The Sphinx's Lair

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Doorknob

12:00 AM

Destructible Lemon

@Doorknob yeah but then you also have the issue of password resetting and crap

ooh i'm in another game now...

tell me when you're properly existing

Destructible Lemon

12:21 AM

this guy just cast confusion at himself and canceled out my own casting of confusion 😮

Destructible Lemon

12:57 AM

what happened @Doorknob

1 hour later…

thecoder16

1:59 AM

what is that website

Destructible Lemon

2:14 AM

you mean the warlocks one i posted?

thecoder16

ravenblack thing yeah

Destructible Lemon

2:52 AM

oh. it's an online game client for a game called waving hands

3 hours ago, by Destructible Lemon

@Doorknob http://games.ravenblack.net/referred?refid=18778

go there to register

and we can play!

thecoder16

what type of game is it

Destructible Lemon

you play as a warlock, casting spells at another warlock to kill them or make them surrender

to cast spells, you make a series of gestures, with 1 gesture per spell or hand per turn

hmm

seeya

bye

3:43 AM

@DestructibleLemon who knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

2 hours later…

Sid

5:25 AM

@Rubio A hint for your C4, please?

Eric Tressler

5:39 AM

@Sid any idea what "out of" means, specifically?

Sid

@EricTressler could mean subtraction or outside....

Eric Tressler

the only word I can think of that fits anything is "spectator"

and that only because it's a 9-letter word for witness

boboquack

@EricTressler I suppose new life could be spore... does that help?

Eric Tressler

@boboquack I don't know. I'm the wrong person to ask. I think learning how to solve cryptic clues in here is a little bit like jumping into the deep end to learn to swim

I thought "spec -> ceps -> cordyceps"

but it seems a lot more likely that my flailing around is not on the right track

there's also a "witness" in math an CS, but in CS it's also knows as a certificate (too long), and in math it's just a witness. certifier?

ffao

5:55 AM

I don't think you can reverse letters like ceps -> spec unless there is an indicator for it

Sid

6:09 AM

Well, parasites could also be the def although it looks unlikely

new life could either be anagram of life or something like seed or fetus, etc.

Eric Tressler

I have lists of words for witness and wingless parasites, but not much for new life

ffao

Wingless parasites can be parasites without the outer letters too

Eric Tressler

I did not realize that

ffao

This branching of possibilities is what makes clues difficult, and Rubio tends to be especially nasty with it

Eric Tressler

Have you been working on this one?

humn

6:22 AM

Random drop in/out. I've recruited some interest from one who has solved real-life puzzles to the same degree as I've stolen puzzle books from libraries, for half a century. In ways I've copied their style for so long don't be surprised if they seem similar to me -- it's the other way around.

If you have no idea what this refers to, you're might not be @boboquack or a @moderator.

But do enjoy what's in the works when it's ready: a two-or-three series of puzzles that involves getting somewhere, doing something, and making a clean getaway.

Sid

@ffao true that.

Eric Tressler

there's... marveller -> meller + arv (melodrama, + wingless "larva")

meller is something I have never seen before google told me what it was, and "melodrama <-> new life" doesn't really work

Though, "meller" is an alternate form for "mesler", which can mean "to intertwine"

so that could be a reference to conception

Sid

Seems too indirect to me...

Eric Tressler

The meller -> mesler connection is not in English, though. It is too indirect (in several ways)

ffao

6:40 AM

I thought about it for a couple of minutes, but I haven't really had time to work on it

Sphinx

7:23 AM

Q: Two quadrilateral out of a hexagon

We have a hexagon shown as below with two quadrilaterals: Your task is: Slice hexagon into two pieces and combine these pieces to find shape $a$ Slice hexagon into three pieces and combine these pieces to find shape $b$

10 hours later…

Rubio

4:56 PM

CCCC hint: First letter is I

Rand al'Thor

5:26 PM

@Rubio That leaves 855 possibilities.

Rubio

And one of them is the right answer. :)

Rand al'Thor

Hmm. Could "wingless parasites" be some kind of INSECTs?

Then the answer might be something like INSPECTOR, with "witness" as def.

Can't see how "new life" = P...OR though.

Sid

@Randal'Thor Spore with its "wings"= end letters chopped off?

but, I think wingless shouldn't go with new life...

Rand al'Thor

Ah, so "wingless parasites" could be something like RASIT?

Rubio

@Randal'Thor I wouldn't use "wingless" to remove just one side. (I doubt that's valid.)

Rand al'Thor

5:32 PM

Nah, there's no 9-letter I words containing RASIT.

@Rubio I was assuming no wordplay in "wingless parasites", that those two words gave something to be put together with the result of "new life". But I'll take your comment as a hint that there is wordplay in there as Sid suggests ;-)

M Oehm

But unlike anagrams, "wingless" can be used indirectly. So we're probably looking for a particular "wingless" parasite.

Rubio

Oh, then I just misunderstood your comment - I thought you were thinking it was removing the trailing S of INSECTS. (As that's all I was responding to, I wouldn't read more into it than that)

Rand al'Thor

fLEAs, tICKs, lICe?

LEA and ICK are no-gos.

Rubio

ask a while - have fun :)

Rand al'Thor

s/ask/afk, or do you want us to ask you questions?

Eric Tressler

5:37 PM

none of the words on my list even started with I

Sid

@Rubio Are we going to get mad at you after knowing the answer?

M Oehm

We're going to ban him!

Sid

Let's ban Rubio from C4s! Each star indicates you approve of this idea!

Rand al'Thor

Witness could be IND(IC)ATOR, but I don't see how "new life" -> IND...ATOR.

I guess we should get more than 2 letters from "wingless parasites".

leECHes is another no.

Eric Tressler

ech doesn't appear on the list anywhere (I also looked for lice, fleas, etc).

There's "informant", but ants are not parasites?

M Oehm

5:52 PM

But an 'inf...ant' might be new life?

And the parasites are wORMs?

Sid

Yep. That works

I dunno if Witness=Informant though.

Eric Tressler

there you go

Rand al'Thor

Not all worms are parasites! grumble

Just kidding :-D

Eric Tressler

i think witness = informant is fine

Rand al'Thor

Nice one, @MOehm.

M Oehm

5:53 PM

Well, Eric got the word.

Eric Tressler

nope, you get this one

M Oehm

Okay, let's make it official then.

@Rubio INFORMANT (witness) = INFANT (new life) outside wORMs (wingless parasites)

Sphinx

Q: Find the ? in this grid

Find question mark in this grid with numbers.

logical-deduction formation-of-numbers grid

Rubio

INFORMANT is of course correct

M Oehm

6:09 PM

CCCC: Groundbreaking start to experiment, nothing lost in measuring? (6)

Doorknob

6:43 PM

@MOehm (-ex)(-a)MINING? Although I'm not sure how "nothing" becomes "a".

M Oehm

@Doorknob No, that's not it, I'm afraid. What would be the definition?

Doorknob

mining could be considered "groundbreaking" :P

I thought it would make sense given the question mark

M Oehm

Oh, I see. Yes, that could work, but it's not what I intended. And there's that "a" ...

John Dvorak

7:27 PM

a- as a prefix means "without"

2 hours later…

Sphinx

8:59 PM

Q: I bus, You bus, They bus, REBUS

These may be too easy... 1 : 2 : 3 : 4 : 5 : 6 :

wordplay rebus

2 hours later…

Sphinx

10:44 PM

Q: Opening a safe by inputing a stream of numbers

Let's be given a safe that is secured by a code of length $n$ generated by using symbols from an alphabet of length $m$. Now a continuous stream of symbols may be entered in order to open the safe. As soon as the correct code becomes a subsequence of stream thus far entered, the safe opens. G...