The Sphinx's Lair - 2017-01-05 (page 3 of 7)

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3:00 PM

I created the long one with the computer, yes.

It's a good time for posting a puzzle, isn't it?

Although with BLOOD, you're sort of related.

@IAmInPLS it's always a good time

@Randal'Thor: @MOehm got one.

@Randal'Thor U2's seminal live album, "Under a Blood Red Sky"

3:05 PM

@Matt Couldn't agree more

@Randal'Thor Are all 3 "it"s the same?

I kinda want to make another metacryptic :P

0

Q: My wife is lost, my GPS is lost. Where are we?

"Darling, can you please turn on the GPS?" I asked my wife. "Hang on, I know exactly where we are", she replied. "Can you, for once, listen to me?" She ignored my remark, immersed in the reading of the map. This was not the first time we were going on a trip, and this was definitely not the fi...

enigmatic-puzzle story

but maybe I should actually do work today ...

Didn't double check, so don't hesitate to edit if you find mistakes

3:07 PM

Work? BLASPHEMY!

@Randal'Thor extra challenge: Figure out the method for why those letters were chosen. And I expect a feedback section after all of this over.

0

Q: My wife is lost, my GPS is lost. Where are we?

"Darling, can you please turn on the GPS?" I asked my wife. "Hang on, I know exactly where we are", she replied. "Can you, for once, listen to me?" She ignored my remark, immersed in the reading of the map. This was not the first time we were going on a trip, and this was definitely not the fi...

enigmatic-puzzle story

@ChrisCudmore Pretty much. Think of it as "I [verb-X], you are [noun-X], so you should [verb-X']", where X is the answer and X' is a homophone of the answer.

well, either we're supposed to look for a city that has roads mapped out like in the puzzle, or there's some steganography going on here

@Randal'Thor That final cryptic has haunted my dreams for days now.

@Rubio I wonder if you'll be satisfied by the answer ...

3:12 PM

I've tried working backwards, apparently the same way you created it, and found nothing helpful

so apparently our minds operate in different ways entirely :)

F final answer looks like it's SKIN

Correct

How does that fit with SOAKED?

Oh, soaked to the skin, of course.

@Randal'Thor is it as you just described, btw? I've been assuming all along that it's constrained to be something that is a homophone of a word meaning "you should do it". Is it just a random verb?

GTG again

3:15 PM

well, not random, but you know what I mean

@Rubio Yes, just a verb. It can go together with "should", as can most verbs, but there's nothing "should"y in its own meaning.

bah.

then my answer is "clue" / "clew".

should I bother writing it up, or is that not it?

"I clue, you are a clue, so you should clew"?

Is it a proper cryptic? I.E. Definition and wordplay?

"Sphinx trots after clue"?

3:17 PM

Yes. all that.

@ChrisCudmore You know what "?" means in a cryptic clue?

Or a double definition?

@ChrisCudmore These have a "twist" so

the question mark and/or the twist I think cover a multitude of oddity

@IAmInPLS Sounds like someone programmed your GPS with the Konami Code.

I'm surprised nobody has solved this one yet either.

3:25 PM

@ChrisCudmore Haha. I almost included a phrase referring to the Konami code

Liked your comment by the way

@Randal'Thor I think that once somebody discovered the red herring, it's hard to discover anyhting else

I don't know if you see what I mean

0

Q: Steganographic Maze of Cipher's, Riddles and Rhyme!

Go with the flow!!! INSTRUCTiONS Done with my time on this planet, I left you with my creation. I'm hidden in two ways below, one puzzled, while the other is a direct mention. I know you will shortly reveal my identity, and rest all will be fine. If you ask me for a hint, I say, unscra...

riddle cipher rhyme steganography reverse-puzzling

@IAmInPLS I was quite evil with the red herrings in that one :->

(That's a really bad answer to your GPS question.)

@Randal'Thor Is SPHINX TROTS AFTER TIME?

@Randal'Thor Yep :-/

@Sid Nope.

3:30 PM

@IAmInPLS are you and your wife video game characters?

No, why?

they are stuck in temple run, perhaps

I don't think you can turn around though

I was thinking Pacman

@IAmInPLS Is it some kind of trivial place? :-/

3:36 PM

I won't say anything mouhahaha

Not for now

Sounds like one of the F1 Tracks :p

@Techidiot All your other rhymes to date have been AABB[CCDDEE...] - this latest puzzle's jumbled up section has several lines with no rhyme, did you change it up or is one of us just really bad at rhyming? hehe

@Rubio Whoa! I never knew I had a pattern :D

But there is a rhyme! You just need to arrange the bits in a right way

I'm trying, but

> If you ask me for a hint, I say, unscramble the rhyme.

@Rubio ^

3:41 PM

no words in there rhyme with "mine" or "though" -

@Techidiot What's a trivial place?

are we supposed to unscramble just the lines, or more than that?

@Randal'Thor May be one of the maze kind of roads..

@Rubio - Basically, you need to form a Rhyme using those lines.

in fact fully half the lines have no apparent rhyme to them, which is why I'm asking if you changed up your usual pattern of pairs of rhymed lines

Not sure if I can put a little hint here.. Let me give you some time to figure it out

half the lines have no apparent rhyme to them sounds interesting!

3:44 PM

Mmmhmm.

Just pointing out that changing up your own usual pattern (and, for that matter, not following the same rhyming you're using not only in every other puzzle, but in the non-scrambled bits of THIS one) doesn't feel like playing fair. :)

I'll dig at it.

Hahaha

Alright, can we ban Amruth A?

He put a bounty on his -16 'riddle'

@Randal'Thor Di you notice that someone got the final answer to F?

@Techidiot So, just scramble the lines or the words?

@IAmInPLS Why?

@IAmInPLS So?

3:50 PM

@Sid Arrange only the lines.

@Mithrandir SKIN?

TheGreatEscaper

Any folks interested in testing a set of logic puzzles for me? Unfortunately if you did test these you wouldn't be able to answer when I do eventually post these, for obvious reasons.

Notice that half the lines, which would fit the rhyme scheme aabbcc have Terminal punctuation. The other six have colons.

I'm purposely overreacting, but I find this behavior... weird and counterproductive

Playing with it, I get something like:

Often I watched the waterfall's; They used to intrigue me.
Every kid now fears one of mine; I believed it was nothing but Gee!
Not sure about others though:Yes, I was quite better with numbers.
Not aware about about humans; I only knew universally related members.
While the world was dealing with wars; I had colors to prove.
There were not many ways; But I gave you three ways to move.

3:52 PM

@TheGreatEscaper What kind of logic puzzle?

@Randal'Thor yep

@TheGreatEscaper possibly. Not sure.

Which is the least nonsensical arrangement I can figure.

Of course, line arrangement can vary

yeah that's pretty close to what I have

@IAmInPLS If someone wants to put a bounty on a heavily downvoted puzzle, it's their good right to do so (as long as they're not doing something like transferring rep to a sock). Let's not start a witch hunt here.

I still think changing the rules on us isn't fair play. *cough*

But ok :)

3:54 PM

Instead of witch-hunts, let's get ice cream. </ref>

@Rubio New Year. New Rules. New Scheme! :p

I ran into an ice cream place, yesterday, near where I just moved to- the tag line: "Ice Cream makes you pretty"

@Mithrandir Ref to what?

And, btw, you are on right track @ChrisCudmore Do check other tags as well. :) And also check the instructions

harry-potter

Fortescue.

Another victim of Tom riddle

3:56 PM

@Mithrandir That was the first thing that came to my mind, but it didn't sound like a HP quote.

Not a quote. A reference.

TheGreatEscaper

It's a puzzle with original mechanics by me, in the vein of Japanese paper pen puzzles.

@Randal'Thor somehow, we end up discussing Puzzles in Mos and Harry Potter in TSL...

TheGreatEscaper

Its for the grid logic fortnightly, but due to the nature of this puzzle it needs fairly rigorous playtesting.

(Oops, should probably add @dcfyj just in case they've headed off somewhere)

@Mithrandir We're weird.

</starbait>

3:59 PM

I... will... not... star...

drags hand back, reminded of Pettigrew

@TheGreatEscaper So pictogram type logic grids?

Nu. Group F wasn't even nearly as hard as Clue Two :(

@IAmInPLS On second thoughts ... trying to get the most downvoted question on the site is a bit ... trollish?

5

Q: A long but relatively easy cipher - Clue Two

<-- Previous clue After submitting your answer in the email, you wait eagerly, on the edge of your seat. After about five minutes, your response comes back. It says: Wonderful. You have completed your first task. You have earned the right to continue. Please go to [redacted] to continue. ...

TheGreatEscaper

@dcfyj kiiiiiind of.

Entirely new mechanics, at least none that I've seen around before.

4:02 PM

btw @Techidiot is "about about" intentional?

I would take a look at it, but I'm kind of busy with work. If it's brand new mechanics then I probably won't have the time needed to devote to it.

@Rubio Corrected. Typo

figured.

Thanks

Also, and this isn't just pedantry, it matters a little: is "waterfall's" intentionally possessive, or merely plural with an extraneous apostrophe?

4:04 PM

@Randal'Thor Yes, a bit :-). The thing that bothers me is that he's 'taking pride' in having the most downvoted question here

@Mithrandir You should have responded with [redacted]

lol

:P

@Khale_Kitha lol. totally

@IAmInPLS Yep. I flagged a couple of those comments.

@Rubio waterfall's/waterfalls. Same. No problems there I guess

4:06 PM

@Randal'Thor What is your comment for?

There are intentionally plural

TheGreatEscaper

@dcfyj all cool :) thanks for expressing interest.

@Mithrandir Cross me off your volunteers list. I would be too busy to make a puzzle for the next few months..

@IAmInPLS Because, Amruth's attitude problem aside, I seriously don't think it's a bad riddle.

:/

4:07 PM

@Randal'Thor Oh, OK. At first, I wanted to say that this was basically an ad, but I ended up saying it was just bad.

...So I said it was basically an ad :P

A sad bad mad ad?

Exactly.

-19 now, at least he's succeeding in what he wanted

At least the answer to the riddle isn't "A plastic bag."

4:10 PM

Plastic bags cost money now.

.10 a bag.

@Techidiot Those are not the same thing. :) It's supposed to be plural then, so no apostrophe should be there?

Unless you bring your own

They tried that here, Mith.

Lasted about 3 months before the law was stricken.

@Mithrandir There's nothing wrong with creating this kind of 'meta' puzzle whose solution is something PSE-specific. I've written puzzles with solutions "the Green Llama" and "Deusovi" which were well-received.

@IAmInPLS So... Why is he trying to get an insanely negative question score?

4:11 PM

@Rubio Done again! Thanks.

Perhaps he's just an insanely negative person. :)

So? This wasn't a super-great riddle. It was specifically to bring attention to another puzzle to get a badge.

But grammar is least bothered in this puzzle

Not to mention this one:

30

Q: A moderate visual number puzzle

In the following diagram, each red dot represents a positive number. The dot-numbers on each of the five circles spell out either a word (each dot corresponding to a letter) or a number (each dot corresponding to a single digit), always starting at the topmost dot and moving around the circle clo...

visual arithmetic

@Mithrandir yeah I pointed that out in my answer, intentionally.

4:12 PM

@dcfyj Well, I don't know!

@Mithrandir Hmm, I didn't realise the other puzzle was also Amruth's.

Not sure how much of a difference that should make though.

After all, we're supposed to vote for the post, not for the person.

It just makes the ad more egregiously self-serving is all

@Randal'Thor When you get the other one 'stone' will make lots of sense...

huh. I was right with ROOF for E5?

yep

4:19 PM

I thought it was too much of a stretch. That's funny :)

Also @Randal'Thor I dunno if Sid got "STEAM" also but it's in my partial answer and I hadn't seen anyone solve it prior. I think that one came from me.

Oh, I hadn't seen your answer...

Also, can anyone explain how that was LOCK?

Glock - G[ee]

Glock without gee?

Glock (pistol) - Gee!

not really proper

4:22 PM

3

A: The Word Web of horror - Clue Twenty Two

B3

How is exclamation gee?

@Rubio I got it from Sid's comment on my answer, before seeing your answer.

Even if it is, where is the homophone indicator?

Try this one then: Charlie Brown decapitated twice for boat lift (4)

Glad you're here, Chris - I was wanting to work on some of the CC's, but needed some help as to if I'm doing them right - care to take a look at an example, to see if I'm understanding this?

4:25 PM

sure

relay sound from alarm-trigger, diamond peak, and greeting (5)

Ah. Yeah looks like my answer predated Sid's by a few hours - i was afraid I'd missed it and had swiped it subconsciously hehe

@Will Is the CCCC answer ACCORDION?

@Khale_Kitha My first stab would be to take RELAY as the definition.

Okay

I feel like I was forced to make that part obvious, but I could work on that, next time

4:27 PM

Sound from alarm + Trigger + Diamond Peak + Greeting. Looks like a charade.

Bell, Ring , Peal. Or it could be the sound that an alarmed person makes.

alarm-trigger is together for a reason - I couldn't find a better choice there, yet.

Is that too obtuse?

Ok, I typically ignore punctuation on the first few read throughs. But I could read that as ALARM - TRIGGER .... ALARM - ARM = AL

Any mathy guy here? I am struggling with a calculus problem and am too lazy to create an account on mathematics and post it there...

oh, good point

Which is a good a place to start as any.

4:30 PM

@Randal'Thor I have a feeling you want some clues for vscgc.

Since we're doing this for practice - that's a rabbit hole

Hang on... I need to past this into notepad. It's moving off the screen.

Star it, for a moment, then unstar when done, hehe

you only get a limited window to unstar

True.

Gareth McCaughan

4:32 PM

@Sid I am a mathy guy.

@Sid Yep!

but I can force unstar it if you ask

@GarethMcCaughan *mathsy :-)

Gareth McCaughan

@Randal'Thor I'm bilingual :-)

I could also take RELAY SOUND as def, with RELAY as either a noun or a verb. And I haven't even looked into homonyms yet, which you always have to have in the back of your mind.

4:32 PM

Now now boys. I thought we agreed to use "mathematics" so we wouldn't have this squabble here. ;)

So multiple words are allowed as def - good to know

Yeah thanks... my question is on integration. f(x)= x^2x (1+ln x)dx Integrate that.

Yes, even entire clauses.

yah they just have to be consecutive

Ah

4:33 PM

@Mithrandir Well, I've tried Caesar ciphers and QWERTY-related things ... Vigenere isn't much good without a key ... I'm getting a little stuck.

@Sid Wait, is that second x actually a times?

I.e. is it (x^2)(1+log x) or (x^3)(1+log x)?

Exactly..

That's where I am struggling

Gareth McCaughan

@Sid or is it x^{2x}?

I read the latter too

@GarethMcCaughan Yep,

What happens if you substitute y=log x?

Gareth McCaughan

4:35 PM

so it's $\int x^{2x} (1+\log x) \d x$ ?

don't you just wish mathjax worked here sometimes

x^{2x} = exp(2x log x)

Now I can think of 3 different meanings for Relay. 1- A race 2- The passing of something 3- The medium over which something is passed. Gotta keep all three in mind.

Except when humn is in the room :P

oh. my. I dunno, I think that might have some amazing results :)

4:36 PM

@ChrisCudmore There's more

But they relate to those you've listed.

An electrical component.

there's electronic relays too obviously

er. or electric, i guess, y eah

But they're called "RELAYS" only synonym I can think of might be SWITCH

I wonder if it would be effective for me to give the answer, so you could determine if the puzzle leads to it appropriately

@Randal'Thor It is Vigenere.

4:38 PM

Fair enough

The answer to it is Radio

io is greeting?

"yo"

RELAY (V) == RADIO (V)

no.

you have to clue homophones, you can't just throw them in

Gareth McCaughan

4:39 PM

(confession: I asked a computer what the answer to @Sid's integral is before making this suggestion) It seems likely that the integral is also going to have something looking like x^{2x} in it. So it might be worth figuring out what the derivative of x^{2x} is.

They are clued

sound from alarm trigger is a LetterBank clue?

Gareth McCaughan

(by "the integral" here I mean the result of doing the integration, not the thing being integrated; of course we know the latter has x^{2x} in it already.)

don't know what letterbank refers to

@Mithrandir Well hmph. Guess I need to hunt for a key.

4:39 PM

@Randal'Thor Thanks, I solved that now. I am an idiot at not thinking what you wrote there..

Basically, in this case, R is the only letter in both Alarm and Trigger

alarm-trigger refers to a raid

ok, so what is "diamond peak"?

'D'

I took that to be the "d"

4:41 PM

peak == head

So effectively "sound from (Raid + D + yo)"

tenuous, but I won't call fowl on it.

hmm

I think i would ;)

@Khale_Kitha But, RAIDDYO isn't a word.

4:41 PM

homophone indicators are for, well, homophones

two words that sound alike

Right, that's why I was mentioning that I wasn't sure of the classification

It's not homophone, but closer to charade

In-between

Gareth McCaughan

I think it's fine to have a homophone where the thing you start with isn't a single word.

homophone around a charade though?

@Randal'Thor I gave you all of the clues that you need.

That's the best description I have, in my head, yeah

Rand - thick

He gave the key

4:43 PM

@Khale_Kitha Who are you calling thick? :-P

hehehe

Apparently both of us.

I think you need to either homophone a single charade, with both start and finish syllables being words

or

@GarethMcCaughan @Randal'Thor There is another question. Integrate: [1+2tanx(tanx + Sec x)]1/2 dx

build a word and then homophon it.

Not thick

4:44 PM

I would contest that a spoonerism doesn't follow that rule

@Khale_Kitha Khale Thika?

I can see a homophone of (e.g.) "parse nip" giving parsnip, or whatever, but I don't think you can wrap any arbitrary assemblage of charade bits in a homophone indicator and call it a day

lol

hey @BeastlyGerbil

Accumulate a ship's help in the sound. (9)

4:45 PM

It's a...uh....homospoonercharadeism

3

Sorry, 6

A CREW --> Accrue

see, that's fine

@Sid tan x(tan x + sec x) equals (sec x)^2.

Wait, no.

helllo

I think it's time for coffee.

4:47 PM

hey bg

It's (sin^2(x) + sin(x)) / cos^2(x).

@ChrisCudmore Bring me some too ;)

@BeastlyGerbil Afternoon.

@Rubio you have once again proven the power of HNQ :P

!!/coffee

4:47 PM

@ChrisCudmore @Rubio Okay, I'll keep that in mind

(that works in Charcoal)

@BeastlyGerbil I did?

@Rubio (your puzzle)

@Randal'Thor Take a closer look. I gave you all of the clues.

Hm. I've never seen it show up there.

4:49 PM

I'm assuming it did with 2k views

Guess I need to fully refresh more often :)

Yeah I just saw it - just now

@Mithrandir Sorry, I haven't even had the chance to look at it yet.

Too much going on in chats.

I got the 1k view badge this morning and even went looking to see if it'd HNQd, and didn't see it show up

It's the maths, in the chats, with the peoples..... I sound like I'm playing clue.

Gareth McCaughan

@Sid that 1/2 at the end is kinda unusual. Is it actually an exponent?

4:50 PM

You got your math[s] in my cryptics. No, you got your cryptics in my math[s]. Aiieee!

lol

@GarethMcCaughan yeah, exponent

Yeah, solved, thanks again @Randal'Thor

@Rubio If you have noticed, I have maintained AABB in the first four lines. . And hopefully in other places as well ;)

oooh new puzzle

I wonder if there's a good way to hide the number 5, 6, or 7, in a CC..

4:51 PM

@Techidiot I did notice. (I commented on it! hehe)

That's why NOT doing it in the jumble feels unfair.

1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, and 10 are easy

I know I'm being picky though.

@Mithrandir OK, just F6 left now.

Probably I did it there as well :-/

@Randal'Thor Look closer for why.

Rot13 is outdated.

4:55 PM

@Mithrandir Iferitwillgetold+fst+though-

Just a curiousity found when examining closer.

Huh?

@Khale_Kitha ?

I fer it will get old+ fst+ though-

I fear it will get old fast though

Back to RADIO ... Does

Haven't found the exact decryption, but there's that

4:57 PM

What'd you get that from?

Send extreme signal (5) work for people?

If you found something like that it's completely unintentional o_O

+1 without rotation

I meant closer like this...

I know what happened, there. That was an oddity in something I had from earlier, hah

not sure how it got left

Windows 10 has a copy fail that hits me a lot

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Jan '175

The Sphinx's Lair

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