The Sphinx's Lair

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12:03 AM

Q: Cover 3*2.6 rectangle with the least number convex polygons cut from sheets of given size 1.2*2.4

I want to cover a rectangle given its dimensions with a minimal number of convex polygons cut from rectangular sheets of material? Polygons don't have to be similar. How can I find the minimal number of sheets and tiling? The smallest I've got to is with 5 rectangles cut out from 4 sheets of OSB:

tiling

1 hour later…

Sphinx

1:07 AM

-1

Q: Trojan Horse Puzzle

Imgur says Your image is too large to upload (this might give away part of the puzzle), but I don't want to be down voted to oblivion. Also, image hosters might mess up the puzzle by modifying the image, so I self hosted it to ensure it remains solvable. Here is a link to the image: ht...

steganography computer-puzzle

Deusovi

@Sphinx Welp. I've deleted that one.

n_palum

1:32 AM

Looked sketchy to me

Sp3000

1:42 AM

@Deusovi Yeah, I've completely given up on expecting upvotes to match puzzle quality. Code Golf's got the same problem - HNQ just tends to misrepresent Stacks :/

ffao

the algorithm for HNQ is just fundamentally wrong

Deusovi

2:00 AM

At least, for sites like Puzzling and Code Golf.

n_palum

I wish we could reword a few things.. especially the hover for up/downvote

Puzzling Meta

2:21 AM

Q: Removed for security Reasons

I have a question about my Puzzling Stack Exchange post: Trojan Horse Puzzle So I posted a puzzle, called the Trojan Horse, where text was hidden inside of the image (the puzzle), I even tagged it steganography. Why was it deleted for security reasons? I named it Trojan Horse, since the text...

discussion close-reasons

n_palum

@PuzzlingMeta Ooo

Sphinx

3:03 AM

Q: Arrange numbers to the triangles, so the sums are equal to S

Rules: Arrange numbers from 1 to 11, and each number can appear max twice. The numbers are arranged, so that any 3 numbers which forming an up-triangle sum to the desired number (S). A equal sign means one rectangle's number is the same number of another one. A line sign means one rectangle's n...

mathematics visual no-computers formation-of-numbers number-theory

1 hour later…

Sp3000

4:09 AM

Not going to use it for C4, but: "Long wood (4)"

One of those clues you think "surely someone's already done it before" and sure enough they have

n_palum

4:31 AM

I have a few guesses for that, some of which are not appropriate :P

2 hours later…

Techidiot

6:58 AM

@n_palum Oh, that's you friend? Nice first riddle :)

Sphinx

7:54 AM

Q: References - In what order should I start reading the books by Raymond Smullyan?

The books by Raymond Smullyan have caught my fancy because they seem to teach mathematical logic using puzzles. However since I am very weak at solving puzzles in general and logic puzzles in specific, his books are giving me a hard time. Could you please suggest in what order should I start re...

logical-deduction

2 hours later…

Sp3000

9:45 AM

ROBBERY ("break in") = ROBBY ("childish old cow" from the Robby the Cow TV show) around ("without", cryptic opposite of "within") ER ("hesitation")

... clearly :P [/not a serious solve]

Gareth McCaughan

10:16 AM

ROBBERY is indeed not the answer, sorry -- but although that's a joke no part of it is actually impossible, except that so far as I can find out there was never a TV show called "Robby the Cow". :-) (For the avoidance of doubt, I am making no comment on anything that might or might not be in the actual clue.)

3 hours later…

n_palum

1:02 PM

@Techidiot Yeah it is ;)

Sphinx

1:35 PM

Q: Decode this. Are you worthy?

y4 z4 z5 b4 c4 d4 y6 o4 p4 q4 b5 ab7 h7 b7 c7 d7 e7 l7 q7 x7 aj7 ab11 aj11 ab4 h4 e4 s4 l4 n4 r4 u4 v4 aj4 ah5 ab5 h5 f5 s5 l5 ah6 ab6 h6 b6 f6 l6 r6 ah8 ab8 h8 b8 ak11 al11 l8 p8 w8 w4 x4 ah9 ab9 h9 b9 ak4 al4 l9 o9 v9 ah10 ab10 h10 b10 l10 n10 u10 ac11 b11 s11 i11 j11 k11 n11 o11 p11 q11 r11 u1...