The Sphinx's Lair

Q: How do you make 100 from 3 without parentheses

1:02 AM

-1

I don't know how to make 100 out of 3 and I need help

mathematics

Dmihawk

that got deleted quickly O_O

1:28 AM

@GarethMcCaughan thanks! And a good Hebrew-calendar year ahead to you all, including those who don't use said calendar.

@OmegaKrypton thanks!

CCCC: USA author is in Guantánamo; two fathers help (3,6)

1 hour later…

Q: Consecutive numbers that are Manhattan distance 3 apart

2:43 AM

Can you place numbers from 1 to 16 on a 4x4 grid, such that the distance between any two consecutive numbers ($a$ and $a+1$) is Manhattan distance 3? Bonus question: can you also make 1 and 16 be separated by Manhattan distance 3, thus making it a closed tour? Note that the Manhattan distance bet...

mathematics logical-deduction combinatorics

Q: %#@& : $!*^ :: SOFT : 5697 :: ? : 8924?

3:24 AM

If %#@& is coded as $!*^ and SOFT is coded as 5697 what is the code for 8924 ? A) #*%& B) %#! * C) #*%@ D) *#%@ Source: Puzzle comes from Indian book... For class 4 students olympiad - Unified Cyber Olympiad - class 4

cipher cryptography

3 hours later…

Q: Consecutive numbers that are Manhattan distance 5 apart

6:28 AM

Can you place numbers from 1 to 36 on a 6x6 grid, such that the distance between any two consecutive numbers ($a$ and $a+1$) is Manhattan distance 5? Bonus question: can you also make 1 and 36 be separated by Manhattan distance 5, thus making it a closed tour? Note that the Manhattan distan...

mathematics logical-deduction combinatorics

4 hours later…

10:04 AM

@Sphinx "SOFT is coded as 5697" . . . looks almost like a variant on 1337

10:14 AM

hint: There's no û in this CCCC answer, either.

1 hour later…

11:25 AM

there goes my working theory that the second word is brûlée

@msh210 although the answer is actually american author (John) DOS PASSOS

guantánamo is in cuba, where two is DOS... fathers = PAS, help = SOS

aha

neat

though -- is it just me? -- "USA author" feels very weird. Somehow "US author" would be more natural. I'm just not used to seeing "USA" used to mean "from the USA".

11:45 AM

yeah, written out i don't think you'd say "united states of america author"

then again dos passos has written the USA series so he's actually a "USA author"

John Dvorak

How did it even came to be that the adjective is "US", not "USA"?

Q: Primes from arithmetic and geometric progressions

The five primes, 131, 157, 211, 349, 739, are neither in arithmetic or geometric progression, but are instead the sum of the corresponding terms of two progressions of five terms each, one arithmetic and one geometric. What are those two progressions?

mathematics arithmetic primes

@jafe Ah, if he's written something actually called USA then that's a completely different matter.

@JohnDvorak Possibly just that it sounds better.

(Also, when the name's written out in extenso it's often just "United States" -- just as the UK is often just "the United Kingdom" rather than "the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" which I believe is the official name.)

12:02 PM

btw should primes actually be there???

Q: Fill the Image Sequence Ep. 2

12:13 PM

Suggested by Athin, try & make another feasible puzzle for this series. Enjoy :D The prologue also be revised more precisely. This puzzle will provide several images. These images compose a sequence with several grouping properties by the same feature, and one of them also makes the images ge...

pattern visual

Adam

I think primes should definitely be a tag

...

why?

Adam

Well puzzles including prime numbers will most likely be centred around proof and logic involving prime numbers. For that reason alone I think it is acceptable for it to have it's own tag. Of course the quality of puzzles with this tag will be very mixed but I think it is worth it for the odd gem

im not sure myself, just asking ;)

if it should rly be there, it shd have much more than 4 qs

Adam

Reminder that we have tetris

12:32 PM

@GarethMcCaughan @jafe yeah that was the intent

In fact, I thought this would be much harder to find without knowing that. In other words, I figured the successful solver would have worked from the definition.

Don't be surprised. There are always wise people here.

good point

well i googled "author dos ..." :)

@jafe ah!

CCCC: Think of box filled with refined beer (9)

1:10 PM

@jafe gotta be c(ereb)rate

@msh210 yeah, that's it

ooh!

CCCC: A cookie jar has no end of stuff; at the bottom, a crust (5,4)

1:29 PM

Cerebrate is such a rare word xD

1:48 PM

and as such is cause for cerebration when we see it

@GarethMcCaughan that was nice ;)

thank you!

I asked this question in another chatroom, but I wanna see your thoughts:

If I have the word "superhuman" would "super" be before or in front of "human"?

do you mean specifically for cryptic-clue purposes?

Yah

Or, maybe in general. But I asked because of a cryptic clue of mine and how it was phrased

Q: I'm largest when I'm five, what am I?

1:55 PM

I'm very common and often you see me, Everything's believed to be made of me. Make no mistake, I look largest when I'm seven, But I'm largest when I'm five, it is proven. But alas at those ages you've never seen me, For you've seen me only when I'm three. Unlike you mortal...

riddle mathematics poetry

Q: Peeled Rubik's Cube

Help! A [toddler / pet / washing machine] has peeled some of the stickers off my old off-brand Rubik's Cube. Can you still solve it and show me the result?

rubiks-cube

I think it would usually be considered "before" and "in front", yes. It's not at all obvious to me which end of a word should really be considered its "front".

I've often seen in riddles where the "head" of a word would be the first letter, say, "h" in the word "hakunamatata"

(that might be two words but meh :P)

yes it is

yes, "head" and "tail" always mean first and last letter respectively

(When I say "it's not obvious ..." I mean that my intuition is ambivalent about it, not that there's disagreement among cryptic clue makers.)

because some bit of my brain wants to think of words as moving from left to right

Mmm

I can relate

So is there some kind of general consensus among cryptic clue-makers, as to what the "front" of a word should be?

2:02 PM

yeah, the first letter is at the front and the last letter is at the back

Say if I have the word "chum". The first letter "c" is at the front of the word

If I take away "c" and have the word "hum" then now "h" is at the front of a word

By this logic, if I add back "c" then we consequently have the first sentence I stated above

So something like "tumchum" would mean the word "tum" is at the front of "chum", correct?

(Tumchum isn't a word, just an example to illustrate my point)

However, saying or reading the word would mean "tum" is said and/or read before "chum".

So... "tum" is technically before "chum" :/

yes

you're right

@OmegaKrypton just to avoid confusion, how would you personally put it: before or in front?

both are fine for me

it depends on which suits the surface more

@OmegaKrypton in the "superhuman" example we can probably put it like this:

"Super" is before or in front of "human"

2:13 PM

yes both correct

But "human" is neither before nor in front of "super"

yes

perhaps we can say "human" is after "super"

human is after or follows super

exactly

exactly

jinx :P

2:13 PM

jinx :P

technically you win XD

ok, lets stop spammin' here

haha, yeah

2 hours later…

3:57 PM

Q: Chef wants to play

You are very hungry and decide to visit a restaurant with a couple of friends. You want to order three dishes for the three of you. But, the chef serves you only if the total cost of the dishes selected by you is a multiple of the cost of exactly one of the dishes selected. You get lucky and you ...

probability

3 hours later…

7:21 PM

-1

Q: Maths Statement Puzzle

Let two real numbers a and b such that a is very very very big then b , then ratio of a and b may be Zero +infinite or - infinite Any Positive Number Any Negative Number

mathematics

2 hours later…