The Sphinx's Lair

North Læraðr

00:00

Lol

merrybot

00:10

@bobble wow

user478740

04:26

Coincidence? Or not...

Sphinx

-2

Q: A puzzle with seventy-two countries

Let's have two groups of countries. Each group has 36 countries. The first letter of the countries in the first group start with A,B,C,E,G,S. The second group of countries has as first letter T,I,K,L,N,P. From the letters of the first group construct a 6x6 Sudoku. Construct a second 6x6 Sudoku wi...

combinatorics

jafe

07:59

a throwback is a reminder, and someone who constantly reminds one of something could be A NAG

exeter museum is the RAMM, and the ED is an example of stuff from long ago

if something is "quaint" or "rubbish" in a cryptic clue it could be ANAGRAMMED? @msh210

Mithical

@bobble Worst idea I ever had was naming myself after a book character...

Sphinx

09:36

0

Q: What kind of car do I have?

What kind of car do I have? The clue words: stories, robbery, rock, minimum, old, ducks

word lateral-thinking word-property

msh210

10:42

@jafe You've got the right answer but the wordplay is not what I intended.

(And, no offense, but I think mine is better. :-) )

Should I give it away or wait for you/someone to figure it out?

jafe

hmm, let's see!

pretty sure RAMM is the exeter museum

msh210

@jafe Me, too. :-)

gtg, but I'll see, later, what you find

jafe

10:59

ed. is the abbreviation of a lot of things including editor, edition and education, and -ed is the past tense suffix... not really a fit for "stuff from long ago", though

if A was an abbreviation for a thing called gana then throwback could be the reversal indicator, but i'm not seeing it

think it's more likely that NAG = throwback somehow

or maybe "a throwback" is "an ag"... if "ag" is a word

hmm actually maybe RAMM is stuffing AGED which means "from long ago"

which would mean "a throwback" would be AN?

msh210

11:43

Eh, close enough. I intended NA<, RAMM stuffing AGED.

jafe

ah ok

CCCC: Only the finale of Flying Dutchman performed with vocals, leaving out introductory parts to Wagner's opera (15)

throwback, wingtip, warhead, crowfoot... many names for the same thing

Gareth McCaughan

13:10

@jafe Ho ho. (-flyin)G, then (-r)OTTERDAMMER and (-s)UNG.

jafe

13:23

@GarethMcCaughan that's correct

Gareth McCaughan

Damn.

Sphinx

0

Q: Are there Sudokus that are so hard that no known logical deduction techniques can reduce it?

Are there Sudokus that are so hard that no known logical deduction techniques can reduce it? Maybe such a technique would reduce away multiple options?

sudoku solvability unsolved-mysteries

North Læraðr

@Mithical Hahaha

@GarethMcCaughan That's a Gareth word if I ever saw one

Gareth McCaughan

More a name than a word. (It's the title of the last opera in Wagner's Ring cycle.)

I mean, I guess it is a word, but occasions when you need to talk about a "twilight of the gods" other than when discussing the Wagner opera are pretty rare.

North Læraðr

14:06

@GarethMcCaughan Bet bet

bobble

14:19

@Mithical Sometimes I run into characters that share my (commen-ish) name. It's worse if they're an on-screen character - then someone call out my name and I have to remind myself they're talking to a fictional character.

Sphinx

14:40

0

Q: Cryptic Family Reunion: Sgt. Sequence Rides Again!

The 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. NOTE: While the theme mostly works generically, it is topical to PSE as of its posting date. Since the definition part of a cryp...

cryptic-clues

North Læraðr

15:25

@bobble We got bobble and bubbler

bobble

Hi @Bubbler!

(fan of your Code Golf stuff)

Avi

15:40

thinking about how to turn demonstration into defenestration

Proof turns monday into...

bobble

friday

Avi

yes yes

and then ene (3 more letters) to go

Jeremy Dover

@Avi Maybe try turning DEMON to DEFENSE*

bobble

you mean DEMONS?

Jeremy Dover

Ah, yes. Words are hard.

2

Avi

15:44

that would be overcomplicating the wordplay

reason being, you can make a better clue starting with defense*

6

Q: Falling out with the Judge

Poor defense speech leading to defendant finally being thrown out (14) The defendant never reached their prison cell. How did they die? jafe helped design the clue - thanks! :)

word wordplay cryptic-clues

case in point

Jeremy Dover

Ah, I see...that would be a replay.

Avi

Thrown-out proof turns Monday into Friday, primarily exciting numerous employees (14)

matt

^ nice :)

@bobble that would be a good idea

matt

19:56

my 7th period live meet thing should've started 10 minutes ago...

there we go

Avi

20:57

Soon I will ascend and become API god

but certainly not an image pasting god

holy moly that was a bad image paste

bobble

I concur with you second and third lines. Not sure about the first

Avi

there, a better screenshot

bobble

still with tiny text

Avi

if I enlarge it vertically, the right side will go escape velocity out of this world

anywany back to api

North Læraðr

21:26

API?

bobble

An application programming interface (API) is a computing interface which defines interactions between multiple software intermediaries. It defines the kinds of calls or requests that can be made, how to make them, the data formats that should be used, the conventions to follow, etc.

basically it defines the boundaries and requirements of a program which interacts with a database

Avi

22:21

defines the boundaries and requirements of basically any program/interface

although, you could even call interfaces APIs of their own

"Interesting," said Tom, sitting back into his coffin.

bobble

that a CC?

Avi

no it's a Tom Swiftie

inter-resting

"I'm a bird," said Tom, chirpily.

"My smile is beautiful," said Tom, toothily.

bobble

"Why is Avi making me say things?" said Tom, quite puzzled.

Mithical

22:36

"Hello!" said Tom. "Hello," returned the figure skater.

bobble

I've been trying to think of some Tom pun for Mithical = Mythical. Nothing coming to mind

Mithical

Let me know if you figure one out. I wouldn't want to have mithed it.

bobble

hehe

Avi

"Mithical is a legend," Tom said, mythically.

not sure that holds though

merrybot

@Avi what is a tom swiftie?

bobble

22:46

said Tom as he turned into <insert magical creature>?

Avi

Tom Swifty

A Tom Swifty (or Tom Swiftie) is a phrase in which a quoted sentence is linked by a pun to the manner in which it is attributed. Tom Swifties may be considered a type of wellerism. The standard syntax is for the quoted sentence to be first, followed by the description of the act of speaking. The hypothetical speaker is usually, by convention, called "Tom" (or "he" or "she"). == Origins == The name comes from the Tom Swift series of books (1910–present), similar in many ways to the better-known Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew series, and, like them, produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate. In this series...

merrybot

i see

, said tom

Avi

"I see," said Tom, listing out the alphabet in incorrect order.

that doesn't count

merrybot

hmm

how about ... "I can't solve this cryptic clue", said Tom, puzzled

bobble

Letters of the alphabet that sound like words: A, B, C, I, J, K, P, R, T, U, Y

did I miss any?

Mithical

22:53

Gee, I don't know

merrybot

^ G

Mithical

Oh, alright

bobble

I removed some that I count as non-real words: Gee, Oh, etc.

ah beat me to typing

Mithical

Queue up in line

bobble

that's a real word

merrybot

22:55

"oh" is a also a real word

Mithical

...and if you're British you say 'ell

:P

bobble

there's also 'e, which I also didn't count

Em is a nickname

merrybot

G O Q L M

N i guess

bobble

eff is one of those non-cursing ways to curse

merrybot

"shut the f up" kinda thing

Avi

22:58

"The ground is shaking," said Tom, quakily.

merrybot

nice

Avi

"This airplane is bound to crash," said Tom, knowingly.

merrybot

maybe not that one

bobble

"You're always late," said Tom, hurriedly

Avi

@merrybot no-wing-ly

merrybot

23:02

ah ok

bobble

I'm doing a physics practice test, and one of the possible answers to "what is the graph of speed vs time of the object as it moves from point X to point Y" is a graph of y=0

Avi

"I made bank at the casino", said Tom, gainfully.

bobble

ohh that one's nice

merrybot

@bobble why

Avi

remember distance is the area under the curve

<3

unless acceleration graph

bobble

23:04

I guess they wanted it to be an obvious wrong answer?

Avi

then you just tear the paper apart and curse at the exam setters

merrybot

Tom #2: "i love you", said Tom, heartily

Avi

then put it back together and solve the paper calmly

bobble

it's an online exam. I don't want to destroy my computer

Avi

print it out

rip it apart

merrybot

23:05

why is that so funny @avi

bobble

but that's wasting ink

Avi

what's ink compared to self-satisfaction

merrybot

it is the Bobble Dilemma

Avi

"I'm voting Biden," said Tom, liberally.

bobble

"But Trump would be safer," said Tom, conservatively

that's what I get for trusting spellcheck

Avi

23:07

"spellcheck has betrayed me," tom said, capitally.

merrybot

PERFECTION

msh210

@bobble Em and en are lengths. Ex is a former spouse. Dee is a nickname. Ell is a building wing. O is a poetic vocative. Ess means to wind like a letter S, I think.

@Mithical I don't get it.

merrybot

@msh210 and let's not forget Queue

Avi

@ Mithical - seconded

msh210

@merrybot and some others, yes. I didn't repeat what's already been mentioned.

bobble

23:10

Letters of the alphabet that sound like words (liberal definition of "words"): A, B, C, D, E, F, G, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, X, Y

msh210

"Boaz, Naomi, ugh, I hate that whole story. I ripped it up and threw it out," said Tom ruthlessly.

2

bobble

I liked Up

it had doggos

msh210

@bobble If you wanna be more liberal, every letter name sounds like the word that names the letter.

bobble

this is true

msh210

For example, Z sounds like "zee" (or "zed"), which is a word meaning "the letter Z".

Avi

23:16

@msh210 explain?

biblical reference?

msh210

"I really, really, really want some now," said Tom Jones.

bobble

SUIT THEIRS = (THISISTRUE)*

msh210

@Avi yeah, the story and people referred to are in the book of Ruth

merrybot

@bobble okay? w-

msh210

"Oh, what a perfectly lovely geyser," Tom gushed.

bobble

23:20

"I don't have any fancy motorcycles," Tom moped.

3

merrybot

this is almost becoming the new pickle

Avi

no, Tom Swifties come and go

they tend to go when everybody runs out of ideas

and the moped one was really good

bobble

It would've been better as "a fancy motorcycle", for agreement on plurality

msh210

@merrybot "Everyone in the Lair keeps insulting my favorite food," said Tom sourly.

merrybot

@msh210 oh no

Avi

23:28

"I like math," said Tom, approvingly.

"Math is purely calculation," Tom countered.

bobble

"I want to nag a ram," said Tom, crazily

Avi

D:

"I'm not quite a sultan," said Tom, sulking.

ok that one was bad but it had to be done

"I can't stop bumping into tables," said Tom, cornered.

bobble

"That was really rough", said Tom, doggedly

merrybot

bgehjrkft

Avi

@bobble explain?

bobble

23:36

rough = ruff

Avi

eh

mayyyybe

bobble

shrugs out of ideas

Avi

"I've rigged this wrestling match," Tom said, turning about.

ya out of ideas

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