The Sphinx's Lair

micsthepick

12:02 AM

Rubio, Adam, Micsthepick... Made It Abhor Pick Music

micsthepick

12:25 AM

@adam have you played "Fantastic contraption"?

Adam

@micsthepick No, why?

micsthepick

oh, I noticed that one of your puzzles was called "rude awakening" and one of the levels in that has the same name

it's an intriguing game tough, if you are interested in a 2d physics goal seeking game

it's not technically a puzzle game, but optimizing designs and figuring out how to solve each level has some puzzle like elements

I've played the old flash version, and that's the one I'm referring to. I'm not sure how good the new VR one is

Adam

Actually, now that I'm looking at it I think I played it briefly a long time ago

msh210

5:18 AM

@micsthepick Thanks. As I mentioned in the question, I basically got it from a book. I posted it more to introduce people to Teeko than anything else.

Rubio

5:54 AM

@msh210 made your Teeko checkerboard look more like a checkerboard.

msh210

@Rubio thanks!

Rubio

6:06 AM

@msh210 The \S{} stuff in the first row and column are providing the squareness to the cells. If you want to reuse this for another puzzle and need to put something actually in the first column or row, put it in the {} - so, e.g. \S{X} - which will plunk the character into the cell without distorting it. hope that helps.

msh210

@Rubio yep, thanks

I like how you did it, by the way: used llap as effectively an if-then to provide either a space or the first argument

Sphinx

8:18 AM

0

Q: Void of life- what is this

I am devoid of life. I eat at your warmth. I take your comfort. I leave nothing. Come to the plain where I lurk, and you will be incased in cold. I am infinite yet no one knows what I am, and you'll be choked out before you know it. What am I?

riddle

Sphinx

10:18 AM

0

Q: What will be the next term of the following series?

What will be the next term of the following series? $79,95,25,39,99, $____ Any help will be highly appreciated. Thank you very much.

calculation-puzzle number-sequence

Sphinx

10:38 AM

1

Q: Stella and the president's secret notes

Jason Trump, president of the Untitled Statues Association, has left a notebook containing presumably important information lying around on his desk. Stella, his nosy assistant, takes a look only to see that the notes have been encrypted into image form. Can you help Stella uncover ...

knowledge visual rebus geography

Sphinx

11:38 AM

0

Q: How to solve this coding decoding puzzle?

If in a certain code language CMWAX is coded as 51525525. Then what is the code for CIPKZ? Any help will be highly appreciated. Thank you very much.

cipher

Sphinx

12:18 PM

0

Q: Next term of the series

Find the next term of the series $79,95,25,39,99,117,$____ $(1)$ $117$ $(2)$ $81$ $(3)$ $243$

calculation-puzzle number-sequence

Sphinx

2:38 PM

2

Q: As the Ferris wheel turns

It's a lovely evening in Letterland and all the little letter couples have gone down to the seaport promenade to stroll about and ride the Ferris wheel. As the Ferris wheel turns, those on the promenade discover they can read words. How many words do they see? Here is a picture of the Ferris w...

word wordplay pattern

Omega Krypton

3

Q: As the Ferris wheel turns

It's a lovely evening in Letterland and all the little letter couples have gone down to the seaport promenade to stroll about and ride the Ferris wheel. As the Ferris wheel turns, those on the promenade discover they can read words. How many words do they see? Here is a picture of the Ferris w...

word wordplay pattern

off topic? open-ended

Adam

It doesn't seem like a puzzle at all, more like a counting game

jafe

doesn't seem any more open-ended than a regular word search, though

Omega Krypton

from rubio

@Rubio does this apply?

@jafe can you comment on my accuracy of the interpretations of the rebuses? thanks!

jafe

i might comment if nobody makes any process for a long time

but part of the puzzle is figuring out what to do with the words so i don't want to give anything away

Omega Krypton

2:52 PM

so there is still something :O

when i get net + fl + ix but can't find netflix lol @jafe

jafe

hehe

Rubio

@OmegaKrypton Thats not open ended in that there is, literally, a definitive finite number of possibilities at play - unless we contemplate the possibility of new words being created out of unlikely extensions sometime in the future :)

It’s arguably opinion based if everyone can’t agree on which letter sequences in the puzzle count as words but meh.

Omega Krypton

3:17 PM

arguably all these route search have a finite number of combinations. it is the excessive number of cases that matters, isn't it? never mind, just asking

Sphinx

1

Q: Monday's Blocking Donimoes Problem

I've designed a set of dominoes puzzles that I call Donimoes. You slide the dominoes like the cars in Nob Yoshigahara's Rush Hour puzzle, always along their long axis. The Blocking Puzzle's Goal The goal is to slide all the dominoes into a rectangle, without sliding any matching numbers next to...

sliding-blocks donimoes

Sphinx

3:58 PM

1

Q: How do you feel?

Somone's spilled coffee On your white shirt. The report you spent Four hours on, Ruined in the rain. And someone's decided That it'd be funny if you found, Dragon dung in your in-tray. Just refactor, A part of your life. And answer me this: How do you feel rig...

wordplay poetry

Sphinx

7:38 PM

0

Q: Underworld Royalties

1. Mr. Edison's Travel Diaries From Liverpool, James Edison traveled to Valencia. After watching the scheduled match, he then traveled to Italia and then Amsterdam where he promised to return in the future to meet up with his friend. After settling some Visa issues, he then was on his flight ...

cipher rebus steganography cryptic-clues

msh210

7:58 PM

Ho, hum.

C4 hints: 1. "Simp" is of course in an unusual dialect (like South African English or 1970s English) or register (like slang or formal). In fact, words in unusual dialects/registers are rampant here: they're in the clue itself, they're in the solution (or component solutions) of the cryptic part of the clue, and one is the solution to the definition part of the clue. 2. This wouldn't work as an Across clue. 3. The second letter is M.

Gareth McCaughan

8:24 PM

It's amusing how hints are always for the things one had already worked out :-).

(I mean, it might have been the third letter that was M, but second was always most likely.)

(of course I could always be completely wrong about the structure of the clue)

in fairness, fifth letter being M was about equally plausible, so in fact the hint narrows things down by about a factor of two.

msh210

@GarethMcCaughan There is the question of how many words the indicator applies to.

Was, I should say, I guess.

Gareth McCaughan

yes, that's the factor of two

msh210

Ah. Yes.

Well, if you have the structure that far, then all you need is to find a synonym of a word that has but one basic meaning.

(or hyponym)

Which is not so easy, since I've indicated the 'nym is dialectal or the like. But it shouldn't be terribly difficult.

Sphinx

8:58 PM

0

Q: Cryptic quiz. Memorable main road

Cryptic quiz, theme is "all creatures great and small" Memorable main road 8 letters Any help would be great!!

cryptic-clues

GentlePurpleRain

9:27 PM

@msh210 The CCCC solution is AMADAN (NADA + MA reversed).

(Google helped a lot with this one)

msh210

9:48 PM

@GentlePurpleRain Thank you!

Gareth McCaughan

Irish though (in some sense) I am, I had never heard that word before. Today I learned something :-).

GentlePurpleRain

10:13 PM

CCCC: Unfinished poetry requires opening; meaning is misunderstood. End result: formal charges. (11)

Alconja

11:20 PM

I have no knowledge of/opinion on/affiliation with any of the content, but it seems the current Humble Book Bundle: Puzzles and Puzzle Games may be of interest to some lurkers here...

Gareth McCaughan

11:51 PM

@GentlePurpleRain Solution to your CCCC is ARRAIGNMENT (formal charges): AR(t) + R(equires) + MEANING* + (resul)T. Not totally convinced by the very first bit; I may have it slightly wrong.

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