The Sphinx's Lair

Sphinx

00:00

0

Roaming through the PSE building I come across a solid steel door. Above the door is a sign saying “Astrodome R”. I had no idea this place delved into astronomy. Below this sign is a painting of sorts: Obviously abstract, but I kind of like it. Below the painting is a little rhyme: Roses are red...

enigmatic-puzzle

bobble

00:15

Someone listed the topic they need help on as "Matrix's" in the tutoring sheet. Yes, they capitalized it and gave it a possessive. This does not bode well for their understanding...

Avi

of English

bobble

true

Sphinx

02:04

0

Q: Synonym for my prefix is master

Synonym for my prefix is master. Synonym for my suffix is folder. Synonym for my infix is about. Synonym for my whole is shape.

riddle word synonym

Sphinx

03:43

0

Q: Another bird-brained puzzle

A few days ago, this lovely community helped me track down my ornithologist birdbrain of a partner. Today, I've lost him again, and it might be a little tougher to find him! After all, he’s very flighty. I’ll let myself out. This time, he took a bunch of vacation days at work and disappeared over...

knowledge

Sphinx

04:57

0

Q: The ice cream puzzle

I am a new user, and I made this puzzle myself, but I lost the answer key, can anyone solve it so I can make a new one? The owner of the ' Super Ice Cream' shop was terrified. One of his workers was caught putting a poison in one of 10 possible flavours: Strawberry, Chocolate, Vanilla, Green Tea,...

logical-deduction lateral-thinking liars

jafe

05:55

@Avi penned by could also mean "inside", and endless can mean "without both ends"

i agree that "a monster" seems like a likely definition

"chimera" suspiciously contains i(-t) inside h(-o)mer but don't see how the o is removed or how the rest would work

msh210

06:13

@jafe And I actually read through the entirety of newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/horimers-journey to see whether the title character would turn out to have been a monster (he didn't).

Good story, though.

(Also, I didn't really think Deusovi would use some arbitrary story's monster as the referent.)

Sphinx

12:23

1

Q: Encrypted Letter: The Band Murder

So there are nine suspects: Harry Toplin, Howard Dunkin, Lonny Larry, Boe Johnny, Randy Jopkins, Terry Howdy, Gregory Baloony, Bonodono Batooty, and Maramy Duplin. They are in a line-up for killing the most famous band of all time: "The iBand". Good thing, the suspect left a letter, saying: s"In...

story

jafe

12:51

"by" can be "x" so maybe "it's penned by" means "has x inside" and the def is "epic storyteller"

msh210

13:07

@Deusovi I think we need another hint.

Oh, the previous hint was only 17 hours ago.

Well, still. The previous hint was hardly a hint at all, so....

Sphinx

1

Q: Coffee theorem puzzle

I am back yet with another puzzle, my last one was made this morning, and this one is a copied one from an app/website called Brilliant. So, this is especially for those who do not have Brilliant available for them. There is a multiplication where COFFEE× 3= THEOREM. What is H, if every letter co...

mathematics

jafe

oh boy i missed that there had been a clue, thanks for pointing it out

i'm thinking the non-obligatory words are "a", "appears", "it's" and possibly "epic"

Deusovi

13:57

hm, any particular type of hint that would be helpful? parsing, or single letter?

CCCC hint: The fourth letter is T.

bobble

14:28

@Sphinx duplicate of puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/8336/…

matt

14:52

hello friends

and fellow pickle haters

how's the song going @NorthLæraðr ?

bobble

it's done

matt

ooh yay!

North Læraðr

15:54

@bobble How have we NOT executed Mith yet?

bobble

They're too slippery. We can't catch them! I blame all the pickles that they eat.

North Læraðr

fair

I feel as though they will bleed vinegar if they are executed

Mithical

21 hours ago, by Mithical

@matt I'm not just another pickle lover. I am THE Pickle Lover.

matt

yes

YOU WILL BE EXECUTED @MITHICAL

Mithical

G'luck.

matt

16:01

stabs the pickles

again

are you dead yet

North Læraðr

@matt I don't think it's that easy

Mithical's died before, in a previous life, with a previous name

matt

really? interesting

North Læraðr

Well sort of

matt

also i have spanish in 7 minutes and i hate it

help

North Læraðr

I took french for two years and then I dropped it so

matt

16:05

lucky you ...

bobble

tell yourself cliche motivational phrases in Spanish

matt

anything but!

North Læraðr

@matt Not really, I killed my chances into getting into a college aside from music

matt

oh uh ...ouch

Sphinx

0

Q: A few easy suffix puzzles

In each puzzle, if [a] relates to [b] in the same way that [c] relates to [d], then b is a with a suffix and d is c with a similar suffix, and a is a prefix of c. Find all 8 words A [unit of mass] relates to a [set of rules] in the same way that a [set of activities] relates to an [occupation]. A...

word-property

North Læraðr

16:06

Yeah, and it doesn't help that my mom is... kind of against my choice in that

matt

wait wait you're a tree
I thought trees... hmm

I'm much more interested in the actual phonology/orthography of it

North Læraðr

@matt I'm complicated

matt

yes I can see that

North Læraðr

Oh whoops I meant to say "it's complicated" but that works too

matt

you can edit stuff - like this

North Læraðr

16:08

Ik but "I'm complicated" is funnier

matt

yes it is :)

Mithical

matt

uh... olives in a bowl?

Mithical

Had no pickles on hand, so these pickled olives will have to do.

Lukas Rotter

Thanks. I just puked on my keyboard

matt

16:09

my first thought: oh sh**

bobble

why would you ruin perfectly good olives?

matt

EXACTLY!

North Læraðr

How DARE YOU insult such olives

^^

Mithical

What're you supposed to do, drink olive oil?

matt

you're supposed to EAT THE OLIVES NORMALLY

North Læraðr

16:10

Eat it with pizza?

matt

yes definitely

North Læraðr

Just eat it regularly???

Mithical

@NorthLæraðr you do realize those are pickled beforehand right

matt

what are you going to do, execute me? @Mithical is the one who needs execution

North Læraðr

@Mithical What

@Mithical You can use the olive oil to cook

LIES

Mithical

16:11

You do not want to eat raw olives.

North Læraðr

@Mithical Fine olive oil.

Healthy AND delicious

matt

mhm

anyway

North Læraðr

Actually the only olives I really like are olive oil

matt

I have some verbs to conjugate

North Læraðr

HAHAHAHAHA sucks

matt

16:14

EXACTLY

special unthanks to mr. (I'm not even bothering with the señor thing) v*******z

the assignment in full:

Práctica de los verbos muy irregulares

SER & ESTAR
Choose between SER & ESTAR based on the sentence. Next to the sentence, write the reason (razón) from the acronyms DOCTOR & PLACE.

Razón

Yo _________________ de Bogotá, Colombia. _______________________
Alberto y Camila __________________ en la cafetería. _______________________
Vosotras ____________________ muy altas y rubias. _______________________
Tú __________________ una policía. _______________________

WHO CARES??!

and that's due tonight

it was assigned this morning

I have 8 periods

Mithical

Señor Valdez has it in for you, eh?

North Læraðr

@Mithical Haha

I feel bad

@matt Percy Jackson reference

I think

matt

hmm

North Læraðr

Yup yup

@matt You might want to delete that for privacy sake

matt

thankfully my spell check somehow converted a bunch of underscores into "voy" for one of them

good job, spellcheck

@NorthLæraðr uh thanks? I think?

Mithical

16:20

The above pictured bowl of olives is now empty, by the way.

matt

only have to wait 25 minutes until my next class
which is not *nearly* as terrible

North Læraðr

@Mithical shame

bobble

I recently finished my Great Riordan Reread (actually, for the most recent books I was just catching up), and it was GREAT

matt

@Mithical WHAT HAVE YOU DONE

North Læraðr

@bobble Ah yes

I need to get started on one of those

bobble

16:21

though reading a lot of his books in a row, you see how he re-uses the same narrative structure a lot

North Læraðr

@bobble That's with a lot of authors

matt

@bobble which I assume makes it less interesting?

North Læraðr

I love Marie Lu, but all of her stories are like "Ooh yes angst relationship problems uwu"

Mithical

@bobble I was actually doing that as well

North Læraðr

Riordan is hilarious though so

matt

16:23

angst (n.)
a feeling of deep anxiety or dread, typically an unfocused one about the human condition or the state of the world in general.

yes I had to look that up

North Læraðr

Who else is waiting for Tower of Nero~

Mithical

Finished PJO, HoO and what's out of ToA, now have to reread MCGoA and TKC

matt

@NorthLæraðr (not to be confused with Nero, the angry Romulan from Star Trek 2009)

North Læraðr

That took a while to process

bobble

@Mithical ALEXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX is DA BEST

Mithical

16:24

Apparently there's now a Kane Chronicles adaptation in development as well

@bobble yep

matt

for those of you who don't already know, I am a trekkie

North Læraðr

@bobble My personal favorite is Percy's guide to the Olympians and the Hero one

@bobble My friend got so salty when she found out that MCGoA was only 3 books

Mithical

@NorthLæraðr Those are decent

bobble

My sister got annoyed at me when I made too many "dam" jokes

North Læraðr

She was like "I WANTED MORE FIERRROCHASE"

bobble

16:25

^^^^^^

matt

@bobble hmm

Mithical

@NorthLæraðr who doesn't?!

North Læraðr

@Mithical They're not accurate, but I think they're hilarious

@Mithical True

Mithical

Fierrochase is better than Percabeth (hides)

North Læraðr

@Mithical The same friend of mine has a MASSIVE crush on Percy Jackson. I don't get it

matt

16:27

that is strange

anyway I have some verbs to ~~throw away~~ conjugate

Mithical

I'm still in shock that Rick actually killed off [redacted].

matt

> [redacted]

why redacted?

North Læraðr

@matt Spoilers

matt

ah of course

North Læraðr

@Mithical That was so random

Like why

Mithical

16:29

@matt [redacted]

matt

hm

North Læraðr

I feel a bit worse for rot13{cvcre} than [redacted] dying

Mithical

(I should really finish that puzzle series.)

North Læraðr

Like you finally get a bf, he goes into amnesia, both almost die, and then they're all good and then BAM he's dead for no reason

Mithical

It's Hera's fault, of course

bobble

16:32

everything is

Mithical

Or the Triumvirate but I prefer blaming Hera

@NorthLæraðr you forgot the breakup

Even after Cupid said "a glancing hit at true love"

matt

this has become Literature again

bobble

more, accurately, it's become YA

matt

is there a ya stack exchange?

bobble

I don't think so

matt

16:36

hm

North Læraðr

@Mithical Hm it's been a while

@Mithical Screw Hera

Anyhow, in terms of the C4, TRITONS is looking plausible

By that, I mean fourth letter is T

North Læraðr

17:16

@jafe So the parsing could be [monster]X[expeditio(-n)]?

Sphinx

0

Q: Permutation Puzzle Swap Cubies

I've recently an online puzzle RAVEL. It's a 3D array of cubes that must be arranged in color-order. A legal move is to slide a row, column, or lane any number of spaces. The cubes that are pushed out the end are inserted at the other end. I conjecture that all permutations are solvable but becau...

visual three-dimensional

Sphinx

18:35

0

Q: My suffix is western, from a "western" perspective

My suffix is western, from a "western" perspective My prefix a strange domain, unless you know Latin My infix a greeting, modernly it's excitement subjective My whole's population growth did recently flatten

riddle rhyme

Sphinx

18:59

0

Q: What was her name?

I had a match with a stunning girl on tinder yesterday, I was overjoyed but then I found out that she had the most bizarre name. What was more odd was what she wrote on her profile: Welcome gentlemen to my tutorial on how to play me the right way: At the beginning of my life, I was never quite a ...

riddle wordplay

Sphinx

20:14

0

Q: Q: What kind of logic puzzle would you like? A: Yes

A recent post and Stiv's answer provided inspiration for a new puzzle. I posted a study for this puzzle earlier; this is the bigger effort envisioned. I hope you enjoy! This puzzle consists of four different logic puzzles: a Nonogram, a Nurikabe, a Kakurasu, and a Slitherlink, which need to be so...

visual grid-deduction nonogram slitherlink

bobble

@jafe - wow, just wow. I can't work on that logic puzzle monster (homework), but I eagerly await the solution.

Jeremy Dover

@bobble You will learn much more from doing the logic puzzle than any amount of homework. Just sayin'... :-)

bobble

But will I learn how bills pass through committees and become law, in time for the test, by doing logic puzzles?

Jeremy Dover

20:29

Only if you are really bad a logic puzzles, get stuck often, and blame somebody else for making no progress. Not that I think any of these describe you...

3

bobble

'pends on the logic puzzle. I'm good at Hashi, Snake, Nonogram, and Sudoku (most variants). Other kinds of puzzles (LITS comes to mind) are much harder for me, and I blame the person who set them :)

matt

20:49

hmm

Sphinx

23:57

0

Q: Gokigen Naname - 1 and 2

Here is a regular Gokigen Naname a.k.a Slalom a.k.a Slant puzzle. An online (mobile-friendly) version is available here. Rules: Put a slash (diagonal line) on each cell. Each number in a circle denotes the number of slashes touching it. The slashes should not form a loop.

logical-deduction grid-deduction

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