« first day (1985 days earlier)      last day (1639 days later) » 

2:01 AM
0
Q: Density type puzzle 4

JensIn the spirit of this puzzle, here's another (with dice!). Enjoy! Final answer: (8)

 
 
6 hours later…
8:24 AM
0
Q: Double feature: Weightier

jafeThis puzzle is part 7 of the Double feature series (first part here). The series will continue in "Double feature: Going postal". Rules of Statue View1 Insert the four given pieces (7, V, t and G) into the grid by shading some cells. Pieces can be rotated and reflected. The ...

 
 
1 hour later…
9:45 AM
1
Q: The shortest , largest number

DEEM"Write a number", said Grandpa "Which is the shortest number, that is also the largest" "Shortest?" I asked "Yup. You can write it with six straight lines, period" "So you want me to write a shortest largest number?" Grandpa nodded with a smile

 
10:39 AM
0
Q: Filtering by difficulty would allow to extend the user base of the main site

Andrej AdamenkoCurrently the main site is used mostly by community who create/post puzzles and write answers to them. It is possible to use the site just to solve puzzles and to check solutions against existing answers, and some users including me are trying to use it this way. I believe great many users could ...

 
11:23 AM
hm, really don't see what "describes" could be doing as part of the wordplay
maybe it's another "sort of race" with just a different parsing of the wordplay part?
 
It might indicate a homophone clue
 
3
Q: Precious Stone, as Clear as Diamond

ThatOneNerdyBoyA precious stone, as clear as diamond. Seek it out while the sun's near the horizon. Though you can walk on water with its power, try to keep it, and it'll vanish within the hour. What is it?

 
Or it could mean that (sort of race) goes around (knight ...).
(Perhaps a bit of a stretch, but I seem to remember to have seen it used that way.)
 
I don't suppose you can back up prior use...?
 
really? must be a meaning i'm not familiar with
 
11:27 AM
It would be homologous to inscribe and circumscribe, both found in geometry
the de- part doesn't really fit the "around" meaning though, methinks
 
Yes, Your Honour.
First clue here, for example.
 
(audible gasps from the jury bench)
 
huh.. weird
 
Clue 20, 21 here.
Clue 4 down here, from the same setter.
Clue 16 here.
 
"4. to trace or traverse the outline of"
new one for me
well that opens up new possibilites for sure
 
11:31 AM
I don't respect MW, ever since they defined literally as figuratively
 
a prescriptivist, i see :)
 
I see no other option :)
 
11:49 AM
FWIW I've been assuming that "describes" means "goes around" and wondering e.g. whether there's any way to make DANCER the answer, with definition "pullers' second member".
 
But it's right there! An anagram of RACE goes around the chess knight N after the right- or easternmost letter of "hard".
(But I can't really make sense of your definition, I'm afraid.)
 
@GarethMcCaughan I think this is it! And the pullers are Dasher, Dancer, Donner, Blitzen,...
 
aaaaa
 
ugh... these pullers
 
Sorry "Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen" seems to be the usual order, misremembered.
 
11:57 AM
There goes my mission to forget that Santa Claus exists
 
12:37 PM
Oh, damn it.
(@MOehm My difficulty wasn't with the wordplay, which was straightforward, but with the definition.)
I suggest that @MOehm should do the next one since he got all of one of the options rather than only the wordplay (me) or only the definition (hexomino).
 
Yes, I see. I thought you knew that it was the answer and wanted to nudge me into posting it. I think I had dancer as possible answer when I mulled over this yesterday, but couldn't make sense of it. Instead I looked inti sorts teams called the Denver Tractors or some such.
 
12:55 PM
@GarethMcCaughan So I'll just take this Word From A Moderator as law and post the next one, right?
 
1:07 PM
Well, the moderator whose word should be law on this one is really Deusovi since he set it in the first place, but I would suggest you go ahead and post the next one anyway.
 
CCCC: Baker rolls up his sleeves to make what? (5)
 
1:43 PM
Well, I know how I want this clue to work. Haven't been able to make it work that way yet...
(If it were only one sleeve then with a small and maybe-defensible misspelling I would have an answer.)
 
I'll admit that this clue might not make the Cryptic Police entirely happy.
 
well, your comment about a bunch of sticklers is still on the starboard so it's been documented that you knew what you were getting into
 
Touché.
 
i know one word that would make a particularly delicious answer but don't see how the wordplay would work
 
That doesn't sound too bad. Care to share it?
 
1:50 PM
I'll take MOehm's comment as suggesting that I explain my highly-dubious reasoning just in case it's right. So, here goes. I am suggesting that rolling up a sleeve means taking a letter from one end of a word and transferring it further in. I'd really like it to be moved but the best I've been able to do copies it instead and pushes another letter off the end. So we take BAKER, roll up the B and get BABKE(-r). And there is a very tasty kind of pastry called a BABKA, which [...]
... I don't think I've seen spelt BABKE but I bet could be.
If I were rolling up the sleeves of BAKER, though, I'd want it to make ABKRE which so far as I know isn't anything.
 
hmm, (b->C)AKE(r->S)?
 
oh, that's quite clever
much more plausible than mine
though if the mechanism in mine had been right I'd have liked it a lot
 
@jafe Yes, that's it.
 
i actually wanted it to be ROLLS... would have been pretty cheeky to actually include the answer in the clue itself
and probably worthy of a warning from the aforementioned police
 
(But when Gareth explained his approach, I thought that would fit the visual metaphor of rolling up the sleeves better.)
 
1:54 PM
freebie to illustrate my mechanism: "Suggest Davies rolls up his sleeves (6)" -> ADVISE.
 
That's very good.
 
Imams roll up their sleeves in the swamp (5)
 
CCCC: Bee Gees have a point about one theory (3, 4)
 
BIG BANG
(BGBG containing AN) containing I
 
40 seconds? i was expecting that to last at least a full minute
it's correct, of course
 
1:59 PM
@jafe Did you by any chance do a recent Guardian crossword?
 
hmm nope
 
did they have a clue about the bee gees as well
 
It had ... more than one clue about the Bee Gees.
Of course I should have saved my sleeve-roller for an actual C4, except that it would have been much too easy for everyone who's been reading here recently.
CCCC: Reproduce anti-abortion rant (11)
 
PRO-LIFE + RATE
 
2:09 PM
Yup!
 
Okay, another quick one, because I'm going to roll down my sleeves now and leave the office.
CCCC: OECD Fizzy Drink Convention (7)
 
2:32 PM
@MOehm DECORUM = DECO (anagram) + RUM, with "convention" being the def.
 
2:47 PM
1
Q: Double feature: Going postal

jafeThis puzzle is part 8 of the Double feature series (first part here). The series will continue in "Double feature: Unpopular". Rules of Yajilin1 Shade some cells in the grid. The numbered cells show how many shaded cells are in the direction of the arrow. Shaded cells cann...

 
 
1 hour later…
4:09 PM
I see I didn't need to confirm this, but DANCER as the other answer was correct, of course. And your interpretation (with 'describes' as container, and 'pullers' as Santa's reindeer) was also exactly correct. (As for why those two words in particular: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_(Killers_song) )
(I would've liked to have used "second member of pulling team", but I don't like extractions where a word is entirely unused, even if you could argue that it's really the second letter of the string PULLINGTEAM.)
 
4:28 PM
0
Q: I can be found near gentle green hills and stony mountains

JS1I can be found near gentle green hills and stony mountains, Alongside the gas in the clouds and the iron of the earth, At times I can be white and frosty, red and fiery, or blue and stormy, What am I?

 
5:07 PM
@hexomino Yes, that's it.
(I half expect the WAVE / PARTICLE C4 to come soon.)
 
 
1 hour later…
 
1 hour later…
7:30 PM
0
Q: Nobody can solve this puzzle

WhatsUpYes, literally, nobody can solve this puzzle. While every answer might get upvotes, nobody's answer will be accepted. Nobody gets the green check. In this sense, the puzzle is fair to everyone. Let's see if the puzzle gets solved! ...Although it doesn't matter that much in the end. Just f...

 
7:50 PM
0
Q: Several IQ test puzzles

nevereverneverHere are some fun puzzles I would like to know the answers and explanations for. Enjoy! Source. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

 
Avi
8:00 PM
Shoutout to GrumpyLlama59 for guessing 1 part of my puzzle! The first step is always the hardest :)
 
CCCC: Childish half of Italian team by famous river (8)
 
Avi
Where are the links to the CCCCs posted?
oh, found the explanation
 
@hexomino JUVE(-ntus)+NILE
 
@jafe yes, lightning fast, well done.
 
Avi
CCCC: Cancelled reflection (6)
 
Avi
8:18 PM
uhhhh, cancel that
it can't be split into definition and wordplay
was thinking of "reflex" - reflection x'ed out midway as the wordplay, and acting without thinking (stopping thought, or reflection) as the definition
unless it fits as double definition? I'm not sure...
 
@Avi One of the rules of the CCCC is that the person who solved the previous clue posts the next one (this is the "Chain" part) so it's on jafe to post the next one.
 
Avi
ohhhh
 
Although feel free to post cryptic clues separately.
 
Avi
that would also have been helpful to know
 
8:50 PM
Aug 28 at 15:18, by GentlePurpleRain
CCCC is Cryptic Clue Chat Chains! Latest clue is ⤴ there! Join the fun! See Deusovi's Cryptic Clue Guide and GPR's Archive & Statistics of past clues.
@Gareth might be time for a repost / repin... I was about to do it, but... realized I can't :p
 
9:11 PM
CCCC: A woman is ecstatic at her inexpensive gems (9)
 

« first day (1985 days earlier)      last day (1639 days later) »