The Sphinx's Lair

TheGreatEscaper

22:08

... when you're legitimately 5 minutes away from posting a really big puzzle and you realise you need to get to school RIGHT THIS MINUTE

boboquack

When your puzzle is too difficult and no-one's made any progress, do you post a hint or edit the actual puzzle?

@TheGreatEscaper :P

That's early...

TheGreatEscaper

Yeah, basketball is at some ungodly hour in the morning

Which question are we talking about? RIDDAL? I notice that's an oldie which hasn't been solved

boboquack

6

Q: Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a comet!

Ummm... this is a little embarrassing, but I need a bit of help with my homework... I got a riddle from English class, which I have no clue where to start deciphering: Air I miss, comet I be, Round, with a tail at the back. Or is there? No, you may hear... Up I would still be missed, u...

@TheGreatEscaper RIDDAL I've realised was not a good puzzle, so I've silently let go of it.

Deusovi

Can you at least post a canonical answer?

I'm curious to see what the solution was.

TheGreatEscaper

Ahh I saw the bird/plane/comet question, but isn't that fairly new?

Deusovi

22:15

I knew what to do for step 7, and I think I knew what to do for 12, but not the rest.

Volatility

8 mins ago, by TheGreatEscaper

... when you're legitimately 5 minutes away from posting a really big puzzle and you realise you need to get to school RIGHT THIS MINUTE

TheGreatEscaper

Argh, I'm actually so annoyed I'm at school right now. EVERYTHING in GRID36 was done, I just hadn't written up some final text

At school doesn't necessarily mean occupied, but it means being away from puzzle files and word/image processors

Volatility

ah right

boboquack

@TheGreatEscaper It's been a day in Europe and almost a day in the US

@TheGreatEscaper Notepad! Microsoft Word! MS Paint! SkyDrive! OneDrive! iCloud!

@Deusovi Can't now, I'm at school :P

Volatility

Unless you definitely know it's too hard, I would wait until at least 24 hours since you posted

boboquack

22:20

If I remember I'll do it soon

@Volatility I was asking for more general advice in any situation.

Because I can't do it on the main site, I'll be VTC'd for too broad

TheGreatEscaper

My general rule of thumb is leave for 24 hours, then if it doesn't get any attention for another 24 that tells me it's too difficult, make a shameless edit to bump the question so that solvers can give me a gauge of the puzzles difficulty

Sometimes things are quiet depending on who's around - if Gareth and Neil and deus are each busy for a day or two, a cryptic puzzle might not get answered for a while

Volatility

Ideally, the puzzle should be reasonably solvable without hints. If you know it's too hard, then edit the puzzle, but if you have reason to believe it's solvable as it stands, add hints.

boboquack

Thanks!

Volatility

(And if you do edit the puzzle, make sure you say so in the post, and notify anyone who has already posted an answer)

boboquack

(Gosh, nearly posted a hint just then)

I mean in my response

Volatility

22:28

Speaking of cryptic puzzles, has anyone else looked at Bailey's endless loop puzzle? @Deusovi @GarethMcCaughan et al.

Deusovi

Hm?

boboquack

I'll let the Oceanic PSE users have some time, maybe edit tonight if no progress is made.

Volatility

8

Q: An endless loop in a desolate wasteland

You check your position tracker. Back at the beginning. Slowly, once again, you begin taking steps and counting cracks in the sidewalk. One. Two. Three. Four. Five You look around. Pitch darkness. Nowhere to go except forward. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. You pull a crumpled scroll out of...

wordplay cryptic-clues cryptography

Deusovi

Ah, right.

Rubio

^ That puzzle just looks like how it reads - utter madness. I love it.

Deusovi

22:30

Have we done anything with the actual symbols?

boboquack

Should the hints be spoilerised?

Deusovi

A lot of these look like letters or numbers.

boboquack

I kind of stumbled straight onto them

Deusovi

I don't think it matters.

Volatility

I assumed they were arbitrary and just for the substitution cipher, but maybe there's something else, yeah

Deusovi

22:31

I doubt they're arbitrary. They could be, but I don't think it's likely.

boboquack

Hi @Kelexin!

Deusovi

Anyway, this puzzle calls for a spreadsheet!

Volatility

That's a point

Deusovi

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/…

Deusovi

22:45

I got the grid

Volatility

Ah, nice

Deusovi

see how THORP is in EAR[TH, ORP]HAN?

we're gonna go around the clock twice overall

Volatility

ooh, nice

Rubio

Starting point is arbitrary?

Deusovi

yeah

at the moment, at least

once we get either the first or last clue, I'll update it

Rubio

22:55

it's POST(UR)E* from PESTO

Deusovi

...indirect anagram D:

Rubio

how?

it's legit

PESTO -> POSTE and then U,R embedded?

Deusovi

PESTO --> POSTE is anagrammed indirectly

is it not?

Rubio

oh. lol. well, yeah.

I'm half asleep, clearly.

any way to get "fore" out of "together with" ?

Deusovi

not that I can think of

Rubio

23:06

you (?) started typing backflip just before I did hehe

Deusovi

yep, that was me :P

boboquack

Deus is Noah P there I assume

Oh, I was just about to do IDEAL

Deusovi

yep!

huh, maybe it's not 60 spaces

Volatility

My apologies, I think I forgot to put the FORECAST clue in the transcription

Deusovi

ah, that makes sense - I was wondering what the extra definition was for

Rubio

23:13

BOOFOR?

Deusovi

y'know, to boo for someone

the opposite of cheering for

...it's something ending in for

Rubio

lol.

I don't see a clue that maps to that

Volatility

there's an E after the FOR though

Deusovi

Neither do I, but I don't have any better ideas

Volatility

in FORECAST

Deusovi

23:14

ah

Rubio

i was thinking it was ia:swine but i can't find a clue for that either

(wines, sinew)

Volatility

Actually it might be BEFORE = previous and ERST = long ago, with a mistake in the clue

Deusovi

ah, yeah

Rubio

EAGLE reversed isn't ALGAE, so ...

Volatility

yeah, ALGAE is Party ruined by eve's end

Rubio

23:29

yeah he fixed that

what's the clue for LEVER?

Deusovi

coming back to celebrate

REVEL - celebrate

"coming back" - reversal

Rubio

no, i mean the ... what are we calling those - the text snippet clues

column F

Volatility

definitions

Rubio

those. :) what's the def for that?

We have 5 left and 6 spots

Deusovi

...huh, one of them must have gotten removed

Volatility

23:40

cupboard is the other one

Rubio

ah. that was on DRAWER which got deleted at some point

replaced by REVEL?

Volatility

yeah

Deusovi

hm

Rubio

ballad / laddie seem the most likely, but no defs for ... well ... any of the options

Deusovi

yeah :/

Rubio

23:49

nice

Volatility

ah

Rubio

it's mallard, but i've no clue why. haaallp

oh. MAR. derp

thanks

Alconja

is "witch" meant to be "switch"?

Volatility

that'd make more sense

Deusovi

ooh, probably

Rubio

23:55

yeah I was just coming back to type that

Sconibulus

woo

Deusovi

so now what

Rubio

hm

Deusovi

indexing doesn't seem useful

Rubio

what do the nth letters of the defs give?

Deusovi

23:58

oh, the defs? hold on

Rubio

wow. that is even worse

Deusovi

yeah, i like SCOVRUEF better

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