The Sphinx's Lair - 2017-08-16

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12:11 AM

The 4C is probably an actual minipuzzle from here.

12:28 AM

@Forklift How's the new job??

1:12 AM

@n_palum pretty good! Learning some new stuff, talking to new people... Much better than the last place.

Nice!

Good to hear it's going well

@n_palum yeah. It's a real relief

Thanks for asking. That's really nice. Only real problem is less time for games here.

Oh, congrats!

Thanks! 😀

2 hours later…

3:44 AM

0

Q: A Void in my Heart

Exit the games, log off the Internet, Avert the kids vocalizing with the tv set, Silence the ringtones and with quiet song Bring out my friend, let his subjects say so long. For eleven years he let me share his home, This King of Beasts who in this place did roam. Majestic, lazy...

riddle enigmatic-puzzle poetry

@Sphinx it's probably Rubio's cat. :-(

@Rubio - sorry for your loss. :c I know exactly how that feels - I lost my dog a few days ago, and I haven't been able to do much at all.

It's been coming for days, and it just leaves one feeling so helpless. At least there was plenty of time to say farewell.

Yeah, it's really frustrating when you know they are dying and you can't do anything about it. It is the worst feeling in the world

I definitely understand the helplessness. I'm here if you need to talk, okay?

3:54 AM

Thanks, appreciate that.

The title was a passing phrase uttered to someone. the puzzle was obvious from there - and cathartic to write.

I can see how much you cared for him (both physically and emotionally). I'm sure he had a happy life.

4:14 AM

Wow.. this has gotten 7 upvotes? puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/54222/…

It's gotten 11 upvotes.

I expected it to be closed as duplicate actually. Surprised that there is no duplicate of that question

Destructible Lemon

uh, I guess that question would explain the second answer to "A void in my heart"

@Deusovi whoa. That is, frankly speaking, ridiculous. That's a terrible puzzle.

Perks of getting into HNQ, i guess

Only puzzle that got into HNQ recently that deserved it was A Puzzle In 140 Characters, IMO.

Well, maybe the statement shouldn't be that strong.

But... yeah, we've had this discussion before.

4:19 AM

It still hasn't gotten 140 upvotes

Nothing in the past year has.

Destructible Lemon

;_; my enigmatic puzzle still hasn't had any more progress on it

Link?

5

Q: What does it want?

So, I found this image. I feel like it wants something You might wanna go ahead and download the image, because it will be useful to be able to scribble around on the image for counting and stuff. It won't mind What does this image want? Hint plus one more hint P.S. The puzzle is all i...

enigmatic-puzzle visual

Destructible Lemon

4:55 AM

I even added a hint

5:26 AM

Speaking of puzzles without progress

18

Q: Parallelisation

An entry in Fortnightly Topic Challenge #32: Grid Deduction Hybrids Puzzlers, I am presenting a set of six duo-grids! Of course, I need to tell you how they work - you are given a grid. Looking at it, you are given the two puzzle types embedded in it and the operation. You are also given the v...

enigmatic-puzzle steganography no-computers grid-deduction metapuzzles

Oh, right!

I was partway through grid 5 and... I'm not sure what happened to make me abandon it. Huh.

(I did that one first because Ripple Effect and Fillomino are two of my favorite genres.)

Those two go so well together!

TGE suggested I make a larger Ripple Effect + Fillomino style puzzle, but I haven't got around to it

Destructible Lemon

do you think it's a reasonable assumption that each grid square can only have 1 digit in the sub puzzles?

it's probably not, is it

You shouldn't have to make any assumptions.

(However, many of the sub-puzzles' rules limit the possible numbers greatly.)

Destructible Lemon

no I mean for the last puzzle, I'm just trying to see if I can deduce which operation is which, by the possible values.

for example, any negative number must have been formed my subtraction

5:40 AM

Ah. I don't know.

Destructible Lemon

so... what puzzles have numbers in every grid square, anyway?

The question isn't what puzzles do have them in every grid square. The question is which ones can.

Slitherlink is one obvious example, though it's already used.

Minesweeper is a possibility.

So is Hitori.

Destructible Lemon

an adaption of minesweeper?

because actual minesweeper can't work like that

(yes, "minesweeper" as in the logic puzzle genre, not as in the Windows game, though that's basically the same thing)

gmpuzzles.com/blog/category/objectplacement/minesweeper

Destructible Lemon

@Deusovi windows minesweeper doesn't have perfect information from the start

5:44 AM

I'm fully aware of that.

Destructible Lemon

also cells with mines don't have numbers

also I can't view that webpage properly

Not in the Windows version, they don't, but in logic puzzles, they very well can.

Destructible Lemon

i don't understand how they're basically the same thing but whatever

In what the numbers represent, I meant.

Destructible Lemon

ok

technically any number could be to the power of one

so that way of deduction can't work by checking factors

however I'm doubtful that there will be numbers as big as 100 in the puzzle so there is that

for deducing with that >1000 cell

5:48 AM

Yeah. I think we'll need to figure out the actual genres to get anywhere though.

Destructible Lemon

yeah but how will we figure out the genres!!

maybe there is a hint hidden in the other puzzles...

Possibly.

I think Hitori as a genre is pretty likely for one of the two.

Not sure about the other.

Destructible Lemon

ok

I'm not a puzzling expert

6:48 AM

Sorry about your cat, @Rubio :'(

7:17 AM

0

Q: Find number of divisors

If xy is a two digit number with three divisors, how many divisors would each of the following numbers have? xyxyxy yxyx xy4xy

mathematics number-theory

2 hours later…

8:54 AM

0

Q: What is a Renowned Word™?

In the spirit of the What is a Word™/Phrase™ series started by JLee, a special brand of Phrase™ and Word™ puzzles. If a word conforms to a special rule, I call it a Renowned Word™. Use the examples below to find the rule. $$ % set Title text. (spaces around the text ARE important; do not re...

pattern enigmatic-puzzle wordplay

1 hour later…

Gareth McCaughan

10:09 AM

@Rubio re your cat: Damn it.

Hey @Gareth . Haven't seen you in a while

Gareth McCaughan

I was on holiday for a week and have been more than averagely busy since.

Holiday? Cool. Sightseeing somewhere?

Gareth McCaughan

Yeah. Nowhere exotic, just an oldish city here in the UK.

Good that you spend time with family. I, these days, tend to regret not having spent quality time with family. :-)

10:19 AM

Good for you

Personally, all the tourists are driving me crazy here >.<

...why? They ask too many questions?

And keeping my father at work until after midnight.

@Sid no, they're just everywhere

Like ants

Taking all the seats at the synagogue

Well... That's a necessary evil. Your country would earn more from the tourism sector

Yes. That doesn't change the fact that they drive me crazy :P

Yeah, interacting with people coming from other countries can be tough at times. For example, here, I am having to add an accent to my English so that they understand what I am talking about. It is harder than I thought

10:28 AM

@GarethMcCaughan heh. Yes, this.

@Mithrandir and thanks

Gareth McCaughan

@Mithrandir It could be worse. E.g., if actual ants were taking all the seats at the synagogue.

@GarethMcCaughan I should have known you'd spot the homage within the homage as it were. The last couple days were long and not always pleasant - it was good to focus on some creativity within constraints instead of just fretting over what we can't control.

Gareth McCaughan

@Rubio Yeah, understood. I liked your poem, and (assuming the constraints didn't force you not to express what you wanted to) it sounds like Puma was a most lovable beast.

Indeed. Sweetest damn cat I've ever known. Dumb as a post but absolutely lovable. I'm going to miss him very much.

I like the name very much.

10:48 AM

Anyways. Back to (pretending to) sleep. Laters ...

@Gareth that is a wonderful poem that you linked

Gareth McCaughan

Yeah, it's good. It became a bit famous for a while when it was used in the movie "Four weddings and a funeral".

I went for a few years to a school where W H Auden once taught. (But he was years before my time and so far as I know he had no lasting influence.)

1 hour later…

12:16 PM

@Rubio Oh, you really did just lose your cat? That sucks - I'm sorry :'(

I'd thought it was just a puzzle.

Started around chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/14524?m=37622301#37622301 :/

0

Q: What type of cipher is this?

I have been trying to solve a riddle for more than 3 days and I couldn't find it. Can any one point me to the right direction? p{d%qn+}n!sp~*~}@oo&&)*!zp+@d@(~+%p@^@e^&deq*_an%df)qvp%!_kk!+*(+*q^((daap^)kc}(nd}@x_^(@%}n(+s{{v%bfnw%$nx$danff!!+s@pn@$~wf+^vs+e&#vfvz+&@%q#c+o^!!d##q^x++%&*nbk!~$cda...

12:33 PM

@Deusovi sorry about your dog, as well ;'(

The two things that terrify me the most are dogs and water(as in deep rivers, pools, etc.). :-(

Also, that C4 either has some extremely clever wordplay or is a cryptic definition.

@Sid dogs aren't my favorite creatures in the world, but it's still sad when someone's pet dies.

Yeah, I know. It's terrible.

Goodbye to Puma, @Rubio's cat, and @Deusovi's dog. You will be remembered by your owners and the Puzzling.SE community. *salutes*

10

(hmm, tempted to pin)

2 hours later…

2:35 PM

0

Q: A great desire for some!

Obsessive and greedy, A great desire for some, Won through hard work, But can impede on freedom. A legend of ancient times, For the foundations laid he, A marker for our thinking, The guide for you and me. Reach to edge of space, Beauty and life to meet, Exceptional...

2 hours later…

4:07 PM

0

Q: Make an educational guest about what mammal is being described

Make an educational guess about what mammal is being described. I don’t have legs like most mammals, but that’s just fine. A horse’s hooves or human skinny arms wouldn’t do any good. My flippers, tail, and fin allow me to swim through the ocean faster than most land mammals can run on land. I...

1 hour later…

5:15 PM

Thanks for the thoughts all. And indeed, sorry to you too @Deusovi for your recent loss. It's a little easier seeing it coming, so I hope in your case it wasn't unexpected and you had a chance to say goodbye.

And now, shoulders squared and chin up, back to the business of puzzling :)

@Rubio Great! Now solve that C4.

That's your nemesis, right there.

Trying to hehe

Should we close the most recent post as 'not a puzzle'?

It seems more like 'what fits the disrciption'?

Plus it is so obvious and there are so many clues that anyone could solve it with a single glance

It's a riddle in the same sense that "What has four wheels and flies?" is - which is to say, not really much of one at all.

Well, if it has a unique answer, it qualifies as a Puzzle, I think

5:29 PM

and it doesn't even have a unique answer

Dolphin also fits

yah

[cetecean needed]

7

lol

@Sconibulus +1

though you should spell it right. it's cetacean

5:31 PM

The fact JMP added a link to a list of possible answers seems to indicate its too broad

the fact JMP answered it at all seems to indic... er, nevermind, I just won't go there. heh

that requires knowing how spelling works

Also:
> It is the sum of two and two
> What is it for, I ask you?
is a "riddle" with a unique answer - but it's no puzzle.

well, yeah. Clearly I didn't communicate that well enough..

6:07 PM

0

Q: This is a tough one!

Can you crack this code? Hints : It decrypts to an English plain text word(s) and no one-way hashes have been used! code : 31 30 35 20 31 32 31 20 31 30 31 20 36 38 20 37 30 20 37 31 20 35 34 20 31 31 39 20 31 31 34 20 37 34 20 37 35 20 36 35 20 31 32 32 20 31 30 36 20 35 33 20 31 30 38 20...

6:21 PM

0

Q: Color this map using only 4 colors

According to graph theory, in order to color any map so that 2 touching regions don't have the same color, 4 distinct colors are enough. Can somebody color the following map?

graph-theory computer-science

6:44 PM

FYI folks, I VTCed the puzzle in question and cited precedence (as a result of my own meta post, as it happens)

3 hours later…

9:48 PM

So... I'd give a 47h hint, but I don't know what would help

Cool, I don't either :D

Well it's more that I don't know what people have tried :P

I've tried staring at the clue.

I think "regarding --> RE" is fairly likely. Other than that, not a clue.

I don't know any expressions that would have a space after re

Nor do I.

9:53 PM

Did the last hint make sense? (Not sure if I'm being too mean here, I guess I underestimated the difficulty :P)

I assume it means something in the clue is Puzzling-specific (likely "solution to an archived minipuzzle")

vague enough to make me think of double def &lit

and with the "??" too

Re Ante is a poker term

47h hint: "She wrote an email regarding the benefits of spreadsheet filtering tools"

it seems like every sp3k hint just says "keep doing what you're doing"

though I have to add no word has been a solution to a CCCC more than twice

but... what about the email part

is it just to say the email would begin with "Re: ", in which case it's still a "keep doing what you're doing" hint

10:09 PM

(if it helps, I can replace "email" with "article* in that hint)

(too late to edit though)

@Sp3000 looks like "re: sort" or something

Okay I guess that hint didn't work as intended then - point is "regarding" is not RE here :P

Oh.

if that's supposed to be "about" for a container/reversal, then I think it's too indirect.

Also nope

(and yeah it would be too indirect)

Hm.

10:29 PM

@Sp3000 DJ Hero? or maybe a song? or am I completely off-base?

Closer, but I can't tell if that's coincidence or you being onto something :P

Deusovi is going to love this

I don't think I like where this is going. ;)

Sp3k's CCCCs for the past two months have been difficulty settings of rhythm games

Sound Voltex, Pop'n Music, Beatstream, Deemo?, Idolmaster, Dance Dance Revolution

oh my.

10:32 PM

I assume this is the hidden minipuzzle

oh my god is this a cccc meta

7

I can't tell what the fourth one is because Easy/Normal/Hard/Extra is a common combination

Wow this has been so many clues in the making

*deep bow* Holy hell, man. That's hilarious, awesome, and devious all in one.

0

Q: Calculating with Symbols

& x & = €& What is &? Each Symbol is one Number. Possible answers: 0, 3 , 7 , 6 Correct anwer: 6 Cause 6 x 6 = 36 What is the correct Name of this kind of Puzzle? Where can i get more of this? In Germany we use them in Aptitude Tests.

10:39 PM

@ffao Two of them are the wrong way around and one will need to be its full name with leading article, but... getting there :P

The Idolmaster, I suppose

which two are the wrong way, hmm

whoa.

oh, kay, idolmaster is the 4th one

so Sound Voltex, Pop'n Music, Beatstream, The Idolmaster, Deemo?, Dance Dance Revolution

@ffao Wait really?

not sure, I'm not a rhythm game buff

10:46 PM

Ladies and Gentlemen, I think @Sp3000 has won a game that didn't even have a win condition.

7

Answer: ON TIME

index into each name by the number of difficulty settings

I figured Deusovi would get it, you're the king of metapuzzles

HOLY CRAP I'm glad I popped in just to witness this

What timing

we need to strike all records of any of these from the chat room and the archive so Sp can post this whole thing as a puzzle on main site, and nobody in here is allowed to answer it ;)

user image

10:52 PM

Nice

@Rubio Oh please, like anybody is aware of the CCCC archive who would still be allowed to answer

I'd just like an excuse to give Sp3k rep for this

@ffao Why do you think I'm proposing that? hehe

@ffao speaking of which, that one meta³puzzle (yes, the one that's like three months overdue) is still in the works. I've written 27 metapuzzles so far, and have 7 left.

I noticed earlier he clued EASY twice in a very short span of time, and given how rare repeats are, that was suspicious

10:55 PM

Impressive metapuzzle, @Sp3000. Now step it up and reveal that it's part of a meta-metapuzzle!

but it didn't occur to me at all that was part of a much bigger plan

That's a better meta-puzzle than, well, a lot of stuff posted on the site, my stuff included. There's no way that should be a throwaway just for us 4Cers

@Rubio Nah, I'm good, it was a minipuzzle's designed for the C4 medium, and isolating all the necessary clues kills half the fun :P (The idea was to have a set of solutions which would be recognisable as something suspicious going on when checking the archive)

If I had known the CCCC was going to last for so long I'd've made all my clues relevant to some ongoing metapuzzle. But I am bad at planning and easily distracted.

Great puzzle, Sp.

^_^ Okay I had my fun, back to regular (?) clues

10:57 PM

One does not suffice. Have the whole page.
https://giphy.com/search/holy-shit

@Deusovi cool! as long as progress is being made, it'll eventually get done :)

yeah, wrote two of those last night, and recently had an idea for another

@MikeQ I considered this, but at this rate it'll take a year before that finishes :P

anyway, now to figure out how the hell I'm going to follow that up with a 4C

now we can just input the explanation for this clue in the archive as "Sp3000 wins"

10:59 PM

That's it, we're closing up shop. There can be no more.

(btw Deemo's list is unfortunately a common set of difficulties, but I failed to find any other rhythm game with exactly that set - Groove Coaster is close with SIMPLE/NORMAL/HARD/EXTRA)

maybe I just saw that set in a game from a different genre and got confused

Coming in a bit late, but if I'm understanding correctly, someone needs to go post in this thread...

Yes. That is definitely something that needs to happen.

Oh my yes.

Grab Deus' handy image for that

11:08 PM

that meta post should credit the clue authors

I would edit that in, but I already spent way too much time I should have been working filtering a spreadsheet

Yeah based on your comments about "keep doing what you're doing" I thought you'd been checking it a lot :P

@Deusovi Late reply but, still looking forward to it, whenever it comes :)

11:22 PM

I'd like to just thank you @Sp3000 for not making 'Matt Hazard: Blood Bath And Beyond' one of the games whose difficulties you used.

o_O

CCCC: Mouth in shock, struck at the end: wow! (5)

Hah nice :P

the only sensible response, I think

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Aug '1716

The Sphinx's Lair

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