The Sphinx's Lair

Avi

5:00 PM

it could be [Fascist] WP = NAZI

but not [Nazi] WP = Fascist directly

dcfyj

@Deusovi There are 35 safes in the game

no 2 the same

Deusovi

sure, but that doesn't really tell me much about what the safes are like

dcfyj

You could probably find images of the unsolved safes honestly

Let me see if I can find any

Deusovi

the one shown looks just like one of those standard "turn the squares to match edges" things

or "swap squares to make a loop"

dcfyj

Yeah, that's one of the simple ones

Avi

5:03 PM

@Deusovi sounds CC-ish

Sid

Never seen a CCCC where you know the answer and still struggle this much with the wordplay..

dcfyj

It's surprisingly difficult to find images of the safes lol

Avi

CMC: Make a CC for opacity/paucity using something like "a lack of transparency"

dcfyj

@Deusovi Only unsolved one I found was this one which is pretty early in the game. Personally I'd wait to get it when it's on sale, although I think 5$ is a pretty good price for it as it is.

Deusovi

looks like that's just a tilt maze

dcfyj

5:11 PM

@Deusovi That one is, yes

I wouldn't say any of the puzzles are particularly ingenious, but I still find them fun

There's a couple simple ciphers in there too

Deusovi

hm, not a fan of ciphers at all

dcfyj

If I remember right they're all(?) substitution ciphers

there's only 2 or 3 maybe 4 in the game

anyhow, I consider it to be a fun little game to play every now and then, takes a few hours to beat, but still enjoyable

Certainly not on par with the Witness in terms of difficulty lol

Should be noted that it definitely has a point and click adventure element to it as well. So if that's not your thing...

Deusovi

difficulty isn't necessarily what I'm looking for - I do think my favorite types of puzzles are ones where you discover how 'systems' work, though

like "oh, that's how this fits together" moments are my favorite

I'm fine with point and click adventures, but it seems like the puzzles I've seen from Safecracker are very standard adventure game puzzles

dcfyj

yeah, this one doesn't have too much of that as I recall, it's more a collection of oldies but goodies

Like I said, I'd consider it a good grab when it's on sale

a fun diversion

I got it forever ago (no idea how old I was at the time probably soon after I start college though) so I've no clue what I got it for

Avi

5:27 PM

End to old agreement with one year's lack of transparency (7)

alternatively, Left old agreement with one year's lack of transparency (7)

dcfyj

Looking at my steam purchase history was in 2011 for 2.50$, I'd say I got my money's worth out of it

Avi

O_ + PAC(I)T + Y

dcfyj

Forgot I had Puzzle Agent (1 and 2) I should play that again...

mbingo

"End to old" would denote D, not O, right?

Avi

could be either

mbingo

5:31 PM

You're right.

That said, "end of" is smoother (though it breaks the surface). Similarly, the "left old" thing... "left of old" is more desirable. But reasonable clues otherwise :)

Deusovi

I wouldn't use "end" for the front end, personally

mbingo

I wouldn't use "with" as container myself, but I suppose it's defensible.

Deusovi

same

mbingo

Me neither re front end (as evidenced by my pointing it out), but I can see the argument.

I'm guessing we align pretty well on cryptic cluing.

I'm usually Ximenean to the point of feeling guilty about it.

Deusovi

Same, but I have absolutely no guilt about it

mbingo

5:39 PM

Haha, maybe once I know people around here a little better, I'll feel less guilty about shredding everyone's clues

Mithical

You don't feel guilt over anything. ;)

Avi

Lacking money, an evil being considered a contract (4)

Deusovi

oh, I shred people's clues all the time! it's a fun hobby

6

Avi

DEMON ("an evil being") EYED ("considered) - MONEY = DEED [contract]

How was that star worthy

I consider that 2-star worthy

dcfyj

hah, beat you to it!

Avi

5:41 PM

You monster!

mbingo

Haha, for the record, is there a guideline for starring?

Avi

no lol star whatever you like

mbingo

I'm pretty liberal with reaction emotes on Slack/Discord so...

dcfyj

Only your personal one

mbingo

Okay sweet.

Avi

5:42 PM

what happened to the youtube video :o

Mithical

I mean officially, stars are for marking messages useful for viewing afterwards but... people have been ignoring that for ten years.

3

mbingo

@Avi That's a pretty solid clue. My notes would be that the articles are superfluous.

dcfyj

@Mithical Only ten?

Mithical

It's only existed for ten years!

Avi

Lacking money, evil being considered contract (4)?

dcfyj

5:43 PM

@Mithical That's no excuse!

Avi

just doesn't sound the same

mbingo

@Avi Yes, that's better in a strict wordplay sense, but obviously the surface suffers.

Making both work at the same time is the entire game :D

Avi

ok you make some clues

I have nothing else to do but tear apart your clues my clues and Blue's clues

Mithical

@dcfyj Look. People here star weird things. Half the starboard is comprised of messages by me, so obviously you're doing something wrong.

2

mbingo

Well that's why I'm trying to crack this FASCIST deal.

Mithical

5:48 PM

Oy! I can't clear stars anymore, this is unfair!

dcfyj

mwahahaha!

You have no power here!

Mithical

:'(

Avi

Result of a piercing tool! (10)
Solution: IMP(A)LEMENT (deletion)

is that even allowed

I thought you weren't allowed to have the definition in the &lit

e.g. tool banned

North

@Sid Hi!!!!!!!!!

Deusovi

huh?

mbingo

5:49 PM

That's actually a really good clue.

Deusovi

that's great

first of all, "impalement" is not defined by "tool"

Avi

oh wait

it's TOOL -> IMPLEMENT eating A

Deusovi

also it's not deletion it's insertion

yeah

Avi

sigh

I need to come up with an &lit for FAILURE, so that I can describe what I do all the time

North

@Mithical oof

Sphinx

5:54 PM

2

Q: On The Subject of Rubik's Cube

(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 ...

dcfyj

Hey! I know about rubik's cubes! All the same I doubt I'll solve this lol

mbingo

If a rule is broken... this is what you get! (7)

Deusovi

@dcfyj this puzzle is one of the easier ones, IMO

dcfyj

@Deusovi That's what you said about the last one I mentioned while you were in here

Deusovi

and it was true about that one too

Sid

5:56 PM

@North Oh Hey!

dcfyj

What's also true is that I suck at solving these lol

North

@Sid it's been a while

Sid

@North Probably been forever

Deusovi

(this series is almost done... I'll have to write some new puzzles to share here)

Sid

Still stuck with this CCCC.

dcfyj

5:58 PM

Have fun with that lol, I'll just wave at them as they go by

Deusovi

we all are

Mithical

@dcfyj This is the approach I take with Deus's Contact clues.

dcfyj

lol

Avi

OOF

not sure why I'm oofing but oh well I'm bored and have nothing better to do

Mithical

You could come take over some of my responsibilities if you're bored, I'm swamped

Avi

5:59 PM

What do you do, anyways?

Get starred frequently?

Mithical

At the moment or in general?

Avi

In genius

@mbingo Is that legal :O

Deusovi

I'd say the wordplay reading is slightly questionable

mbingo

Is what legal?

Deusovi

but I've seen worse

Mithical

6:03 PM

@Avi <insert answer that contains levels of intelligence to rival Einstein>

mbingo

@Deusovi Do you mean the "this is what you get" portion? Surely "X is broken" is a reasonable anagram indicator.

Deusovi

Yeah, that's what I mean

totally fine with "is broken"

mbingo

Yeah, there's probably a better creative way to complete the surface, starting with "if a rule is broken".

Deusovi

"Result of a rule, if broken" maybe?

mbingo

Better wordplay, slightly worse surface, in my book.

Deusovi

6:07 PM

Yeah, I'm not entirely happy with the definition reading either

mbingo

A rule, if broken, leads to this! The thing with this approach is that it's not the rule that causes the 7.

Deusovi

yeah - you could argue that it's the rule's existence that partially causes it, but that seems a bit sketchy to me

Avi

6:22 PM

how do you get abbrevations?

like "Stuff, in short"

mbingo

There's a generally accepted (but kind of nebulous) list of things that abbreviate without needing to be indicated.

Avi

not default abbreviations

indicated abbreviations

for example Executrix -> EX'X

mbingo

Yeah. So if you want do indicate, you can do whatever you want, as long as it's accurate and precise. :)

That one... would be tough to do.

Avi

all I could find on the net was Executrix -> EX'TX

but apparently it's also EX'X?

mbingo

I can't speak to that specific example. I thought you were asking about stuff like saying "the fourth of July" for Y.

Avi

6:50 PM

New lead in incomplete body of spy (4)

blergh

Mithical

(Codenames game just started if anyone's interested)

Sphinx

7:15 PM

0

Q: Two of 18 coins are counterfeit

There are $n=18$ coins, and we know exactly $2$ of them are counterfeit. All counterfeit coins differ from normal coins, but otherwise their weight is not known, and can be even different from each other. How many weighings are required in the worst case to differentiate the two coins from the ...

logical-deduction weighing algorithm unsolved-mysteries

0

Q: How could Larry get his friends on a plane without knowing their weights?

This is a riddle whose solution is fairly simple. Though it was inspired when I watched the latest (as of this post) episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, in which Larry is faced with a dilemma that he never really solved. The dilemma is as follows: Larry is ordering a private airplane to fly to Mexi...

logical-deduction arithmetic

Sphinx

7:35 PM

0

Q: Multiple solutions for Rubik's cube?

I got a novelty cube at as swag at a convention once; it was like a normal cube, but with slogans written on the squares of the cube. If you solved the cube, you could read the slogan. This got me to wondering if it's possible to solve this cube such that some of the words faced the wrong way. ...

rubiks-cube

Sphinx

9:16 PM

0

Q: Four unfair dice

On a table there are four standard six-sided dice with faces numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 each. Alice starts and chooses a dice. Then Bob chooses a dice and both throw the dice. The winner is the person with the greater number. It is a draw, if both show the same number. Now the numbers on the face...

strategy probability dice

Sphinx

10:57 PM

0

Q: Prefix. Suffix. Infix. Outfix?

My prefix for gains My suffix is bled My infix in veins My outfix is bed What am I?

word wordplay

Sphinx

11:18 PM

0

Q: Is this a game to you?

All was still as the stranger loaded a cartridge into his shotgun and peered around. Looking out furtively from deep within the shadowy gorse thicket, he waited, in silence. They would be appearing any minute now – just here, where the trees met the field. Every evening they passed by th...

word enigmatic-puzzle letters

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