The Sphinx's Lair - 2017-06-21

« first day (1133 days earlier) ← previous day next day → last day (2491 days later) »

12:08 AM

1

Q: Look at the following most carefully as every line counts:

Be gone in times of death's long passing, Henry Atwood s****d his neck, Hath reeds knocked against thee? If our fathers knew, then winds they blew, The sixth of candles burned my eyes, Horrors even among us, Leigh tries to eat a stone, The canine or the cat spat, Pay attention to the ghou...

12:22 AM

2

Q: Newcomer's Rhyming Riddle

To start a creature, black and white; In myth, I may give you a fright. I may be found on top a flame; Eternal youth when I'm a name. 5 rings, but only in the West; Reversed, I give a little rest. A box or jewel in your ear; To beg for coins from strangers near. Connecting bodies that are...

1:13 AM

-1

Q: Your Enemy [on hold ]

If I fend I fall. 'Tis is true. But shoot me and you'll never hit. Only the gentle terror of the mist has me under its everlasting doom. Right atop will everyone see just a half k actually I'll stop right here. Who am I?

riddle steganography

-1

Q: The Peculiar and possibly impossible seating arrangement

Four friends are sitting at a table. The order goes like this, Bob, Sam, Mary, and Tony. Tony is next to Bob with no one in between. How is this possible?

lateral-thinking

2 hours later…

2:50 AM

@Deusovi How's your metapuzzle coming along?

It's coming along okay! I made a decent amount of progress today.

3:05 AM

Should probably mention Deus: don't feel pressured to finish the metapuzzle any time soon just because we all seem to be asking about it :P

3:27 AM

@Sp3000 nah, it's fine - feel free to keep asking

I know I hyped it up a lot, then didn't deliver in time for the FTC, so feel free to actually pressure me into finishing it :P

3:47 AM

@Deusovi Is it ready yet?

No.

@Deusovi What about now?

Still no.

*goes to write a chat bot to pester deus*

@Alconja, @boboquack, @Sp3000 - a game of Codenames is happening

3:49 AM

Would love to, but about to go to a meeting (such is the awesomeness of my life)

that hasn't stopped me before :P

Me neither, but to be fair, I'm running the meeting this time, and my monitor will be projected on the wall... :)

Ah. That might be an issue then.

@Deusovi :( work - tempted to starting sleeping early and waking early to catch some game action in the future :P

4:14 AM

0

Q: Please don't bite

When things gets shaky, you can use me to keep it together, but that might also get you one step closer to your demise. When I get close to 10 inches long, I make nice music, but using me on a board is far from melodic. Carpenters enjoy my company, but one of them might disagree. I...

4:46 AM

0

Q: Newcomer's Rhyming Riddle II

Followed by the shade of the envious French; Followed by fighters, in water or trench. Before a stroke limit, unruly or weak; Before a sour citrus, performing at peak. Its path involves rails, deep under the ground; Or even machines, playing extra deep sounds. When allowed, it may rent y...

2 hours later…

6:47 AM

Heh. My pedantry has earn me 6 upvotes on meta SE :P

7:43 AM

1

Q: Newcomer's Rhyming Riddle III

When adding a letter, I may become boring; When fused with some latex, I help with card storing. With the help of King's clown, I become one who steals; With false fans behind me, in boxes with wheels. My thickness may alter your internet speeds; With a measure of time, I stop that which...

TheGreatEscaper

8:37 AM

Hellooooo

TGE!

TheGreatEscaper

Rubio!

How are we going today?

You know, same poop. Different day.

TheGreatEscaper

true, true

oops, and I'm out of spoons. Time to have my yoghurt with a soup spoon

8:54 AM

I'd be really interested to see what the two removed messages are...

Haha

9:06 AM

Mine was a test of a userscript. not particularly thrilling.

$\checkmark$

✓✓✓✓

$\check$

$\checkmark$

hmmm

TheGreatEscaper

9:17 AM

Mine was an accidental type and enter

it read 'I'

But you could have turned that into something really interesting!

'I'm out of soup spoons. Time to have my yoghurt with an eggcup'

TheGreatEscaper

loool

2 hours later…

11:07 AM

Ogres Are Like Onions

To solve @TheGreatEscaper's puzzle game: puzzlescript.net/play...

2 hours later…

1:13 PM

why does the "rejoin favorite rooms" button disappear whenever you join a room? i feel like this shoudln't happen

dunno

I guess it'd be annoying if it were there constantly

TheGreatEscaper

@Deusovi are we going to see a grid hybrid from you?

Considering it. Still working on that metapuzzle, though, so I'm not sure what I'll focus on.

TheGreatEscaper

Fair enough! Focus on whichever one you feel like :P

no pressure either way

Lots of pressure both ways

1:34 PM

lol

1:50 PM

0

Q: find the missing number in the following table

Find the missing number in the following table. Answer Options: 10 12 15 16

logical-deduction enigmatic-puzzle calculation-puzzle missing-digits

1 hour later…

3:00 PM

Are you around @TheGreatEscaper?

When you are, can you please upload a screen shot of what the one boxed room with an @mention for you in it looks like in the transcript?

3:21 PM

?

3:37 PM

1

Q: Infinitely long loaf of Bread

You are visiting your old friend Mike at Infinitely's Baking Shop. Just as you arrived, he was taking out a fresh, infinitely long, loaf of bread. Both of its ends extend infinitely long in a straight line. The smell of the breads displayed on the infinitely long shelves feels so good. ...

logical-deduction lateral-thinking story

1 hour later…

5:00 PM

0

Q: Introducing: Jormungand

An entry in Fortnightly Topic Challenge #32: Grid Deduction Hybrids Introducing: Jormungand A combination of Ouroboros (Slitherlink) and Numbersnake (Numbrix) to create the greatest snake-themed grid-logic puzzle the world has ever seen![Citation Needed] Each Numbered clue is a clue to the ...

5:32 PM

@Sconibulus - is your Jormungand supposed to be on an icosahedron?

He just replied in the comments

That question wasn't answered.

While I can answer questions about his puzzle, I'd rather not :P

I feel that I should not comment on that speculation

If it is, it should probably have some indication that it's not a pure logic problem (since you have to figure that out).

Oh, that reminds me - how do you move in the Hidato? Just crossing edges, or is crossing vertices acceptable too?

5:35 PM

It isn't hidato, it's numbrix

GentlePurpleRain

Hidato allows diagonals, numbrix does not. (I just learned that from the article).

Hidato allows diagonals, numbrix doesn't

ah, didn't know that that was a different thing

thanks

well, that answers my question

also, I probably wouldn't've asked it had I known that

I provided the links I used for that reason :) Dcfyj had a similar question

indeed

5:37 PM

well, I can't cut and fold it to solve at the moment, and doing it in paint or something seems error prone

I've been solving Hidato (didn't know that's what it was) for the past few days, when he described numbrix I thought it was the same thing

wow brain, wow...

@Deusovi Yeah, I had to do some extra stuff to test solve this

Speaking of error-prone, building it was fun

I bet... lol

(I know (er, am 95% confident) it's supposed to be on an icosahedron, but I still don't think it's fair to present something as a pure logic puzzle when it has an additional step that isn't pure logic - for instance, it could also be on a torus)

a torus?

5:41 PM

top wraps to bottom, left wraps to right

ah

the wraps wouldn't be at a right angle, but that's fine

I don't know how one might signal such a thing in the tags, should it be required lateral-thinking sounds like not the way to go at all

You don't need to do it in the tags, but maybe say "there's an additonal gimmick" or something

@Sconibulus what helped me is that I looked at the spoiler pretty early on, So I knew roughly what to do right away, they might need that assistance as well, not sure...

5:42 PM

you could always use enigmatic-puzzle (though IMO that's overused)

@Deusovi I think that's because people put it on puzzles where they feel proper tagging would reveal too much information.

I believe that any unintended folding shenanigans would result in a puzzle that is either unsolvable, or has multiple solutions, but I'm not absolutely certain

which is an argument towards it being deducible I believe

@Sconibulus should I try to answer your puzzle? (kidding of course)

sure, if trial and error of multiple plausible possibilities with no indication in the rules for which one is correct other than the "unique solution" thing (which could be a mistake) is what you call "deducible"

All the rules from both puzzle types apply here

@Sconibulus The way you wrote your introduction makes me think of the way I wrote it for domidoku haha

5:49 PM

Domidoku was cool :)

I probably won't make another one. I know I'm not making another minesweeper puzzle... That was a pain to make.

I might actually make another one of these, if I can find another good network

6:11 PM

Does a question about puzzle design go into a meta or just the regular site?

Regular site.

6:31 PM

I showed Like Onions to a co-worker, he worked on it for a little bit, bot to level 4 after a little nudging on 3 and then he was like, I give up. lol

OALO

interesting acronym

I did not solve Onions

and I stopped playing Lemmings after I broke it

lol

Apparently if you bring a Builder to the top of the map, the game craps out and you can't ever get it back

or blow it up

oh, rescued 92/100/50 did you! Too bad!

haha, interesting. What level did you do that on?

6:36 PM

uhh... I don't remember, there was a cliff down, some water, some low ground, some water, a cliff up

I was initially going to just build one bridge across up, parasol down, put up a blocker, and bridge-build back the other direction then bash the excess up wall

but instead he got stuck at the top

wait, maybe there wasn't water on the right side, because I was far enough I could parasol then climb then build the bridge back

(I assumed he'd be blow-uppable, but I was wrong, he was immortal)

lol

it might have been the level after the thin layer one fatal fall above the thick layer where you have to save everyone

the 40 lemming one?

probably

where you only have downward digs and you have to save all the lemmings

6:41 PM

yeah, that's right

I don't remember what the level after that was...

that level was a test of patience and mouse accuracy

the 40 lemming one? meh wasn't that hard

I bumped spawn-speed up to like 70 because I really suck at the patience part of it

haha

I fast-forwarded until they were nearing the end of the line then I went back to normal speed and let it right and made sure to dig twice on each floor brick

6:47 PM

If you don't kill all the lemmings are you even playing right?

lol

yay i found pringles

Well, that's much harder at 70 lol

user image

@Sconibulus ^ that one?

could be, that looks about right

I think I hit the ceiling about where you joined the image :)

lol, why didn't you just dig down?

6:58 PM

the builder that hit the ceiling froze, didn't take any further actions

and refused to blow up

and I spent like 10 minutes on the level already, so I said screw it and closed the game :)

lol

I think this is the code for the level after that: HCENNONPDW

well maybe not...

oh well lol

7:31 PM

huh, modding Rubio and Gareth really does make puzzles last longer :)

?

What, before being closed? Or solution time?

oh, as in they don't have time to solve anymore?

Solution time is what I was commenting on, historically Gareth has solved a disproportionate portion of my posed puzzles

Follow-up question to my earlier question: I have the concept for the hybrid grid deduction puzzle I want to make, but I can't find a solution. So far my approach has been trial-and-error. I want to know if any solution could exist, given the constraints of the puzzle. Now if I post it on the site, won't that defeat the purpose of posting the puzzle later?

As in, if I ask the question "What is a possible solution to a puzzle where...", and somebody comes up with a valid answer, then their answer would be the puzzle that I would have posted in the first place. Does that make sense?

7:40 PM

hybrids are a bit tricky

So you have some sort of restrictive ruleset. (Say, something like "Sudoku, but no prime numbers can be adjacent".) And you want to make sure that a solution is possible at all.

Something like that, yes

But if you get a good answer, then you can't post an "actual" grid deduction puzzle (with clues leading to the solution) because the solution is already out there?

I do have an adjustable variable, which is hard to explain without giving away the puzzle, so there is some degree of leeway

usually what you do with a puzzle is start from the solved grid, then remove clues until you get it to hard enough, or add clues until you get to unique

depending on whether the puzzle is Sudoku-like or Boundary-like

7:41 PM

Right @Sconibulus, that's what I'm trying to do, but I can't find a grid that works

This could be because it's impossible, or it could be because it is possible and I haven't found it yet

You could write a program to do it.

What grids are you hybridizing?

(puzzle types)

well, for a hybrid puzzle you basically have to find grids that have enough pieces overlapping that you can clue two different things at once

It's a sudoku + LITS (nuruomino), a 9x9 grid and tetrominos. The trick is that each tetromino must have a different 4 numbers, but each must have the same sum.

LITS?

7:44 PM

But my problem is that when I have a solved grid, and some tetrominos, I don't think there are enough tetrominos for the puzzle to be solvable (with a unique solution).

LITS, formerly known as Nuruomino (ヌルオミノ), is a binary determination puzzle published by Nikoli. == Rules == LITS is played on a rectangular grid, typically 10×10; the grid is divided into polyominoes, none of which have fewer than four cells. The goal is to shade in a tetromino within each pre-printed polyomino in such a way that no two matching tetrominoes are orthogonally adjacent (with rotations and reflections counting as matching), and that the shaded cells form a valid nurikabe: they are all orthogonally contiguous (form a single polyomino) and contain no 2×2 square tetrominoes as subsets...

That looks a little too much like nurikabe to me, no thanks lol

It's not like Nurikabe at all

well, it's trivial for a 1-region lits

I'm aware of that

For example: If I say "the sum of each tetromino must be 17", then that's 9 tetrominos (and LITS regions), each with a different 4 numbers. That's 36 filled squares in a 9x9 grid, with no 2x2 filled blocks, and also it's a sudoku.

7:46 PM

2 region lits should be almost as easy

@Sconibulus I think the regions are supposed to be the Sudoku regions.

summing to 20 might be easiest

That's 12 unique tetrominos. Why is that easier?

Easiest way I can think of is this: Try making one where you don't fill in any numbers other than the squares. Then use a bad Sudoku solver online that returns a solution when there are multiple.

@MikeQ Huh? How does changing the sum change the number of regions?

Using the numbers 1-9, without duplicates, there are 12 ways to sum up to 20.

9+8+2+1, 9+7+3+1, etc

7:49 PM

20 allows any 2 random choices to be paired with partners

What?

@MikeQ If you've forced any two numbers, you can find two more numbers that will work.

at 17, if you force 9 and 8, you can't make it work

or even 9 and 6

Okay, so I suppose I should ease the restriction that all combinations must be used

I think what you probably want to do is first find a pattern that is a valid LITS

7:51 PM

Restriction that all combinations must be used? You never mentioned that.

second find a pattern of numbers that fill the LITS legally

And yeah, first find a valid LITS, then try to fill it, then use a solver to make a Sudoku solution out of it.

third throw those clues at a sudoku solver until you get one that's unique

or solvable, not unique

then reduce the number of clues in the sudoku until it's difficult enough that you're happy with it

Okay, that is currently my strategy... so I suppose the answer is "keep trying"

which part are you struggling on?

7:53 PM

Fitting in an appropriate number of tetrominos

(I guess this would be an LTS puzzle, because you can't make any I tetrominoes. :P )

No it's LITS. Tetrominos = 4 spaces.

he's saying you can't fit an I in a Sudoku grid region

^

Ah. Should have clarified that - the lits tetrominos are independent of the 3x3 boxes. They can cross boundaries.

7:55 PM

oh, do you have some other regions then?

Yes. The LITS regions are independent of the sudoku's 3x3 regions.

@MikeQ you might have an easier time using a LITS grid that works as a viable sudoku grid (albeit an abnormal one) and going from there.

are they still 9-ominoes?

No, they're tetrominos (4)

anyhow, I'm off

7:56 PM

@Deusovi if you like math involved strategy games you might like Off World Trading Company

@MikeQ the regions, not the tetrominoes

@n_palum Thanks for the recommendation, but I'm terrible at strategy games.

woot. first reviewer badge. 1 away from a second too

@Deusovi How many regions should a 9x9 LITS puzzle have? For the 10x10, most of the ones I have seen have 13-16 regions.

We initially assumed you'd do the 9 square regions

^

8:00 PM

but you lose about 20% of the space going from 100 squares to 81

You lose exactly 19% of the space.

so maybe 10-13 if you want more than 9

Having more regions might not be a good idea, though.

Because you want the Sudoku and LITS puzzles to be independently unsolvable, but solvable together

so that way it's not just two stacked puzzles

Correct. So for now I'll try limiting it to LTS only, using the 3x3s are regions.

I'm about ti print out scons puzzle Has anyone else already done it before I do?

I can upload pictres after too if anyone wants

8:04 PM

Nope, I haven't.

I didn't even print out my puzzle :)

lol :P

I'm assuming its 3d though?

Probably needs to be folded into an icosahedron.

In any case, it's not the same thing presented there.

okay ill try. probably won't look very nice but hey :P

the thing presented is unsolvable

right

7

Q: Infinitely long loaf of Bread

You are visiting your old friend Mike at Infinitely's Baking Shop. Just as you arrived, he was taking out a fresh, infinitely long, loaf of bread. Both of its ends extend infinitely long in a straight line. The smell of the breads displayed on the infinitely long shelves feels so good. ...

logical-deduction lateral-thinking story open-ended

Does this seem too broad to you all?

They even admitted in the post that it was "open to interpretation".

8:10 PM

I was thinking so... I've been waiting for a few more valid answers before I VTC

there are currenlty only 2 positive score answers so

it folds nicely....

having problems sticking because there aren't any tabs

aaaah glues not working I'm just gonna use taape

If you're doing what I think you're trying to do, perhaps instead stick pieces of sticky-note to the faces of an object you may have on-hand?

I just did it

What if it's a 4-dimensional polygon

8:25 PM

its definitely an icosahedron

Also @Deus yes, it is a question with many possible answers (If you have a line segment with finite edges and an infinitely long middle, then how do you separate the edges)

What do you think is the best method of uploading a photo of it?

@Sconibulus The only icosahedron I have on hand is a d20, and that's too small to solve a Slitherlink on.

@BeastlyGerbil panorama shot

that doesn't work...

I'll just take a load of shots (maybe a video?) and put it on a google docs sheet

8:33 PM

draw the solution on the net in paint?

Mercator map projection?

I might make a quick 3d model atcually

Oh, you do 3d models?

@MikeQ Ew.

Just draw it on this:

user image

user image

sorry, someone mentioned map projections, and I really like this one

(this is another reason why I didn't try to solve this one - wasn't sure how to post an answer)

ooh, that's a nice one

8:37 PM

disclaimer: I have not tried to fold it

Sorry I've lost wifi...

Uuuh

and back again

Anything I'm trying to write in chat on my computer is just saying 'timout'

@Deusovi how?

pick one face as the front - it goes in the centre

testing...

oh it works

put the other clues in the corresponding places - they'll get more distorted as you go towards the back, but the connections will be the same

where does the back face go?

8:42 PM

then the back face will be the area around the whole thing

sorry the pciture is confusing me

oh and in answer to your question a while back: I kind of do 3d models I guess, I made a 3d model of a concetration camp for a history project but not much besides that

oh wow. My 3d model editor has a pre made icosahedron

What about two views, each with half of the icosahedron?

I'm halfway through the model now... Just gonna do that

8:58 PM

this is awful...

@BeastlyGerbil would you like to take a break? I'm interested in why you think that this should be closed.

(note that this is being discussed on meta and chat, so I'm just wondering what your thought process is.)

welp. this looks awful but I don't have the time to make it properly

tinkercad.com/things/9AttmH8dXvm-fantabulous-allis/…

If you want to know what a certain side is look at it straight on

before I go to sign in, is it an answer, or just folded?

just folded

I'm about to go to bed so don't have time to solve

@Mithrandir I'm not sure xkcd should be on-topic

I know its a comic but does it really count? I don't think anything meaningful can be taken from them - they are just for fun

Why should the fact that it's just for fun make it off topic?

Meta link:

8

Q: Should this XKCD question be closed, and why?

What were the original two results for 'died in a blogging accident'? This question about an XKCD comic currently has three votes to close, and Hamlet♦ has left a comment saying he'd be happy to be the fifth: I think this question is off-topic and am perfectly happy to cast the fifth close v...

discussion scope specific-question close-votes

9:10 PM

Because fun is illegal on the internet

Its not the fact its for fun, its just that its not to do with literature - its asking for where a piece of data is from on a graph.

What, a comic isn't literature? I think I know some people who would disagree :)

It's asking for the origin of a piece of information in a work of literature.

IMO.

That seems highly questionable

if it was ever in a book it's suddenly on topic?

(of course, I asked the question intending for it to start a meta argument :P)

except even book is a stronger word than what you're implying

9:14 PM

Is a graph literature?

@BeastlyGerbil On its own? No. In a comic? Yes. (in my opinion)

Thats where I think we differ. A graph isn't a piece of literature for me :)

is cross-posting a thing bad, and if not, should I crosspost my SF&F question?

@Sconibulus you've just asked a hard question.

I have suspicions it may never be answered there

9:16 PM

3

A: My Sappho questions: best way to handle

You could try doing a AB test: post half of your questions on Latin, post the other half on Literature, and see which site gets you the best results. That said, if you want good answers, I think you're past the point where you can get help from an internet website. You need to seek out some prof...

@Deusovi finished: tinkercad.com/things/9AttmH8dXvm-fantabulous-allis/…

I've made it anyone can edit so if anyone wants to they can improve it

I solved the slitherink....

@Sconibulus should I post a partial with the model and the slitherink solution?

Bah no time now. I'll try and do it tomorrow if I can...

Night all!

9:38 PM

Anyone up for contact?

o/

I can defend if the need be

Nobody else is there. Too many folks are busy making icosahedron maps.

I'm there

zendo, perhaps?

Do you play zendo with tinkercad?

9:47 PM

I mean the veritaserum version

three numbers

a version with Blender could be fun, but it would be slow

whoo

sh

1 hour later…

10:54 PM

(PSA: Contact is active atm)

If you want BG, that's enough to constitute good progress

PSA?

public service announcement?

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Jun '1721

The Sphinx's Lair

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