The Sphinx's Lair

Sphinx

02:39

0

Q: Which door do you need to open to get the clue?

Let's say there are three doors $1, 2, 3$ with labels: Only one label is true. Which door do you need to open to get the clue?

logical-deduction

Sphinx

03:29

0

Q: Connect the image pairs

Figure out the rule that groups the images into pairs and connect them with straight lines. The answer is a single word.

visual

Avi

Lightning quick solve by Deusovi :(

Definitely liked the NY pair

Sphinx

08:54

0

Q: Four groups, sixteen words

These 16 words can be separated into 4 categories... What are they? All of them have something in common... What is it? Bean, Iron, Bird, Notorious, Cannonball, Ripper, Prince, Zodiac, Clown, Slim, Sam, Dr, Dizzy, Fifty, Sugar, Brown

word-property

Sphinx

10:10

1

Q: Some pocket challenges

A "pocket challenge" is a short puzzle where you don't need any complicated process nor writing material and, some times, not even a great knowledge. That's what I like to call them... Here are some I use to dare other people with: 1. A skyscraper windows cleaner were cleaning the windows of the...

lateral-thinking

Sphinx

11:50

2

Q: Each fruit is a combination of two elements

Hello Puzzling community! Here's a simple pattern question I created recently: 1) Apple = 50 X 2) Banana = 33 G 3) Cherry = 77 Y 4) Dragon Fruit = 137 G 5) Elderberry = ?#1 6) Forest Strawberry = ?#2 7) Grape = ?#3 Hope you enjoy this one!

mathematics pattern

Sphinx

13:05

1

Q: Another Visual Connect Wall

Inspired by this recent Connect Wall The 16 words below may be partitioned into 4 groups of 4 connected words. The resulting four words also have a connection, but in this case, the final connection is a picture, not a word or phrase. +--------------+--------------+--------------+-----------...

pattern connect-wall

Deusovi

14:46

huh, spoilers are now click-to-reveal. interesting!

Lukas Rotter

aaaand they're broken already

6

A: The mysterious email on Mithrandir's Puzzlers Mail

Note: I didn't try to click on the image yet when I wrote this answer, so the following is extremely partial and could be superfluous. Partial answer When Then the message partially decodes to If the mapping so far is correct, the numbers with a blue border decode to:

Deusovi

welp!

oAlt

@Deusovi Their design on mobile changed too :0

Lukas Rotter

@Mithical Even more publicity for your question, just like a few years ago :P

Mithical

I was just about to leave a comment that I have absolutely no recollection of making that puzzle

Sphinx

15:11

0

Q: Change Four to Nine in fewest steps

Change the word FOUR to the word NINE by changing only one letter at a time. The change must result in a 4 letter word from the MW dictionary and cannot be an abbreviation,acronym, anagram or a proper name. The answer should take Seven or fewer steps I expect more than one answers but the fewes...

word wordplay

North Læraðr

15:39

So regarding the clue, could the obscure word be an obsure definition of one of the words within the C4?

That's my only assumption which would make sense

Wait does deletion count as "substring" of the answer?

bobble

if something is deleted then it wouldn't be in the answer

North Læraðr

So the obscure word could be the deletion of "cure" or something

Sphinx

16:01

0

Q: A curious email

You are a secret agent who is undercover at the Kremlin. You receive a cryptic email (presumably from your boss) who was supposed to give you the code name of the agent who would be picking you up from the airport to bring you back home. As a sidenote, you are aware that most agent names are anim...

steganography

Deusovi

16:15

sounds plausible enough to me

bobble

17:21

AP physics spending another day on propaganda, this time about the many diverse job opportunities for physics majors

Deusovi

that's so weird

Lukas Rotter

isn't that basically teacher or researcher? I think things like meteorology don't have many open spots, correct me if I'm wrong.

bobble

Apparently physics majors do well on the MCAT and LSAT

Avi

17:35

If you survived long enough to become a physics major

you're probably very intelligent, it's true

survivorship bias is the reason

bobble

One of the listed careers is "YouTuber"

somehow I don't think that's widely applicable

also "Education policy advocate" because in physics you "learn how to learn"

Avi

17:52

how to learn? simple, use your talent

I would be a terrible teacher

Sphinx

18:31

-2

Q: Does "naked set" method always solve a sudoku?

Is always possible to solve a sudoku using only naked pair/triple/quad methods? If not, what about using naked set and hidden set methods combined togheter? I need to know it because I would like to use those methods in a c++ software and I don't wanna use "guessing" because it costs too much in ...

mathematics logical-deduction sudoku

Lukas Rotter

19:44

Anybody working on this? I have 5, maybe 6 out of 10 but can't get any farther atm

oh well

lol

North Læraðr

20:00

@bobble I'm literally going to major in music smh

bobble

Homework is two things: 1) a Google Form where we write up everything we learned about how Physics Is The Best Major In The Universe 2) a link to a Crash Course

so I think we're going to start learning actual physics! tomorrow

North Læraðr

@bobble Great!

We started day one reviewing sig figs

We have our test next Thursday O_O

bobble

My other classes started right up - AP Gov especially

North Læraðr

@bobble You're a senior?

bobble

yep. i so wise and smart and stuff

and also freaking out about college apps

North Læraðr

20:10

Ha! That's me next year

Meanwhile I'm already freaking out about college

bobble

The local state colleges are pretty good, so I'm applying there

North Læraðr

Nice nice

bobble

Then I get stuck on where else to look

North Læraðr

My rule of thumb so far is:

Stay within driving distance of home or

Get away as far as possible

bobble

ahhh! do i sense a contradiction

North Læraðr

20:12

No, it's either or

So I stay local or I leave the country

bobble

I don't have a license... or even a permit

North Læraðr

I'm really close to getting my license

bobble

I just bike everywhere (which isn't that much, since COVID and all)

North Læraðr

I have my hours in but I just need more practice

bobble

my parents told me about their driver's ed, where on the first day they had you drive on the edge of a cliff

North Læraðr

20:14

what in the world

bobble

to prove to you that you wouldn't die

North Læraðr

Tf

bobble

(there was a road, it just went right about up to the edge)

North Læraðr

I'm pretty sure that's considered "Reckless Endangerment" and also illegal

Weird

I get like anxiety over driving though

bobble

My mom told me about how my grandma passed the test even though she couldn't read English

North Læraðr

20:16

Wait....

bobble

(by memorizing the lengths & shapes of every possible question-answer combo)

North Læraðr

Well if you can drive legally

LOL

bobble

because back in the Good Ol Days this was publicly available I guess?

North Læraðr

Before everything became franchised and you have to now complete a "driver permit course" thingy

So dumb

Like what if you can't afford one

bobble

I have those fake driver's licenses from Legoland that they give kids

does that count :)

North Læraðr

20:18

As long as you don't get pulled over by a cop

John Dvorak

Interestingly enough, that's what streamers do in a certain 3D platformer that involves a short randomized quiz. It's faster to learn to recognize 10 Q/A pairs in Chinese than to have the whole game in English.

North Læraðr

hm interesting

Ugh University of Notre Dame leave me alone

I checked out your school once and now you spam me everyday about how great your college is

bobble

heh. I check my spam box for laughs sometimes and there is wild stuff in there

John Dvorak

And it has caused you to talk about it in here, so apparently it works :D

North Læraðr

@bobble It's not even in my spam

Well my fault for signing up for their newsletter ig

bobble

20:21

Some of them seem to think I'm a mid-life-crisis man with erectile issues who's dying to get a date

2

I'm not

North Læraðr

@bobble But are you sure

John Dvorak

But hey, what a way to check that your OS supports the latest Bikini emoji, innit?

bobble

Others tell me that my credit score is in danger

North Læraðr

That's hilarious

John Dvorak

... and dollar emoji :P

North Læraðr

20:23

I got a "test" from Wells Fargo telling me someone hacked into my account

But like

I don't have a Wells Fargo account

bobble

and of course, a bunch of standard ones about how I won the lottery, or a new gift card, or a casino has a big payout for me

North Læraðr

I literally want to get out of the country but all the really good music schools are in the U.S. for some reason

There's like that one in England and the other one in France

One of them is like an hour drive away and I'm like bruh

@bobble What major are you looking into? Physics ;)?

bobble

oh gods no

North Læraðr

LOL

But you just said that physics is the best major

Are you lying?

bobble

Well, in AP physics the correct answer is "yes, physics is the bestest major of all time"

outside of that class...

North Læraðr

20:32

Just tell your teacher you're going to major in like Sociology

And then have them flounder about how that relates to physics

bobble

But Physics Teaches You How To Learn! It Is So Widely Applicable, You Can Use It For Any Job! Take Physics Today!

North Læraðr

Yes, my physics degree will help me get a job in... political science

bobble

some examples of physics jobs... protester against Confederate statues

(hey, when they fall, that's physics!)

Typewriter collector

Dog walker

Nature photographer

North Læraðr

Lowkey, I kind of hate people ppl that are so STEM oriented

bobble

(physics of light to get the best picture!)

North Læraðr

20:35

Like humanities is a thing you know

Actually photography you could make a pretty good case for

There is like an entire AP course dedicated to optics

bobble

My school offers AP Art History

Also Sculpture. Not sure how that works with distance learning

And sorry to fellow puzzlers for clogging up the chat :)

North Læraðr

ew art history

bobble

The teacher has a giant timeline-banner thing with every major artistic style over the ages

North Læraðr

20:57

@bobble Blech

bobble

art history! what could be more useful than learning how a bunch of people thousands of years ago drew stuff?

Sphinx

1

Q: One truthteller/liar and one random person

There are 2 people standing. All you know is is that one of the persons is a truthteller or a liar (he is either one of those but you don't know which one) and the other person is a random ( he sometimes speaks the truth and sometimes lie, all at random). They both know all about the other person...

logical-deduction liars

North Læraðr

@bobble Music history. Learning what dead people wrote a thousand years ago

bobble

how about... physics history

North Læraðr

@bobble Learning how dead people got everything wrong time after time?

bobble

21:04

but then eventually got it right? (right=what we think as of now)

North Læraðr

Sort of

I have a feeling that Einstein might be wrong some 1000 years into the future

Just like how some Newtonian physics is "wrong" after relativity

But then again, some stuff like math has barely changed over the last several millenium

Gareth McCaughan

CCCC hints: 1. This clue involves a rather obscure word, but that word is neither the answer nor a substring of the answer. 2. The first letter is O.

@bobble I assume that people who study art history don't usually do so because it's useful. They do it because they are interested in it, because the art fascinates them and they want to understand it better, etc. That seems obviously reasonable to me. Does it not to you?

I mean, if not then whatever are you doing here?

bobble

oh, I know that.

i'm still in rant mode over physics making us write propaganda

Gareth McCaughan

The bit about pretending you've studied physics and writing something that looks back at what it did for your life?

John Dvorak

Do you really think that this time, this one time, we actually got it right? Nah.

bobble

21:17

@GarethMcCaughan... where did I do that?

Gareth McCaughan

Maybe I'm misremembering. Wasn't that the nature of the propaganda?

bobble

The propaganda is that Physics is the best major/career option

Gareth McCaughan

So what exactly are they making you write?

Avi

@JohnDvorak which 3d platformer?

I only know 2d ones :o

Gareth McCaughan

(Maybe it's exactly as unreasonable as you're saying, but I can imagine some pretty reasonable things along those lines. You're starting out on something that'll involve putting in quite a bit of hard work in order to learn some physics. It's reasonable for them to hope that you'll find that more worth doing if you've given some thought at the outset to how learning physics might be valuable to you.)

bobble

21:20

yesterday, by bobble

I have to write propaganda about how in the future, a physics degree helped me get my dream career

Avi

So basically

how do you envision

John Dvorak

@Avi Let's just say that it's one of those games that if you want to 100% them, you'll spend literally hours riding down the same slide over and over and over and over again.

Avi

physics helping you out

Gareth McCaughan

Ah, that's exactly what I meant about "pretending you've studied physics and writing something that looks back at what it did for your life".

Avi

@JohnDvorak is it unspeakable

John Dvorak

21:20

gets a new meaning to the term "grinding"

Avi

runescape?

John Dvorak

no

Gareth McCaughan

Again, doesn't seem obviously unreasonable to me.

bobble

oh sorry then

Avi

remember

Gareth McCaughan

21:21

(More unreasonable if you're not doing the AP course voluntarily, though.)

Avi

one of the 7 traits of highly successful people is Vision

bobble

I'm taking AP physics because I already took AP bio and AP chem

and that's basically my only reason

Gareth McCaughan

Well, if the answer is that actually you aren't interested in physics and don't see any way that it will help you have a better career or a better life, then maybe you should drop the AP course and get a little more free time.

Avi

i took IB physics and now I can dodge flying boxes while running fast

Gareth McCaughan

On the other hand, if it interests you, or if you think that taking it will help you get a better college place (and hence maybe a better career, etc.) ... then it seems to me that you can do more or less what they ask you to do without any sort of insincerity.

(I am, though, 100% against forcing people to write things they don't believe, at least in contexts where they can't say frankly that they don't in fact believe what they're writing.)

Avi

21:24

what if you don't believe in anything

bobble

I like learning about the science. I don't like learning about how I should pursue physics as a job.

Avi

and thus, are incapable of writing

bobble

And about forcing people to write... I have argued in many, many required essays that school uniforms should be provided and start times pushed back, because the provided evidence made it impossible to argue the other way

I'm... a little untrusting of mandatory arguments

Gareth McCaughan

Again, I am 100% against forcing people to be insincere.

Avi

writing based on evidence is a skill that is good to have

the question then becomes

how do you gather the evidence that most supports your intended argument

Sphinx

21:27

0

Q: What is the biggest finite integer you can make?

As far as I know, this question is invented by me. I don't know the answer but, given the limited alphabet and the rules, there must be a highest finite integer and that will be the unique correct answer. Question Using only the lower case letters a - z and the digits 0 - 9, once each at most, wh...

mathematics

bobble

My experience in school writing assignments is "write whatever the teacher thinks, then you get an A"

Gareth McCaughan

As soon as you ask "how can I gather the evidence that most supports the argument I already decided to make?" you are on the road to hell.

4

Avi

although, it does fall victim to the problem of anybody being able to argue anything so long as they can find a shred of evidence for it

HTM

@Avi I think that should be the other way around

Avi

only if you want to pass peer review

if you want to become a news reporter, just find the news channel that agrees with you

Gareth McCaughan

21:28

@bobble I am sorry if your teachers are idiots, which it sounds like they might be. Have you tried writing cogent essays for positions they don't agree with and seeing what happens?

bobble

No, because when they all but tell you which quotes to use it just becomes much easier to agree with them

North Læraðr

@GarethMcCaughan You know, I should do that ne of these days

@bobble You should disagree and see how far in hell you get sent

Gareth McCaughan

I guess maybe it makes the job of marking the essays easier if they have constrained things enough that everyone is basically writing different versions of the same essay. Again, if your teachers are idiots then you have my condolences.

bobble

And I'm used to never, ever winning arguments

seeing as my dad is a debate champion and my mom is a master of the Stare

North Læraðr

@GarethMcCaughan Yup. And guess what essay I had to write about? CONFORMITY

It was hilarious

Avi

21:31

@bobble you may have won and not noticed

North Læraðr

@Avi You can never, ever win an argument against your parents

Even when you're right

Even if you've won

You lose at the end anyways

bobble

because they know best!

Avi

they do though

North Læraðr

@bobble I mean yes they do. Most of the time

Avi

all of the time

rip

North Læraðr

21:32

@Avi No, MOST of the time

Unless it's over like

Avi

literally all of the time

over a 3 year period

i don't think they've been wrong once

North Læraðr

@Avi What if the parent is abusive

Avi

then they're not your parent

they're a jerk

North Læraðr

Good point

bobble

I also have problems that attempting to talk to my parents about anything serious sends me into panic attacks

North Læraðr

21:33

@bobble ME TOO

Avi

I should be panicking but I can't :/

for example, why am I thinking about puzzles when I should not be thinking about puzzles

North Læraðr

@Avi I mean, my parents have never been wrong, but I can't say all parents will be right all the time about everything

bobble

Usually my goal isn't even to win the argument, it's to get them to acknowledge my point as valid

North Læraðr

@bobble You're taking the words out of my mouth

But maybe it's because they know something we don't

Avi

@NorthLæraðr life experience :(

Gareth McCaughan

21:38

I have lost arguments with my 14yo daughter. Not very often; I do in fact know more than she does and have more experience of the world than she does. But I make mistakes from time to time.

bobble

sorry for ranting everyone

North Læraðr

@bobble Nah, it's good with me at least. Idk others

North Læraðr

22:01

Hehe

COVERT means the exact opposite as OVERT. I find that funny for some reason

How does "is" work in wordplay?

Gareth McCaughan

It's not an indicator for anything I can think of. It can be a connector (either way around) between def and wordplay. It could just supply the letters I and S, or be part of a definition of something that does participate in the wordplay. I think that's about it.

North Læraðr

hm

Deusovi

22:17

It could also be part of an indicator - "...when head is removed", etc

North Læraðr

Hm, but "wife is condition" makes no sense

Gareth McCaughan

Yup, part-of-indicator also possible.

North Læraðr

22:29

It's clearly OVERT because your wife is OVERTOIL and you get rid of OIL, a known cure of all stress

#GreatC4Solutions

I'm just salty OVERT didn't go anywhere

msh210

Well, there's Frank O'Hara. But I don't see how that'd work for the rest of the clue. Also, although some would clue that as (5), I suspect @GarethMcCaughan would give (1'4).

Gareth McCaughan

I would indeed enumerate O'HARA as (1'4) and not as (5).

msh210

There's also Fran Kukla ≈ FranK, and Ollie. But… no.

( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kukla,_Fran_and_Ollie )

Deusovi

Searching a few crossword sites gave me AVA and MIA for "Frank's wife" (referring to Frank Sinatra). NANCY and BARBARA are also options there, and the -NCY ending looks like it could have something to do with "condition"? But I don't see how to massage those into a 5-letter word starting with O.

North Læraðr

@Deusovi Edith Frank, like Anne Frank's mom?

idk I'm throwing stuff out there

Deusovi

22:44

she doesn't start with O and I don't think she had a wife, so the wordplay would have to be fairly complicated to get an answer there

but I'm not gonna completely rule it out

North Læraðr

Olgivanna (or Olga) is the name of Frank Lloyd Wright's wife

But I don't see how that would fit anywhere

"CURE" can mean to "SET" i.e. "cement cures rapidly"

But is that obsure?

Deusovi

I don't think that's so obscure that Gareth would admit it as "rather obscure"

North Læraðr

Hm, that's true

I'm going to assume that whatever is "obscure" under Gareth's term cannot be found in Merrian-Webster

Gareth McCaughan

The word in question is in fact in the online Merriam-Webster.

North Læraðr

hmmm

word "curé" cannot be spelled "cure", correct?

Deusovi

22:55

that could very well be it

North Læraðr

curé?

msh210

23:28

@GarethMcCaughan Does "substring" = "connected substring"?

Gareth McCaughan

23:57

That is indeed what I meant. So STRI is a substring of SUBSTRING but SING isn't.

Transcript for