The Sphinx's Lair

5:37 AM

Q: Queens full of jacks

(Note: I doubt that this puzzle is complex enough to post it here, but I still took a try.) There are 3 queens and 2 jacks (a full-house combination from poker) taken from a deck with standard suits, but with non-standard pictures. The queens are depicted as follows: the first queen is holding t...

logical-deduction cards

1 hour later…

puzzle-creation puzzle-identification

6:38 AM

Q: What does "?" stand for?

As stated in the title, what does the "?" stand for? If you want me to clarify something or if you want additional information, let me know. But this should be sufficient. -30 04 50 = 16 -10 16 40 = 15 23 519 73 = ?

3 hours later…

Q: What's the number in the cell marked by the question mark in the cell according to the pattern?

9:22 AM

I came across the puzzle shown in the picture below. Please help me work out the number in the cell marked by the question mark. Thank you very much. This puzzle is from the exercise booklet for selective high school enrolment tests in Australia. It's hard to discern the relationship between the ...

pattern

9:43 AM

@Rubio DEF ( = definitely = right) + ROCK ( = rock 'n' roll = a clear need) = DEFROCK (forcibly remove) . . . seems almost plausible . . . but for the "clear need" thing (and the "to")

I actually want it to be CASHIER, which is R (right) appended to CASH (a clear need) and means "forcibly remove", but that doesn't account for the IE. (And it uses "to" to mean "appended to". Is that done?)

1 hour later…

11:04 AM

Q: On Valentine's Day

A Women gets into an accident and can't remember who she is or family. The police ask her if there's anyone they could call. She thinks for a bit and says, "On Valentine's Day, we had pie and talked about a George Orwell book." The Police think nothing of it first, but then one of them realizes...

riddle story

2 hours later…

Q: What was Grandpa really doing?

1:07 PM

"Guess what happened during my walk". Said Grandpa "I saw gods in a ghetto"! He continued with a smile. "What?" I said. "Well, not really. But can you guess what I did?", Grandpa asked. "NO" I surrendered. "Here is a clue", he said. "American Dragons" What did he do? Wha...

wordplay no-computers

@msh210 not DEFROCK (though a most sporting attempt)

@msh210 I wouldn’t use “TO” that way.

Nov 15 at 7:08, by Rubio

my next cccc will be a charade plus a homophone of an indirect anagram.

Nov 15 at 7:08, by Rubio

and i'll deliberately make my (count) off by one

I’ll just leave this here. ;)

1:22 PM

@Rubio I was hoping you'd been kidding.

is there a hp indicator??? did you leave it out? @Rubio

@OmegaKrypton "Clear" can be a homophone indicator. And I guess "forcibly" can be an anagram indicator? But that would make the start and end wordplay....

Nov 15 at 7:10, by Rubio

@PiIsNot3 Well, that goes without saying. I'm also going to put the def. in the MIDDLE.

@msh210 ah yes, I mustn’t forget that part

Just stating this here: NEED ~ DENE hp DEAN

btw tis nice homophone.com

(For the avoidance of all doubt - I did not carry through on those threats hehe)

1:34 PM

>:(

@Rubio Not any of them?

@msh210 None of the illegal constructs alluded to are intentionally present. I mean i suppose I might have miscounted letters ...

Nope, 7 seems to be correct. :)

Q: Capital Punishment - The Clock is Ticking

yesterday, by Omega Krypton

A little spooky teaser for the coming Halloween... A minor tag that suits but can't be put in due to the tag limit is omitted. Hints: 1 2 3 4

wordplay enigmatic-puzzle geography crosswords seasonal

is anyone gonna try this??

@Rubio How boring. :-)

it's more than 80% done tbh

1:48 PM

"clear" is not a homophone indicator, surely.

@msh210 Yes, well, Deus tends to frown on such shenanigans, and then there’s

Nov 15 at 7:09, by Avi

removes Rubio

2:26 PM

for making a non-potato C4, I'll give you the right to be un-tossed out the window

2:42 PM

@GarethMcCaughan I'd hope not, but if anything in that clue had to be then that would my best bet.

3:07 PM

Is "def" of "wordplay" valid?

@OmegaKrypton I'm pretty sure I know the intended answer to your Halloween crossword. Still missing one step in getting to it, though.

(but I'm not out of things to try yet)

did you try latitude/longitude -> clock faces yet?

nah

Did you see the fifth hint?

oh, SGT is an abbreviation for Singapore Time as well as sergeant

I think the "seargeant" thing is an indication that we want to translate time zones to their "military" names and hence letters

and the result gives an anagram of DEATH AWAITS

which fits the enumeration

and has the right sort of theme

but I haven't yet figured out by what means we are meant to order them to get that particular message

it's not across then down or down then across, or standard crossword order, or alpha by state, or alpha by city

3:12 PM

i should have added the anagram tag...

go! type for the check

so what? there isn't actually anything saying how to order them

fair enough I guess

yep

:P youre overthinking

too much effort to type, go for it Gareth

ok, posted

yey, it's solved

3:21 PM

(incidentally, I prefer to call it just thinking)

Unction describes lotion (2, 8)

wait, no

Unction for description of lotion (2, 8)

AN + OINTMENT

anyways, is "def" of "wordplay" valid?

jafe

3:38 PM

yup

Innate desire of a pet mixed with penny (many) (9)

not sure if it's valid, please check

oh, it's not valid

oh wait, maybe it is? rot13(N CRG + CRAPR zvkrq va = NCCRGRAPR)

not sure if mixed/tangled is valid here

ugh, did I really type "seargeant"? yes, it turns out I did.

Q: What is more appropriate clue here?

4:04 PM

Let say a team have a spatial communication puzzle. For example, only a single person can see the scheme and give some instructions while other persons try to realise these instructions and build a tower or a ladder (photo is below). The scenario is not ready yet, but I think this puzzle is t...

puzzle-creation

Q: Twelve Labours - #09 House of Hippolyta

4:44 PM

This puzzle is part of the ‘Twelve Labours’ series, but can be solved independently. Previous instalments can be found here: Prologue | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 The House of Hippolyta was one of those small boutique-type shops that often spring up in well-to-do parts of town, tha...

word story cryptic-crosswords

1 hour later…

Q: Train Time - Start the clock!

5:46 PM

The train leaves May Station right on time again. The train conductor leaves from the driver’s cab and walks the length of the train checking tickets. It takes him half an hour to walk it, at an average speed of 1 mile per hour. He then heads back to the driver’s cab, but in a bit of a hurry, at ...

calculation-puzzle arithmetic time

2 hours later…