The Sphinx's Lair - 2017-01-27 (page 2 of 2)

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9:00 PM

Same here. What are your theories, do you think that it's a double def, or does it actually split the def and wordplay?

9:12 PM

@MikeQ Sorry, I sat down then immediately had to get up. Let me read what people have been saying about it.

@MikeQ Well, after reading what others have said, I'm at a loss too. Given the clue regarding CLEAN/CUT/BLACK, my first guess is that it's a charade with the def on the left (serious or serious threat) and the charade on the right threat to clean power or (to) clean power...

I think there are no indicators, and it's either [serious][threat][to clean][power], or [serious threat][to clean][power]

Nothing suggests an anagram

Oh - I missed that clue... hm...

Hm, I don't know about "cut", but both "clean" and "black" can mean "serious", in a way.

"Cut" and "clean" can both mean delete/erase/remove, and "black out" has a similar meaning

9:30 PM

@MikeQ I was thinking "clean" and "black" can both mean "polish", which leads nowhere (as far as I can see).

The last part could be "energy"

Right, a "better" clue with the same meaning is "Serious threat to [black/cut] power"

@incesterror21 yeah, people have countenanced "steam energy" and "green energy", but there doesn't seem to be a way to make it work.

Solar energy?

Yes but what do you do with that?

9:33 PM

Good question!

@incesterror21 Someone already countenanced that too...

@GreatEscaper, along with HYDRO ENERGY

If it was [Serious threat][to clean energy], I would guess GRAVE DANGER, but I don't think the wordplay works

@MikeQ It might... I would pursue that.

Yeah we kinda beat those up until Will's hint about clean sorta wrecked All The Theories

@MikeQ GRAVE might be synonymous with CUT. (I'm thinking ENGRAVE.) It might also be roughly synonymous with BLACK, as in BLACK HUMOR / GRAVE HUMOR. Maybe there's an obscure meaning synonymous with CLEAN.

9:38 PM

GRAVE DANGER is an anagram for VEGAN REGARD, VEGAN GRADER, RAD VEGAN ERG

"power outage" is a serious threat to every vacuum cleaner

Missing the wordplay though.

ENGRAVE DRAG, DRAG AVENGER, RAVEN DAGGER... There are a lot of combinations but none of them fit the wordplay

DRAG AVENGER reminded me of a story...

@MikeQ, if it's a ddef, [serious threat to clean] might be a jokey description of something, the ddef being [power].

Anyway GRAVE DANGER is correct so... whichever one of you can finish explaining first... ;)

9:43 PM

Wait, what?

The race begins.

Got it

"grave" is being used as it is in the phrase "grave accent", maybe?

Uh... Def is Serious threat, Wordplay is [to clean power]...

... what

9:47 PM

@Will I second Will's "... what"

Maybe "to" indicates an anagram of a synonym for clean power?

No!

@MikeQ That's called an indirect anagram, and Will confirmed he doesn't do those. They are considered bad form.

For good reason. They're too hard.

Could it be Grave Danger = Graved Anger? And "to" is the split?

@Will, GRAVE DANGER [def] Serious threat; GRAVE [obsolete verb meaning to clean (and tar a ship)] + DANGER [obsolete noun for power or jurisdiction]

9:54 PM

yay

Danger = Power? I've never heard it used that way before.

@MikeQ The definition is obsolete. People don't use it to mean that any more.

Yes. One such example you may have come across: "Yet in such rule that the Venetian law / Cannot impugn you as you do proceed. / You stand within his danger, do you not?"
- The Merchant of Venice, Act 4, Scene I

I shrug in your general direction. Well, it's Silenus's turn.

CCCC: Dude, I give up many (8)

9:59 PM

MANIFOLD: Dude = man, I give up = fold (in poker); Def is "many"

@MikeQ Yep!

10:10 PM

CCCC: QQRRSSTTUU, VVWWXXYYZZ (6)

That's .... impressive ..... :)

Hm... now that I think about it, maybe it doesn't entirely follow the rules.

10:32 PM

CCCCC (Corrected CCCC): Sounds like QQRRSSTTUU, VVWWXXYYZZ arrangements. (6)

10:48 PM

...Yeah, I suspect that this is not a valid cryptic clue. Can I try a different one?

Hmmm. I thought of a few alternatives for a fun CC - some are really misleading; others are just funny, and I can't decide which one I like most.

I have an idea for one that actually works. Can I reveal the current one and replace it?

@MikeQ If the current one isn't valid, I'd say go for it.

It was QUEUES, but it doesn't work because there's no definition. So here is a better one:

CCCC: Wrong and headless, a girl with your blood left (8).

11:07 PM

You're not doing an indirect anagram here are you?

I want to say it's SINISTER (wrong = SIN; headless a girl = [s]ISTER; left = def)... but the blood bit?

(girl with your blood) is sister

you just beat me to that

ahh

@Will "Blood" as in "family relations"

Yeah, got that from Rubio :P

11:19 PM

Oh, alright.

I dread saying this, but ... @Will you're up again :)

CCCC: Possible COD: 'Scheme'(6))))))

uhmmm?

They're my father's parentheses.

)))))) is certainty something you'd encounter in scheme

11:27 PM

Agreed

Not something I expected to see on the tail end of a CCCC though :)

I couldn't resist.

user image

you should have made it ((((: Possible (OD: 'Scheme'(6))))))

@Will you got SINISTER first

I have a question about posting puzzles, do they have to be self-contained or is it ok to reference things that you have to go out and find on the internet?

11:30 PM

You have to incorporate all of Wikipedia into your puzzle. ;)

They should be self-contained, or be on i.stack.imgur.com images

Ah, that makes it so much less interesting.

No, you can reference things online.

Requiring common internet resources as reference is fine, but you can't point us at some specific other site's content

^

Could I, for example, encode a piece of computer code? Not everyone can just run any code on their computer, but what if it works in tio.run/nexus?

11:33 PM

(There's a tag, even, for "knowledge" which basically says you may need off-site resources if you don't happen to know this thing already - so clearly that's in the spirit of the site. But hosting bits of your puzzle somewhere else, is not generally a good idea.)

Asking people to run arbitrary code is a VERY bad thing.

As in, don't do it.

Well that was just an example.

I mean, if it was source code that people could inspect, then maybe.

Well, like I said, everything could be executed in an online interpreter.

If you can provide a code snippet, and point people at a site that can run it for them, that's probably ok (I mean, the code golf stack practically runs on that premise) - but asking someone to run an arbitrary bit of code on their own machine is not a good idea

11:34 PM

Yeah, I guess that'd be okay.

In fact, Code Golf typically supplies links to an online interpreter with the code already in it. So, as an example, that is ok.

Oh yes, I got directed here from PPCG.

Also we've seen people provide links to CAD viewers displaying their design, so you can visualize something without having to run your own CAD software or download someone's document

Stuff like that should be infrequent though, and ideally not required to do the puzzle

The biggest reason not to host relevant bits of a puzzle off-site is that if it is deleted or if that site goes away, there's now a hole in the puzzle.

(to say nothing of the issue of getting people accustomed to clicking random links which could take them who knows where)

@Rubio You always always always hover over the link!!!

Well, yes, I do. That doesn't mean everyone does.

11:38 PM

(To make sure it's a good link and not a rickroll too)

[stackexchange.com/admin.php]

(I was going to call it 'not suspicious link' but hit enter too soon)

I mean, this completely innocuous link is not necessarily what it appears to be

2

@Pavel Even better: stackoverflow.com/index.php

Heh. clicking that had unexpected results :)

well. both of those links, actually hehe

Is that a Rickroll? I can't access youtube right now.

11:43 PM

Shhh...

the stackoverflow link redirects you to some random bit of internet horribleness.

There's a list of possible redirects on twitter/github somewhere

gist: Some bot/crawler fun on Stack Overflow. 10 hours of fun, to be precise., 2016-04-13 22:09:45Z

BotLovin.cs

private static readonly string[] tenHoursOfFun =
{
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbby9coDRCk",
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb2evY0kmpQ",
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh7lp9umG2I",
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9Uz1icjwrM",
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sagg08DrO5U",
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER97mPHhgtM",
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI-kpVh6e1U",
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jScuYd3_xdQ",
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5PvBzDlZGs",
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UZbGgXvCCA",
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-dNDXUt1fg",
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJ5JEhDy8nE",
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnnWp_akOrE",
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwGfwbsF4c4",
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZcmTl_1ER8",
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLmcGkvJ-e0",
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozPPwl53c_4",
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMFOVSWn0mI",
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clU0Sh9ngmY",
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCNrK-n68CM"
};

[StackRoute("admin.php")]
[StackRoute("admin/login.php")]
[StackRoute("administrator/index.php")]
[StackRoute("ajaxproxy/proxy.php")]
[StackRoute("bitrix/admin/index.php")]
[StackRoute("index.php")]
[StackRoute("magmi/web/magmi.php")]
[StackRoute("wp-admin/admin-ajax.php")]
[StackRoute("wp-admin/includes/themes.php")]
[StackRoute("wp-admin/options-link.php")]
[StackRoute("wp-admin/post-new.php")]
[StackRoute("wp-login.php")]
[StackRoute("xmlrpc.php")]
public ActionResult No() => Redirect(tenHoursOfFun[Current.Random.Next(0, tenHoursOfFun.Length)]);

I got ten hours of jim carrey "don't hurt me no more"

I didn't realize gists oneboxed

go figure.

11:45 PM

Could I encode some information behind [System.Net.Dns]::GetHostAddresses("URLIncludedInPuzzle.com")

That's pretty awesome btw. I thought maybe it sent you off to never-never-land if you tried hitting an admin url without sufficient credentials, but I guess it's just a redirection for any of the common script-kiddie target URLs

To a new person here, can anyone explain what CCCC means?

Nov 15 '16 at 6:00, by Alconja

(PS: I've named the game "Cryptic Clue Chat Chains")

It means "Chat Cryptic Clue Chain" (or some permutation thereof). A cryptic clue is a specific type of crossword clue common in the UK - we have a game where there's always one pinned, and whoever solves it writes another one.

A game we play here in chat, where someone posts a cryptic clue and whoever solves it posts the next one

11:48 PM

Here's a guide I wrote on writing and solving them:

39

Q: Cryptic Clue Guide

This post is not a puzzle. There is nothing puzzly hidden inside it or the self-answer, posted at the same time. What exactly is a cryptic crossword clue, and how do I write one?

wordplay puzzle-creation cryptic-clues cryptic-crosswords

CCCC is Cryptic Clue Chat Chains - see this awesome guide for a cryptic clues primer, and join in!

How's that?

Perfect! I was gonna ask if we should do something like that.

No. We totally shouldn't :)

Thought that link would be baited...

I'm not that mean hehe

11:50 PM

Oh, that reminds me - welcome to Puzzling, @Pavel! :D

You definitely are that mean.

Thanks!

@Will is Possible COD: 'Scheme'(6)))))) still unsolved?

yup.

Are there supposed to be that many parentheses?

And yes - welcome @Pavel, glad to see you here

11:53 PM

Can you put the letter count inside the clue like that?

@Deusovi Yes. It's a joke.

(I think Will was making a visual pun/commentary on Scheme)

My guess for Will's would be RACKET

Why?

As in cod (fool or hoax, apparently) <-> racket (racketeering) = Racket (PLT Scheme, programming language)... or something

11:55 PM

Huh, I never knew "cod" meant "hoax".

^

Is that correct? Nice!

Oh.

Or Will just never knew that either.

Wow. Where'd you find that definition? hehe

Me neither. The only meanings for Cod that I know of are the fish and Call of Duty

Scheme ))))) and 6 letters made me think Racket, so the rest was me trying to get the cod to (somewhat) fit :P

11:57 PM

Yeah, I can't get out of the Lisp context

(Was that actually right Will? Can't tell)

I mean, that could be a visual rebus for "unopened bracket", but it seems unlikely.

No, it's not correct. I've never seen that definition of cod (I still can't find a reference to that definition anywhere)

Collins lists it

chambers.co.uk/search/?query=cod&title=21st

11:59 PM

As British/Irish slang.

Is Scheme Lisp anywhere on the right track tho

And I'm not sure if Will's American or not. AFAIK, Americans call "[]" brackets, but everywhere else all of {}()[] are brackets.

But good to know, cos I've never heard of cod like that either :P

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