The Sphinx's Lair

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Sphinx

01:27

(This is part of a series of puzzles written for Timwi for a Secret Santa puzzle exchange, themed around various custom modules for the game Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. No KTaNE knowledge is necessary for any of these puzzles except the final meta; each puzzle resolves to a single word or ...

2 hours later…

Sphinx

03:49

Q: Which number is the largest in this division case?

I came across this puzzling question in a coaching school exercise book for children preparing for selective high school enrolment test. I can't figure out the answer and suspect something was wrong with the question itself. Please see the question in the following picture: Thank you very much ...

calculation-puzzle

2 hours later…

Sphinx

06:13

Q: It's inside me to

In a music list, it's power is itself, All visitors to dock 80 bring this in itself, It is by far most abundant, And it appears when you go after what remains

riddle word

2 hours later…

Sphinx

08:35

Q: Off the ground the game is at stake

My first part is a pound to take The other part means to forsake Off the ground the game is at stake Fly around; make no mistake Who am I?

riddle word knowledge wordplay rhyme

5 hours later…

Sphinx

13:39

Q: My first Riley riddle, double Riley riddle

My prefix is the 9th. A prefix of the prefix is a pronoun. My infix is in many languages, but not in English. An infix of the infix is another pronoun. My suffix is a pot. A suffix of the suffix is a masculine name. Together, I beg for a dagger. I doubled, th...

riddle mathematics word wordplay

3 hours later…

Sphinx

16:42

Q: All or nothing, yes or no

Here is a simple riddle for you: I stand for nothing but I am everything, with 100%. There are ideas wanting to replace me with something that can stand for more but can't even decide what it is. I stand for information but I can only answer a yes/no question. I am contained in this puzzle bu...

riddle

Gareth McCaughan

16:59

Since @msh210 thinks I ought to be able to solve the current C4 (or maybe only that contemplating me ought to lead others to solve it, or something) but apparently I can't, here follows a brain dump that may help someone else to do better than I have.

1. Surely "primal scream" means S.

2. Possibly "primal" applies to more words than just "scream".

3. Applying "primal" to the four following words yields SPIT, and a SPITBALL is kinda-sorta an unpredictable treatment, but I don't see how to get anything actually usable out of this. [Primal scream pro is the cool practitioner of unpredictable treatment (10)]

4. I'm a mathematician, and STATISTICS is a branch of mathematics that relates to unpredictable treatment and begins with S. But alas it has 10 letters and none of the rest of the wordplay fits. ["Primal scream" junk is jerk's, worse than lies (10)]

5. I'm interested in music, "pro" = FOR, and a SFORZANDO is kinda-sorta an unpredictable treatment of a note. And even has 9 letters. But I don't see how ZANDO has anything to do with apologists. [Primal scream pro and, in cut-down animal sanctuary, suddenly loud (9) or Suddenly loud primal scream pro, last in two languages (9)]

6. "apologist" could maybe be (Godfrey Harold) HARDY, author of a semi-famous book called "A mathematician's apology". (That's "apology" in the older sense of "justification" rather than "expression of regret and admission of guilt".) But I can't see any way to make anything work there.

7. Or "apologist" could be (John Henry) NEWMAN, author of a more famous book called "Apologia pro vita sua". Again, I can't see any way to make it work with anything here. [Primal scream apologist eats reporter (7)]

8. There are probably other mathsy terms relating to unpredictability, but I haven't so far thought of any that help here.

OK, that'll do for now.

msh210

CCCC hint 2: @GarethMcCaughan's dump's item #1 is wrong.

(dunno how to do that as an emoticon)

Deusovi

17:30

CRAPSHOOT; prime-position letters of SCREAMPROISTHEAPOLOGIST

jafe

nice!

Sphinx

Q: You can see me but you see through me

This is my second (easy) riddle: You can see me but you see through me. I can fill the room but I will vanish as soon as nobody creates me. I transport energy but I am not sure if I am made of physical matter. Nobody is faster than me but I cannot drive on regular streets. I do not need anyt...

riddle physics

Rubio

18:08

@Deusovi wow.

msh210

18:59

@Deusovi yep! Nicely found

msh210

19:11

@GarethMcCaughan It may be more famous, but I don't think I've heard of it (whereas I've read Hardy's).

Gareth McCaughan

19:34

@Deusovi Good Lord.

@msh210 Yeah, Hardy's is better known among mathematicians.

Newman was a Church of England priest who became a Roman Catholic, and unsurprisingly got a lot of flak for it. The Apologia was a sort of autobiography-cum-self-justification, responding in particular to some criticisms made by Charles Kingsley (better known, these days, at least, as the author of a children's book called The Water Babies).

Unfortunately I don't think "having to do with prime numbers" is actually a meaning of "primal"...

Sorry, that should have been "The Water-Babies", with a hyphen. Also Westward Ho!, a novel for which a village was later named; apparently it's the only place in the UK with an exclamation mark as part of its name.

msh210

@GarethMcCaughan It's not, and I knew that when I wrote the clue, and, yes, that makes it a little unfair, but not terribly so IMO. Slightly in my defense, "primality" does mean "the state of being a prime number".

2 hours later…

Sphinx

21:27

Q: Gemstones; seven clues

There are seven clues, with each clue pertaining to a specific gemstone. The first letter for each gemstone (in order) when aligned spells out another specific gemstone. So, a 7 letter gemstone. Answer with each gemstone per hint. Good luck. Seven clues before you, One answer you will find, Only...