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12:21 AM
if that "after" was "around" I'd have an answer
my answer for that would be DA< _R _K
@ffao Is there a chance you're using "after" as a reversal indicator somehow?
 
no, I intended for the clue to be an &lit
but I don't know if this is a good definition for DARK, thus the comment
 
hm. I don't get the wordplay, then, and I was bashing at it for a good half hour. :)
 
you were getting AD from now?
 
did you consider the possibility that it was an &lit? If you didn't I think I feel bad enough for you to just give it away :P
 
yeah
no, I wasn't looking at it as a &lit at all
 
12:29 AM
ok, it was DA{Y->RK}
 
oh. heh.
X is now Y
I think it's funny that I changed one word in the middle and made it a valid non-&lit for the same thing ;)
 
how does "close to pitch-black" become K?
 
it's the close (or end) of [pitch-blac]K
 
ohh I see
 
Shouldn't it have an !, then?
 
12:37 AM
! on &lit is often used but is not required
 
in this case I think it should have had one, but experience for the next time
 
CCCC: Ran lead story by newspaper editor. (8)
 
S[tory] + PRINT + ED
 
aye
I liked that surface :)
 
I did too :)
 
12:47 AM
How to solve this Morse code like puzzle ... what. WHY IS THIS UPVOTED.
 
Hey, it's an answer to "how to solve this puzzle"
 
*cough*bullsh*cough* oh. my.
something stuck in my throat
 
1:30 AM
1
Q: Are puzzles taken from mystery geocaches on-topic here (and if yes, how to properly answer them)?

Ilmari KaronenPrompted by this question (and this similar question by the same user), I'd like to ask for the community's opinion on how to deal with puzzles taken from mystery geocaches. For those not familiar with geocaching, a typical geocache is a container hidden somewhere (usually) outdoors, with a lo...

 
1:48 AM
D: this isn't done yet
 
Feel free to finish it
 
need more hints :/
 
@ASCII-only have an unhelpful hint
 
yay
so it's just numbers
 
2:07 AM
Uh, when is a 4C arriving?
 
@Wen1now Be patient, shipping isn't that fast
 
3:05 AM
CCCC: Opening disclaimer: maybe ffao is a socially inept person (5)
 
We have contact happening rn
 
I had to come up with a clue
The eldritch abominations may wait, but Wen1now doesn't
 
I dunno, could it be D+WEEB?
 
yup
 
Hah :P
 
3:14 AM
ha!
 
CCCC: Animals drive in street in city, I heard (8)
Warning: the 4c has a part that is really loose. But don't worry about it.
@ffao (I was worried that you might've been offended if that wasn't it...)
 
@Wen1now We've called him and Sp weebs multiple times before. They accept the label with pride, it seems.
 
I know weeb is meant to be derogatory technically but I honestly can't think of a better label? Otaku? Maybe
 
Nah, "otaku" is the more derogatory one, I think
when I hear "weeb" used in a "derogatory" way, it's almost always a joke
 
Well I'm looking for a more neutral word atm, so if anyone knows of one lemme know :P
 
4:28 AM
Japanophilia refers to the appreciation and love of Japanese culture, people or history. In Japanese, the term for Japanophile is "shinnichi" (親日), with "親" "shin" (しん) equivalent to the English prefix 'pro-', and "日" "nichi" (にち), meaning "Japanese" (as in the word for Japan "Nihon" (日本)). The term was first used as early as the 18th century, switching in scope over time. == History == === Early usage === The term "Japanophile" traces back to the late 18th and early 19th centuries before Japan became more open to foreign trade. Carl Peter Thunberg and Philipp Franz von Siebold helped i...
 
4:44 AM
I've never heard anyone use "japanophile" to describe themselves though
 
I dunno, I just found the word in a google search
 
that sounds so scientific
 
Actually, I don't think doing random google searches is that scientific
 
5:00 AM
the word "Japanophile", I mean
 
poof
 
 
2 hours later…
7:31 AM
0
Q: Determine what the correct labels

rsp The father bought gifts for each of his three daughters, whose names were Black, White, and Gray. Thinking it would be amusing, he bought two black scarf for Black, two white scarf White, and a white scarf and a black scarf for Gray. He had the store clerk wrap the three presents and...

 
@Sphinx I'd be surprised if that weren't a duplicate
 
8:26 AM
and yet there are 4 essentially equal answers to it
gah
 
8:46 AM
Well, this question is getting onto HNQ for sure
@ffao It is subtlely different from the first day of school question but I'm VTCing anyway
 
I'm going off precedent
1
Q: The 3 closed boxes

mr.ArrowWe have 3 closed boxes. One contains apples and the second contains oranges and the third contains apples and oranges . They have labels Apples, Oranges, Apple & Oranges but all the labels are put on the wrong boxes. How do you put the labels on boxes correctly if you can only open one box to see...

 
Sid
9:00 AM
One more vtc required
@wen how loose is one of your connections in the C4?
 
Hmm. On a scale of 1-10, I'd say 5ish.
1 being loose, and 10 being looser
 
puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/2241/… is the correct duplicate for that specific puzzle
puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/55052/… ... I notice you didn't downvote it.
 
9:18 AM
I felt weird marking as duplicate the question that asks the generalization
because the answer to this question is only in that question itself, not in the answers to it
...except for one, because the guy clearly did not read the question
have my downvote, nyk 232
 
Who is nyk232?
@Rubio Happy?
 
@ffao The other variants are not so obviously duplicate, as they leverage the same logic but under different circumstances. The "modified version" formulation is identically this puzzle in how it is set up, and seems to make that duplication the most obvious of the 3 I looked at.
 
9:37 AM
sure, if you`re the kind of person who thinks changing x to y, or apples to boys, changes the equation :P
 
What's with the apostrophe?
 
Sid
LOL, our English test today asked us to write about Puzzles. :P
For the C4 I think Street is ST. I think the homophone part is probably loose.
 
I can think of something if it was "Animal street drive on (8)" but nope :P
 
@ffao Nah. There's a qualitative difference between "You pick one to look at" and "One is picked for you and here's the result." That's why the school locker room version is different -- so different in fact that there are scenarios where you can't know the answer for sure. If you get to pick where to look yourself then you can guarantee success. I think that's a substantial difference in presentation and in answer to the posed question, even though the logic why is the same.
 
hmm
then ironically enough I think we should have left this one open
 
9:54 AM
why? The puzzle it's now marked as a dup of is actually a dup of this one.
 
the question that puzzle actually asks is a different question
the answer to that puzzle is probabilistic, this one you can guess for sure
in that version, the boxes are unlabeled
this is the matryoshka CCCC
A in B in C
and I have no ideas as to what "drive" could be
 
I'm more curious about cities that give a plural ending when sounded (Paris? Venice?)
 
10:10 AM
there are so many cities in the world I think that can be almost anything
 
... I think it's IN+ST+IN+CT actually (with "animals" missing an apostrophe)
 
INSTINCT is correct
 
yeah, that def doesn't work without the apostrophe
 
yeah, definitely. Required punctuation is required.
 
Well, I did ask about punctuation in 4cs
Okay, sorry. Noted for next time.
 
10:21 AM
You can add capitals or punctuation where not needed, but you cannot remove them if doing so changes the meaning
 
FWIW I don't think of apostrophes as punctuation at all. They're more like spelling.
 
capitals is a bit debatable
 
(There's additional things about where you can add them - you can't stick a space or hyphen in the middle of a word creating two different words, for example.)
 
but we seem to be fine with capitals in the CCCCs
 
If you mean, specifically, "Western Union", you can't write "western union"
the converse is not true, of course.
 
10:27 AM
I agree with Rubio: you can capitalize things that don't need capitalizing, but you can't remove capitals that are essential to the meaning.
 
@Wen1now fyi I think people thought you were referring to, e.g. commas, hyphens, double quotes which is most cases can be ignored, but not always (i.e. "irrelevant except when it's not")
CCCC: Universal book mistakenly swiped first (10)
 
WIDESP* + READ?
 
Yeah
 
crap, now I have to make another one or they will come for me
 
10:56 AM
T̩͑h̹͘e̥̅y̲͝ ̫̓ċ̱ö̲́m̪͂e̪͑
 
Aug 18 at 15:15, by Rubio
but I don't thinky̅ou quiṫe̔ unde̷rs͢tand wha̶̹͇̪̣̪̤t you asḱ...the ch͐͌̈͑a̾̽̇̈̈́in mͣ̄̏̚uͭͦͭ͋͒ͬs͆ͭt noť̵͎ͧͣ̋̀̚ b̼̭̯̜̘̓ͤ͂ͫe͇̦͉̼͈̯̪̝ͪ̒ͪ̔ͮ ḇ̹̘͇̼̅ͦ͛ͩ̅͆̄ͥr̞̙͍̫̠̖̲ͣo̮̮̼̱̭͇̦͑̎̆̆͂k̞͖̹̗͖͔͖͑̐͒ẽ̬̘̦̻̪͓̙̤̐ͣn̫̤̻͖͌ͦ̇̈̈́͛ͮ̍ — l̳̹͈̖ͭ͒e͔̠͇̱̹̾̒̌͛̿ͣ̅͂s̫̱̰͈̳̒̾ͅt͎ͥ͌ ͔̭̦͙̮͓̟̲̓̾͛͛̎t̺̘͔̦̜̱͚̀̈ͮͬͭh̰̗̗̣̟̺̹̪̓̀̍̌͊͗̄͑̚ė̮͗ͦ̆̒̅̚ eldŕ̫͕̩͎̳̭̝̳̂̀̔͂͑͂̍î̪͎͇ͤͦͭ̒̒tc͈̱̦̟̏̊̂͗̽͊̎͌ḣ̟̜̬̰̬̬̳̽̅͊ ̖̯͎̣͊̈̃͂̈͑͑̅ä̫̹̠́͑b͚̝̘̿̓o̰̲̱̭͉̭̐̂ͪm̫̟͇̰̼̖͍ͩ̉ͣ͆inȃ͇͔̆͊̒͒ͤṫ̻̙͕͔͎̙̠ͬ̓͌̎ͥ̿͛ͫi̔͆́ͤͯ‌​͔̘̺̤͚̫̇͑͒̈ͅo̠̮͍͍̳̱̿̓̑ͅn͚̩̰̖̩̠̆ͪ̍͑ͮͅs c͌̈́͒̍͛o̐ͭ̽̍̆m̿̎̈͌̄ͦ̈́e͌
 
CCCC: Man carrying work ambition (4)
^ this is the "I want to sleep now" clue
 
11:11 AM
HOPE?
 
Seems like it
 
H(OP)E for opus?
I'm assuming it is and going on. :)
CCCC: Captivated finale captivated finale event? (10)
oh. meant to ask you Gareth -
defending DAMA, and all DAMAGE related words ruled out. Any thoughts?
 
You might want to look into that stutter
And yes, of course
 
@ffao Yeah it got bad there didn't it. :)
 
@Wen1now it doesn't matter whether it's a grey scarf or a black and a white scarf, since we never see it. It could be a scarf of a random colour for all my answer matters. Anyway, removed
 
Sid
11:53 AM
@Rubio DAMASCUS? Is that a valid word?
 
Not for Contact, no.
 
12:05 PM
@Rubio EN(RAPTURE)D
 
 
CCCC: Rush doctor not operating (5)
 
I hope you liked my stutter. :)
 
I was expecting a last letter selection somewhere, kinda nice there wasn't any
 
an earlier draft used "final days" but I decided finale worked better
 
12:09 PM
Unrelated side note: apocalypse and armageddon also have 10 letters :P
 
You mention that merely as a passing curiosity, I'm sure. :)
I don't suppose that's DR+ILL .. heh
 
Sid
I don't understand Rapture?
 
finale event, Christian thing
 
Definition of rapture
[...]
3 often capitalized :the final assumption of Christians into heaven during the end-time according to Christian theology
 
Sid
Oh. Okay
 
12:19 PM
Not DRILL :P
 
i'm shocked. shocked, I say. :)
 
gasp
 
Finally found the eldritch abomination I was looking for
 
-2
Q: Secret algorithm

StanPlease help find Hidden algorithm: In: Out: 4 -> 36 21 -> 693 35 -> 1155 36 -> 2340 43 -> ????

 
ok now i think you're just screwing with us. there's no such word. :)
 
12:36 PM
the DAMA* word?
 
Sid
The C4, I guess
 
SURGE(-ON)
 
Sid
...Gah
 
hah. wow!
nice job
 
Sid
Too stuck up with doctor as Dr. Or Doc.. :(
 
12:48 PM
I even tried "WHO" :)
 
I'll wait for confirmation before posting. DRILL seemed like it fit about as well as this.
 
nah. SURGEON is definitely it
 
Sid
This is obviously correct..
 
Yeah, it's definitely it. We can wait til Sp confirms though.
 
lol
As a warning, the only ones I have prepared were made for SSSS
 
Sid
12:50 PM
SSSS is a subset of CCCC
 
CCCC: Bird swaps sides for fair play in ball game. (3)
 
Sid
Perhaps H->TIT
 
Order is backwards, but yes.
 
Sid
TIT is a bird, right?
 
yah
 
12:56 PM
swaps sides can only operate on the preceding term
so it would be (T->H), not (H->T)
 
Sid
Eh, I thought it could work for both sides
 
Maybe. I might be missing something. I would assume it would have to be "swaps x sides" or "swaps sides of x". The "for" acts as a separator in this case, though.
 
Grammatically it makes more sense for the bird to be swapping sides there
 
Sid
1:12 PM
CCCC: Maybe the Painting is primarily semi neat? (7)
You guys are probably going to be mad at me if you don't solve it at once...
 
1:41 PM
@Sid ART+I[s]+CLE[an]
Not quite semi, but that's gotta be it
 
I'm half tempted to quibble that "Painting" for Art is def by example, but meh :)
 
I'm sure there is at least one painting named "art"
 
I would say that the act of painting is a subset of the act of art
 
As is the set of works you might call a "painting" a subset of the set of works you might call "art"
 
2:10 PM
On the assumption that the above is right:
CCCC: Poles trouble glider (5)
 
SLOPE is Poles*
 
That's what I thought too, but couldn't see how it would link to "glider".
 
same
 
It's a type of glider
 
in what sense?
 
2:20 PM
Googled "slope glider", apparently it's a thing
 
@Sp3000, confirm?
 
Slope's not the intended, no
 
SN+AIL ?
 
That's the one
 
2:26 PM
now I feel slimy
 
glider?
 
I suppose their movement would be gliding
 
Most snails I know of don't exactly glide
 
(Researching "what do you call how snails move" was a deep rabbit hole...)
 
Alright @Rubio, you're up then.
 
2:34 PM
Wait, was it SNAIL or SLOPE?
 
Sp's most recent message seems to confirm SNAIL.
 
It was apparently Snail
 
CCCC: Furies of ill-treated Cree trapped by subtlety and diplomacy. (12)
 
probably not indignations (indigenous nations - enous), more likely [subtlety synonym][cree anagram][diplomacy synonym]
 
2:56 PM
I have solved it but do not have a CCCC to post
 
too bad, you have to make one
 
FIERCENESSES
= FINESSES around CREE*
 
 
If you don't have a CCCC on hand, it's easy to put together a clue for a 3-letter word
 
I have some halves
 
2:59 PM
a three letter clue, on the other hand, might be a major challenge. :)
 
Sid
3:09 PM
@Sp3000 I prepared CLE(VER) for neat.
 
ah. that works nicely.
 
Sid
But, yeah. That is correct
 
Please bear with me while I -ahem- finesse my clue
 
Sid
But, yeah. That is correct
@Rubio 6.9(3)? :)
Well, technically, that is a 3-digit clue... But whatever
 
Is (3) the enumeration?
 
Sid
3:17 PM
Yeah
 
apparently
 
Sid
actually, 3-character clue. .
 
?
 
Sid
(On mobile.. Bad things happen. :P)
 
SIX? With "wordplay" something about an upside-down 9?
 
Sid
3:19 PM
It is obviously SIX. Figure out the wordplay. :)
 
point --> S (south: compass point), nine --> IX
 
. mean any character, 9->IX
 
^^^
 
oh, that's a little better than my regex reason
 
Regex for a CC could be cheating
 
3:20 PM
^
 
....potato (4) -> SPUD, because each . could be any letter
 
I think we've had Regex before maybe?
 
.*, broken .* (6)
:P
 
Me: "I wonder what this CCCC thing is they're always talking about. Oh look! there's a pinned explanation!"
**CLICK**
0_0
"Welp, these are too complicated for me..."
 
Sid
Lurk around for a few days. You will get the hang of it.
 
3:28 PM
Don't worry, they're not as complicated as they look! I went into a lot of detail there for sake of completeness, that's all.
The basics are just the stuff before "double definitions" (the first type of wordplay I mention). Hell, you've probably solved a few cryptic clues in Contact without even realizing it.
(Also, please let me know if anything is unclear. I'm trying to make the guide as accessible as possible.)
 
The part about solving Gareth's clues, that section needs some work. :)
 
It's not like yours are any better in terms of solvability.
 
tell that to @Sp who keeps blowing all mine up in like 30 minutes or less ... mutter :)
 
In the double definitions section you give the answers with no steps in between. I eventually understood most of them (Except I still don't get DONNER), but to someone with as thick a skull as mine it might be nice to completely spell out the steps to the first couple of examples.
 
...now I'm worried that the length of my guide is scaring people off D:
Mith said something similar
 
Sid
3:37 PM
@Tumbler41 you haven't yet seen, "Rose is River" (6) :P
(Is that valid, BTW?)
 
(Sure, don't see why not.)
 
yah
 
Well, there aren't really any "steps" per se. "POLISH" can be defined as both "European" and "shine". There are no intermediate portions. But fair enough, I could add more there.
(DONNER is a reference to one of Santa's reindeer as well as the Donner Party, a group of American pioneers who spent a winter snowbound and had to resort to... unpleasant things, to put it lightly.)
 
Ah... I hadn't heard of the Donner Party. That explains it.
 
I only know of it from XKCD. Might be a good idea to replace that clue with something less obscure, then.
 
3:44 PM
minor change to one of yours, "Promote connection to power (4)" would be a good example
 
Looking over it again, I'm considering doing a rewrite of some of the early sections of the wordplay types. (There are a few typos I still can't believe I didn't catch.)
 
Eh, this is as good as I can get it for now.
CCCC: Likely penned act to lead regular constituents (7)
@Deusovi I learned about them in elementary (?) school, as part of American history
 
@Rubio Haven't looked at the Contact game, but my first thoughts are DAMASK and DAMASCENE (though I think the latter needs to be capitalized). I wouldn't be surprised if there are a bunch of other more obscure ones.
 
hah
 
@GarethMcCaughan The former was correct. Nobody in the room (including me) knew the word.
 
3:53 PM
I knew you'd have it.
it was DAMASK
 
Yeah, sure. Gareth knowing a word doesn't count, though.
 
I am flattered.
 
Of course, I mean that in the sense that your lexicon is at least double the size of the rest of ours combined.
 
You do realise, I hope, that there are whole levels of word knowledge above mine. Imagine trying to defend in Contact with a couple of high-level Scrabble players among the attackers.
 
@Tumbler41 I -get- it, but I think it takes QUITE some doing to get -good- at it.
 
3:56 PM
Of course I do! It's meant as more of a joke than a serious implication that you know literally every word. (Please, let me know if it bothers you, though. I really don't mean it in an insulting way, or in a way that makes you uncomfortable at all.)
 
My understanding is that the best Scrabble players often don't pay any attention to the meanings of the words they're learning, but they could probably do very well just by posting anagrams.
How could I possibly be offended?
 
Sorry my clue sucks
I'm not very happy with it
It started out as a great idea but being the most fleshed out at the time of my solving (!) a 4C, I rushed its completion
 
Yeah, I was about to say the same thing regarding Scrabble players knowing (or not knowing) the meanings of the words. (Defenders could just try all the anagrams for short words, of course.)
 
Or for long ones. But it would get awfully boring.
I think some Scrabble players know a whole lot of meanings too.
 
Ok, someone help me out. Sid's looks like it should be easy.
 
3:59 PM
Our family has a rule when we play scrabble that if you put a word down you have to know the meaning
 
@GarethMcCaughan Maybe not offended, but I think it might be reasonable to be slightly uncomfortable by excessive compliments, especially ones that exaggerate a lot.
 
@Tumbler41 I don't think it's that easy unless you happen to know a particular trick popular among cryptic people.
 
Sid
@Tumbler41 that satisfies me. Cryptic clues are supposed to look easy.
 
@Tumbler41 I've started trying my hand at these daily cryptic crosswords and am also considering purchasing one or both of the "Cryptic Crosswords" books in the "Dummies" series.
 
Sid
@BeastlyGerbil Contact is an excellent place to be in, if you want to win those family games. :P
 
4:10 PM
Okay, I have to get some work done today, so if anybody wants to submit a solution or invite me to a for-sure game, ping me.
 
maybe Townies? Likely Penned->Fenced buildings, act to lead->tow, constituents?
no, I hate it, but the nies at the end still seems promising
 
Sid
@Tumbler41 it was supposed to be FLOWER. Now, try to figure out, why. :)
 
Hmm.. Ok well Rose as the definition since Rose is a flower. And rivers flow? Does that count as wordplay?
 
Sid
@Tumbler41 ddef.
 
yup - a river is a FLOW-ER (a thing that flows)
 
4:21 PM
Oh, got it.
 
Plum, what degree are you going for again?
 
BS, Bachelors of Spying
 
Sid
4:37 PM
@Emrakul Hey! Long time no see.
 
@MikeQ lol
 
@dcfyj IIRC @n_palum is going for a CS degree with a focus in video game design
 

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