The Sphinx's Lair

11:32 AM

0

Q: Prime to Prime Sequel

This question is inspired by the question here. The first 24 Prime Numbers are 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67, 71, 73, 79, 83, 89 Using up to 4 prime numbers and the following mathematical operations, get all 24 primes. + - x / No other operato...

mathematics primes

11:53 AM

-2

Q: Number puzzle! Find "?"

Replace the question marks. 1, 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, ?, 11, 14, 19, 20, ?

pattern number-sequence

Q: The answer to this puzzle is a three letter word

12:55 PM

0

Easy riddle. Even kids should be able to get this. The answer to this puzzle is a three letter word and also a single letter. Ignore the Excel sheet lines

riddle knowledge

Rubio

1:37 PM

CCCC hint: first word’s first letter is S

2:26 PM

I knew that.

3:34 PM

argh

I'm trying to figure out how to use an abacus

and it is not so easy to do without an abacus on hand

John Dvorak

The number of balls on one side of each row represents a digit. Abacuses used as practical tools were often split as 1 ball + 4 balls to represent fives and units. Those plastic thingies they make these days are a single uninterrupted line that's easier to understand conceptually but harder to read.

Alternatively you just use it for purely creative purposes.

I was going to make a puzzle

but now I'm just annoyed

John Dvorak

nani

so many lines

I thought there were just 2

John Dvorak

it's just 12 nibbles. No idea why it was photoed sideways.

4:19 PM

Is this legal? using from as an anagrind

Promise from a messy lad I repel (2 4 3 6)

MY LIPS ARE SEALED*

Q: Worst way to solve Rubik's in one algorithm

0

If you apply the same algorithm over and over again the cube will be solved. I want to know what algorithm is the worst one (the one with the longest cycle) I have found RU (cycle of 60 times) I have found one of 72 but I can't remember it

rubiks-cube algorithm

Q: A Coldport Christmas puzzle

4:42 PM

1

Detective Inspector Playfair, an energetically boisterous policeman who often complained about Endeavour Morse having his own TV show, was sat on a bench at the side of Coldport's newly laid town square (Tile-laying for beginners ) holding a lacquered programme in one hand and a steaming-hot cup ...

logical-deduction cipher

msh210

@Avi bleagh

Or, in other words, not in my opinion.

same

Q: Letters and numbers... Replace the question mark

5:02 PM

0

Here's some letters and numbers. Find "?" (S+V):3::(U+K):16::(T+F):5::(D+K):5::(M+W):1::(I+O+M):?

cipher pattern

5:31 PM

Hopefully, a quick one: puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/91901/a-strange-sumation

5:44 PM

0

Q: A strange summation

I sum up S4; there exists a ⵢ8 How many numbers does this strange summation encode, and what's the encoding?

enigmatic-puzzle

Q: Party Time with Captain Pun

6:04 PM

1

The other day my good friend Captain Pun invited me to a party on board his new boat. "What will the dress code be?" I asked. Captain Pun said he'd email me the details. Later that day I received the following image in my inbox: The accompanying message said only: "Solve the nonogram, then c...

knowledge visual nonogram humor

Q: Blue. Orange. Green. Magenta. What does this strange picture represent?

6:46 PM

1

Is it text? Is it a face? Is it code? What is it?

enigmatic-puzzle visual geometry

7:06 PM

0

Q: a spy in Fruitland

The army of the big and violent-prone country of Fruitland is planning to launch a nuclear rocket that could possibly destroy the near pacific little country of Vegetablesland. It is well known that there are exactly sixteen rocket stations in Fruitland, but no one in Vegetablesland knows which o...

logical-deduction

7:16 PM

;o

8:29 PM

@Deusovi can you see the colors in this image?

that's a small image, but I see three shades of blue and then black at the bottom

hmm

is anybody colorblind that can't differentiate between those

no

if you could make it grayscale and it would still be visible, then any form of colorblindness should be able to tell the difference

8:47 PM

how can you guarantee that a nonogram can be solved without guessing?

Solve it yourself, without guessing.

HTM

Or, alternatively, have someone else solve it, without guessing

Yes, but you should solve it yourself first so you don't accidentally give someone an impossible task that neither of you realizes it's impossible.

Adam

Make sure its uniquely solvable too

Well, yes, if you can solve it without guessing, it must be unique.

(Or better, construct the puzzle to have a nice and interesting solution path, rather than just drawing an image and hoping it works. This is harder to do with nonograms, which is why I prefer other logic puzzle genres.)

9:10 PM

Is it ok to color the cell

instead of the number

on the outside of the nonogram? Because it's easier to tell the color that way

since they're all shades of blue

I don't see why not?

M Oehm

The last "Captain Pun" one circled the red numbers, probably to make them distinguishable from the grey ones.

But I do think that a puzzle that requires a bunch of distinguishing between different similar shades might not be the best, even if colorblindness isn't an issue.

(Maybe that's just my general distaste for large nonograms speaking, though.)

HTM

I wonder if anybody’s created a puzzle where colorblindness is an asset rather than a hindrance

sure, if it requires colorblindness to associate different areas with each other

9:26 PM

go for it

1 section for each type of color-blindness

9:48 PM

@Avi I've linked to it before, but you can try the last link in this answer to simulate different types of colour-blindness and determine whether the colours in your puzzle are easily distinguishable by everyone.

(I linked to the answer instead of the site directly because there are so many other good resources there.)

10:01 PM

oh, nice

it is visibly different

in case anyone missed it, here's a super short one

1

Q: A strange summation

I sum up S4; there exists a ⵢ8 How many numbers does this strange summation encode, and what's the encoding?

enigmatic-puzzle

@Rubio I think the CCCC solution is SEAL (stop a leak) + CLUBBING (fingers problem) = SEAL CLUBBING: (arguably) a bad thing to do.

oh, nice

I also had seal :)

10:20 PM

gah that picture is not one i wanted to see

The fingers, or the seals?

which picture

oof, ninja'd

HTM

Ew, those fingers look like bloated toes, they make me incredibly uncomfortable

the fingers

wait those were fingers, not toes?

ewww

10:32 PM

If you scroll down, there are more pictures...

no

no no no

.

I had SEAL CLUBBING but didn't think of clubbing = fingers problem.

(I still don't think clubbing = fingers problem is really sound. Finger problem, maaaybe.)

It's a problem with multiple fingers. It sounds like it doesn't really happen to only a single finger.

The surface would work just as well with a singular "finger".

It's still a finger problem not a fingers problem. There's no such thing as a fingers problem. That's not English.

Also, "is this is a bad thing to do" doesn't work.

I mean, you can just about have "this is a bad thing to do" as your def, but I don't think you can then put the "is" in front of it. (Or any of the other usual connectors.)

I think "is" links the wordplay and def, and the def is "this is a bad thing to do".

10:38 PM

Yes, but "this is a bad thing to do" isn't really a def (the def would be "a bad thing to do").

Fair enough.

Sorry, I'm just being grumpy because I had the answer ages ago and couldn't find a way to make it work and at least part of the reason turns out to be that it doesn't work :-).

Incidentally, to be pedantic, you could have a "fingers problem" if, for example, you had a math problem related to counting fingers or something like that.

(But it's not like I thought of clubbing = finger problem and rejected it. I did think of club foot, which I guess is kinda related, but I didn't know it happens to fingers.)

Yes, I agree, there are very special situations in which I guess you could have a thing called a fingers problem. I don't think this is one.

We don't have confirmation that this answer is correct, either.

I also thought of a club foot, and then googled "clubbing" to see if it was something that happened to fingers as well.

10:42 PM

Oh, there's no way it's wrong.