The Sphinx's Lair

Rubio

00:13

Heh. I just had an answer, already marked correct, downvoted. fun!

Alconja

7 hours ago, by Deusovi

@BeastlyGerbil Basically the point is that Rubio is wrong about everything. That's all you need to know.

Apparently people are taking the star board to heart

You're even wrong about being right :P

Rubio

This .... this makes me sad.

Alconja

For what it's worth I went back and looked at the chat history as to why you were allegedly wrong, and there is a concrete reason why { should go at the end of a line for javascript at least

Rubio

@Alconja So my upvote of one of your old puzzles today must have been a mistake. I better go undo that promptly ;)

Alconja

:P Even a broken Rubio is right twice a day

Rubio

00:17

lol :)

@Alconja Do tell.

Alconja

if you're returning an object literal, say return { blah: "blah" };

if you split it onto multiple lines return \n {..., will be interpreted as a void return statement (i.e. the interpreter will slap a semicolon on the end for you)

so:

return {

blah: "blah"

};

will return the object as expected, but:

Rubio

Oh Javascript, you so crazy.

Alconja

return

{

Rubio

That's what statement terminators were made for ;)

Alconja

blah: "blah"

}

will return nothing

Volatility

00:21

But braces for literals are different to braces for scoping

Alconja

So you're proposing inconsistent brace positioning?

Volatility

No, I was just commenting that your example was tangential to the argument

Alconja

Not really, if you assume you should use consistent brace positioning above all else, then the above pushes you towards needing to open braces on the same line for all cases (to reduce the chance of error).

Deusovi

If you're coding in Javascript.

Alconja

Well, yes.... but why wouldn't you be? :P

Volatility

00:26

I guess (not that I disagree with you, just playing Devil's advocate). I wouldn't return a literal like that though; I'd put the closing brace at the end of the last entry, not on it's own line. I would put a closing scope brace on its own line.

Deusovi

Well, for one thing...

Also, null>=0 and null<=0, but null!=0.

Alconja

Yeah, javascript is my favourite language (in all seriousness).

Deusovi

What.

Alconja

Sometimes all that "flexibility" can be useful and fun

Deusovi

For code golf, maybe.

Alconja

00:30

(of course it can be a pain in the arse for enterprise stuff, so the last few projects i've worked with it on, we've used ES6 and TypeScript)

TrojanByAccident

JavaScript is the most amazing language every

@Alconja That's because of ASI, or, in your words, "the interpreter will slap a semicolon on the end for you". Unless you terminate your return statement with a semicolon, it will interpret the statement as return;{blah:'blah'} rather than return{blah:'blah'};

Alconja

Exactly. Such a little scamp of a language. Sweetly helping you out like that.

Deusovi

As I said: null>=0 and null<=0, but null!=0. How is that "helping you out"?

TrojanByAccident

76

Q: Why `null >= 0 && null <= 0` but not `null == 0`?

I had to write a routine that increments the value of a variable by 1 if its type is number and assigns 0 to the variable if not, where the variable is initially null or undefined. The first implementation was v >= 0 ? v += 1 : v = 0 because I thought anything not a number would make an arithmet...

Alconja

00:45

I was being very tongue in cheek, it's certainly a dangerous language, but it doesn't take many precautions to avoid the vast bulk of gotchas. (and that's before worrying about lint/babel type solutions)

Deusovi

That explains what it does, but not why that would be a good idea. :P

TrojanByAccident

True :P

I'm amazed at how harsh PSE people are

Deusovi

Hm?

TrojanByAccident

Before solution: net +9
After solution: net +2

Deusovi

Oh, is this the "nine-letter word" one?

TrojanByAccident

00:48

yes

I mean, it's not so great

Volatility

no it's not

Deusovi

yeah... it's honestly not great IMO - there'd need to be quotes around "a nine letter word" to make it make sense

TrojanByAccident

I think it was mostly because I kept promising to get a puzzle out and never did

So I just posted the first thing that came to mind

On a side note, the original version of that riddle that I had involved a witch that kidnapped the prince

Alconja

The problem is that it gives the illusion of being an actual puzzle, but turns out to be a "joke", so people will feel cheated (because they'll waste their time looking for a real solution)

TrojanByAccident

Ah

I didn't think of it that way

Rubio

00:52

Well, maybe not a "joke" per se but certainly a trick question at best.

Rand al'Thor

@Rubio Hope you don't mind me taking your name in vain ;-) puzzling.stackexchange.com/q/48132/5373

TrojanByAccident

Yeah

Alconja

Yeah, I guess that's why the quotes. To look at it another way, if I'd seen the now accepted answer before it was accepted, I'd say, "there's no way that would be the answer, there's got to be more to it"

Rubio

@Randal'Thor Wouldn't be the first time. No worries :)

TrojanByAccident

@Alconja Yeah, I guess I kinda did a flop on this one

I think I'm going to work on another riddle that's better, maybe release it in ~a week

Alconja

00:55

@TrojanByAccident Eh. It's all good. No harm done.

Rubio

@Alconja And yes. This, exactly. The story setup, even, suggests that the prince himself wouldn't get the 'riddle' either as he's been doing, well, actual puzzles.

Alconja

I'm sure a few people smirked at the answer, but the votes have self-corrected so as not to lead other puzzle hunters in too much

Rubio

Oh well. Next time will be better right? :)

Sphinx

0

Q: Finding digits that sum to 15

Rand and Rubio are playing a game in which they each take turns to pick a digit between 1 and 9, without replacement (i.e. all digits chosen are distinct). They get three turns each, and if one of them manages to get three digits which sum to 15, then he wins. Rand goes first. Does he have a win...

mathematics strategy game

TrojanByAccident

I think I've said somewhere that my stories are mostly fluff

Rand al'Thor

00:57

@Sphinx There's a really beautiful solution to this. I hope people will like it!

Volatility

@TrojanByAccident No problem with that. Just make sure it's not misleading fluff ;)

TrojanByAccident

@Volatility Indeed

Alconja

So, change of subject... what ideas do people have on Gareth's CC?

Was thinking "sound of" might be a homophone indicator, "crudely enhanced" could be "hacked" => "ACT" (or similar) but that gives no useful words

TrojanByAccident

@Alconja Dunno, we might need to send @Gareth down the path of @Will

Rand al'Thor

@Deusovi Congrats on 30k! :-D

Deusovi

01:07

@Randal'Thor Excuse you, the correct phrase is "China aromatic".

(Thanks! :D )

TrojanByAccident

Oh yeah, Large asian country smelly to you, @Deusovi

Rand al'Thor

And nice answer! (I assume you're in the process of editing more explanation into it?)

Volatility

Wait. What's the winning strategy? I thought there was none for tic-tac-toe.

Deusovi

Oh wait, three turns each?

Rubio

Yah. Even without that, there's no (technically) winning strategy for tic-tac-toe; merely a not-losing one

TrojanByAccident

01:15

@Volatility I have a strategy to win at tic-tac-toe every time

Rubio

@TrojanByAccident Don't play?

Rand al'Thor

@Deusovi I actually added that to the original problem, because I thought it was an omission. Was I wrong?

TrojanByAccident

@Rubio No, I play

Deusovi

@Randal'Thor Yeah. Three turns each means you just stop after six pieces are placed on the board.

And that wouldn't make sense.

Rand al'Thor

@Deusovi Edited.

I'm sure neither of the answerers will mind ;-)

TheGreatEscaper

01:20

Despite having gone to sleep earlier last night than usual, I find myself waking much later than usual...

Gareth McCaughan

01:36

Are more CCCC hints required?

TrojanByAccident

@GarethMcCaughan yes

Alconja

More? What was the existing one?

Gareth McCaughan

@Alconja I revealed that the first letter is R.

Rand al'Thor

@Rubio If you think you had it bad with a downvote on an accepted answer ... this was the accepted answer to "The Traveller and the Blood-Thirsty Troll" (checkmark doesn't show any more since the question was deleted).

The score of the question plummeted from about +10 to -10 very quickly after that answer was accepted.

boboquack

02:11

@TheGreatEscaper Have you made any more progress after finding the Roman numerals?

Deusovi

@boboquack It's probably "Caesar shift up or down by value of arrow stem", but I'm too lazy to go through with it.

boboquack

No. I've said many times on chat (I should probably add this as a hint) there is no encoding.

Apart from the existence of arrows.

Mike Q

03:29

Is anyone else still trying to figure out the untimely rebus question?

Rubio

04:21

@Randal'Thor wow. that question. just wow.

humn

04:50

@boboquack, has anyone found the numbers hidden in?:

clear as day, on a faraway planet, now what to do with them ...

boboquack

So yes, the numbers hidden were found, see TGE's answer. Now the question is why?

Oh hi @The.

TheGreatEscaper

Hiya

What hidden numbers again?

humn

thanks, back to staring

TheGreatEscaper

The roman numberals?

boboquack

Yep

humn

04:53

yes, a day late again . . .

boboquack

numberals... are they like overalls with numbers on them?

TheGreatEscaper

*numerals

boboquack

Here is where the story is helpful...

Does anyone find puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/48011/… a strange question?

TheGreatEscaper

yes

humn

impressively strange

TheGreatEscaper

04:55

The group of N and two others, bobo

Could that group possibly be I N G?

boboquack

Hmmm... what could that be...

No

TheGreatEscaper

Aw

You three will be needed at the end of everythING

boboquack

But you're really close!

Ha - I didn't notice that

What do you think the difference between an up arrowhead ^ and a down arrowhead v could mean?

@humn Any more proofs without words to solve?

Oh, you've left? :(

Oh hi again!

humn

@boboquack , thanks again for taking care of the first p-w/o-w

boboquack

p-w-F?

humn

05:02

never heard of p-w-f....

TheGreatEscaper

Proof with fire: burn the page, you have nothing left to prove

humn

ignito ergo sum

TheGreatEscaper

:D

humn

Would love to see someone else put up a p-w/o-w-w/o-typo

There's a nice formula i've been trying to diagram. it turned into Fiqo but still has potential

boboquack

That would be a p-w/o-w-w/o-powwow to use some slang.

humn

05:05

w/ot you said

wish we could edit forever

... bye again ...

boboquack

When I edit, my edit comes up as (0,0,0) writing on a (10,10,10) background. It's really hard to see, so usually I don't edit unless necessary.

boboquack

05:19

So, TGE, what do you think the arrowhead direction means?

@humn Do you mind if I post my own ones?

humn

Another one someone might have covered, @boboquack, is the grid meant to wrap around? it certainly does so very nicely.

@boboquack , post a pwow? please! I have two books of them and am not satisfied.

boboquack

No, but that's just the easiest way to generate the sudoku.

I don't have one ready, but I'll think about what I can do...

humn

Fun to try. Surprised that the failed proof got more approval than the one that works and is prettier. Maybe people like an underdog more than a poodle.

Anyway, boboquack, another thanks for answering my wraparound question. Am having fun following the dust cloud of great grid-deductions, mostly in TheGE's wake, regardless of their being already solved.

Volatility

@humn on that topic, any progress on my Letter Slope puzzle? (and @others as well)

humn

@Volatility , I'm stuck even trying to come up with prying comment-questions. TGreatE's idea about right angles is better than my suspicions.

So the true reason must be a goodie.

Volatility

05:33

Well, I will restate my previous hint:

Jan 11 at 12:42, by Volatility

It might help to recall what puzzle you're solving.

humn

w l's guess about "s l o p e" was a good one based on the title

Volatility

I will confirm that it is related to the tetrominos. TGE's interpretation isn't completely correct though.

boboquack

Does anyone else have an idea to what up or down could mean in my puzzle (opportunity to leapfrog TGE!)

humn

@Volatility , ohhhhhhhh, i did have an early guess that didn't seem very different from TGEscaper's. maybe it's just different enough ...

@boboquack , do you by any chance already have a picture that overlays arrows and filled-in letters?

boboquack

No, sorry.

humn

05:41

Or even a picture of the filled in letters? Let me speak on behalf of those too lazy to make one.

... off to write up the guess on Volatility's puzzle ...

Volatility

btw everyone, you can call me Vol (or Vola, if you wish, although I find it a little weird). I'm surprised no-one's even tried to come up with a shorter name for me in here :P

boboquack

3 chars is the min.

Volatility

Vol is 3 chars

boboquack

exactly

Volatility

oh, I meant shorter than "Volatility"

humn

05:55

Oky dok, @Vol, posted the guess on letter shapes . . .

Volatility

Yep!

humn

right on! now for a lot of compulsive write up ... will ping you when ready ...

Volatility

I thought solving the 4x4 grids would have primed that interpretation, but apparently not. Good job though!

humn

oh, it did! but my quick reading of TGEapostrophes answer thought it said the same thing.

Volatility

ah I see

humn

05:59

... off to enjoy an editor without a 3-second time limit ...

Sphinx

06:57

0

Q: Lost are your hopes, yet this is what you were looking for

My story starts at my small kiosk. But I was a fool and now all is lost, what I gained in return is a downpour on my head. A burden on my soul. I found a plan to fool them all, now I can force them into submission. I Forgot about Owen, all I need is you, the presence that darkens ...

riddle word wordplay anagram

Sphinx

07:08

0

Q: Another beloved Add-A-Gram puzzle!

Well it's been a few days, so I figure, why not? Are you ready to solve another Add-A-Gram chain? Each word can form the next word by adding a letter and then forming an anagram. For example, an insect in a beverage in red wood would be bee -> beer -> ember. Here is today's Add-A-Gram chain defi...

word knowledge anagram

Sphinx

07:51

0

Q: What makes these words so special?

The following words share a special property or properties that make them very special. This list is complete. No other English words have what it takes to make this list: FUZIL YUTZ UNZIP UNFIXT PIXY INFLUX FUTZ WIZ UNFIX PYX PUTZ FIZ What makes these words so special?

word-property

Mithrandir

08:11

@TrojanByAccident I pity your question score.

boboquack

Oh finally, some chat!

Anyone else around?

Rubio

Nope

boboquack

Say 'Absent' if you're not here.

Mithrandir

Absent...

No swupe-os this time :)

boboquack

No-one's saying 'Absent' (Mithrandir said 'Absent...'), so everyone must be here! Let's actually talk about puzzles or something else of interest.

Anyone got a puzzle they would like to discuss?

Mithrandir

08:15

Sure. Someone post 11 rhyme puzzles so that I can answer 'em.

Rubio

Sure. Gareth's CCCC

We know now it starts with the letter R

Mithrandir

Literature launches today

Mithrandir

08:28

@Volatility I replied to your email

Volatility

Yes, got it. Trying to come up with a title.

Mithrandir

'Clue Twenty-Seven' :P

Everyone upvote this answer...

Volatility

Ok @Mithrandir just posted

Mithrandir

Link? Not showing up on /questions

Volatility

0

Q: The mysterious lines - Clue Twenty Seven

<<---First clue <---Previous clue [flavor-text coming soon] The noise of acuity Two pies in the wild Archaisms and noblemen Not a pile of rhythms

enigmatic-puzzle

humn

08:40

Back to Letter slopes‌, @Vol, my solution has been filled out but still lacks a detail at the end. You can see how I left it.

Sphinx

0

Q: The mysterious lines - Clue Twenty Seven

<<---First clue <---Previous clue You speak the answer. And of course, a trapdoor opens up and you fall. You land on something soft, but everything is dark. Then a light flickers on, and you see that you're in a small space. On the far wall is a plaque: Here's an enigmatic-puzzle for you,...

enigmatic-puzzle story

humn

(also, for general knowledge of SE mechanics, did "@Vol," ping you, with comma right after your nam?) Answered: yes, Good to know, thanks

Volatility

yes

Mithrandir

@hu, does it?

humn

(not yet, funny, in both senses of the word)

Volatility

08:44

there has to be at least three letters

Mithrandir

Ah

Volatility

@humn T is assigned the value 5, but it doesn't have 5 slopes. What detail might confirm that counting slopes is the correct rule?

humn

Are you giving me two different course corrections there? One about T and another about counting slopes?

(My only explanation for T is that it is the missing tetromino)

Volatility

I'm not giving any course corrections. There's a detail which I included so that solvers who noticed that the numbers for S O I L corresponded with the number of slopes (hopefully) wouldn't be confused that T was 5 and not what it would be by the rule.

Your row 3 is closely related to that detail.

humn

Glad that nothing needs to be retracted and kinda enjoy having something left to mull over, but wouldn't mind at all if someone sees it first.

(parting word, for now, about these slope puzzles: Their clues lead to each other very well!)

Volatility

09:02

That's nice to hear :) (bye!)

Mithrandir

Adios.

I want my first ever upvote on SO...

I posted exactly once

It has 0 score

Yet I have 147 rep

0

Q: Why am I getting a Travis CI error on my pull request?

This is most likely a duplicate. I am not new to SE, and I did search before asking this, so I won't be offended if this is closed, as long as the dupe actually answers my question. (SO has a reputation for being very quick with dupes.) I am new to Github. I don't usually program, but I'm trying...

github travis-ci pull-request

Everyone's sleeping...

Volatility

09:19

Ah crap, just realised what I could have done to make clue 27 better. Oh well.

Sphinx

1

Q: Give me the name of the song

not sure if you like this expecting to end with a kiss? video? You saw it. even shared it a bit? ranting on the web somewhere going to give you a little scare once it was a love song now? Just a click gone wrong not adding this verse as a prank actually I ...

riddle rhyme

Mithrandir

Ricky Martin

Enrique Martín Morales (born December 24, 1971), commonly known as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican singer, actor and author. Martin began his career at age twelve with the all-boy pop group Menudo. After five years with the group, he released several Spanish-language solo albums throughout the 1990s. He also acted on stage and on TV in Mexico, becoming a modest star in the country. In 1994 he starred on the American TV soap opera General Hospital, playing a Puerto Rican singer. In late 1999, after releasing several albums in Spanish, Martin performed "The Cup of Life" at the 41st Grammy Awards...

Related somehow?

It says Martin, Ricky...

Sphinx

10:31

2

Q: The Realm of Cubic Repetition

{0,1,1}-{1,1,1}-{0,0,1}-{1,1,1}-{0,0,0}-{1,1,0}-{1,1,1}! Welcome! You have entered the REALM OF CUBIC REPETITION. Messages passed through here undergo a drastic transformation. All their letters are converted by means of a so-called FPR-substitution and are thereby split up into three dimensi...

cipher wordplay enigmatic-puzzle

humn

Another try, @Vol(atility): Does the missing piece to A "Letter" Slope puzzle? happen to spell S O I L ?

Volatility

@humn not sure what you mean...

humn

Guess that's a no. Just noticed that spelling SOIL with the circles in the 4x4s makes a T shape (in a way).

... still having fun sneaking up when the puzzle or you least expect ... back into the crouch for now ...

Mithrandir

12:27

the weather must be changing

i've been getting lots of nosebleeds

hello hugh

Hugh Meyers

Hi. Winter can be a drag.

Winter sports can be fun though.

Mithrandir

close:opinion based

Hugh Meyers

But there I am assuming you're in a cold climate. When the ice and snow comes, the air dries right out and lots of people get nosebleeds.

Mithrandir

nope

no snow here ever

but when the weather changes, either to colder or warmer...

TheGreatEscaper

No snow down here in Western Australia :(

Mithrandir

12:33

i'm typing with one hand because the other is... busy.

holding a tissue and squeezing

on my nose

Hugh Meyers

Over here by the shores of Lake Geneva there's snow. Not as much as usual, but there is snow.

Rand al'Thor

13:22

@boboquack Very nice one with the Roman numerals, I must say!

(hoping I pinged the right person - sometimes it's hard to remember who posted which puzzle)

Mithrandir

Rand, can you do me a favor?

Rand al'Thor

@Mithrandir No, but I can do you a favour.

Mithrandir

:P Clear the stars on that please.

Thanks

Rand al'Thor

Done.

Mithrandir

Now I'm just waiting for Literature to launch....

Rand al'Thor

13:32

Fun fact: the link on this page is to the wrong proposal.

Mithrandir

Hah

So I can't log in

Rand al'Thor

I considered posting a bug report, but I guess they'll fix it anyway before the actual launch.

Mithrandir

I have some questions ready with tags that I want to create so that I get Taxonomist :P

Rand al'Thor

Patience, my young padawan.

Mithrandir

YOU DIDN"T DO IT

Rand al'Thor

13:34

I imagine Taxonomist will be a given for anyone who's in on the first day of private beta.

@Mithrandir Do what?

Mithrandir

You didn't link to the chain of you linking that to me

Rand al'Thor

I don't always link to nested quote chains.

It can get ridiculous when overdone.

Mithrandir

in Mos Eisley, Jan 10 at 19:10, by Rand al'Thor

Sep 15 '16 at 20:22, by Rand al'Thor

yesterday, by Rand al'Thor

5 hours ago, by Rand al'Thor

Patience, my young padawan.

No editing at all...

Rand al'Thor

@Mithrandir Suuuuuure :-P

Even I don't have that much rep network-wide.

Mithrandir

Jan 2 at 12:57, by Mithrandir

Dec 6 '16 at 22:19, by Mithrandir

Aug 30 at 1:34, by Rand al'Thor

I did a quick double take when I saw that 211k. "Is Mithrandir secretly Jon Skeet?"

@Randal'Thor That's because it's not a link to a specific proposal.

It's doing a lookup for Literature, and that's what it's finding.

Rand al'Thor

13:49

Mithrandir

Yeah, I have 75k rep that way there...

Rand al'Thor

@Mithrandir Sure. Still a bug.

@Rubio I see your message about "hodor" on the starboard (no context), and raise you this:

A Game of Hodor (Hodor Box Office Opening Theme)

►

TheGreatEscaper

That new knights and knaves puzzle doesn't really look like it has a solution that's easier than the case bash

i could be wrong but it looks like it'd be less effort to case bash it :P

Rubio

14:06

@Randal'Thor If you want the context (...and I know you do...) - here you go!

Rand al'Thor

What do you call it when people want to get things done as fast as possible?
Soonerism.

@Rubio Wow. I'm no programmer, but even to me that looks a bit crazy.

Sphinx

0

Q: Knights, Knaves and Normals - the tough one

I found this puzzle and I have difficulties to solve it: Imagine three people, Alice, Bob, Chris, each of whom is either a knight, a knave or a normal. Exactly one person in the group is a knight. Can you find out who? Their statements: Chris says: if both Bob and I are not knaves, then all o...

logical-deduction liars

Rand al'Thor

@Sphinx Are you sure this has a unique solution?

Mithrandir

Looks too broad to me...

Rand al'Thor

Chris knight, Bob knave seems to be a valid solution.

Is it possible for Alice to be a knight?

Mithrandir

14:14

0

A: Knights, Knaves and Normals - the tough one

The answer is: EDIT: Actually this answer needs a second thought, sorry for posting it too early.

Rand al'Thor

@Mithrandir The 2nd statement is that answer is wrong.

Mithrandir

I didn't bother checking the logic :P (So I didn't vote)

Rubio

@Randal'Thor youtube.com/watch?v=2fPgIIB67bw is gloriously, hilariously on target for what GoT's opening would look like if it was airing 20 years ago

TheGreatEscaper

Haha that's great. Not that I was around 20 years ago...

Rand al'Thor

@Rubio Not sure if that's meant to be a criticism of 90s TV ... it doesn't look bad to me.

TheGreatEscaper

14:24

I don't think it's a criticism, more of a humourous comparison.

Rubio

I don't think it was criticism either - it's just basically how every 90s show intro looked, and they recaptured that style beautifully. (I particularly enjoyed the old HBO logo and the faux VCR tracking static/color flares)

Sphinx

15:01

1

Q: Cryptic Rebuses Go Meta

At the library, cryptic rebuses read a book on self-reference. If you're unsure how cryptic rebuses work, you may want to check out this primer. *I don't own any of the images from which I drew in making these puzzles. Where possible I tried to use public domain images. I believe I may be usin...