The Sphinx's Lair

Avi

00:54

screams in withdrawing 100% of my brainpower and despositing it in the radioactive decay chamber

I came up with a pretty good idea for neural networks but it can't be patented well (not quite discoverable as opposed to using traditional neural networks) and I don't have any ideas to monetize it... rip me

.... guess I'll stick to puzzling, then

Aphorisms on a distortion making changes when seen from the side (12)

problematically, distortion doesn't fit tense-wise, but it's (APHORISMS ON A)* = ANAMORPHOSIS

Mana backlash destroyed shop or sister? It may not be clear at first glance (12)

Sphinx

03:35

0

Q: A misnomer, yet I too have a taste

I’m made of two parts, you see Where the first part is a tree Whose trunk can be used for furniture Its leaves may be used to brew tea The other is from another tree Whose growth is not fast-paced Together, I relate not to a tree A misnomer, yet I too have a taste So t...

Rubio

05:30

@Avi This doesn't actually work, the wordplay gives too many S's

Heh. My cryptic got a downvote.

Sphinx

08:40

0

Q: A colorful character

Shoot at me, and I'll back off, Make me cross, and I'll shoot back at you, Tie me up, and I'll wring your neck, Put me down, and I'll show you some respect, Who / What am I?

riddle

Sphinx

09:00

0

Q: This Nonogram seems a bit...... off

Hmm...... Did I miscount something? The hidden word has six unique letters anyway...... Click the image for larger version. The colorblind-friendly version is also available here.

enigmatic-puzzle visual nonogram

Sphinx

10:21

2

Q: This new puzzle type needs a name {4}

I believe I have invented a new type of puzzle... What is its name? Begin by solving the 16x16 sudoku; each of the digits 1-16 must appear exactly once in each row, column and thick-bordered 4x4 box. Then apply some grid-deduction-deduction (!) and discover its name! Other puzzles in t...

enigmatic-puzzle visual grid-deduction sudoku reverse-puzzling

jafe

10:33

hm, can't seem to get the order of components right in this &lit clue

let's say the intended answer is DUCK+BURG

"Town associated with Donald, for example" -- def works, but the wordplay would make BURG+DUCK

"Donald, for example, associated with town" -- the wordplay works, but now the def is no longer the town

msh210

12:09

@jafe "Town styled after Donald, for example!" itself is not so good (because "town styled" ≠ BURG) but maybe something like it?

jafe

12:23

yeah, "after" would be useful to have somewhere in there

but it's tough to add it so that both readings still work

i thought about "x as background for y" but not sure if anyone would recognize it as "x coming after y"

or "north of x associated with y" with the same issue (the def doesn't work in the DUCKBURG example, but happens to work in the actual clue)

Avi

12:48

@Rubio Good catch :0

Sphinx

13:22

0

Q: A bicephal snake

I am a bicephal snake Lock my tail and I'll hiss at you But if I raise it Be prepared to change course!

riddle wordplay

Sphinx

14:03

1

Q: The peasant atop the world

Mate in four, White is in glee But all is not as you see For it takes a certain trick A broken rule to break you must pick Tell me the rule and the grand solution And points you shall earn with attribution!

chess humor

0

Q: Another Non Math Puzzle. What is the middle number?

There are Four patterns below. Two diagonal, one horizontal and one vertical. The middle number is common to them all What is it? It is not mathematical per se. NO partial answers. Explain all four patterns in your answer.

pattern word-property

Avi

15:05

Oops! Tragically! Failed! Ruin! Destroyed! Botched! Turning all over the place! (15)

(OOPS + RUIN + BOTCHED)*

Gareth McCaughan

clue seems to imply anagramming them separately

North

15:29

akk

So we're doing unit circles and I would ask for help

But I don't even know what to ask

msh210

15:41

@North They're round.

HTH.

North

15:56

@msh210 wow, I didn't know that

msh210

Seriously, even if you can't figure out what to ask, if you can at least say what you don't comprehend, maybe someone can help you. At least one person with a doctorate in geometry (@GarethMcCaughan) and at least one with a doctorate in topology (yours truly) hang out in this room quite a bit -- which means we probably don't know lower-level math and you should ask someone else. :-D

North

A doctorate in geometry?

msh210

@North I think so, yes. Right, @GarethMcCaughan?

North

i'm surrounded by Phds... how insignificant it must feel

Mithical

@North it's okay I don't have a doctorate

msh210

16:07

@North And topology is similar to geometry. The one-sentence summary I like to give laymen is that it's geometry without a sense of distance or size -- so we can tell a doughnut (by its hole) from a playing die, but not planet Earth from a die. (That's a gross oversimplification, but all one-sentence summaries for laymen are.)

@North nothing so great about getting a doctorate. That's simply the career path you chose. (And yes maybe it means you have some brainpower but that's mostly not your credit.) Someone who helps others and has no education is far better than someone who doesn't but has a doctorate.

(where "you"=someone)

North

@Mithical no way, you don't say.

Mithical

16:25

@North I do have a high school equivalency diploma though, so I've got that going for me...

:P

North

16:52

@Mithical That's as good as anything :P

Sphinx

17:05

4

Q: Unbalanced weight of boxes

You are given a traditional balance scale with two pans (no reading) and 6 boxes with the following properties: 1) the weight of each box is a positive integer number 2) if you put any number of boxes on the left pan of the scale and any number of boxes on the right pan of the scale, the scale is...

logical-deduction strategy weighing

Gareth McCaughan

17:30

@msh210 Well, there was geometry in it. My PhD was in a slightly odd corner of mathematics at the intersection of probability, complex analysis, combinatorics, ... .

Anyway, indeed there are plenty of people around here with a fair degree of mathematical expertise. Rand al'Thor is a professional (academic, I think) mathematician. Deusovi is nearing the end of a mathematics degree. There are a bunch of younger folks who've been on mathematical olympiad teams. (As have some of us alas-not-so-young folks.)

And yeah, no need to be awestruck at PhDs. Most people with PhDs are at least fairly bright and fairly expert in something, but going further than that would be reckless :-).

@Mithical You don't have a doctorate yet. Growth mindset!

dcfyj

17:55

@GarethMcCaughan I once knew a professor at a university that had I think 5 doctorates. He could teach near any subject at the school lol. The ones he couldn't his wife could since she had his missing pieces hahaha.

Avi

18:45

@GarethMcCaughan Oh, forgot that's not allowed D:

@dcfyj Don't see the point in that, honestly. At maximum my interests would extend into Chemistry, Finance, Computer Science, and Math

Perhaps he just had too much time/money on his hands

dcfyj

I'm not the one that did it lol. I've no idea why he sought to pursue so many doctorates. Also, some people just love to learn.

Avi

learning is fun, but I prefer learning in 1 field over 10

because there is more than enough in each field to keep you busy for a lifetime

If there isn't, invent it

Gareth McCaughan

19:01

You can learn a field and do research in it without actually getting a PhD, especially if you're already an established academic working in some other field.

Avi

^ also that

a PhD does set a pretty strong foundation for being aware of the elements of the field, though

Mithical

I'll just get an English Literature degree.

If you think this is too hard on literary criticism, read the Wikipedia article on deconstruction.

Avi

lmao

To be fair

the English majors I've met do have a way with words

though some inexplicably cannot spell words :P

Mithical

I can't spell or pronounce anything.

I write in a plaintext environment because it forces me to learn how to spell xD

Brandon_J

I love that XKCD lol

dcfyj

19:17

@Mithical Ew English :P

Mithical

@Brandon_J It's rather accurate as well... I earned 12k rep on Literature.SE (plus a diamond) without knowing a thing about the subject ;)

Brandon_J

ha!

BTW, we have 2 people in Codenames (possibly a third)

Make that 3, possibly 4

dcfyj

possibly 4?

Brandon_J

DJ waved recently, but isn't currently in the room

@dcfyj you're welcome to join

make that 3.5, possibly 4.5

dcfyj

I'm somewhat busy so I wouldn't really be able to focus on it much

Avi

19:20

I wrote a program to randomly remove squares from a sudoku

Brandon_J

np; cya around

Avi

while still ensuring a unique solution :D

Brandon_J

@Avi nice! Care to join in the game?

;)

Avi

unfortunately it literally does no solving of its own so I have to track each edit super slowly

Brandon_J

bummer

Avi

19:21

which is what I'm in the process of doing, and as such cannot do Codenames :x

Brandon_J

aww

dcfyj

@Avi It shouldn't be terribly difficult to add a solution check to it (and list total solutions found per check)

Avi

@dcfyj provided I was willing to download a DLX library

which I'm not

nor willing to copy code willy-nilly off the git

dcfyj

you're putting the numbers into an array no? you shouldn't need an external library for it

(Not saying it wouldn't be tedious, but it should be doable at the least)

Avi

it wouldn't be tedious

I'm just unbelievably lazy to the point where I am too lazy to be less lazy

despite realizing the extent of my laziness

hence, the perfect Computer Scientist

jafe

19:27

you can basically say that in a job interview and they'll be like "we've heard enough, when can you start?"

dcfyj

@Avi In my case, if it's a personal project I'll go to extremes on it, work project, not so much. I've got my priorities mixed up lol

Avi

In any project I use code to fuel my desire to destroy problems

For example this one time I considered people hacking the leaderboards a problem

dcfyj

@Avi Welcome to Kongregate?

Avi

So I wrote a bot that instant-clicked the correct answers in the memory test section and "legitimately" got a higher score than any of them

Of course, the next day they started hacking higher scores lol

dcfyj

heh

Avi

19:36

@jafe I'll consider trying it, at least once

"What is your greatest weakness?" -> "Well..."

John Dvorak

"I prefer not to disclose"

Avi

Only if I were applying for a legal position

"I plead the fifth"

dcfyj

But not an Illegal one?

Mithical

@Avi "Ice cream"

Avi

@dcfyj "I have no family you can threaten me with but I'm easily bribed"

Avi

19:59

wow

all that effort and the puzzle wasn't even diabolical

yet the other day I make an extreeeeme puzzle entirely by accident

dcfyj

Isn't that how it's supposed to work?

Avi

I mean, I deleted squares until I couldn't anymore

got a puzzle that was "tough"

I did the same thing by hand with no computer

got a puzzle that was "extreme"

wherein easy << tough << diabolical <<<< extreme

btw puzzlers you may prepare now for an extreme puzzle that I shall unleash :D

if you prepare for a month you may be ready when it hits

dcfyj

I might eventually get around to creating another minesweeper crossword... I need to stop being lazy if I want to do that though lol

HTM

Today’s daily HNQ that sounds like a cryptic clue:

3

Q: Harmony, lead and backing, notes outside the chord

Okay so perfectly happy with the principle playing of say a straightforward major chord and playing a notes of that chord over the top of it. Also happy with the idea of playing say a more dissonant chord like a diminished and playing say b5 over that. We are playing notes that appear in the cho...

theory harmony

Avi

ack

it hurts

HTM

20:20

Jan 15 at 22:37, by HTM

Interior-man beginning to infiltrate, cooks the team that will lose? (6 or 6)

And also, more obviously:

Jan 15 at 19:17, by HTM

Playoff athlete charging, kicking, ending round on top - surprising winner taking the W? (5 or 6)

Avi

eh eh eh

those can be forgiven for double-cluing

the HNQ sounds like poor English, though

Sphinx

23:08

0

Q: A trip around the United States

My journey so far has taken me to the following cities in order: New York (where I started from), Baltimore, Cincinnati, Sioux City, Monroe (La.), and Columbus (Ga.). What's my next stop? Hint:

geography

Sphinx

23:28

0

Q: I Haven't Had the Pleaure

If... I hurled a dream into the reservoir But you shouldn't inquire why--my lips are sealed. When my aforementioned action had consequences, I was gazing at you. Move! And... I'm looking to exchange Lust for my Persona and buy a smack for pocket change. I don't have what I wan...

knowledge

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