The Sphinx's Lair - 2020-02-07 (page 1 of 2)

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Avi

00:24

How does the wordplay for that work out? I see squint but not squin

HTM

@Avi "Baseless" modifies SQUINT to get SQUIN(-t)

Also at some point we need to collaborate on a CC, cause it seems like I'm always making up clues for you lol

North

00:40

@Avi why'd you delete your post?

i was working on it ... :(

Avi

01:25

It was LESTRANGE (LEST, STRANGE, RANG), but I was of the opinion that a “nut case” wasn’t STRANGE

@HTM What’s the “at” doing, then?

Avi

01:51

Ah, peer at = squint

feelinferrety

02:17

Hello, all. Anyone up for helping me out with a hunt? The hunt does allow seeking outside help, and there is no prize. I'm stuck so close to the solution on a couple of puzzles and it has become more frustrating than fun.

Sphinx

03:07

0

Q: My prefix is a memory; my infix, you may hate

My prefix is a memory My infix, you may hate My suffix is worth an effort I am used to decorate Who am I?

riddle word rhyme

Sphinx

03:47

0

Q: Unique Code Braking/Algebra Related Problem

I have been tasked with finding the answer to this problem which includes a 10x10 box filled with letters. (See below) I must find what four letters are missing and why? I have tried to find the code elsewhere, but unable to, I have used this as my last resort. Thanks

riddle mathematics algebra

1 hour later…

Sphinx

05:09

1

Q: Traps on Sudoku grids

Let's have a 9X9 Sudoku grid. Where the dots are shown above, you are allowed to put the numbers 2, 4, 6, 8. Each of these appears seven, seven, seven, six times. It does not matter which number is repeated six times. All rules of Sudoku apply: no same number in any row, column or 3X3 square. G...

combinatorics sudoku

1 hour later…

jafe

06:28

argh, forgot to post a crossword before leaving on a weekend trip

way to break a 12-week streak

sorry to anyone who was expecting it today

1 hour later…

jafe

07:54

EXTRINSIC apparently means "foreign"... there's IC(-e) for an immigration agency missing e, but can't see where the first letter of "text" goes or how any of the rest makes RINS

feelinferrety

08:12

@jafe It might work better if it's actually INS that "immigrations agency" is referring to.

msh210

08:49

@jafe could have "text bruised" = tEXt or tEXT, "immigrations" = INS (plural of "in"; it's a stretch), and IC as you said. But I don't see how to get the rest.

Note that "foreign" can also be EXOPATHIC.

Sphinx

09:27

0

Q: How can you compute in your head?

How can you easily compute in your head 84.4084% of 25?

0

Q: Strange Fire breathing animal

I drink from my tail. I breathe Fire. I hate water. Only fire can bring me back to life. Who am I?

hexomino

10:19

@jafe I've been putting together a crossword for a little while so I may post one today in your absence.

2 hours later…

Sphinx

12:45

2

Q: Small idea for a Crossword Puzzle

Across 1. Williams given usual covers. (5) 4. Aromatic resin vehicle has speed zero. (7) 8. Increase in Zimbabwean dance music leads to extra rain from God of thunder. (7) 9. Concealed in derelict antique. (5) 10. Short as lettuce. (3) 12. Water tank's bluish-green drink cont...

cryptic-crosswords

jafe

13:17

@hexomino nice!

1 hour later…

Avi

14:19

I'll attempt to solve it, let's see how far I get

Sphinx

0

Q: A special soccer tournament

30 soccer teams participate in a tournament. Each team plays against every other team exactly once. For a victory a team gets 2 points, for a draw 1 point and for a defeat 0 points. At the end of the tournament all teams have a different amount of points. The team that finishes in second place ha...

mathematics lateral-thinking

North

14:48

Wow, I've been in this community for 3 years!

Thank you all, for the wonderful memories :)

I look forward to many more years to come, hopefully

Avi

Across
1. Williams given usual covers. (5) - giVEN USual
4. Aromatic resin vehicle has speed zero. (7)
8. Increase in Zimbabwean dance music leads to extra rain from God of thunder. (7)
9. Concealed in derelict antique. (5) - deRELICt
10. Short as lettuce. (3)
12. Water tank's bluish-green drink contains iodine. (8)
13. Yellow bus driver got towed, in part. (4)
14. All points used to stitch. (4)
15. Movie ends with alien encounter. (4) - M(-ovi)E + ET
18. The outdoors has nothing to enclose. (4)

didn't get far, plus some are sketchy

22 Down is the best surface though

dcfyj

I'm guessing there's a CC puzzle up

Avi

yup, go for it

dcfyj

Heh, I'm unlikely to be solving anything

Avi

16. Five points for effort? (3)

dcfyj

14:56

Yeah I saw it lol

I don't really like the surface of this one: A thousand carve sailing boat. (5)

Avi

it's probably A + M+ ? or M + ?

dcfyj

Doesn't change the fact that the surface is weird

Avi

yeah, i wonder what the word is

dcfyj

I'd assume boat is the def

Avi

not sure what "carve" is doing there, though

dcfyj

14:59

Sounds like letter removal to me

Avi

might be K + ETCH

dcfyj

carve = etch, so yeah, that sounds right

Gareth McCaughan

(The solution is also up, a little while ago.)

Avi

...

too fast

dcfyj

lol @GarethMcCaughan strikes again!

Gareth McCaughan

15:01

I don't mind the surface of the KETCH one; it's "a thousand [people] carve [a] sailing boat".

North

@GarethMcCaughan Don't ruin our fun :(

Gareth McCaughan

I'm not ruining anything. You don't have to look at my answer if you don't want to!

North

Hehe

Gareth McCaughan

@North Congrats (if they're appropriate...) on the three years, by the way.

North

Thanks

Avi

15:02

@GarethMcCaughan It's better to have more explicit connections

Gareth McCaughan

(Tree years?)

North

It was more like a "Thank you community" thing more than anything else

@GarethMcCaughan Haha, I'd never imagined the Great Gareth would also devolve into making such tree puns

dcfyj

Wow, no bounties, I'm surprised, we usually have at least 1 up

Avi

Sailing boat from Heinz loses state of altitude (5)

KETCH(-up)

dcfyj

@Avi 2 Ketch?

Avi

15:04

yup

Sailing boats are falling out of the sky! Everybody, run for your lives!

CMC: Include some variant of "run for your life" in a CC

dcfyj

Apparently I lost my CC I wrote from forever ago, time to hunt through chat log!

Avi

alternatively "run for it"

dcfyj

found it :)

Avi

Fleecing secretly and making a run for it (4)

dcfyj

For whatever reason BOLT comes to mind, doubt that fits any kind of wordplay though

Gareth McCaughan

15:10

Big fight? Pause ... and run for it! (3)

Avi

:O

mine was FLEEcing, def[making a run for it]

Gareth McCaughan

Dude, too much. Run for it! (5)

Avi

though probably poorly constructed to be fair

Gareth McCaughan

(first is WAR, second is SURFER)

Avi

not sure on the wordplay for WAR

Gareth McCaughan

15:13

WAIT with IT -> R

similarly SURFEIT with IT -> R

though the def in that one is rather unfair

North

I like these surfaces though

Avi

The first one is mind-blowingly good though

North

@GarethMcCaughan Any def with you is unfair, good sir

Gareth McCaughan

(in fact, while I'm sure I've seen the phrase "surfer dude" I think it's uncommon enough that the second is not merely rather unfair but totally unreasonable)

yeah, I like the surface of the WAR one

Avi

when are you going to make a crossword

that is entirely &lits

dcfyj

15:14

ew

Avi

@dcfyj ?

dcfyj

&lits

Avi

what's wrong with them

dcfyj

They're even harder for me lol

Gareth McCaughan

I'm certainly not going to make an all-&lit crossword. I'm not a big &lit fan.

Avi

15:16

:(

dcfyj

@Avi guess you're up for making it then :P

Avi

@dcfyj I have yet to make a successful &lit clue, though

dcfyj

So you're perfect for the job!

Avi

So you just don't want one to be made, ever, I see

I'm busy anyhow

creating a ????????????????????????????// puzzle

you'll only know the answer after you solve of course

puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/93456/…

Small hint #1: -> I look at the initials of these people

and then I :thinkingpizza:

puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/93445/… - first comment here is SO good

dcfyj

I determined quite a while ago I'm not much good at solving puzzles on here, I can make ok ones though

Lol forgot about this:
cc: Famous cat's video game (4,2,5)

Avi

15:20

Mine will be quite the doozy

dcfyj

(Positive that's invalid though)

Avi

Cat sliced in half to invite new employees (4)

dcfyj

lol that surface

North

@Avi 11/10

Avi

(-ches)HIRE

North

15:23

idk about invite new employees as hire, but ig it works

dcfyj

^

North

Nice surface though

Avi

well, you invite them into the company to work

North

I also like the reference to Alice in the Wonderland

Avi

permanently

dcfyj

15:24

probably my best one I made was the mafia one. I don't usually make that great of a surface/wordplay

North

@Avi And the fine print reads, "Until they are fired"

hexomino

@Avi How about "Employ half a cat"?

dcfyj

I completely forgot about this one!

Feb 17 '17 at 16:28, by dcfyj

CCCC: Confusing item in game design (6)

Lets see if I can make more decent ones like those

Avi

Employ half a cat (4) / to endanger leading employees with cross act (6)

dcfyj

That sounds like a better def for hire

Avi

15:34

(-ches)HIRE/E_+X+POSE

hmmmmm

needs more sauce

dcfyj

Where's pose coming from?

Avi

act -> pose

dcfyj

I guess?

Avi

an act could be a pretense, which is a false pose

dcfyj

I say again, I guess?

North

15:36

Charlie loses balance from a price cut? (4)

Avi

CHARLIE!?

what are you doing here

North

S(-C)ALE

?

Avi

?

North

no?

okay

dcfyj

Makes sense to me, but I'd remove the ?

Avi

15:37

uhhh

North

oh

dcfyj

Charlie => Phonetic C

Avi

yeah, I know that

I feel that "Charlie lost" is better, but it messes up the surface

dcfyj

although, tense of loses is wrong

Not really

Charlie lost balance from a price cut (4) reads fine

Avi

Price cut destroyed Charlie's balance (4)?

more questionable

dcfyj

15:40

Currency gnawed dime(7)? :P

Avi

o.o

what's the answer to that

dcfyj

BIT+COIN

Avi

oooh, nice!

dcfyj

And the tense is right and everything :D

Avi

Currency of gnawed dimes (8)

little more obvious of course

dcfyj

15:42

Yeah, I like my surface better

North

Read a tangled rope (4)

PORE

Avi

wat

dcfyj

pore = read?

North

the split being at "a" if that's okay?

Avi

oh, pore over

isn't it more in the sense of "focus on"

North

15:43

"be absorbed in the reading or study of."

Avi

yeah, be absorbed

North

Opening tangled rope (4) might be better

opening i.e. an opening being pore

Avi

Absorbed in reading piano reverie heartlessly (4)

dcfyj

piano reverie?

Avi

reverie - (MUSIC) an instrumental piece suggesting a dreamy or musing state.

dcfyj

15:46

Well, yes, but I was wondering what word you were going for

Avi

PianO ReveriE

North

Fear a train without energy (5)

Avi

^ good surface

dcfyj

@Avi oh right, forgot you could do that

North

I actually like that surface

FR(-e)IGHT

Avi

15:47

yoooo

not bad

Gareth McCaughan

PORE doesn't mean "absorbed in reading", though.

Avi

it should be PORED I believe

Gareth McCaughan

PORED also doesn't mean "absorbed in reading"

though it does mean "read in an absorbed fashion", I guess

Avi

true

hmmmmm

dcfyj

A thousand mixing tons of tangled strings (5) (I think tense is still ok in this one) (typoed)

Gareth McCaughan

15:51

yeah, that's grammatically sound

dcfyj

Not that it's particularly difficult, but you solved it I take it

Avi

Covertly following are the destroyer(s) of CCs (6)

North

Tired clothes! (4) work

(WEAR)

Or do I not understand how &lit works

dcfyj

Ooh, ddef

or that lol

Gareth McCaughan

@dcfyj What it takes to make loose woman hoarse: tying her up? (5)

Avi

15:52

tired is WEARY?

North

Oh is &lit ddef & word play?

Avi

no

dcfyj

@GarethMcCaughan lmao

Avi

&lit is where the clue LITERALLY DEFINES the answer

Gareth McCaughan

&lit means that the whole clue is an acceptable def and the whole clue is wordplay

North

15:53

oh I see

Gareth McCaughan

(in case not obvious, answer to my (5) is the same as to yours)

North

Double definition is allowed though right

I just didn't do it right

Gareth McCaughan

double def is fine too but not at all same thing as &lit

dcfyj

@GarethMcCaughan I figured, just trying to understand the wordplay

Gareth McCaughan

what it takes to make HUSSY HUSKY is to have K NOT S.

dcfyj

15:54

@GarethMcCaughan I think he meant making a ddef &lit

@GarethMcCaughan oh nice

Shouldn't that be ties her up though? tying is the wrong tense

Gareth McCaughan

so a ddef &lit would mean that (1) the whole clue is a def and (2) the whole clue is wordplay, which is ... another def. So a ddef &lit would be something that defines the answer in two different ways.

dcfyj

@GarethMcCaughan You mean 3 no?

Gareth McCaughan

I was thinking of "knots" as a noun but yes, it's a bit loose (which is maybe a bad idea when tying someone up, I dunno).

Avi

Nearly tired with the constant presence in our atmosphere (7)

oh, I screwed that up

Gareth McCaughan

@dcfyj no, I mean two. (In a ddef there's the def, and then the wordplay is one other def.)

Avi

15:56

was supposed to be WEA(THE)R(-y)

dcfyj

@GarethMcCaughan Yes, but &lit the whole clue is a def

so wouldn't that be 3?

Avi

oh, does that work?!

Gareth McCaughan

@dcfyj I don't see why. Let's take a symbolic approach. A normal clue is A B where A is wordplay and B is def (or other way around). For the special case of a ddef this means that A and B are both definitions of the answer. Now, an &lit is A where A is wordplay and A is def (or other way around :-) ). So this means that A and A are both definitions of the answer. That is, the clue defines the answer two ways.

(I think I would find such a clue rather unsatisfactory.)

(It also wouldn't feel very &lit-y.)

(Because there wouldn't be any actual wordplay in it.)

dcfyj

There could be actually, it'd be a huge pain to find something viable though

you'd have to have something you can ddef, then write those in such a way that the 2 together would make a def in itself, but but make a word play between them.

That sounds... most unappealing to contruct

Avi

it might actually be easier to make than an &lit

but I wouldn't know considering I've created none such

nonesuch = perfect :O

dcfyj

16:01

lol

Avi

none such = nothing like that

dcfyj

It's not an endeavor I'd care to go for

You clue homonyms with things sound related, yes?

Avi

homophones*

dcfyj

right, I do that all the time

Avi

End endless beaver with one end gone and end to end as ending to a task that's tough to end (8)

not sure it works, double-checking

nope, doesn't work

dcfyj

16:06

lol I was going to clue this completely but I stumbled on this, so I'll use it instead

Perfect Black Medick(8)

@Avi That's a lot of ends lol

Avi

argh my brain

dcfyj

?

Avi

was supposed to be EN(-d) + (-b)EAV(-e + O)R

North

Beautiful kill adds abstinence from alcohol (5)

Avi

actually, the original "ends" thing works

End endless -> EN(-d)

beaver with one end gone -> (-b)EAVER

North

16:10

PRE(+tt)Y

dcfyj

tt?

North

tt being teetotal

Avi

and end to end -> End as ending tO

dcfyj

The heck is that lol

North

"choosing or characterized by abstinence from alcohol."

dcfyj

16:11

ah

Avi

shouldn't it be "of abstinence to alcohol" then?

dcfyj

Not sure if that's valid, but what do I know shrug

@Avi How so? That makes no sense

North

@Avi shrug

dcfyj

You abstain from things, not to them

Avi

"characterized by" = "of"

didn't say it wouldn't destroy the surface

Covertly following are the destroyer(s) of CCs (6) - followinG ARE THe

dcfyj

16:13

My cc got ignored :(

Avi

Hiding a violent destroyer of CC surfaces (3)

dcfyj

AVI!

Avi

@dcfyj wazzat

@dcfyj yep ;)

dcfyj

Perfect Black Medick(8) - NONESUCH (DDEF)

Avi

wat

OH

cleverrr

dcfyj

16:15

like I said, I stumbled on it haha

I was going to clue it using a nun homophone, but then I saw that

Avi

TFW you realize the cleverness of a clue

dcfyj

Is the C4 archive not up-kept anymore? I thought it was pinned

Avi

nah

our clues are so clever now that we just broke free

dcfyj

lol

Avi

I just realized that CCCC is C4

dcfyj

16:17

Explosive unique chat game (2)

Avi

Historical chain of words is explosive (4)

dcfyj

lol

while cccc = c4, c4 =/= cccc

Avi

Can you leave identifier device that goes boom (6) - CAN + NO(-u)N

dcfyj

lol nice

is for a def/wordplay separator?

Avi

depends

wordplay for [def] is fine

dcfyj

16:21

so not ddef then

Avi

but [def] for wordplay probably isn't

ddef might work

depends on the surface

dcfyj

Scientific rooms for dogs (4)

Avi

labs

that works

dcfyj

probably helped that you know it was a ddef lol

Avi

usually ddef will work though

dcfyj

16:23

Weight or ceremony (4)

Avi

Swindler, to let out steam, is charged for gathering (10)

CON + VENT + ION

dcfyj

lol

Avi

@dcfyj mass

dcfyj

yeah, ddef seem pretty easy to make (and solve for the most part)

Avi

oh boy

you haven't seen the sneaky ddefs

dcfyj

16:26

I made a less obvious one a few minutes ago lol

Avi

Defeat video game (5)

dcfyj

Tie up bag with missing Lima energy (4)

Avi

SMASH (ddef)

dcfyj

@Avi I'd assume that's a ddef, but I'm terrible at solving lol

Avi

THE OTHER 51

@dcfyj what's this ;O

dcfyj

16:31

BIND(-le)

Gareth McCaughan

CCCC is Cryptic Clue Chat Chains! Latest clue is ⤴/⤵ there! Join the fun! See Deusovi's Cryptic Clue Guide and GPR's **[Archive & Statistics](docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/…

2

Thanks for pointing out that the explanation/archive comment had fallen off the starboard. Reposted and re-pinned now.

dcfyj

I just noticed is all

Gareth McCaughan

It does seem to be well out of date, though.

dcfyj

Apparently it's 6(ish) months behind

@Avi Pretty sure it's valid

Avi

Of course, I just couldn't solve it xd

dcfyj

16:34

No, not of course. I make ample invalid ones lol

Avi

CCCC Hint: The 6th letter is E

amazingly informative, I know

Thomas Markov

16:54

hello friends

North

Greetings!

Sphinx

1

Q: The Vatican Relic Heist

Deep within the catacombs of Rome, we discovered a secret entrance into the catacombs beneath Vatican City. Upon further exploration, we discovered a great vault. On the massive door of the vault is depicted a man worshiping an angel. Additionally, on the door is a keypad prompting for a five dig...

knowledge cipher

Thomas Markov

Got a new puzzle up for your enjoyment

Gareth McCaughan

A lot of religious themes in your puzzles...

dcfyj

17:10

@GarethMcCaughan Well... it is a heist for a Vatican Relic

Gareth McCaughan

I mean, that's an example of a religious theme in one of his puzzles.

Deusovi

added another hint for Odd One Out - I'm surprised nobody's come in to finish it off yet.

dcfyj

Didn't even know you had a puzzle up lol. I probably wouldn't solve it though

Thomas Markov

It's something I've studied a lot, so I've got a lot of knowledge to work with for puzzlecraft

Deusovi

@dcfyj This set of puzzles is meant to be much easier than the usual ones I make - you should give the active one a look!

Thomas Markov

17:14

at least my stuff is fictional, not like the guy that made a puzzle out of actual conflict in the east.

Deusovi

(it's meant to be much easier -- I don't always succeed in hitting my difficulty target, but I think most of them should still be fairly accessible)

Gareth McCaughan

Odd One Out certailny looks very finishable, though the specific things I've tried to do haven't quite worked so far. (Haven't spent long on it.)

ah, I understand the two-word group

(and the extra condition successfully explains why RIYAL ICON isn't in it, as it should indeed not be)

incidentally @Deusovi would you like to comment on whether Y is a vowel, a consonant, or neither?

(of course "no, I would not" is an eminently reasonable response)

Deusovi

I consider it to be a consonant.

Gareth McCaughan

Thanks.

Deusovi

(And I'd also like to note that there is one minor ambiguity in the second step, unfortunately -- it will be disambiguated by the other parts of the second step, though.)

Avi

17:20

does this mean the question will finally be over :)

Gareth McCaughan

ah, hmm, maybe I should be looking for Euler rather than Hamilton (who seems not to be present but I could have miscalculated)

(quite possibly I don't actually want either)

except that surely there will be too many eulers

Deusovi

ah, I see where you're getting tripped up now

was hoping this wouldn't be a problem (it wasn't in testsolving)

You're thinking along the right lines, though you're drawing the wrong ones.

Avi

who is your testsolver :O

Deusovi

A few of my friends from puzzle hunt teams testsolved this (including ffao and Level 51, who you may recognize as former PSE members)

Avi

Level 51, you say?

I recognize ffao though

Deusovi

17:27

1.9k 3 21

cryptic-crosswords wordplay enigmatic-puzzle visual word calculation-puzzle crosswords

Gareth McCaughan

@Deusovi Interesting.

Deusovi

highly recommend two-trench truce -- it's a very cute puzzle

Avi

3 down was too smart

Gareth McCaughan

17:42

hmm, maybe I've found something

damn, looks like not

Deusovi

hm?

Gareth McCaughan

if you start from the first group and count forward by the position of the odd one out in that group, and repeat, then you get a cycle of length 5 and the odd-ones-out begin with the letters of STEEL, which is a word. So I hoped there might be another cycle making some other word that would go with STEEL. But if you play the same game starting with the second group then it lands up in that same cycle.

Deusovi

What do you mean by "first group" / "second group"?

oh the first line and second line

Gareth McCaughan

still, I bet the answer is going to be CHINESE LANTERN, which is an anag of all the initial letters of odd ones out, so now I just need to figure out why each leads to the next :-)

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Feb '207

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