The Sphinx's Lair

3:49 AM

@GarethMcCaughan the answer is MACCA+BEAN

macca is the nickname of paul mccartney, and (mr.) bean is a childish character

and maccabeans were the followers of judas maccabeus

4:25 AM

doing cryptics. can anyone tell me why:

Expression of annoyance for your immediate occupation : CROSS WORD?

@Deusovi @jafe or anyone else? thanks

M Oehm

"Cross" as an adjective means annoyed, so an expression of annoyance is a "cross word".

a cross word is an expression of annoyance

your immediate occupation is what you're currently doing, presumably a crossword

@jafe oh thanks @MOehm @jafe! I got the first but not the latter

1 hour later…

5:35 AM

fair description of a reformed character 3,2,3 : NOT SO BAD, but whereas the wordplay?

double def: fair / description of a reformed character

!ok thx

u_ndefined

Teazel clue (from Cryptic Crosswords App): The main part of SEAT (3) = SEA
Explanation: Hidden - **SEA**T
Is hiding a word like this allowed?

...(6)???

u_ndefined

oops

5:38 AM

I'm still not sure I understand what the definition there is supposed to be

but generally, no - hidden words that are at the start or end are strongly frowned upon

perhaps the main part refers to the main part of the earth?

@Deusovi ditto

(though that just may be because of indicators like "within", which imply being surrounded on both sides)

artistic piecework : MOSAIC

Is that ddef again?

anyone here @Deusovi

u_ndefined

Yes, probably

looks like it could be? or maybe it's a poor attempt at a cryptic def ( :/ )

not a fan of it

5:45 AM

wiktionary list one meaning for "main" as

(now poetic) the high seas

so that's probably the def in the SEA clue

6:37 AM

! wow that would be a great def to fool players

6:58 AM

i suppose... if the goal is that nobody gets the clue even after seeing the answer

lel

M Oehm

7:40 AM

@OmegaKrypton One strategy of making cryptic clues cryptic is to use lesser known meanings of common words. I've seen main=sea so often in British cryptics that it's more of a chestnut than a real stumper to me.

And "hidden clues" are a valid kind of clue, but if so, the whole clue should be hidden. You can't assemble a larger clue from this device like you can with oter tpes of clues. (And hiding "sea" in "seat" isn't very clever. More often, the answer is hidden across several words.)

2 hours later…

9:55 AM

yeah it's not exactly hidden when there are literally two 3-letter sequences to choose from

Gareth McCaughan

@jafe Correct, of course! Well done.

1 hour later…

11:01 AM

CCCC: One-time destination of Mr. Bean and Ms. Zappa (4)

Gareth McCaughan

nice!

(I have the answer but am busy for the next couple of days so will let others do it)

11:52 AM

hehe thanks

4 hours later…

3:29 PM

Q: With one extreme

Al and a maniac, without me, consult fact book (7) Ask to firstly-excluded Jew to get tilted (5) Avoid a French green (5) Conduit lacking on front defense trails birds without road pastry (7) Confused knight's assistant is obscene (6) Even book area is a plant (4) Infinity is me in castle, confus...

cryptic-clues

2 hours later…

5:27 PM

Q: Distribution of Work

The Leadman was instructed that on each floor level of the building under construction, there shall be two workers assigned to do some job. There are seven workers on the ground floor and five workers on the 5th floor.There is no available elevator, stairs or ladders but the workers can use the...

weighing

1 hour later…

logical-deduction grid-deduction

6:46 PM

Q: Heyacrazy: No Diagonals

This is a Heyacrazy puzzle. Rules of Heyacrazy: Shade some cells of the grid. Shaded cells cannot be orthogonally adjacent; unshaded cells must be orthogonally connected. When the puzzle is solved, you must not be able to draw a line segment that passes through two borders, and does n...

msh210

7:17 PM

@jafe Moon. Alan is the Bean in question (though I had to look that up).

Q: The SS Wordsquare

Anchor's away! Ahoy, puzzlers, I am Cpt. Wesley Wordsquare. I'm about to set sail for the mainland to see a show at my brother Winslow’s Wordsquare Theatre, however I can't seem to decipher this old map to shore. It's spread into 4 quadrants, and is comprised of wordsquares. North Qu...

rhyme word-square

2 hours later…

9:09 PM

@msh210 correct!

msh210

CCCC: Wash like in Rome, back in the middle ages (8)

9:43 PM

Q: Around The World

It's White to move and checkmate Black in 36 moves. I have slightly changed the original stipulation. Feel free to explain the title if you want to! Source(Couldn't copy and paste!): P.S.-How has the title NEVER been taken before? It's crazy that such a simple phrase HASN'T been taken yet!

no-computers chess