The Sphinx's Lair

Techidiot

14:00

There were good amount of filler's used.

Matt

probably my last cryptic clues

Rubio

It's clever, Matt. I'm just not sure it's standard. I've never seen that; I don't solve these anywhere else but here, but none of the references I've looked at have ever done that. :)

Techidiot

Haha.. No Matt. I liked it

Rubio

I kinda like it, but I'm not sure it's "fair" :)

Matt

it was solved, mistakes notwithstanding

Techidiot

14:01

Anyway, if you follow the standard they become a bit easy :p

Rubio

Anywaysss.....

Techidiot

Tweaking may not be breaking I guess..

11

Q: Time for Something New

An entry in Fortnightly Topic Challenge #23: Seasonal... Today, when you go to your mailbox, you find a thin card-sized envelope from your (in?)famous uncle—a games and puzzles creator of dubious skill and legendary absentmindedness, who you now reflect didn't send his usual holiday card. Y...

How to deal with this? :D

Rubio

@Deusovi Good UGTmorning to you sir.

Rand al'Thor

@Matt Nooooo!

They were fun!

Deusovi

Yeah!

You have no idea how terrible my first ones were.

Rand al'Thor

14:04

goes to search through Deusovi's earliest questions

Deusovi

Not posted here.

Rand al'Thor

Ah.

Deusovi

(If they were, I'd've moved to a new account out of shame.)

Rubio

@Rubio @Deusovi if you have a second, just want to raise some visibility to (the arrow-referent) issue to ya.

Deusovi

Yeah...

IAmInPLS

14:06

Hello cap'tain

Rand al'Thor

I've posted some subpar riddles too, but my first-ever riddle is one I'm still pretty happy with:

31

Q: There are many different types of men

Disclaimer: no offence intended to Americans, Australians, or any other group! It's all part of the puzzle. What am I talking about in the following riddle? There are many different types of men; They often come in groups of two or three. Each group has a matching group of women, But they shoul...

riddle

Deusovi

I'm not sure what to do about it either. There are several signs of plagiarism, but nothing too concrete.

Plus, it's been a week since the first posting.

Rand al'Thor

Make a note for future reference and keep an eye on him?

Deusovi

Already done.

Rubio

Yah - again, not calling for action, more raiding greater awareness. like I said, I'm not buying someone not knowing the proper answer to a puzzle they created. :)

And on that note, I'm hushing up on it.

Will

14:08

do any of you ever write a cryptic clue then go "darn, I sound like a fortune cookie"

Deusovi

The week gap makes me think they actually might be telling the truth. But like I said, I'm not entirely sure.

@Will All the time.

Actually... that would be a great puzzle framing!

Matt

I know it's not what you're used to, but if you like the unconvention

Khale_Kitha

More importantly......you may wish to start looking closer at your fortune cookies, from now on.

Matt

I can change the tag to crossword clues or something more fitting

Rand al'Thor

> Darn, I sound like a fortune cookie (5)

Matt

14:10

if the semantics is importnat

Rand al'Thor

^^ not a real cryptic clue

Sounds like it could be one though!

Will

to a technology inept setter it could be CACHE

Khale_Kitha

What would you guys say is too long for a CC?

Rubio

i'd go with CURSE

Deusovi

@Khale_Kitha Anything containing unnecessary words. Depends on the clue itself though.

Rubio

14:17

@Khale_Kitha If it doesn't fit in one message, it's too long. :)

IAmInPLS

Number of people admitted to empty carriage on Metropolitan Line includes first to exit after drunk remains there (8,8)

Khale_Kitha

What I have in mind is more in line with that ^

IAmInPLS

You can find it online ofc

Khale_Kitha

And it's because it's a two-word that's causing me the questino

Deusovi

Two word clues are fine.

Will

14:18

Yeah I have a (5,4,5) I want to use at some point and I've found it hard to be concise

Rubio

Yeah. Or more. We've seen (4,2'4)

Khale_Kitha

Yeah, I figured

I wasn't asking about that

But it needed a longer clue

Deusovi

@Will Anagrams! :P

Rand al'Thor

We've seen (7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7) -------------------->

Rubio

and I've had longer clues, word wise, than that :)

Deusovi

14:19

@Randal'Thor That's not really a cryptic though...

Rubio

I'm not saying that was good.

just that it was.

Khale_Kitha

hehe

Deusovi

We did have (2, 2, 4, 4, 2, 4, 2, 4) at one point

Rand al'Thor

@Deusovi Oh yes ... which DDDD person made that clue?

IAmInPLS

Yeah, damn Gareth

Deusovi

14:20

Gareth

IAmInPLS

ninja'd :-D

Rubio

I set this modestly infamemeous one: Skywalker's first Master more recently has at his heart a carbonless diamond; maybe add a disarrayed toga for an Internet meme? (6,4)

Rand al'Thor

@Deusovi Gareth created a puzzle? :-O

:-P

@Rubio Something goat.

Deusovi

Only a CCCC

Rubio

lol. no.

Rand al'Thor

14:21

Obie something?

Deusovi

I think it was SCREAM GOAT or something

Rubio

oh sorry misread

it was BROKEN GOAT

Techidiot

What's with the goat @Rubio? It's second time from you I guess ;)

Rubio

The many subsequent references to carbonless ice or carbonless diamonds stem from that.

@Techidiot That's the same one, :)

Sconibulus

DDDD? Dastardly Devious Den Denizens?

Deusovi

14:24

12 hours ago, by Rand al'Thor

(devilishly difficult, dire, diabolical)

Techidiot

@Deusovi Are you working on this? Or dropped it?

Khale_Kitha

He'll come back around to it

Deusovi

@Techidiot I was, but wasn't sure where to go from my answer

Khale_Kitha

....sorry, couldn't resist.

Deusovi

boooo

Khale_Kitha

14:25

haha

Rand al'Thor

Those spoilertagged words are a bit odd.

Khale_Kitha

A very enigmatic word!

Techidiot

Hmm.. I tried figuring out if there is a way to make words like Pink etc...but I don't see any pattern there

Rand al'Thor

Oh, actually, I had an idea for that one.

Techidiot

To and The makes "OATH" giving Old mans symbol of wealth

Khale_Kitha

14:27

The "A Few Words" part...

I think Generic User thinks he's Dumbledore =D

Techidiot

Are they kind of crossword clues? :-/ Old mans symbol of wealth,falling bridge..

Khale_Kitha

(I was sad they left that part out of the movies)

Will

Speaking of DDDD I should probably give a hint to my current one, which is admittedly more BBBB (badly bespoke, blunder, bummer) :/

Techidiot

" a falling bridge, children's rhyme " combined make make London Bridge

@Will The hint should be a cryptic clue as well :D

Will

No, that'd be terrible.

It starts with F.

TheGreatEscaper

14:31

Rebuses seem to be popular right now

Techidiot

Firefall?

TheGreatEscaper

I'm going to jump on the bandwagon.

Deusovi

@TheGreatEscaper You're supposed to be working on your grid logic puzzle :P

Khale_Kitha

That ruins my guess, Will

"Presence"

Rand al'Thor

@Will Firewhiskey.

cc @Mithrandir

Will

14:37

I mean...

TheGreatEscaper

@Deusovi but that's so much work!

Plus I've had a particularly demotivating day dealing with a pesky mechanic.

Deusovi

And whose fault is that?

TheGreatEscaper

Plus, I really like this rebus puzzle.

Plus, it's almost done, unlike the grid logic thing :P

Rubio

hm.

TheGreatEscaper

I am a man of instant gratification

Sconibulus

14:40

We have a grid logic tag? I've just been using Logical Deduction

Deusovi

Nope.

We don't.

TheGreatEscaper

Grid Logic is 99% going to be the next Fortnightly, though.

Deusovi

I was planning to make a meta post asking what the tag name should be at some point.

Rubio

@Will There are alcoholic drinks/products called FIREBOLT, FIRE BOLT, and FIREBALL. any of those will singe you. Is that what you're after?

Rand al'Thor

Ooooooh, that kind of "singer"!

Deusovi

14:44

Ah, that has to be it. Clever!

Will

Yes. That last one is (or at least I thought it was) a very popular whisky.

Rubio

ok

Deusovi

I liked that clue! Took us way too long to get it though :P

Rubio

so yeah Fireball whisky

and I'd never heard of that. Great clue though

Techidiot

Someone just did a brute force on my puzzle and reached the end. :p Hahaha... But well, it's incorrect ;)

Deusovi

14:45

I've seen "flower" referring to a river before

Rubio

My browser history now looks like I'm a raging drunkard on a bender.

5

Khale_Kitha

lol

TrojanByAccident

Nah, I've got it

Khale_Kitha

PSE gives you interesting browser history, in general.

....So says the NSA.

Rubio

@TrojanByAccident that's 9

TrojanByAccident

14:46

ah

nvm

Rubio

I found that like 6 hours ago and was typing it all up and everything

then learned to count

:)

TrojanByAccident

:)

Rubio

Also, the derivation of Margarita from a singer's name is, let's just say, contested.

TrojanByAccident

Hey @Will you sure that (8) is correct?

@Rubio Margarita Vargas?

Rubio

I already solved it .

Will

14:47

^

Rubio

it was FIREBALL

TrojanByAccident

oh

Deusovi

Yeah, it's been solved

TrojanByAccident

I should learn to read, too

Rubio

Ok I have to do this - it's not my actual CCCC

but it has to be done

Our overlord is wildly devious.

No enumeration. Cope.

Deusovi

14:48

it's me! :D

Rand al'Thor

Good, I'm finally getting back into things on PSE and getting the hats like Snaphat and Fiery.

Khale_Kitha

Deu, somewhere I can ask you something regarding a clue to see if it makes sense?

Rand al'Thor

@Rubio Anyone ever tell you you're a mad hatter? :-)

Deusovi

Easiest way is to email me. I could also give you my Discord if you have that

Rubio

No. But I have a hat that says I am.

Khale_Kitha

14:49

I don't, sorry

Rubio

CCCC: East-west flow may help ease congestion. (6)

Will

I very nearly wrote a CCCC involving (de)congestion o__o

TrojanByAccident

lol

Rubio

hehee

I'm fairly happy with this one

TrojanByAccident

thinking it's dd or &lit

doesn't appear to be splittable

Rand al'Thor

14:50

@Rubio VTC: dupe.

7

Q: A local puzzler lawyering around with a finish door

Here's a nice cryptic crossword clue for Puzzling SE: A local puzzler lawyering around with a finish door (7).

cryptic-clues

TrojanByAccident

unless I'm not seing something

Deusovi

Nah, I see some potential indicators

Rand al'Thor

@Rubio you pinned the wrong one ...

Rubio

@Randal'Thor lol. I didn't.

Deusovi

?

Rand al'Thor

14:51

@Rubio You pinned Will's message deliberately?

Deusovi

Right now, Rubio's clue is pinned

Rubio

One of us is confused. I hope it isn't me.

Rand al'Thor

@Deusovi Because I fixed the pins :-)

Deusovi

Oh, alright

Rubio

OH. huh :)

Sorry

Khale_Kitha

14:52

lol

Where can I email you, Deu?

Deusovi

[email protected]

Rubio

I'll be back in like 15min .... I certainly hope that CCCC lasts that long.

Techidiot

@Rubio Is it SIGNAL? Though I can only explain East West(SIGN)

Deusovi

How is that "congestion"?

TrojanByAccident

If it is clue w/ def, I'm thinking ease congestion is the def

Rubio

14:54

Per usual, I won't answer anything without an explanation attached.

Techidiot

Signal - may help ease congestion

@Deusovi ?

Deusovi

That's not the same part of speech - it'd have to be "thing that may help ease congestion"

Techidiot

Like traffic signal?

Khale_Kitha

sent

Techidiot

@Randal'Thor How do you get "London" ? Did you used any first and last words?

Rand al'Thor

14:56

@Techidiot See the link. And no, not yet.

Techidiot

@Randal'Thor chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/14524?m=34593441#34593441

I got that. But not sure how to reach it.

Sconibulus

My initial though is that I want it to be WOLF??

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