The Sphinx's Lair

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North Læraðr

01:01

@bobble Looks like they wanted to avoid the conversation

3 hours later…

Sphinx

03:51

Q: Kudos to the person who solves this riddle

I am a word. To the well-educated, I am an object of pursuit (well at least to some degree, if you are an American). To the veteran gamer, I come at little to no cost (would-be players often bring their own cards to this game, so take that into account). To the rest of the crew, I am something to...

jafe

04:11

CCCC: Animated flick: Chile-Tribe's End Uncertain (6 or 3,11)

bobble

a schrodinger? do we have to get both?

jafe

yeah

Deusovi

05:00

FICKL*+_E or THE INCREDIBLES*

jafe

@Deusovi that's correct

Deusovi

05:36

CCCC: A Monster's Expedition appears endless: it's penned by epic storyteller (7)

store.steampowered.com/app/1052990/A_Monsters_Expedition

been playing this recently, highly recommend

the puzzle design is absolutely fantastic and the writing is brilliant

1 hour later…

msh210

06:59

@Deusovi Sounds almost like a non-cryptic clue for ODYSSEY. But I assume that's not the intention.

2 hours later…

Deusovi

08:46

nope, that's not the intention

msh210

@Deusovi The preview video embedded in their Web site shows the player knocking trees down and moving the resultant logs to build bridges from place to place. It shows nothing else. Am I to gather that figuring out how to do so is the only kind of puzzle in the game?

(I mean, it can still be complex and interesting.)

Deusovi

yes, that would be a pretty accurate description

msh210

Interesting. I would think that would get trite soon. But I guess that's why I'm not a game author. Presumably the authors of this one have written it so it doesn't get trite soon.

Deusovi

my save file says I've played it for nearly 5 and a half hours, and it definitely hasn't gotten boring at all

msh210

Nice.

Deusovi

08:53

there are a lot of interesting subtle interactions built in, and the designers are very talented at making interesting things come out of those interactions

4 hours later…

Sphinx

12:31

Q: Gladys's Scrambled Cryptic

This is part 4 of the puzzle series. Part 1 is here. Dear Puzzling, Today I'm visiting a wonderful old castle surrounded by picturesque woodland. You may have noticed that I'm not exactly taking the most convenient route to visit my intended destinations – this is because I want to show these p...

knowledge geography cryptic-crosswords

Q: Nurikabe-Slitherlink

Yesterday's post and Stiv's answer provided inspiration for a new puzzle. What I envision will be a big effort, so I spent part of yesterday creating a study, a sample part of the bigger puzzle to get some practice. It's not too hard, but I think this small puzzle came out pretty well, so I figur...

grid-deduction slitherlink

msh210

@Sphinx @jafe I don't really keep up with PSE, excuse me. Is this in addition to your weekly Friday cryptic or instead of last/this Friday's?

Or did you stop the Friday sequence?

Also -- does PSE have any professional (by which I mean "for pay") crossword or other puzzle setters? There are certainly some people whose quality is good enough....

jafe

12:48

yeah i abandoned the regular friday schedule

didn't quite make the full year... i think the last one was number 44

i'm posting the remaining gladys puzzles when they finish, there's no fixed schedule anymore

1 hour later…

msh210

13:52

Every time I see the name Gladys I think of the one from Friends and/or Ms. Knight.

oAlt

14:51

@jafe dang, I am both amazed and scared by these types of clues

hahah

1 hour later…

matt

15:53

hello my anti-pickle friends

jafe

@msh210 i know PSEer rupert morrish used to have a crossword blog, don't know if he's ever published elsewhere though

matt

devises plan to attack the pickles

jafe

i have only ever sent in one puzzle for publication, and haven't heard back from them so i'm not holding my breath

Jon Ericson

@bobble Well, I'm getting ready to pickle pumpkin. Perpetually pro-pickle.

bobble

@NorthLæraðr, we have to execute Jon now

matt

15:56

hmmm is pickled pumpkin still a pickle?

yes

North Læraðr

@JonEricson So, you have chosen DEATH

matt

how should we commence execution?

Jon Ericson

Dunking in a salty, vinegary liquid?

North Læraðr

@JonEricson That would only preserve your body

matt

And worse yet, it would pickle-ify him

North Læraðr

15:57

We will provide mercy and not have you die such disgusting death

We are merciful even in our wrath

Jon Ericson

Punishment should fit the crime, no?

bobble

oAlt chose guillotine.

matt

but Jon, that would turn you into a pickle which is even worse

you must be cucumbered

we do the pickle process but backwards

Jon Ericson

Or encucumbered.

matt

ah yes

North Læraðr

15:59

We could ferment him

matt

great idea North

but uh how do we do that?

...

the fermentation process will be

slow

and not very comfortable

North Læraðr

@matt Depends. We could go the traditional Korean way by wrapping his body completely in pepper, and then stuffing him underground until the lactic acid builds

Mithical

Sorry, @Jon. This may or may not be my fault, in a way.

matt

@NorthLæraðr perfect

@Mithical knowing that you are pro-pickle...

it doesn't surprise me

Ankoganit

Why does Korean tradition involve pickling people

matt

16:02

I have no idea

but we're doing it anyway

North Læraðr

@Ankoganit It's not pickling. It's how we make kimchi

Ankoganit

Ooh

matt

so we must uh kimchi-ify Jon now

Mithical

(Also @Jon your chat profile is outdated. :/)

Jon Ericson

Oh. Let me fix that. . .

North Læraðr

16:05

@matt We need the head councilor member @bobble's approvable.

matt

it won't matter because you will be ~~pickled~~ kimchied

bobble

Proceed.

@matt three - on either side of the word

North Læraðr

kimchifies jon ericson

matt

@NorthLæraðr *ericson

ok everyone, it is time to celebrate Jon's death

North Læraðr

Hm, I'm not sure he's dead yet

matt

16:10

what? how long does it take?

North Læraðr

We need to calculate the amount of air inside the pot in comparison to Jon's body

And see how long it takes for him to suffocate

matt

ooh yay formula time

North Læraðr

Depends. Jon is a full-grown man and he barely fit, so, I'm guessing he won't have more than... 10-15 minutes?

Maybe 30 minutes max just to be safe. Not that he'd last that long, but you never know

matt

mm, no, I think 15'll be perfect

[15 minutes later]

North Læraðr

The fermentation process takes weeks though.

matt

16:14

WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US

North Læraðr

Be patient, young padawan. He lies in pain and torment in such state

I mean you do realize peppers burn right?

matt

more of a trekkie tbh

Jon Ericson

s/young padawan/young ensign/g

matt

what are the s and g for?

/young (padawan|ensign)/

any excuse to use regex

bobble

you should put a space after "young"

matt

16:19

thanks bobble

brb

Jon Ericson

linux.die.net/man/1/sed

Or maybe more relevantly: perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html

matt

i thought you were dead?

HELP ME @BOBBLE

Jon Ericson

It's not a convenient time to be dead for me.

bobble

It turns out that virtually executing people doesn't actually kill them. Pity.

matt

i am aware of that

North Læraðr

16:25

@bobble The message was sent

matt

yes

thamk you @NorthLæraðr

jeopardy music

6 hours later…

North Læraðr

22:11

@bobble Ahh, I see why Jon didn't die

I messed up the kimchi-fying step

I was supposed to stuff him in an airtight jar first for a couple days or so and then transfer him underground in an earthen pot

My apologies

Jon Ericson

22:46

Rumors of my demise are becoming increasingly weird.

bobble

I suggest sushi-fying: place Jon in a mound of rice, then wrap up tight in nori. He'll sufflocate to death.

Sphinx

Q: What are your Initial Impressions?

What are the letters in capitals below hinting at and what is their theme? RDDHIKFHBRMH Good luck!

knowledge enigmatic-puzzle

matt

@bobble perfect

ok Jon it is time for your sushification

bobble

one possible problem is, if he eats enough rice he could give himself room to breathe

so we must close his mouth with duct tape

matt

several layers of it

and also his hands and feet

bobble

23:02

As you can see, @JonEricson, we here in the Lair are quite on-topic, all the time.

matt

yes

matt

we must have a contigency plan

if Jon does manage to escape

also my wifi is being terrible

Jon Ericson

23:20

@bobble Well this certainly is a Puzzling conversation.

bobble

that reminded me 'bout this:

Q: Now that they've become so popular, should we reconsider creating a specific category and tag for "prefix-infix-suffix" word puzzles?

Background Lately I've seen a large profusion of word puzzles on this site that go like this: My prefix is [], My infix is [], My suffix is [], My whole is [] where the goal is to figure out what word the user is talking about. Example, Example, Example, Example, Example, Example, and there are...