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1:14 AM
@msh210 correct :D
@NorthLæraðr I believe someone has used punctuation in a cryptic clue before (I forgot whether it was a C4 or a puzzle itself?), where ... was used for "ellipsis" and the word clued was "ellipses"
actually I'm not sure about the clued word but I'm fully confident about the ... one
nvm it indeed is here. Alconja posted it :D
 
 
2 hours later…
3:16 AM
0
Q: Find a factor #1

Culver KwanThe series of Find a factor puzzle is started by Culver Kwan, and asks the solver to identify a factor of a certain large number within a certain range using some mathematical identities. This should be tagged with mathematics, number-theory and no-computers. Find a factor of $104060405$ withi...

 
3:31 AM
CCCC: Stands around all bothered, or falls (9)
 
4:23 AM
@msh210 CO(ALL*)PSES = COLLAPSES
apparently a copse = stand = group of trees, I never knew that before :00
 
4:51 AM
WAIT AHAHAHAH OH NO
Someone answered a puzzle with a spam message..
Oh good, it had been removed quickly
 
@oAlt yep!
 
5:07 AM
@oAlt spam usually doesn't last long around here
 
5:32 AM
@Mithical noice
CCCC: To dash toward coffee is essential for bass player (3, 4)
 
 
1 hour later…
6:53 AM
0
Q: The fun in numbers

omri kleinA friend of mine gave me this riddle. Find the next number of the sequence: 293, 313, 331, ... Let's see who can do better than I did.

 
7:24 AM
there's a bass player named JOE DART... a cup of joe is coffee, and to dart is to dash... not sure how "essential" fits in, though
 
@jafe Huh. I just Googled him and a bunch of pages refer to him as playing "bass" and sometimes as a "bassist", but all the pictures I see of him are with an electric guitar. Is a bass guitar called a "bass", then? When I hear/read "bass" I picture a larger instrument played vertically -- usually with a bow in classical music, usually by hand in jazz.
 
I've seen bass guitar being referred to as bass
 
a bass guitar is definitely called just "bass"
 
I think the string instrument you're thinking of is double bass?
 
TIL.
@Ankoganit Yeah, but I'm pretty sure it's called "bass" too.
 
7:32 AM
Ah, I see
 
4 colloq a bass instrument, especially a bass guitar or a double-bass
 
Heh, okay. Thanks.
m-w.com has "a member of a family of instruments having the lowest range; especially : DOUBLE BASS"
Maybe it's an AmE thing.
 
0
Q: Is there a strategy for the "2 paths, 1 liar 1 truthful" riddle given an N number of paths, rather than just 2?

RashadI hope this question falls into the correct category. I'm sure the 2 paths , 1 liar and 1 truthful is common, however, is there a general strategy given: There are N-number of doors/paths/or destinations (you get the point). For simplicity sake, let's assume that N is an even integer greater th...

 
for all we know the answer is actually a bass trombonist :P
 
or just a player
(though that's less likely IMO)
 
8:05 AM
0
Q: Shortest game of Monopoly

Dmitry KamenetskyThis video claims that the fastest game of monopoly involves 4 turns and 9 rolls of the dice. I am wondering if this is actually the shortest game or can we do better in theory? What is the probability of this game happening in real life? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHJkTz6Ej3U

 
 
1 hour later…
9:12 AM
@jafe you got it :0
"is essential for" is just the separation between wordplay and definition, saying that "coffee + to dash" is essential for forming the answer.
 
9:28 AM
ah, i see
essential is often an indicator for middle letters so i assumed i was missing something
CCCC: Husky's a four-legged animal, or so they say (6)
 
@jafe hoarse ("horse")
 
@jafe can't help but feel curious again: was there a clue in your latest crossword that you enjoyed composing the most?
 
9:44 AM
not sure.. that one was actually in the drawer for several weeks while i worked on more "exciting" stuff :P
i like finding connections like niue = "the rock" = dwayne johnson one where on first glance it looks like the word points to a completely different direction
but that clue could have used some more work as the surface doesn't actually make sense as written
i'm thinking of switching to a two-week schedule to have some more time to work with, at least for a while
 
that's great (and indeed, it was so satisfying to find out that "the rock" was actually something else)
and is msh210 correct :P
 
oops somehow missed that
that's correct @msh210
 
10:11 AM
CCCC: Making a connection (no love) in a movie (7)
 
 
1 hour later…
11:18 AM
0
Q: crazy bird puzzle

halmaistat youtube "horse puzzle by halmaist" ( in fact it is from constantin), there is a puzzle,which i already solved , but unfortunately or luckily --- it is possible to get the ring onto only 1 string ,too . i needed 20 years to solve the "simple" problem, now --i dont have 200 years to solve the ot...

 
I'm sorry! That's an incorrect CCCC. The intended answer was LI(-o)N KING, but the actual movie title has "The" at the start. Let me try again:
CCCC: Tireless American threesome in a river (11)
 
@msh210 this is IND(US+TRIO)US
 
@jafe it is indeed
 
CCCC: Sorry about you missing essential space-related programme (5)
 
11:42 AM
3
Q: Insurrection in Britain

oAlt Without remorse from the very start, Briton ousted Theresa, then maltreated someone else; dies (7, 3, 5, 3, 4)

 
11:55 AM
@jafe SO(Y(-o)U)Z = SOYUZ
 
@oAlt yep, that's right
 
CCCC: Run one fraud each (7)
 
12:08 PM
Im just throwing this one away lol
 
1:03 PM
@oAlt is this SCARPER? Scar being that "one fraud" from Lion King
(Er, spoiler alert, I guess)
 
1:20 PM
@Ankoganit you are VERY close, LOL
 
(probably SCAMPER, then, where "fraud"="scam")
 
Ah, that does make more sense
 
@Mithical correct :D
 
I'mma say @Ankoganit solved it, though
 
I had msh210's clue stuck in my head and couldn't think outside Lion King XD
 
1:26 PM
HAHA
anyway, it seems that @Ankoganit must be the one to make the c4.
 
Sure, fine by me
Gimme a few minutes
 
yuh
 
user435118
1:41 PM
Still waiting to see when I get one...
 
^ my feeling as well when I first saw the C4's, honestly
 
1:58 PM
CCCC: A scheme for verifying a true cryptic at the end, like this clue has one: initial letters (7,9)
 
dangg, we got a long boi
another nice surface
 
thanks :D
 
hehe
 
(i wish I could make the first letters actually spell out something, but turns out I'm not that clever)
 
yeah, equally impressive if the clue was fully an acronym
 
2:08 PM
(oops, just posted incomplete partially-edited attempt at solution; I am not yet certain that the answer I was trying to post is actually correct; please ignore)
(it is unfortunate that the backspace and enter keys are adjacent)
 
Sid
@GarethMcCaughan Well, they do have a slash key in between, if you're using the qwerty keyboard
 
2:27 PM
 
There is no slash key between the backspace and enter keys either on my (UK) laptop keyboard or my (UK) desktop machine's keyboard.
On some US keyboards there's a backslash between them, which is a horrible unnatural place for a backslash key :-).
 
@GarethMcCaughan Do you have a double-height Enter (or Return) key, like the one pictured above? I think @Sid was thinking of keyboards with a single-height one.
 
Sid
@msh210 Yeah. My laptop has a single-height one and they have put in a backslash in between Enter and Backspace
 
@Sid Yeah, that's what my laptop has, as well.
 
 
1 hour later…
3:43 PM
0
Q: Cryptic Family Reunion #8

Jeremy DoverThe answer to this puzzle is a list of ten thematically related words or proper names or phrases. Each of these is clued cryptically, and the theme is to be determined. Since the definition part of a cryptic clue would give away the theme, these cryptic clues use a family member (e.g., mom, siste...

 
 
4 hours later…
7:38 PM
After consulting with a [] expert, I'll forgo using this for the CCCC, as it's apparently too difficult, so I'll just post it here: Peacefully. Scurrying's pointless (5)
 
8:07 PM
0
Q: Functional equation involving 2020th powers

Rand al'ThorFind all functions $f:\mathbb{N}\to\mathbb{N}$ which satisfy $$ (n-1)^{2020}<\prod_{k=1}^{2020}f^{(k)}(n)<n^{2020}+n^{2019}\quad\quad\text{for all }n\in\mathbb{N}, $$ where $\mathbb{N}$ is the set of natural numbers (not including zero) and $f^{(k)}$ is the composite function $f\circ f\circ\dots\...

 
8:31 PM
0
Q: New logical puzzle

perayuThe goal is to divide the grid into regions of exactly four cells (tetromino). Each region contains exactly two different symbols. Regions of the same shape must contain the same symbols. The tetrominoes may be rotated or mirrored.

 
 
2 hours later…
10:08 PM
0
Q: The mysterious puzzle

John BrookfieldsI created this puzzle. You must think right to get the answers. This may seem very difficult. But I can assure that there is a clear logic behind this. But it takes time. Hope you like this :) File 1 File 2 The above two files are the documents describing the puzzle. Hint 1: Hint 2: Hi...

 

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