The Sphinx's Lair - 2020-09-02

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Sphinx

00:27

0

Q: My prefix is Weird, My suffix is a Friend (v2)

This is the same question as My prefix is weird, My suffix is a friend, but with a couple of ever-so-slight modifications (and obviously a different answer): My prefix is Weird. My suffix is a Friend. My infix is a creature to be feared. My whole has a massive extend*. *Clarification (not neede...

oAlt

00:42

@JeremyDover oh boy... I have 2, 3, 4, and 10 left. I think I know what 4 is but I don't know the wordplay. The other unsolved clues aren't giving me a good time either.

Jeremy Dover

01:05

@oAlt It may help to remember that I'm pretty old, so think 70's and 80's vintage. The theme is actually narrower than you might originally think.

@msh210 I believe the CCCC is TORNADO (a tempest) = TO-DO (excitement) about RNA (protein manufacturer).

oAlt

01:28

@JeremyDover :0

oAlt

01:39

Almost done. Need to make 4 work

I knew it. I knew it. I had the wrong word for 4.

oAlt

02:03

Done @JeremyDover

Sphinx

02:58

0

Q: What is the answer to this puzzle?

My friend sent me this puzzle over Discord asking if I could figure it out. I tried for over an hour and I got pretty far but I've hit a bump. The puzzle goes as follows, There are five colored doors to offices, all in a row at the FBI Headquarters. In each office sits an expert in a different fo...

logical-deduction

bobble

03:15

@Sphinx, that needs to be edited into a title that describes the puzzle

Sphinx

0

Q: Solving this rabbit hole riddle

There is a 3 letter/number key or another link hidden in this page but I'm not sure. https://wheredowego.j5.no/ There is a text "not a key keep looking" in this text. But not sure if I need some type of decoder or something.

msh210

03:35

@JeremyDover It is, indeed. Well found.

1 hour later…

Sphinx

04:38

0

Q: How to stack cubes in minimum area along infinite planes?

There is a storeroom which has only three sides all touching each other perpendicularly, the sides can be defined as: two infinitely large walls and one infinitely large floor. There are N cubes of unit volume. I need to store the cubes in the storeroom but there are 2 rules to be followed before...

logical-deduction geometry combinatorics

bobble

I... did it! I DID IT! My Overly Complicated Marching Bands Extraordinaire is finally gridded!

(with only a handful of words that make me cringe inside!)

Now I have to clue it

oh gods I have to clue it

msh210

@bobble publish it unclued: more of a challenge that way :-)

bobble

It would be two blank grids

"here, fill in the words that I'm thinking of" :)

msh210

05:27

Exactly

As I said, more of a challenge

4 hours later…

Jeremy Dover

09:19

CCCC: Strip of fat iron shielding piece of optic gear (6)

Gareth McCaughan

@LukasRotter Is your program rot13(srznyr naq cynlvat n tnzovg)? I wondered about that before but "symptoms" seems a really strange term in that sense, and there's still the problem that rot13(vg'f abg pyrne jung zbir vg'f ybbxvat ng abe ubj vg xabjf ubj gb naabgngr vg)...

Lukas Rotter

@GarethMcCaughan No.

Lukas Rotter

09:41

Apparently the thing I'm referring to isn't well-known at all among X players (or I clued it completely wrong), which might make this puzzle a "google with the information given until it matches". According to Pageviews, the thing has ~1000 monthly user-invoked hits on en.wikipedia.org. Comparing that to "Coverture", which you said is an obscure term; Coverture has ~6000 monthly hits (and of course easier to find if we have a CC to work with)

and some of those hits might be 'misleading', which I will explain in my next hint if necessary.

msh210

@JeremyDover f(lens)e

Jeremy Dover

@msh210 Correct!

msh210

CCCC: Big bore prepared for Mormon mission (4-7)

Lukas Rotter

lol. mormons becoming extremely violent

Gareth McCaughan

10:13

@LukasRotter Well, you did say you'd ... how did you put it? ... "tried to obscure the hell out of it".

Some other surely-wrong thoughts (not fishing for help here, just giving feedback on what kind of stuck-ness the puzzle produces): 1. Alexander + chess + disease suggests Nabokov's The Defence (whose main character is called Alexander Luzhin, and is a chess player who goes mad) but there isn't really an actual disease here. 2. You could maybe argue that the last search is suffering from analysis paralysis but that isn't particularly a chess term (and again there is the question of how ...

... the program is producing its !, ?, ?? annotations).

Also, "Analysis paralysis" has too many Wikipedia pageviews, given your comments above :-).

I rather suspect that there isn't going to be an answer to "the question of how the program is producing its annotations", though :-).

Also, no obvious Alexander connection.

The other Alexander/chess/disease nexus is that Alekhine was famously an alcoholic, but there doesn't really seem to be anything in the cited output that indicates that your computer is an alcoholic and that answer wouldn't make much sense anyway.

Also, Alekhine has thousands of pageviews, alcoholism presumably has a whole lot more, and I don't think there's a Wikipedia page just about Alekhine's alcoholism.

(Actually, it's not clear whether he was an actual alcoholic or just a heavy drinker.)

Lukas Rotter

10:33

@GarethMcCaughan Correct. I feared that making another evaluation program / command will lead to even more confusion. BTW, you were dangerously close in one of your messages above :)

(also I cheated a little bit on my comment on the wikipedia pages to not give away too much, but I feel like I have to clarify now) If Alekhine's wikipedia page said "His alcoholism is known as the Alexander Disease", and the page itself had 1000 hits, I would count that.

Gareth McCaughan

11:01

There is in fact an Alexander Disease that affects the nervous system, but I don't think it has any connection to chess.

Ah, got it.

I had actually wondered about the person in question earlier but not followed it up.

Lukas Rotter

Great! :) If you don't mind, could you give me advice after posting your answer what would've made this better? I realize there are lots of paths you go down as a solver that don't go anywhere, but I struggle to find another clue which wouldn't give it away.

e.g. I thought about calling the program "lxndrlxndrvch", directly asking "what X do I suffer from".

Gareth McCaughan

I don't think the longer name would have helped very much, unless maybe by googling "Alexander Alexandrovich chess" which seems a little cheaty. I mean, once you think of the player in question and bother looking him up you're done anyway, and while I did know his first name I didn't know his patronymic.

The thing that actually got me there in the end, I'm slightly ashamed to say, was googling "Alexander syndrome chess", because although I'd thought of Kotov before I'd not followed it up and had forgotten about him again :-). And that's not a very difficult search to think of trying, given the puzzle.

So I'm not sure anything is needed to make it better, at least if better means more solvable. I mean, it did get solved, and I don't think our discussion here made much difference to how quickly I solved it.

The thing that bothered me most is the aforementioned fact that the problem is apparently annotating its own moves despite sometimes giving very bad results even when given a lot of time to think. As I said in my answer, I rationalize this by supposing that lxndr.exe actually does its own (presumably experimental) search and then calls out to something much stronger to evaluate the results.

msh210

11:16

@LukasRotter hm?

Gareth McCaughan

Thinking big-bore guns rather than, say, boring people or tidal waves. I assume.

Lukas Rotter

@GarethMcCaughan Ah, I see. As I said, I think I was a "little bit too laid-back" in the creation of the puzzle, obviously not realizing somebody might be irritated after looking at that particular oddity.

@msh210 as gareth suggested

msh210

@GarethMcCaughan ohhh got it

My intended surface was big bore = someone very dull

but that way makes sense too (if less likely)

Gareth McCaughan

11:32

Some people really don't like door-to-door evangelists. (Not quite the same surface as Lukas's.)

Mithical

Or evangelists in general.

(As in, people who try to proselytize others.)

msh210

11:52

@GarethMcCaughan I don't think Mormons go door to door, do they? (They do evangelize, natch.)

Hm, yes, I guess they do -- or did. beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/msh210-4675510.php

Lukas Rotter

Incredible, a cookie popup where not everything is pre-checked. I like the "in to your face" style, normally you are able to view the site for 1 second until it pops up :)

2 hours later…

oAlt

14:13

Hi @Stiv :000

Sphinx

0

Q: 9 students, 9 clues, 1 solution

There were 24 students in a science class. As a challenge, the teacher pulled 9 of those kids, and told them they needed to order themselves in a specific way, but not tell anyone exactly why they chose that way. Each student was only allowed to say one thing about why they were in their position...

enigmatic-puzzle cryptic-clues

Stiv

14:36

@oAlt Sorry, didn't see you there - I'd just popped in for a quick lurk around!

1 hour later…

oAlt

16:01

:ooo

Lukas Rotter

Do you use :o universally for every emoji or for actual surprise?

Avi

16:17

My answer to that can be expressed as so: :o

Lukas Rotter

@Avi :o? -> :o

Avi

:o -> :o = :O

Lukas Rotter

:o + :0 = ?

Avi

:o > :0 > :|

:o + :0 = :o

:o + :? = :o

i bet you could make an :o puzzle out of this

with linear and nonlinear equations of :O

/me flees the crime scene

bobble

16:39

Quick! Can't let them get away! throws fishing line into Avi's open mouth Got 'em hooked! :)

Sphinx

17:12

0

Q: An odd combo-puzzle! (Franken-puzzle?)

Here's what you get: Body needs to be 30 chars! :):)

enigmatic-puzzle

North Læraðr

18:08

@JohnDvorak I also know how to close Stack Exchange chatrooms

@bobble What wait which puzzle

I saw marching band and I immediately perked up

bobble

It's a Marching Bands crossword that I've been working on an off for over a month

North Læraðr

Ooooooh

I'd love to take a try at it, would you mind pinging me after you post it? I might not see it otherwise

bobble

I will, it should be out in a few days

Depending on how much time I get to work on it

North Læraðr

Nice

I haven't posted a puzzle in forever

I mostly hangout here for the chatroom, but I haven't had any ideas

bobble

I've poured at least 100 hours of work into this (lots of stolen weekend afternoons, in between homework assignments, while my family watches TV, etc).

When I think of how fast it's going to go...

North Læraðr

18:18

Lol

It's gonna get sniped by Deus before it gets posted

bobble

before... that would be a trick

North Læraðr

A Ghost Trick? ;)

(I think I just ruined that joke)

bobble

you did

North Læraðr

Shucks

I deleted it so it will only be ruined for you and no one else

bobble

My next puzzle is already lined up: a number crossword with no Down clues

I like making crosswords... it's effectively a [grid-deduction]!

North Læraðr

18:23

@bobble I had an idea long time ago that involved kidnapping the mods again and trapping them in like a rubiks-cube/crossword-esque puzzle

I forgot the concept it's been such a long time ago

bobble

ooh I liked that

I saw the mod-kidnap puzzles when doing some archive diving

North Læraðr

Yeah there's a couple

Bass's is the most famous one, where he trapped Deusovi in a honeypot maze

There's also Mithical's old one

And then there's just mine

It's not that great, but it was funny while it lasted

I'm pretty sure people just liked the fact that I kidnapped the mods and not because the puzzle was really worth anyone's time to solve XD

Avi

You have locked the mods behind a 27x27 sudoku...

Now you regret, but you have forgotten how to solve the puzzle...

bobble

wait... how does that work

Avi

@bobble that would be spoiling it

North Læraðr

18:28

I think it involved a reverse-rubiks cube for my second idea? Instead of trying to solve a Rubiks cube, you go from the solved position into the scrambled position

Except you don't know the scrambled position and that was where clues came in? It never got fully fleshed out. I might tackle it again

I'm like looking at the starboard

And in like three years when some random user decides to scroll through the starboard they're just going to see John Dvorak's poem about the pickle

bobble

a very fair, balanced view on the Tyranny of Pickles

North Læraðr

Yes

Speaking of which, I need to finish that theme song

Unfortunately, I'm quite wrapped on in the moment preparing for my Mock Trials tryouts and writing a rather scathing letter for some stupid board members that might not let K-Pop club be a club because it's not run by "Korean" members

bobble

I'm juggling multiple college applications, letters of rec, finishing my puzzle, and my tutoring club

oh and homework and school

North Læraðr

I'm Korean, and I don't like K-Pop, but to even possibly deny a club from expressing its interest just because of "cultural misappropriation" really ticked me off

@bobble Love the after thought

bobble

I would understand if it was like an Islam club run by non-Muslims

but K-pop is not even remotely like that

North Læraðr

18:35

@bobble Exactly

And the thing is, they already have a "Anime Club" ran by two Caucasian kids

Why are they picking on K-Pop

@bobble Even that, it depends on the point of the club. K-Pop club is more appropriately labelled as "K-Pop Appreciation Club" where people who are interested and like K-Pop gather to express their mutual appreciation for the subject

Idk it just annoyed the heck out of me

3 hours later…

Sphinx

21:48

0

Q: What am I with zero?

With zero I am falling. With two I am smart. With four I am wet. With seven I am food. With twenty I am fast. What am I with zero?

riddle wordplay

2 hours later…

Avi

23:30

need puzzle name

I've decided to give up on actually adding anything

and actually post the sudoku, as jafe suggested

bobble

You are free to steal my Cryptic Cat as flavor

(the Cat is not limited to cryptics - she exists to mess up puzzles)

Avi

99 Ways to Trap the Moderators

or 9 by 9 Ways to Trap The Moderators?

bobble

Over 80 Ways To Catch Your Moderator

("over 80" because 81 is just over 80)

Avi

maybe i should count each empty square as a way

99 ways just sounds better imo

or

How to Trap your Moderator

bobble

99 Moderators Chained on the Wall

3

Avi

23:46

take one down

pass 'em around

100 Moderators Chained on the Wall

how to make google sheet

bobble

Sheets will understand if you give it a comma-separated grid of numbers, as well

Avi

hmmmm

bobble

@Avi, I'm sure you'll be glad to know that my first two ideas, rot13(fbyivat rnpu fhqbxh vaqrcraqragyl be rkgenpgvat gur 3-ol-3f ng gur fnzr eryngvir cynpr sebz rnpu 9-ol-9, naq gura chggvat gurz gbtrgure vagb arj 9-ol-9f ol gurve bevtvany 9-ol-9'f cbfvgvba) both are immediately, obviously impossibe

Avi

probably easier for me to just upload an excel document

bobble

you could always try copy-pasting into google sheet

I don't have excel, so I'm not sure how that would go down

Sphinx

23:54

2

Q: How to Trap Your Moderator

You have locked your least favorite moderator behind a 27x27 Sudoku... Now you regret, but you have forgotten how to solve the puzzle...

bobble

@Avi I'm going to go into my standard anti-HTTYD-movie rant, which is that THEY TOTALLY BUTCHERED THE BOOKS AHHHHH

A bunch of characters got changed, and they essentially tossed out the world (except for the fact that dragons & pseudo-vikings are involved) for an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT ONE AHHHHHH

Avi

I'm going to go into my standard filesharing rant, which is that my Google account is tied to my files ahhhhh >.<

bobble

I can go into more specifics on my rant (I was forced to see the movies on pain of failing an assignment, so I know details) if anyone cares

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Sep '202

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