The Sphinx's Lair

Will

11:02

I'm gonna go for it

CCCC: I ate messily as a toddler? (7)

different clue, same gimmick

it's better than the old one :P

but still awful

Mithrandir

(Still need more suggested edits to review)

Volatility

My hunch for that is x number of reviews on sufficiently old posts, although that's only a hunch

I haven't done the correlations

Beastly Gerbil

we need a RO to remove the pin on the old cccc and pin the new one

11

Q: Nominate additional Room Owners for The Sphinx's Lair

Your friendly neighbourhood moderators are fairly active in chat in The Sphinx's Lair, but we realize that we can only do so much. We would like to add some new room owners, who will inherit certain privileges to help with moderation of The Sphinx's Lair. A room owner has the following privileg...

Will

oh dang I just thought of a much better clue employing the gimmick I tried so hard to use

Volatility

lol

Mithrandir

11:15

@BeastlyGerbil Told you, everyone should just elect me.

IAmInPLS

@BeastlyGerbil Rubio's not here unfortunately ^^

Beastly Gerbil

:P

Sid

Is there a hat for that too?

Beastly Gerbil

Oh is Rubio a RO now? Congrats!

Display name

He's not

Beastly Gerbil

11:16

oh :P

IAmInPLS

@BeastlyGerbil No he's not, but he's the most voted one on the meta question, after Gareth

Beastly Gerbil

yeah he'll be made one soon

Mithrandir

Need more hats...

Display name

@BeastlyGerbil There's a typo in your Sconibulus nomination ("Scoibulus")

Volatility

pinging @rand: need star clean-up!

Beastly Gerbil

11:18

@Displayname woah how did noone notice that

Volatility

anyway, Imma go sleep now, night guys!

IAmInPLS

@Volatility Night!

Sid

@Randal'Thor Hints for your cryptic clues... Even Deusovi seems to be stumped..

Rand al'Thor

@Mithrandir Yep, there's a whole bunch of badges which only I and You-Know-Who have got.

IAmInPLS

Got two gold badges and a silver one today

Today was a good day

Mithrandir

11:28

I got a gold and silver yesterday

Rand al'Thor

@IAmInPLS Wow, congrats!

Which golds?

Display name

@Randal'Thor Gibbe de evidence plz

Rand al'Thor

@Displayname For what?

Oh, that evidence.

Yeah, I have you and Sid and Mithrandir on the list. Not sure if I'll have time for it in the next couple of weeks though.

Beastly Gerbil

Is this the Gamow evidence?

@Randal'Thor ^?

Display name

Oh ok, I wasn't sure if you even have that list anymore, that's why I asked.

Rand al'Thor

11:32

@BeastlyGerbil Don't ask me - ~~Lukas~~ @Display was the one who mentioned it.

Display name

@BeastlyGerbil Yes.

Rand al'Thor

Just broke 41k.

Beastly Gerbil

If it is can you add my name to that list. I am interested in what you've dug up

@Randal'Thor congrats!

you were on 40999 there for a while :P

Rand al'Thor

@BeastlyGerbil I believe I have your email address since you were on the list of recipients of some email to do with that puzzling magazine?

Haven't got one for @Mithrandir though.

Beastly Gerbil

its just [email protected]. Its on my profile too

Techidiot

11:34

@Will Is it TANTRUM?

Will

It's not

Mithrandir

I didn't say I wanted the evidence...

Display name

@Mithrandir There's a hat for it.

Beastly Gerbil

:P

Mithrandir

:P

Rand al'Thor

11:35

@Mithrandir Yes you did :-) Long before the others.

Mithrandir

...I did?

takes self off of list

Will

(Though whoever figures it out might just *throw* one... or maybe they'll just roll their eyes, I don't know.)

I'm curious how you got that.

Beastly Gerbil

@Mithrandir 'off of'! Incorrect grammar!

:P

Rand al'Thor

@Mithrandir Gosh darn it, you're completely hatty.

I'm not in the running this year for WB, so good on you!

Mithrandir

@Randal'Thor #2 on the network

Techidiot

11:37

@Will- It seems toddler is the CD and mess can mean tantrum

Mithrandir

3 hours ago, by Mithrandir

19 hours ago, by IAmInPLS

@Mithrandir You're now the mad hatter

Techidiot

Though it was a bit of stretch

:)

Mithrandir

If I get 10 upvotes I get a hat, though I doubt it

If I get an accept I also get a hat

Techidiot

@Will - I got another which I guess is rather a far stretch - TINYTOT :D

Will

@Techidiot You're thinking too conventionally. :)

Rand al'Thor

11:39

@Mithrandir That could get closed as PO-B.

Techidiot

Yup! :)

Rand al'Thor

Why am I getting new hats called "Where in the World"?

Mithrandir

There might be info available

Rand al'Thor

What have I even done on M&TV and Worldbuilding today?

Voted. I guess that must be it.

Mithrandir

Yup.

I have like 8 or 9

Rand al'Thor

11:41

It's probably for voting while it's 21 Dec somewhere in the world.

Rand al'Thor

11:51

@Mithrandir I take it back: there are some objective answers. Only trouble is, they contradict each other.

Mithrandir

@Randal'Thor Heh.

Beastly Gerbil

OOOH I got another secret hat

Mithrandir

@BeastlyGerbil WHich?

Beastly Gerbil

8243728 or something like that

Techidiot

@Will- Is it SMILEYS?

Will

12:02

Nope

Rand al'Thor

@BeastlyGerbil Stupid name for a hat.

Techidiot

Oh. I thought I got it this time :p

Beastly Gerbil

yeah :P

Mithrandir

Oh, I got that one

Nobody knows what its for

Will

I'll do what Deusovi did and give the A1Z26 sum: 68

Though there's also the litmus test: "is the answer worthy of groans?"

and it should hopefully be obvious, too

Rand al'Thor

12:06

I tried anagramming "toddler" and "I ate as a". No joy.

Maybe "messily" isn't an anagram indicator after all.

Sid

Toddler is probably the definition..

Techidiot

@Will- SWADDLE fits. But I don't get the I ate messily part

Will

Not it

Techidiot

Ahh!

Mithrandir

Anyone here watch Fantastic Beasts yet?

Techidiot

12:20

May be I appears thrice or twice eating up the word

@Mithrandir Yes

Beastly Gerbil

yep it was really good

Techidiot

IDIOTIC would have been a good fit for I ate messily and toddler. But it's 69

Mithrandir

8

Q: Is Newt going to be the protagonist in all of the new movies?

Newt Scamander is the protagonist of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. However, the story is about The next movie is going to be set in Paris. Will Newt be there as the main character?

harry-potter fantastic-beasts

(I actually didn't watch it, but I read spoilers)

It's going to take forever to make it to my country.

Will

I don't plan on ever watching it. :)

Techidiot

Oh...

Mithrandir

12:26

I need two more +1s for a hat :P

Beastly Gerbil

+1 from me :P

Mithrandir

...That's one, thanks

And that's 10!

IAmInPLS

I'm back

@Randal'Thor Populist and reversal, for the same question. And sportsmanship (I'm the 7th to get it)

Beastly Gerbil

12:44

I've got 4 where in the world hats now

IAmInPLS

@BeastlyGerbil Do we know the secret for these ones?

Beastly Gerbil

I'm pretty sure I figured it out

Display name

117

A: Winter Bash 2016 - All Hats

Secret Hats Live updates on this Google Doc, discussion in this chatroom. Don't Wanna Taco 'Bout it 180° This Is Fine Elementary 8,243,721 6 They Live Blue in the Face Mild Mannered Where in the World

IAmInPLS

Oh, ok

Just need to be on the site today then

IAmInPLS

13:00

Oh god

Just stumbled upon a nasty joke

Sphinx

13:11

0

Q: KenKen Zen: The Cluelessening

As our KenKen voyage of cluelessening* began, some clues remained entirely hidden from us. Though much remains to be discovered, we may now be entrusted with all clue amounts at once. Light as we seek. Knowing that less is unknown allows us to know all while knowing less. Im...

calculation-puzzle no-computers open-ended arithmetic

Techidiot

@Will- Another bizarre attempt -> Is it baboons?

Will

nope

Techidiot

BADBOYS? :p

Will

that'd be (3,4)

Techidiot

Yeah, just thought about it, its a movie about juvenile prison..and fits in 68 :) Well, its wrong though

messily is not a word I guess

So, may be its an anagram indicator

So, iate letters might be in the word

But not in sequence of "iate" because none of the words prove the later part

Or may be its a indicator to the next part "as a toddler" so, taking the unique letters we get "astodler" which are again 8 letters

I tried with a synonym of toddler giving me baboons :)

Will

13:22

gonna remind you of 1) question mark and 2)

1 hour ago, by Will

Though there's also the litmus test: "is the answer worthy of groans?"

Techidiot

Hmm..

Mithrandir

I need 2 more distinct hats.

SO that I can be #1 in the network

If I have 1 more I'm tied for 1st

2 more - #1 is me

IAmInPLS

What do you need then

Mithrandir

No idea. Easy riddles so that I can answer?

IAmInPLS

@Mithrandir Seems difficult to do, you'll get ninja'd

Mithrandir

13:29

More people to suggest edits?

(Only regular suggested edits, not tag wikis)

IAmInPLS

<2k rep people don't come here often unfortunately

Techidiot

@Will- So, there is a wordplay involved at the end I guess

Or may be somewhere in the middle

Will

Or maybe at the beginning. Or maybe not at all.

or

it doesn't even look like a word anymore

Techidiot

Creepy :D

Something related to suffix I think

It should be another word. May be a replacement for messily....

Mithrandir

13:49

@Sconibulus can I have another hint? :P

Sconibulus

14:01

steganography is probably where you want to go first, but with the other hint I gave it's probably not strictly required, just helpful

Ankoganit

@Mithrandir how do you wear more than one hat at once?

Will

Put on a hat & save the image

Put on more hats

Ankoganit

@Will Ahkay

IAmInPLS

@Will I was going to say this

@Ankoganit Look at this profile

It's clearly a photoshop :-P

Ankoganit

Lol

That feels kinda like cheating tho

:p

IAmInPLS

14:11

It could be nice to have the option to put multiple hats though

Sconibulus

often there is a multi-hat hat

Sumurai8

Greetings

Sconibulus

allo

dcfyj

I see penguino came out of the woodwork to post another Ernie puzzle :P

Techidiot

@Ankoganit-Thanks for the edit's on the old puzzles :)

They give some upvotes :D

@RottersSlave-Are the three slot machines independent of each other?

RottersSlave

14:26

@Techidiot Yep. Wouldn't waste my time on that puzzle, though. It's pretty bad.

dcfyj

Bad how?

Techidiot

Is it? Is it too difficult or can be tried? I have been working on it for a few nights now

RottersSlave

It's too difficult without any hints.

Techidiot

Ohh

So, the 3 slots are independent. Hmm. Thanks. Will check if I can crack atleast one of them :)

When I broke the gif it gave me 267 images :p

That's quite a lot

RottersSlave

I'd say the pig-slot is the most absurd and difficult. (no steganography involved, btw)

Techidiot

14:30

Yeah..

I started with PIG

But well, didn't found any patterns for the rots

For the third I think its a cipher

with UMK as key

But now that you say, no steganography, I am not sure I am on the right track.

I though, that column consists of encrypted text

Which when deciphered with UMK as key might give a clue

If that's not the case, I would better start from the scratch :)

dcfyj

@RottersSlave So why not put a hint then?

RottersSlave

Because that would cause it to attract more views. (I also think the puzzle is bad in general)

dcfyj

Don't you want more view? You're being contradictory lol

RottersSlave

I don't want it floating around on the front page (which would cause people who haven't seen it yet to click on it).

Techidiot

May be he thinks it could have been better without hints and is too tired to improve? :)

@MOehm-Any luck with the mixed up cryptic clues?

Will

14:50

UMK is almost PIG rotated

RottersSlave

3 accounts of the same person in one chat room. Nice.

Techidiot

@Will- Yes. almost is the right word there. But again, they are independent so should be relevant

Sconibulus

@Mithrandir any luck at all?

Mithrandir

I wasn't here, sorry.

@Sconibulus Did you give me a hint?

Heh. I would've repcapped on SFF today, but I gave away a bounty. :P

RottersSlave

@Mithrandir Awarding bounties doesn't impact the rep cap AFAIK

Will

14:58

^ that's what I thought too

RottersSlave

Or starting bounties

Mithrandir

I meant started one.

RottersSlave

That still shouldn't make you able to earn more rep that day

Mithrandir

And I got 205 today. But 50 of that left in a bounty before I earned anything today.

Sconibulus

57 mins ago, by Sconibulus

steganography is probably where you want to go first, but with the other hint I gave it's probably not strictly required, just helpful

Mithrandir

14:59

Hmm.

RottersSlave

@Mithrandir +15 from accepted answers answer don't count

Mithrandir

Ah that's right. Well, if I get some more upvotes, we'll see :P

Like on this answer

@Sconibulus I have absolutely no idea, unless it's 9 22 25

Saiid

The toddler one is the new CCCC?

Sumurai8

People not posting anything on your puzzle is probably the worst thing for a puzzle creator. I really have no clue if people just don't want to solve it or if they find something too difficult.

Will

Yeah, the day I started a bounty after hitting rep cap is still counted in my progress on Epic/Legendary

Sconibulus

15:10

why 9 22 25?

Matt

15:25

@Sconibulus what musical knowledge do I need to get something from your music box puzzle?

Sconibulus

only very basic terminology

Matt

like note names?

Sconibulus

I don't want to say specifically, but it's something within the realm of notes, clefs, and keys

Matt

fair. thanks.

Beastly Gerbil

Back again

Matt

15:31

morning

Beastly Gerbil

afternoon for me :P

IAmInPLS

Back again as well, from a 30 minutes ban

^^

Matt

who's fault is that?

IAmInPLS

Mine I guess... For a nasty joke

Display name

WTF? You got suspended for that?

Beastly Gerbil

15:32

wow

Display name

It wasn't even that bad.

Beastly Gerbil

What was it?

IAmInPLS

Yes, I don't know if the joke was bad or not, but what I didn't know is that I could get suspended for it

dcfyj

So he can get banned again? lol

Display name

(paraphrased) What does "surprise" mean in German? Blitzkrieg. (I don't care if I get banned)

IAmInPLS

15:33

@BeastlyGerbil Nice try, Satan :-P

Beastly Gerbil

No just provide a link :P

Unless its deleted of course

dcfyj

@Displayname That's bad...?

Display name

I don't get how that's something you can get suspended for either

Beastly Gerbil

Is that really bad? I mean joking about something so long ago cant be offensive

No ones going to take that personally

dcfyj

I'd say it's rather fitting

blitz·krieg
ˈblitsˌkrēɡ/
noun
an intense military campaign intended to bring about a swift victory.

Display name

15:36

The scholar's mate in chess is also often called Blitzkrieg, is that offensive? ;)

Matt

there's nothing you can do

Blitzkrieg will always be (a type of) offensive

:P

Beastly Gerbil

@ArbitraryKangaroo is back

Display name

But he can't post anything, I guess.

IAmInPLS

He's just watching from the shadows

Beastly Gerbil

he left

dcfyj

15:39

Apparently not lol

Beastly Gerbil

Oh no he's back

Display name

I think he's trying to annoy us by frequently joining & leaving

IAmInPLS

He left again

Beastly Gerbil

Bet he's on mobile then

Sumurai8

Welcome to praphrasing-the-join-and-leave-actions-of-a-particular-user-channel.

IAmInPLS

15:39

I'll post my Christmas puzzle pretty soon :-)

Beastly Gerbil

POST POST POST! I need something to work on. :P

IAmInPLS

It's an easy one

Sumurai8

@BeastlyGerbil You can work on my puzzle. It still has a bounty, and no answers.

Matt

same with this one

5

Q: My Uncle's Music Box

Unfortunately, my favorite uncle just passed away. He's the one that taught me all about puzzling, and supposedly found Davey Jones' treasure in his youth. I miss him very much, however, I just received a package from his Attorney, containing this letter from him. Nephew dearest I leave to yo...

logical-deduction visual steganography music imgur-maze

Beastly Gerbil

I had a look at it but couldn't make heads or tails of it @Sumurai8

And I'm not good at music @Matt

Matt

15:41

well then perhaps you can help me

IAmInPLS

I don't particularly like puzzles involving music, for the main fact that the notes are different here

Beastly Gerbil

@ArbitraryKangaroo please stop it

Matt

I know music things, but this might be one of those cases where fresh eyes make the difference

Beastly Gerbil

Okay I'm just going to click on Arbitary Kangaroos icon and clicking 'ignore this user'

Display name

Doesn't work

~~still shows up~~

He still shows up (just smaller)

Beastly Gerbil

15:43

Well at least he doesn't dramatically enter

Display name

True.

Beastly Gerbil

Thats the distracting part

IAmInPLS

Here you go, boys

Sphinx

0

Q: A Christmas rebus

-Overheard at a party last night- "First, to my French friends: I wish you a "Joyeux Noël"! - ... - ... - ... - And finally, to my Spanish friends: "Feliz Navidad"! - Oh, and to you, puzzlers..." I couldn't hear the rest, but I manage to get what was destined for us, puzzlers. I...

visual rebus language

dcfyj

I don't understand why he bothers doing things like that

Beastly Gerbil

15:46

@IAmInPLS are they ritz crackers?

dcfyj

@ArbitraryKangaroo Make up your mind, either stay in or stay out.

Beastly Gerbil

he's doing it to annoy us. Ignore him and then report him when a mod comes

dcfyj

I believe rand is wrong and we do need a few more ROs...

Saiid

^^

Beastly Gerbil

Upvote everyone!!!

IAmInPLS

15:50

@BeastlyGerbil A puzzle about Christmas, on Christmas time: of course people are going to upvote :-P

Matt

darn, ninja'd

dcfyj

@IAmInPLS He was saying to upvote for ROs lol

Beastly Gerbil

yep :P

IAmInPLS

@Sconibulus Not totally right

Will

I tried blocking chat.stackexchange.com###present-user-249754 in my ad blocker but unfortunately the "fly-in" doesn't contain the user # in any way and cannot be blocked on a per-user basis

Beastly Gerbil

15:51

@Randal'Thor here now

Matt

is the visual tag implied with the rebus tag?

Beastly Gerbil

@Randal'Thor can you block users from chat?

IAmInPLS

@Sconibulus Use language you must

dcfyj

Ah @Randal'Thor perhaps you can warn/block AK, he's consistently entering and leaving the room over and over again

IAmInPLS

@Matt A rebus is not necessarily visual

Rand al'Thor

15:52

@IAmInPLS Nice! Those are both pretty rare and hard-to-get gold badges. I'm not sure if even I have Populist.

dcfyj

@BeastlyGerbil He's a mod, so yes

Will

that said, I've added two filters to my ad blocker:

chat.stackexchange.com###present-user-249754
chat.stackexchange.com##.fly-in-user

Rand al'Thor

@dcfyj Me, wrong? :-O

dcfyj

@Randal'Thor The blue says otherwise lol

Beastly Gerbil

Can anyone block users from chat

Matt

15:52

the rebus tag says: "A visual puzzle ..."

dcfyj

@Randal'Thor Oh, reply to another message, oops

Rand al'Thor

@BeastlyGerbil From talking, yes. From entering/leaving rooms, no.

dcfyj

@Randal'Thor You can't do timeout and whatnot?

Beastly Gerbil

Damn, would even a full on suspension work?

Rand al'Thor

@BeastlyGerbil He's already suspended.

IAmInPLS

15:53

@Matt I might be wrong then, sorry for the confusion

Beastly Gerbil

And I'm guessing were not allowed to just delete their account

Rand al'Thor

There is something I can do, but I'm not sure if it's merited. Give me a few minutes ...

dcfyj

lol

Beastly Gerbil

(Although right now, deletion of AK is top of my christmas list)

Sconibulus

You know, I didn't even notice it until you guys were talking about it

dcfyj

15:54

Wow, so mean

Beastly Gerbil

@dcfyj it's not like he's not doing it on purpose

IAmInPLS

@BeastlyGerbil Dear Santa, please do something about AK

dcfyj

I understand he can be a little grating sometimes, but that's a little harsh

Beastly Gerbil

@dcfyj when someone purposely does everything they can to annoy you and mess up whatever you are doing, then I have no sympathy whatsoever if something happens to them

dcfyj

@Randal'Thor can you not kick-mute?

Beastly Gerbil

15:56

And 'a little grating' seems to me somewhat of an understatement

dcfyj

Well, I know that, but I'm being rather impartial about it. I would've done what's possible if I had the ability.

Beastly Gerbil

Wait here's where we need a RO. Can they not make the room restricted access, and then don't give access to AK?

dcfyj

61

A: A guide to moderating chat

What tools are available to room owners? Room owners are users that have some elevated permissions in a chatroom. Typically, they will be the first line of defense when it comes to inappropriate content or behavior in a room. Users will look to the room owners to guide the room. The room owners...

Sconibulus

I don't think you can restrict the Official Site Room

dcfyj

Like I was asking rand, Kick-mute

Beastly Gerbil

15:58

Damn

Rand al'Thor

@BeastlyGerbil I could make a whitelist for the room, but not a blacklist.

read: no new users would be able to join

dcfyj

No kick-mute?

Rand al'Thor

Blocking AK isn't worth blocking every new user.

dcfyj

Well, of course not

New users typically have a lot to give

Rand al'Thor

@dcfyj Kick-mutes last a few minutes at maximum, I think.

dcfyj

15:59

Or at the very least, the potential to

@Randal'Thor It's does, but each occurrence lasts longer

Sconibulus

If we ignore him, he's bound to get bored

Rand al'Thor

I'm going to have to leave soon. Can I ask everyone to please just ignore AK?

Beastly Gerbil

True

Sconibulus

and enter/leave isn't that disruptive, really

Transcript for