The Sphinx's Lair - 2020-02-18

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12:30 AM

@athin Might be the first time I've ever seen a question get sniped!!

2 hours later…

2:08 AM

0

Q: A King's Hamiltonian Tours

a) Place the numbers 1 to 25 in the cells of a 5 x 5 board in such a way that consecutive numbers occur in adjacent cells either vertically, horizontally, or diagonally, and so do cells with numbers 1 and 25. Numbers in the nine cells belonging to the board's two diagonals should all be prime. b...

mathematics logical-deduction grid-deduction primes

1 hour later…

3:30 AM

0

Q: On The Subject of ???

(This is the last 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. KTaNE knowledge is necessary to solve this puzzle; the necessary knowledge can be found on Timwi's site.) On The S...

knowledge enigmatic-puzzle metapuzzles

4:00 AM

^ argh

how is it possible to have such good pixel art skills :x

I'm jealous

4:13 AM

1

Q: Double Riley of Melancholy

My prefix is served Eat if you may The prefix of my prefix is a prefix, per se My infix is inside you Within, it resides The infix of my infix can be seen from outside My suffix is a number Count to address The suffix of my suffix is a suffix, just guess!

riddle word wordplay rhyme poetry

(whoops, sorry about that - my arm was resting on my laptop's numpad and apparently it was on both the . and the enter key)

1 hour later…

5:34 AM

0

Q: A Palindromic Puzzle

Curious as to my writing output, one slow weekend I decided to count how many words I had written in a report of a previous case. After many hours of counting, during which I rewarded myself with many generous breaks, I finally reached the grand total of 24,942 words. I jubilantly reported this n...

enigmatic-puzzle palindrome

5:54 AM

0

Q: How can you get 100 by only using 2,4,6, and 9 by only using them once

pls get answer okokokokokokokokokokokokokokokokok

7 hours later…

1:24 PM

@Sphinx Apparently this got deleted, guess I'm not reading it after all lol

Gareth McCaughan

@dcfyj It wasn't much worth reading. It was a very routine mathematical thing that I suspect the poster found somewhere else.

(The question was, in effect: what's the next palindromic number after 24942?)

(The main reason why I suspect he found it somewhere else is that most of his puzzles look like he found them somewhere else.)

Makes sense

3 hours later…

4:52 PM

@mbingo Uhh I just saw your name as your banner was coming down

That's weird

Yeah, there was an issue with merging two Stack Exchange accounts.

Oh i see

I thought it was resolved, but if you saw my name then it might still be wonky...

@HTM What do you think about another C4 hint? :D

Well only when the banner was coming down

Now it just has your username

Good to know, thanks :)

4:56 PM

se been kind glitchy

i got like 3 mentions without being notified

*at least

Bummer though... my old Puzzling SE user id was 2^16.

what happened?

an account merge?

I had two SE accounts. I changed one of the emails so the two accounts merged, and my old account (which used my real name) ended up taking over.

ah

4:59 PM

My newer account had ID 65536, which was awesome. SE support has reverted the name change (on my request), but deleted the newer account.

can you ask them to switch it back? I'm sure they'll understand

Anyway. I have a couple of ideas on this KTaNE meta, but not the breakthrough yet...

Ha, they probably would sympathize. But I don't mind. 61651 is beautiful too. I'm sure. In its own way.

5:16 PM

hm, according to abbreviations.com, concern (the business term) is abbreviated C

IST is also a grouping of left-leaning organizations (International Socialist Tendency)

not really a slam dunk for "the left", though

Feasible, though, given what HTM has said about the looseness.

Now if we can just get AS from "return detailed"...

I mean, ya hate to cite abbreviations.com when solving a cryptic clue.

yeah

5:46 PM

@mbingo Apparently, 61651 is the number of partitions of the number 43 which contain at least one even part.

Amazing. This was a blessing in disguise!

Did you OEIS it?

@mbingo Haha, guilty.

@hexomino Haha, no, it was a good call to do that.

slightly less catchy than 2^2^2^2, still :P

2 hours later…

8:00 PM

CCCC hints: 1. "Beginning" does not modify "concern." 2. "Detailed" does not modify "return." 3. "Concern the left" clues C_.

@mbingo I'm at your "Loser" artist and phone dial

So yeah, there's one non-standard part of the clue

Probably should've gone for something like "succeed, essentially"

But then it wouldn't sound nearly as nice, can't have one and the other :\

Okay, I think I have it.

what

Or at least something possibly defensible...

concern the left?

@Deusovi I summon thee

O great devourer I offer you a clue

def: Nazi
"in" = SAFE; "detailed in" = SAF, "return detailed in" to get FAS
"file" = LIST; "file, [with] beginning [changed] to concern (the left)" = CIST

8:08 PM

in = safe?

@mbingo Yes, that's it! Congrats!

I guess

file was list after all :)

@Avi That was the other iffy part of the clue

Really nice deception on "in". It reads so blatantly as a container indicator.

okay @mbingo it's your turn to clue

:3

think of a good one

8:09 PM

How does it work? I can clue anything I want?

Yeah, once I realized I could do that I knew I had a C4 worthy clue in my hands

What's the goal? What constitutes C4-worthy?

Still kinda mad at myself about "concern the left"

I assume I'm aiming for tough?

not tough

it's tough because we don't get any letters

8:10 PM

Agreed, phew.

tricky is what you shoot for

@mbingo Well, any difficulty is accepted, but generally speaking they should be at least a bit harder than the clues you'd find in a crossword

@HTM Yeah, the non-standardness there made it tough to assume that that was it. Once you told us what it meant, it fell really quickly.

And some creators use C4s to experiment with interesting/devilish constructs

Hmm, okay.

8:11 PM

Primal groudon

@Avi more interesting

So really it's up to you what you want to do with this opportunity :)

@Mithical interesting is tricky

Not necessarily.

Why, do you think non-interesting things are tricky? Or non-tricky things are interesting?

Shame

burbles in puzzling

8:13 PM

Anagrinds are interesting but they're insanely easy to locate, so not at all tricky

Something can have an interesting gimmick or unique twist without being tricky.

It'll probably take me a few clues to get a feel for what PSEites like... and also feel comfortable experimenting, but I'll think on it and get something out soon :D

Primal Groudon detailed a stickler, of sorts (3)

gROuDo(-n) = ROD [a stickler, of sorts]

...Spyfall's been frozen.

Spyfalllll

Spyfal

8:15 PM

The "primal" trick was really fun, but I wouldn't necessarily want to see that in a crossword

where Elsa goes to play ball

@Mithical More like Spyfell, amirite?

Primal = from early times = leader indicator?

Primal beast = B_?

I'm ok with "primal" as a first letter indicator, but not as a prime positions one

I guess I'd be okay with it in other clues, but in my own I'd feel better using "X, primally".

8:19 PM

Kinda like "X, evenly"?

Yeah. "even X" doesn't feel right for "the even letters of X", and "primal X" feels the same way to me.

Even Steven

Odd Todd

Ooh, "squarely" also fits in that category of indicators too

what are you gonna do with 1, 4, 9, and 16?

besides making us count a lot of letters :x

Artificial computer returned with piece of snake (5)

MAC< + PY(-thon)

Breaking doors's squarely wrong (3)

BAD example, but just a proof of concept

8:25 PM

Punched squarely; he died after (3)

Yeah, that's fun.

Neato, now time to confuse the heck out of my friends who have never heard of cryptic clues before!

@Avi Not bad! "Artificial computer" is nice.

"Piece of snake" probably won't be accepted for PY

Yeah. I'd go "with couple of snakes".

Since "piece" is often a hidden word indicator or single letter indicator

Artificial computer declined a salary (5)

8:28 PM

????

a salary = PY?

oh

declined a from pay

but that doesn't work, because computer = MAC, not CAM

Wait. MAC needs reversal, right?

I've never seen "declined X Y" to mean "X with Y removed".

I'm also unsure about the grammar of 'declined a salary'

In cryptics or in life.

if that's intended

(assuming from those comments that it's not)

@Avi wut

Gross

Primals are disgusting

8:30 PM

CC on Fire!

Artificial computer returns salary taken away initially (5)

Artificial computer returns with salary but no heart (5)

spooky spooky ai ai

Definitely see a possible "malevolent AI" surface reading the way this is headed

Malevolent AI invades...

that's no way to refer to @dcfyj

8:37 PM

Rebelling AI invades a command with false identity (5)

A + L(AI<)S [false identity]

not sure the "with" is kosher

I rejected troubles over rogue AI's false identity (5)

A(-i)L(AI*)S -> alias

@HTM No

wait

is Spyfall referring to the song Skyfall

or is that just a future CC idea

@Avi No, defnitely not

Ah, of course, Adele got the inspiration from Skyfall

/s

obviously

and so did the James Bond movie

8:50 PM

o.o

Duh

And so did the location for the movie

@North Who's that?

Don't know

Some like American shooter, right?

Or actually, I think he's like a nurse in WWII

And here I thought he was a chemical bond

LMAOOOOO

I'm in chem class rn

We're literally going over chemical reactions

8:54 PM

My reaction to that is...

very stoich

die

gross

GrOss

gRoSs

grOsS

lemme finish that pattern for you

@North Pay attention. It could save your life one day. :-)

@msh210 Nah, I can drink hydrofluoric acid, no problem!

You don't even have to calculate the reaction to see that's a bad idea

wait until you get to calculating enthalpy

or biochemistry

shudders

8:57 PM

@Avi Lol did that last year

Or sort of last year

Don't speak of enthalpy

Horrors from AP Bio

shivers

enthalpy is easy

it could save your life one day

by preventing an exothermic reaction from melting through your glass beaker

and proceeding to eat through your legs

and/or other body parts

By why would I even be in that situation

experimentation

for valuable monies

Nah Imma be broke living as a music major

;....)

uh

how skilled are you

good relative pitch? perfect relative pitch?

what instrument, too

lot more competition as a violinist than as a violist

coughs

9:01 PM

Good relative pitch, I have like dormant perfect pitch

I play trumpet, part of choir (madrigals) next year, but I'm gonna go into composition & theory

how so

composition and theory? how do you even make money as a composer nowadays

@Avi I.e. I was born with perfect pitch but never developed it, so it's the same as not having perfect pitch

oof

I can only tell if a note is right

not if it's wrong/how it's relatively wrong

not only that, but my ears transpose everything

so something might be in G# major, but I hear it as something else (e.g. A major)

@Avi I know I have perfect pitch because I can sing certain songs on the right key

I can hear the entire soundtrack in my head

I can sing certain songs in the right key too

9:04 PM

@Avi Well pretty much any song

but I can't remember songs - I just forget notes ~3 seconds after hearing them

I can't tell you notes though, because like I said, I never developed prfect pitch

I forget most everything ~3 seconds after hearing it though

lol

but if I remember, I can transpose it to the piano

by pressing random notes until I hit the right one

9:06 PM

me

@Avi Idk, my point exactly

you should try computer programming

My parents tell me that

But like

fbdobfhd

So confusing

The main problem with coding is that I can't look at screens for long periods of time, paired with the fact that I SUCK at reading text over screen

I like the problem solving aspect of coding, but I get a massive headache afterwards

oh

I stare at a screen for like 14 hours a day

and problem solving is enjoyable

Yeah, I can't do that

I just walk around in circles until I understand

9:10 PM

Computer programming is my favorite type of problem-solving

Hard to explain why... I think it's because you know when you've fixed it

It's pretty instantaneous, and very satisfying

uhhhh no

Idk

most of the simple ones you can tell though

I've spent months trying to solve a single problem

I've only done up Python so, anything past that is gibberish to me

and still haven't figured it out :x

9:12 PM

oof

What program do you usually use? C++?

Oh, I've also done HTML

And of course, Scratch

I can program in C, C++, Java, Python, HTML, CSS, Ruby

to an increasingly limited degree for Ruby though

and to an increasingly unlimited degree for Java

Scratch is the highest form of coding, FIGHT me

I'll learn C++, one day.

One day

ONE DAY

(never)

Of all the fields in music, I'm attracted towards the least practical

Aside from music appreciation and music history

why would you learn C++

python is the best for beginning practice

Java is to weed out the weak

isn't C++ the most widely used programming?

C++ is to weed out the non-strong

9:17 PM

Skip C++!

@mbingo Funny

I gave up on java, so I guess I'm weak

JavaScript is the most widely used iirc

No seriously. It's not worth it for learning. I'd go with JS.

JS is also the most valuable

Yeah. If a job is your aim, JS. If problem solving/puzzling, probably Python was the right call :)

9:18 PM

@mbingo What exactly does JS do?

Javascript is just a super widely used web programming language.

Is HTML just for decoration

Really it's just a normal language, but it's really flexible and doesn't enforce too many rules on you, and people built a lot of frameworks on it to build web stuff.

HTML is for layout, largely.

ah

CSS is for decoration

Bootstrap framework is probably what you want to start with

9:20 PM

I'll get better on Python first and then move onto like JS or C++

why C++

Bc Musescore is from C++

unless you can do Java, C++ sounds like an eminently good way to get confused

love;y

What do I have to know for JS?

how to be a garbage coder

9:22 PM

?

watch 200 internet tutorials then it still doesn't come naturally

in all seriousness, the best way to pick something up is to try it

fail and fail again

cool, I'll talk to @mbingo, you're very helpful Avi

until you succeed

that's what I do, at least

idk when I would have time to learn

I'm so busy with concerts and performances

that would put a hamper on things, yes

wait what

they make you do concerts and performances?

9:29 PM

0

Q: A six letter Name

Can you figure this out? It's a name And a Surname An island A code Three US states And also elements A six letter word that ends in a college, that will need some knowledge.

@Avi Well it's not like I can skip them

I'm in band

@North true

do they pay you

I have like what, six concerts next month

@Avi School band, of course not

@North do you perform out of school though

@Avi Not yet

@Avi But most places I would have to pay money to play in the outside bands lol

Only places i could make money is like competition, which I'm NOT winning

9:32 PM

@North but whai

I probably wouldn't even have time to be honest

this is your career

possibly

@Avi I'm not good enough to lol

do you practice 40 hours a day or not

But all those ling lings practice 40 hours and more

9:34 PM

that doesn't matter

get off the computer and go practice x.x

when you make 200k a year thank me for the advice

10:34 PM

Alright—I'll work my way up to some fancier stuff eventually, but to unblock the chain:

CCCC: Cheese, along with a couple of Mexican beans (7)

@mbingo Edam + a + Me(xican)

@msh210 Nailed it.

@mbingo At least I didn't cut it.

CCCC: What prevents cutting a hand? A safety worker with no gin cocktail (10)

10:53 PM

I like the surface

11:18 PM

@JohnDvorak thanks

11:31 PM

I have a feeling there's a (NO GIN)* somewhere in there

CUSHIONING fits the "What prevents cutting" part, but I don't know how to get CUSHI from "hand" or "safety worker"

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Feb '2018

The Sphinx's Lair

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