The Sphinx's Lair

Gareth McCaughan

00:42

I wonder whether 46 might mean something like "same".

So e.g. if in the last block 49 and 50 are something like "men" and "women" or "type-1 aliens" and "type-2 aliens", the block says something like this. "Component 1 = men. Component 2 = women. Men = 52kg. Women = same [kg]. Men are 12 parts oxygen to 4 parts carbon to 3 parts hydrogen to 2 parts nitrogen to 1 part everything else. Women are the same. Dwelling-of men is 7 parts water to 5 parts land. Land-of men is O, Si, Al, Fe, Ca. Dwelling-of women is the same." and so on.

But how the uses of 46 in the previous block would fit with that, I don't know; the "grammar" of that block is quite mysterious to me.

(Looking at just the start of that block, I would wonder whether 46 indicated some kind of case-splitting, so that e.g. the first section describes what happens when <44> 1 <45> is false and then what happens when it's true. But I don't think that interpretation fits anything else.)

More explicit CCCC hint, since I am increasingly convinced I just made it too obscure: yes, there is a reference here to an old children's entertainment of some sort (whether book, play, TV show, comic strip, movie, etc., I will leave unstated for now).

n_palum

There's a Molly Moo Cow, a Clarabelle, a Blue Cow, Cow from Cow and Chicken

Heffer as Sp mentioned, the cow from the bosco cartoon

n_palum

01:48

If Gareth does not end up running I may take up his sword and run on the "Do what Gareth would do" platform.

Sphinx

02:44

0

Q: How to decrypt this?

ECATW VANNEXWVEXPK QX XWVKF WA. PQKWWKO XAJ. I think it's some kind of substitution cipher but I can't figure out which one it is. Thanks in advance.

cipher

Sp3000

03:43

@n_palum fyi the one that mentioned HEFFER was not me :P Of the bunch you mentioned, I like Molly though

But it's not giving me much

ffao

04:01

well, I`m no closer to the answer, but at least Gareth has succeeded in educating me about all of those cows

M Oehm

05:08

@n_palum I hope you will be wearing your WWGD bracelet after you get elected.

Techidiot

06:35

@Deusovi Is it fine to post a puzzle on PSE and the same on some external site as well?

Deusovi

Sure! Just note that when you post it on SE, it's licensed under CC BY-SA (with attribution), meaning people can share it freely as long as they give you credit

Techidiot

@Deusovi Talking about this

Deusovi

Nothing wrong with that. (And it is the same person, so no need to worry about plagiarism. I'm actually friends with him.)

Techidiot

Okay. Good.

Was just curious to see that. Thanks

Deusovi

I really appreciate the concern though!

ffao

06:39

so this indirectly divulges deusovi's reddit username?

Deusovi

Hm, I guess it does. That's fine, though.

Topple

Long time no see everyone

Deusovi

I'm not a very "private" person or anything. :P

Oh hey! Welcome back!

Topple

Thank you. How's it going? How has the community been?

Deusovi

It's been pretty good (both life in general and the community). We're about to have another election!

Topple

06:42

I'm sure whoever is picked will be a quality choice

Deusovi are you in the running? Or is this for a thing you already are?

Deusovi

I was in the running last time (and won).

Emrakul is stepping down, and we're going to appoint two more mods.

Topple

It takes two people to rival his shadow

Deusovi

Yeah, they left a mark on the site. They've been here for almost three years.

Topple

I was thinking about trying for a 2017 ad but I'm not sure it will go so well... :p

Oh wow

Rubio

hey @Deusovi, you test-solved that "single word" puzzle?

Deusovi

06:47

Yep. I'm friends with the person who made it.

Rubio

Am I wrong about the &lit clue having an error? or am I being thicker than usual? hehe

Also, there are some wonderful clues in there. Kudos to your friend.

Deusovi

No error in that clue. "End" can refer to front and back, not just back

Rubio

Ohhh. Yeah, good point. :)

thank you sir!

Deusovi

And yeah, definitely! "An algebra falsehood" was kinda cute, and the ICE --> KEG shift was really clever

Mithrandir

@Rubio - where's your nomination? I can't find it for some reason...

ffao

06:51

is it weird that I only know Lie algebra is a thing because it's used so often for the wordplay potential?

Rubio

Ohhh, when I found KEG i was actually mad. :) I'd even seen KEG in there but hadn't connected it; it was one of the last clues I solved

Deusovi

nah, that's not weird

Topple

Super weird

ffao

well, seems like it's half-weird

Rubio

@Mithrandir I've not posted one. (Yet? hehe)

Deusovi

06:53

If you do decide to post one, I'd be happy to vote for you. (And if not, that's fine too - I don't want us to pressure you into anything!)

Beastly Gerbil

@Rubio well with a two set election you don't need to worry about competition from Gareth if he nominates himself :P

Rubio

yesterday, by Rubio

I've decided to run for Mod on the "Ban Rubio" platform. Make Puzzling Great Again!

muahaha.

Deusovi

For some reason, I get the suspicion that you won't follow through with that if elected.

No idea why, of course.

ffao

Would he be technically able to?

Topple

I will follow through. Elect me, a guy you can apparently trust

Deusovi

06:58

...Actually, I think he could. I haven't tried it, nor do I plan to, but the option is there.

Rubio

Lol. That would be ... interesting ....

Deusovi

Yep, just checked. I do indeed have that option.

Topple

How do you KNOW if you have the option? A following page might say you're denied...

Be the scientist

Beastly Gerbil

Click the button deusovi....

Muahah

Mithrandir

I think it's on Meta.SE, actually

Topple

07:00

^

For beastly

Rubio

oy. I'm crypticked out. that was some effort on that puzzle.

Deusovi

Well, that's not the answer.

Rubio

I perfectly understand if you don't want to answer @Deus but I'm wondering if I have the solution to that puzzle correct.

Deusovi

Nnnope.

Rubio

oh. Lol.

Beastly Gerbil

07:01

Which?

Rubio

I suspected not.

Deusovi

"NOR" is not the answer to that puzzle.

Mithrandir

16

A: Does temporary suspension remove mod powers?

Can mods suspend an other mod? Yes. If a mod is suspended, (but not de-modded), can he use his mod powers? Yes. Including un-suspending themselves. If a mod is suspended, can he use the normal, reputation-bound privileges of the ordinary users? Yes. They are still a moderator, af...

ffao

If you can solve one more, do you happen to know about old cow shows? :P

Rubio

I've hit a wall on it, gonna see if a breather helps shed any more light

Deusovi

07:01

Hm... so if I did suspend myself I could unsuspend myself too. That's interesting.

I don't plan to act on that information any time soon, though. Sorry to disappoint.

Topple

I have to admit I'm more than a little heartbroken

Deusovi

Honestly, I'm tempted. I just don't want the self-unsuspension to not work for some reason, making me have to ask a CM to free me from my self-constructed prison of shame.

Topple

Do you know about the singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt?

Deusovi

Nope, never heard of him.

Rubio

I'm a little sad to not see a "+1 for freehand circles" yet

Deusovi

07:07

Hm?

Not see it where?

Rubio

on my wordsearch image. hehe

Topple

When he was around college age he was sitting on a balcony/railing a couple stories up. He wanted to know what it was like to lose control so he leaned backwards incrementally to feel it. Of course, you don't get to experience that feeling without falling and that's just what he did.

Luckily there was some snow to help break his fall and he did survive.

Techidiot

I +1d but didn't mention the reason as there was a better reason for an upvote ;) @Rubio

Rubio

@Topple Natural Selection subverted?

Deusovi

He could've easily won a Darwin award for that had he missed the snow.

Topple

07:09

A few times in his case. Hell of an artist though

Mithrandir

@Deusovi all suspensions send an automated email to the CMs, so... (although I wouldn't advise trying it - you might tick off Shog)

Topple

he passed away a couple decades ago now

Deusovi

I'm sure I've already ticked off Shog so much that any more won't really affect anything :P

But yeah, this comment makes me hesitant.

There may have been one exception to that "for science" thing. Both moderators involved are no longer moderators. — Shog9 ♦ Aug 10 '16 at 21:37

Topple

Look deus

its election season anyway

Just get on with the experiment! :p

Deusovi

Pff. "Oh, I'll just get de-modded, then run for moderator again!"

Topple

07:13

Or much beloved and known Topple takes your spot

whichever...

Techidiot

VTC this ?

Topple

@Deusovi If you're interested here's one of his songs. youtube.com/watch?v=Z5wrzwINOJM I'd put this in his top 15 songs if I had to. Hard to delineate further

Mithrandir

Wait, why? The only reason I could see is because he doesn't say where it's from, but why is it too broad??

Deusovi

Yeah, I don't see how that's too broad.

Topple

Putting questions on hold just because they were written by a broad? Some backwards policy if you ask me

ffao

07:18

of course we have one more cryptic clue

M Oehm is a genius

Techidiot

Yeah.. When I VTC'd there were 2 votes on 2 different options..None of them were satisfactory..So, chose one randomly. OP seems to know the answer and was going to delete it. I think unclear is a better choice for VTC

Mithrandir

It may not be a great puzzle, but I can't see why it should be closed.

Voted to reopen.

Deusovi

Oh, I finished off Ruklo Town. Not sure if I'd call it a metapuzzle.

(Actually, I am sure that I wouldn't.)

Topple

What exactly is a metapuzzle

Deusovi

A puzzle made up of solutions to other puzzles.

I gave a "lecture" on them a few weeks ago :P

Apr 17 at 4:11, by Deusovi

Typically, metapuzzles use answers from other hunt-style puzzles - those answers are English words or phrases, and they're combined in a way that involves some form of wordplay or interpretation.

start there, keep reading

Topple

07:25

Thanks

I'm going to go, take care everyone. It was nice to catch up briefly.

ffao

the first thing I thought when I saw Endless Eight was of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

oh my god, those episodes

Have a good one, Topple

Deusovi

See ya!

(Endless Eight?)

ffao

The characters are trapped in a temporal loop during eight episodes, during which the exact same thing happens

After each episode ends, they lose their memories and start over

Well, not the exact same thing, there are minor variations such as the color of the mask they buy in the store, for instance

Deusovi

I don't get your comment though

3 mins ago, by ffao

the first thing I thought when I saw Endless Eight was of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

"when I saw Endless Eight"

what are you referring to there? am I missing something obvious?

ffao

Hmm, considering you solved the word-search, maybe I'm the wrong track then

But those two words are uncrossed

Deusovi

07:34

ohhhh

never mind, carry on

I didn't realize you were referring to that puzzle

Rubio

oh did MOehm post that? I am looking at "reward with endless ruse eight" right now

M Oehm

So am I. Or maybe it's Reward with endless ruse (8)

Rubio

oh hi ;)

oh - yeah that would make sense

ffao

there are two words in the middle line, "treat" and "cooks", that could be added without breaking rotational symmetry

Rubio

but they don't contain assymetrically used letters

(I'm increasingly convinced WEDDING is wrong, but I don't have a better alternative)

ffao

07:46

oh, of course, now I see what was confusing me

the word UPTO is also asymmetric, and both of you excluded it because it makes no sense in the final clue

maybe it's the last answer

Rubio

UPTO's letters are part of the used grid

(and is symmetric with HAZE anyway)

ffao

that's my point, every word has exactly one symmetric correspondent, why would haze be the only one without it?

would be a quibble if we were supposed to just discard it

M Oehm

There's a STABS/AGENT combo in the NE/SW corners. Could one of these be the solution to the planning clue? A partner could be one of the bridge partners N, E, S or W. But at the moment, I don't see how.

Rubio

there's also WITH which would pair to ARAB, but that doesn't feel right either

or even ENDLESS, but seems like we need that one :)

vertically near the corners is also SAT and ACE but those seem fruitless

meanwhile Deus is giggling at us :)

ffao

I imagine he would be. :)

M Oehm

07:56

Let him giggle. Victory is close, I can sense it. :)

Rubio

indeed.

@ffao I sorta see your point about UPTO but no clue how it would help, tbh. it is odd that those letters are used, but not by a horizontal word. i'm not sure that matters though; I suspect the thing to look for is horizontal words which contain letters that are not symmetrically used. that gives (just) Reward with endless ruse eight.

I'd like to point out, with absolutely no expectation of any relevance, that SLEIGHT is a somewhat ruse-y word

boboquack

@Deusovi How's your metametametapuzzle coming along?

Deusovi

You actually caught me in the middle of working on it!

Progress was delayed a lot due to that hospital visit. But I'm still planning to finish it, even way past the FTC deadline

Rubio

(Plot twist: the whole mod election thing is a Meta meta meta meta puzzle)

6

Sphinx

1

Q: Which celebrity's name is hidden in the above letters?

D,X,F,L,H,A,T,E,E Which celebrity's name is hidden in the above letters? Hint 1: Hint 2:

counting

ffao

08:06

It might not be as topical, but a good puzzle is still a good puzzle after the FTC ends

Deusovi

As for more concrete (but still vague) progress: Major metapuzzles are done. Minor metapuzzles are about halfway done.

Mithrandir

this is what a mod hammer looks like

Rubio

@Deus you might want to remove the "Partial Answer" heading from Ruklo

^ this is what a BAN HAMMER looks like

Deusovi

I'm considering posting one of my favorites in this set so far as a "preview meta" to tide you all over :P

@Rubio oh whoops, forgot to remove that

ffao

@Deusovi the city is a Bacon cipher (but with houses and non-houses instead of As and Bs)

I don't know what 1026 is a reference to, though

Deusovi

08:13

no, it's binary, which is different from Bacon ciphers

(specifically, it's shifted by 1)

probably A1Z(0)26?

ffao

I'm sure that must have been the intended way to use that information, otherwise it doesn't make a lot of sense

I must admit that I'm not entirely familiar with intricacies of the Bacon cipher, though

Deusovi

well, a lot of it doesn't make sense to me

the Bacon Cipher is literally just 5-bit binary, shifted by 1

AAAAA --> A
AAAAB --> B
AAABA --> C
AAABB --> D

etc

this is six-bit binary, unshifted

Sid

So, @rubio that is the whole point of the election. These mods are evil, I tell you. :P

Mithrandir

@Sid :O

Deusovi

Oh no, he's onto us! ABORT MISSION

Sid

08:31

puzzling.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1723/… -hmm, looks like Rand got into a quarrel with Shog.

Mithrandir

@Sid ancient history

Sid

Woo.. Looks like there are so many secrets hiding in SE.

Mithrandir

Yep. There are more, unfortunately :/ (I'm not linking)

Rubio

09:32

hm. imgur seems to be broke

Mithrandir

...alright, threw my hat in.

boboquack

Fresh new picture

Rubio

hm

that wasn't working two minutes ago

boboquack

Huh? How am I fourth for meta participation?

Rubio

how do you even see that?

boboquack

09:43

@Rubio Here

Mithrandir

Go to meta, click on users

Rubio

oh. derp. :)

boboquack

Can someone tell CalvT to hold off a little bit? They're flooding the main page with http->https corrections

Mithrandir

@boboquack pinged

boboquack

@Mith was just about to drop a message myself

I feel like I'm watching a flipbook animation of CalvT's rep

Rubio

09:59

GameN folks. hold down the fort ;)

Techidiot

Night! @Rubio

boboquack

@Rubio Hey, isn't it GaMen for you? :P

Techidiot

Night watchers are here :p

boboquack

The Another riddle to try is getting out of hand now. Too broad? I think so...

Techidiot

Not sure.. But needs protection I think..

@boboquack @Mithrandir He did it again.. sigh

Mithrandir

10:42

Alright, finally got my questionnaire answers in.

boboquack

@Mith 'There's only the affect' should be 'There's only the effect'.

(Stupid copy-paste)

Mithrandir

@boboquack *also, and fixed

manshu

11:10

@Sid Talking about fighting with Shog?

Sp3000

11:49

"What celebrity's name..." looks terribly underclued :/

Mithrandir

Mhm, it could use some more... content.

Sp3000

The thing is, with 3 answers it's on HNQ now so... yeah

n_palum

12:14

@Sp3000 sorry for pinging you about heffer, I think Gareth did so I just assumed

@MOehm I'll have a WWGD bracelet, and a new avatar for it too... maybe I'll sell WWGD merchandise :P

Sp3000

All good, still trying to get the C4 anyway :P

Sp3000

12:42

FED THE LAX, HAD LEFT EX, HE FLED TAX, DEATH FLEX

[/options]

Techidiot

:p

Nice

n_palum

Options for what @Sp3000?

Sp3000

This

n_palum

Ahh

Techidiot

I have some Indian names I can make up with those letters :p

@Deusovi @GentlePurpleRain Does this one needs protection? A lot of new users posting their thoughts.

As per meta - Do protect questions that are attracting a lot of non-answers or very poor answers (spam, etc.) from new users. and it has already received answers like Time, Oxygen, Mouth etc...

n_palum

13:03

^ It's not getting any confirmed answers though... and some are starting to fit more

Techidiot

Hmm.. Protected questions just protects the answers from new users. Not sure if its valid in this case but I have seen some similar ones getting protected before

dcfyj

13:18

@n_palum Sounds like it's just too braod to me

n_palum

That's what I was getting at..

Erik the Outgolfer

Too broad for me too (FTC'd).

Whoops, bounty.

dcfyj

WOW, the edit on this...

n_palum

?

dcfyj

Erik the Outgolfer

13:31

@dcfyj link please?

dcfyj

For obvious reasons I rejected that

puzzling.stackexchange.com/review/suggested-edits/28506

Erik the Outgolfer

Yeah, it 100% changes the intent of the answer.

dcfyj

The guy's been a member of the site since today, I think since 11 minutes ago...

n_palum

Very random edit

Erik the Outgolfer

Well, that's why suggested edits are useful.

Mithrandir

13:38

@dcfyj but I think you chose the wrong reject reason.

The spam one has extra repercussions behind the scenes, with IP blocks

dcfyj

Ah ok, either way it was pretty spammy (to me)

Mithrandir

It looks like an attempt to write a different answer = attempt to reply

dcfyj

But I chose that reason for the defacing part

Erik the Outgolfer

No, you should've used the "radical change" reason instead.

Mithrandir

That reject reason (spam or vandalism) is, I'm pretty sure, for when it tries to edit it into something that you would red-flag on the main site.

Gareth McCaughan

13:54

Agree about the reject reason, but I wouldn't worry about it: I'm pretty sure SE doesn't block anyone's IP just because one person reports something they did as spam.

Mithrandir

@GarethMcCaughan of course not. But for future reference, the correct reason should be used :)

Erik the Outgolfer

14:15

I dunno if suggested edit being rejected as spam does anything at all.

Sphinx

14:30

0

Q: The old calculator v2

This is related to the question asked before: Buttons on an old non-scientific calculator are less sensitive We have randomly chosen 5 different integer values ($a,b,c,d,e$), and written them in an ascending order next to each other and taken their sum and multiplication. Luckily, we got the sam...

mathematics logical-deduction no-computers

Mithrandir

@EriktheOutgolfer it does. It feeds the internal spam filters. I think it's on Meta.SE somewhere.

n_palum

14:53

I have a feeling that riddle with an enormous influx of answers is a result of the bounty placed and the fact that no one is being confirmed or denied as correct.

dcfyj

A bounty isn't really a valid excuse to have 15 valid answers, a poorly phrased question is.

n_palum

No I know, I'm just saying that I think it's an extra incentive

Erik the Outgolfer

The thing is that you can't close a question with a bounty :(

dcfyj

15:08

indeed

Mithrandir

@EriktheOutgolfer but a mod can reverse the bounty so that it can be closed.

Erik the Outgolfer

I think that mods use their VTCs more sparsely than non-mods though, since they're binding.

Mithrandir

Well yes.

Sphinx

0

Q: A meta riddle for?

"Wherefore shall we put this plank?" asked Dr. Watson. "We must first determine the exact whereabouts of it's origin." replied Sherlock Holmes. "Well, just a moment ago I sat here, minding my manners staring out the window, when I felt drowsy and nearly fell asleep. I awoke quickly as my head beg...

riddle wordplay

n_palum

15:28

@Sphinx Is this taken from somewhere or is it unique? I'm not incredibly knowledgeable when it comes to Sherlock

Sconibulus

I think it's unique

especially because I'm pretty sure 'Wherefore' isn't the word they wanted

n_palum

Just checking

Mithrandir

Doesn't 'wherefore' mean 'why'?

n_palum

@Mithrandir "For what reason" OR "As a result of which"

Sconibulus

effectively yeah

Mithrandir

15:32

Mhm.

Beastly Gerbil

15:48

You know, the last three days alone I have got 28% of my rep totall for this quater

n_palum

You must be killin' them puzzles

Beastly Gerbil

two HNQs :P

this mainly and a few other bits and bobs

Incredibly it has brought my mathematics tag badge from 54/100 and 14/100 (not great) to 75/100 and 15/100 (exactly on target)

n_palum

Haha

manshu

16:11

isn't it too broad:

12

Q: Another riddle to try

I pinch and bite For dark and light, I rust and gleam, Divide and team, I'm your enemy, and your friend, I'm your beginning, and your end. What am I?

riddle word rhyme

n_palum

@manshu we've been talking about that with all the attention it has gotten, it seems to be leaning that way

manshu

It has leaned that way.

VTCing it.

GentlePurpleRain

Good luck, @manshu...

manshu

ah...

Erik the Outgolfer

You can't.

manshu

16:15

It has bounty.

n_palum

Hence that presumably sarcastic good luck

manshu

oh oh...my luck will be there with me. After 7 days.

Sphinx

16:27

0

Q: How do I feel about the election?

My emotion tied up in one picture. Just click the right link! http://imgur.com/■■■■■■■ Each character missing can be any Aa-Zz character or any number 0-9. (Inspired by this.) 1) Black to black. 2) 3) 4) The penultimate character is missing. Wonder what it is. ...

cipher enigmatic-puzzle rebus knowledge cryptic-clues

Beastly Gerbil

@n_palum are you sure the first isn't upside down?

n_palum

@BeastlyGerbil It's not

That's like the easiest one.

manshu

:o

Beastly Gerbil

its a backwards g/9 ?

is it supposed to be backward?

manshu

you mean like 'p' or '6'?

M Oehm

16:31

It's not on your keyboard, that's for sure. Not in the presented form, at least. :)

I thought I got the second, but if so, what's the third?

Beastly Gerbil

I thinnk the second is semaphore

from the lighthouse

M Oehm

So X? Because the drawn borders of the light beam are the arms / flags? I thought both were C (sea).

n_palum

@BeastlyGerbil Not backwards I promise

Beastly Gerbil

hmmm...

GentlePurpleRain

@BeastlyGerbil I assumed it was an e

Beastly Gerbil

16:40

oh for gods sake of course

I'm dumb. I got confused because it wasn't curved

GentlePurpleRain

but g and 9 and p and 6 are curved...

Beastly Gerbil

Yeah but not when written in 7 segment for the numbers, and I'm not sure where anshu got p from

n_palum

Do you want me to confirm or deny things yet or no

Sconibulus

I'm going to go with no confirmations or denials as yet, the question isn't very old

n_palum

Okie dokie

I also kicked my power cord by accident a few moments ago... I lost about 2 hours of work...

Stupid body having long legs

Sconibulus

16:45

although I can't actually play with the puzzle

Beastly Gerbil

yeah def dont confirm

Sconibulus

(imgur blocked by firewall)

Sphinx

0

Q: Who Stole My Car?? Help!

Help! Last night my new car was stolen! I'm pretty sure it was one of the gangs that hang around here, and they've been a bit cocky. Where the car was parked, they spray-painted the following on the ground. But I can't make head or tale of it, and nor can the police. Can you help?

enigmatic-puzzle

n_palum

@Sphinx I don't quite get this puzzling.stackexchange.com/users/32543/calvt user

They have been here for 5 months, just now posted something and has been suggesting a ton of the HTTP->HTTPS changes that community was doing..

Techidiot

I'm sometimes the last gear, and sometimes the first

^ hidden inside the post

Mithrandir

16:58

@n_palum trying to get rep to vote in the election

n_palum

Seems like an interesting way to go about it...

Their bio also reads like they're a mod or something

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