actually a valid cryptic clue

Rubio

6:51 AM

That's a good way to really destroy your google history though ;)

Saiid

let's see... noooo?

Deusovi

nope :P

Saiid

lol

Rubio

pity it's (5). good opportunity for half-pint punniness on this one

Deusovi

you guys want the solution (before someone feels tempted to google it)?

Rubio

6:54 AM

nah

Saiid

yes

lol

Deusovi

i'll wait then

@Volatility WI(NTERBA*)SH

Rubio

this is going to be a stinker isn't it

Deusovi

it's not TOO terrible

it does involve a semi-uncommon abbreviation (in cryptics, that is)

Volatility

@Deusovi Yep! I liked the surface reading for that one.

Deusovi

6:57 AM

Yeah, it was nice!

Rubio

what's the anagram indicator? i'm clearly missing it

Deusovi

maybe

Rubio

blah. :) ok

i knew what it was but not at all why

Sphinx

0

Q: Puzzle of Picture

The Question: What does this picture represent?

riddle

Deusovi

^ close as too broad?

Rubio

6:58 AM

yeah just did

and I give up on the two girls. i was hoping for something about glass, but can't get there

Deusovi

that's it

G. + LASS

Rubio

what's G?

Volatility

Oh.

Deusovi

an abbreviation for girl - not common, but used sometimes

the two girls are "G" (abbreviation for GIRL) and "LASS", to make "GLASS", one cup

Rubio

ok yeah, that's a stinker. :)

I would have never gotten G there

Saiid

7:00 AM

lol

Rubio

funny thing too

Deusovi

it's not perfect, but it's surprisingly decent considering that there's probably not much overlap between shock video makers and cruciverbalists

(cryptocruciverbalists?)

Rubio

if you had waited about 10 seconds, Volatility would have supplied the explanation for my answer. we've been doing it all day

Deusovi

ha, nice

Volatility

Haha, indeed :-)

Deusovi

7:07 AM

@Will, still thinking up a clue?

Sphinx

1

Q: Crack the lock code

Can any one know how to crack this? I got this as a challenge.

locks

Saiid

If I ever win one, I've thought up a relatively good one

can't fit it into one good sentence, though :T

Will

let's go with

CCCC: Bite the family cat (8)

Saiid

wow

succinct

Will

should be easy

Sid

7:14 AM

You sure, that is 8 and not 7?

Will

pretty sure

Saiid

I have a word that fits 'the family cat' but not 'bite'

more or less, anyway

as well as the character number

Sid

@Emrakul Are you guys planning for more RO or are we done?

user61230

@Sid Can't speak for everyone, but iirc, maaaaybe one more.

user61230

Off the top of my head, that's what I remember.

Rubio

7:23 AM

@Will You've packed a lot of challenge into 4 words.

Sid

I am sure, family cat is the definition and "bite the" might mean to remove something from "the".

Saiid

ah

Rubio

ah?

Saiid

ah.

I had a word

but it was only 7 letters

and didn't fit the definition of 'cat' I was going with

Oh well

I'm going to go to sleep

Rubio

night night

Sid

7:42 AM

I wonder why nobody has linked "Code puzzles: What not to do?" yet, because this is a case in point. Only the hidden italics are "gettable"; the rest is just guesswork. There are too many numbers in the text. How are we supposed to know that we should look at the first letters of each line when they yield the nonsense word PPPSM? The "Even I" hint is probably meant to look at even digits or letters or whatnot. How can we get this from the puzzle without the hint? You can't fix a bad puzzle with hints. — M Oehm 39 mins ago

M oehm looks absolutely furious. And you can't blame him as well

Rubio

Hehe, yeah - he's got a good point. Oliver had a couple simple puzzles to get started, then tossed that doozy out there. Underhinted, undertagged, and bordering on "Guess what I was thinking?" territory

I got to the rot13 step, then looked at long strings of numbers with no discernable meaning nor even definitive grouping, and moved on

Sid

I tried even vigenere decoding with the credit card numbers as key.. Nothing comes out. Now, I am done with that thing.

And even if you take the even first letters, you get PPM- Parts per million or whatever..

Rubio

Techidiot at his most inscrutable felt more solvable than that ;)

IAmInPLS

Hello people

Rubio

@IAmInPLS Howdy howdy howdy.

Sid

7:49 AM

'Lo..

IAmInPLS

@Sid Wow

Indeed he seems furious

Sid

Huh?

Rubio

M Oehm, he means

Sid

I wonder why no one has solved my puzzle. My holidays end today. I was hoping someone would have already gotten it..

Rubio

I thought you said somewhere that it wasn't a crossword, that you'd hinted to avoid that answer. now I can't find that

did I dream that?

IAmInPLS

7:52 AM

Talking about unsolved puzzle, my latest riddle is still standing, lads

Sid

Yeah, I did say that..

Ah, yes! Your riddle.. I had something and I have forgotten now..

Rubio

can you linky? i'm being lazy

IAmInPLS

6

Q: Turned a second into unessential

Do you want to say something? Hang on, let me write it for you. Remember that in every word you're saying, I'm playing a part, it's true. Want to imagine like, anythin'? I'll prove it wrong, fool you! Want to throw me into a bin? Think twice before you do. Oh, wow, now you're a bird Both of...

riddle rhyme

Sid

@IAmInPLS The last stanza doesn't fit in my answer

Rubio

oh. that. that one hurts my brain.

IAmInPLS

7:54 AM

@Sid The one with the bird?

Sid

yep

Rubio

@IAmInPLS that riddle feels like what I imagine a bad trip feels like :)

IAmInPLS

Ah! I'm pretty happy of this one stanza

If I drop a hint, it would be on this bird

@Rubio Yes, I see what you mean :-). The whole thing doesn't make sense at all haha

Rubio

All 3 stanzas are about the same thing though, right?

IAmInPLS

Yes. And notice that it goes two lines by two lines

Rubio

7:59 AM

Yeah I got that part

IAmInPLS

Still working on your fortunate words

I need to answer some puzzles, I concentrated too much on creation these last days

Rubio

@Displayname No, I am your father.

Mithrandir

Hats!

Rubio

many much hatzen

IAmInPLS

I hate hats

:-P

Rubio

8:11 AM

The fortunate words puzzle was a fun one to dream up, and a bit more of a pain to put together than I thought it'd be

I like the variety of words it ended up providing

IAmInPLS

@Mithrandir Saw your comment just after the edit

Wait... I just saw something odd

I quickly saw the latest question at +1 but I clicked on the number and it was 0-0

Mithrandir

Misclicked.

I accidentaly +1ed it and then undid it.

Whee I have 2 hats

Sphinx

0

Q: My friend is quite silly

You can meet my small friend at -1. You can meet my American friend at -2. You can meet my very rare friend at -3. One of my friends is quite silly. One of my friends is very proud. One of my friends is usually preferred warm, but the opposite is sometime necessary. ...

riddle

Rubio

I wish sometimes you could choose to suggest-edit vs commit them yourself

IAmInPLS

What do you mean?

Rubio

8:22 AM

I mean with enough rep, your edits become effective immediately instead of having to be approved, so you can't put in a suggested edit and see what the OP thinks - your changes just Become So.

It'd be nice to be able to make an edit and let the OP see and approve it so you don't have to guess if you are doing more harm or more good

IAmInPLS

Yes, sometimes it's hard to know if you can edit directly or not

Mithrandir

There've several feature requests on meta for that

Sid

Now, there is two CC. One Will's and one Rand's. Both of which seem like they can be solved but I am still stumped.

Deusovi

@Will's is MUNCH+KIN.

Clever!

Will

yup!

Rubio

8:33 AM

huh! nice

Sid

Explanation?

Deusovi

a munchkin is a type of cat

the rest should be obvious

Rubio

family is KIN, bite is MUNCH, and yeah

Sid

Didn't know that. So, A cat called Munchkin exists?

Learning new things everyday.

Deusovi

Rubio

8:34 AM

MEOW

IAmInPLS

He looks sad to be honest :'(

Deusovi

They sometimes just look like that

IAmInPLS

So fluffy !

Rubio

The second one there, I'm sure its name is Cujo

Deusovi

CCCC: Competent? l pass (8)

IAmInPLS

8:44 AM

@Deusovi Wait, where's the Alconja's one?

Deusovi

which one?

2 hours ago, by Alconja

CCCC: Ocean sounds? A headless horseman? Heartless end? Absurd! (8)

that one?

IAmInPLS

Yes

Deusovi

solved by Will

2 hours ago, by Will

C + jOCKEY + EnD

IAmInPLS

Thank you, I was sure to have seen both Will's and Alconja's on the starred list

Deusovi

Yeah, we typically clear them

IAmInPLS

8:46 AM

I mean, both in the same time

So that sounded strange

Deusovi

huh, weird

IAmInPLS

But I think I'm not well awake and that's it :-)

Mithrandir

9:00 AM

@Deusovi are you going to clear the stars on Will's CCCC?

Deusovi

done

IAmInPLS

Hello @MOehm

Mithrandir

Whee. I have a secret hat.

Sphinx

9:25 AM

0

Q: Clue 18 -- Should this be on Stack Overflow?

As you sit at the computer that you used to solve the last puzzle, a popup window opens. It appears to be a Stack Overflow question, with a very generic name: Why isn't my code working? As you look closer, however, you notice several things - the URL has been blocked out, along with the name and...

story computer-puzzle

IAmInPLS

Damn @Sphinx you're fast today

Hey @Mithrandir what is that hat?

Mithrandir

A secret one

Volatility

79

Q: Winter Bash 2016 - All Hats

I decided to start the traditional secret hats post, but instead of just another "here is how you get the secret hats" post, to also add in all the hats. There are two answers: one for the secret hats, and one for the regular hats. Some notes about secret hats: A secret hat for correctly gue...

discussion winterbash secret-hats winterbash-2016

IAmInPLS

Oh, I guessed: you upvote then un-upvote?

Mithrandir

Nope

VTC, edit, VTRO

IAmInPLS

9:29 AM

Oh, nice

M Oehm

@IAmInPLS Hi. I was gone before I saw your greeting, just did a quick scan of last night's chat. And I'm off again; I'm supposed to be working right now :)

IAmInPLS

Well, I am supposed to work too :-P

See ya later then

@Volatility Hello!

For the other secret hats, we don't know how to unlock them i guess?

Volatility

Nope.

There is discussion in the hat chat room and a google doc with some observations, but nothing else is confirmed.

Rubio

welp. I'm heading off, too sleepy ... ninight all

Volatility

@Rubio Night!

Rubio

9:33 AM

@Deusovi I'm incompetent to guess your C4; I pass :)

IAmInPLS

'Night @Rubio

Alconja

@Deusovi Seems like it could be GRADUATE (noun/verb double def)... But I'm not quite sure if that's how double defs work...

Deusovi

9:53 AM

@Alconja Nope, that's not it.

I think you'll be sure when you've got it.

Beastly Gerbil

Oh its the time of year we get hats again! I love the part

Sphinx

0

Q: Puzzling SE's Annual Advent Calendar 2016

It had finally arrived! PSE's annual Christmas advent calendar for 2016! The one thing I had been waiting for all year! I tore open the packaging and let out a delighted gasp at this year's new look. Tentatively I reached for the first door, and tore it off, hardly able to keep in my enthusiasm....

enigmatic-puzzle story visual

Deusovi

I'm off to bed. Confirmation for my clue: If you add up all the values of the answer letters in A1Z26 code, you get 90. (Please don't use this to computer-search.)

Mithrandir

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