The Sphinx's Lair

bobble

00:28

@PrinceNorthLæraðr, are you okay/safe? Are the fires moving away or getting smaller?

@Sciborg, I remind you that you have promised to take a picture of the bobblie.

Prince North Læraðr

00:59

@bobble I'm okay, and I'm getting conflicted information whether to evacuate or not

bobble

Part one: that's good. Part two: not very helpful

Prince North Læraðr

@bobble I think the fire is moving away

We are literally a block away from the mandatory evacuation area though

bobble

OH, I mean not very helpful for you

@PrinceNorthLæraðr oof. does saying "oof" more times make it less oofy?

Prince North Læraðr

@bobble Eh

It brings empathy ig (shrugs)

sigh

I can't believe this is happeningf

Some of my friends said they could literally see the fires from their backyards

matt

01:32

ahh

oAlt

01:49

:(((

Sphinx

0

Q: How to find the right box to be opened to match the exterior labels if only one extraction is allowed?

I found this riddle in a collection of problems from my Reason and Logic's book from 2003. From the looks of it seems to be adapted from Martin Gardner's 70s book. The problem is as follows: Mike has 3 equal carton boxes. In one of them he places candies, then in the other one he puts chocolates...

logical-deduction

matt

@PrinceNorthLæraðr bobble: "can trees shrug?" /s

Sphinx

02:42

0

Q: The children's conversation: How many marbles do they have?

Tim: "Wow, marbles! Lets share!" Ava: "Yeah! We found them together, we should share equally. One for your pile, one for my pile, another for your pile, another... There! We're equal!" Tim: "No, I saw them first, I'll have two more than you! I'll take this, and this!" Ava: "That's not fair!" Jack: "

mathematics logical-deduction mystery

bobble

03:39

'borg, ping me if you come in

Prince North Læraðr

They might be sleeping?

bobble

perhaps, but I think they're on sometimes 'round now

@Deusovi, this question starts "My name is Anonymus25. My account has been deleted because I am too young"

Deusovi

thanks

bobble

(plus, it was another "I made up this super-complicated situation with no known solution, you try to solve it")

bobble

04:04

I finished the hexomino statue park!

matt

so Deus's mod hammer is whacking the moles again

@bobble nice :)

Sciborg

Hello @bobble! :D

bobble

hello!

matt

yay it's mick!

Sciborg

As promised here is bobblie with eyes and mouth:

2

bobble

04:08

It's so cute!

Sciborg

Still have to do points but he's almost done!

Prince North Læraðr

@Sciborg You're awake?!

Sciborg

I took a giant nap after work, sorry :p

bobble

the lil' button eyes and tiny mouth are -chef kiss- perfect

Prince North Læraðr

Awwwww

Sciborg

04:10

It took me a while to get the look right, I ended up sewing on lil fabric bits but I think it looks super cute <3

matt

New Things Bobble Does: chef kisses, apparently

Prince North Læraðr

How does a crown chef kiss?

bobble

I type with mannerisms I pick up from books - in this case, cheesy YA novels

@PrinceNorthLæraðr very well, thank you

Plus, crowns are hats, and chefs have hats.

matt

crowns are hats?!!

Sciborg

The deep lore thickens!

bobble

04:11

you wear them on your head

while they suck your puzzling ability

Sciborg

This bobblie did keep trying to jump on my head while I was napping...

matt

oh no

bobble

Did you see my bobblie statue park?

Sciborg

You posted a bobblie statue park???

bobble

14

Q: Bobblie Statue Park

This is a Statue Park puzzle. Rules of Statue Park: (shamelessly stolen from an earlier puzzle by @Deusovi) Shade some cells of the grid to form the given set of pieces. Pieces may be rotated or reflected. Pieces cannot be orthogonally adjacent (though they can touch at a corner). All unshaded ...

grid-deduction

Sciborg

04:13

It's so cute!!

I love it!!

bobble

It's also fairly hard, so I don't recommend attempting unless you're good at Statue Parks

and make sure to upvotes Deus's answer!

Sciborg

It's a crime not to upvote a Deus answer :D

He did a great job on it

matt

any ~~pse bosh rush~~ game idea updates?

Sciborg

I have actually been kinda goofing around with a half-serious Boss Rush prototype, I wanted to practice making 2D platformers and one thing led to another :p

At the moment all you can do is jump around platforms and solve a couple puzzles, but still

matt

hell yeah that sounds awesome

bobble

04:18

What kinds of puzzles?

Sciborg

I've been playing The Witness so I made a couple of really basic Witness-style maze puzzles

bobble

nice

matt

the final level should be a deus honeypot

bobble

Also, I submitted my first college app today. It made me feel very weird. Sorta grown up, and also completely terrified.

Sciborg

Congratulations!!! :D

That's amazing!

matt

04:19

good for you! <3

bobble

thanks!

Ankoganit

Nice!

Also yes, realizing high school is over feels real weird

Sciborg

Did you do the Common App or did the school have their own custom application?

bobble

This was Common App, but I have 1 non-Common App application

hehe got the number wrong the first time

Sciborg

Ah, nice! I remember there were schools I applied to that required both the Common App and a custom application and it was super annoying :p

Prince North Læraðr

04:22

@bobble Congrats!

Sciborg

I picture a bunch of bobblies cheering in the stands at your graduation ceremony

bobble

It's a reach school, so I probably won't get in... and even if I do, I need scholarships to afford it... but I can hope!

matt

@sciborg and trees and green patterny square things

Sciborg

You never know, always good to apply just in case :D

bobble

There is a nonzero chance I will have a small drawing of a bobblie taped to my graduation cap.

Sciborg

04:25

Please do

matt

and take a picture for us :)

bobble

There is also a nonzero chance of my high school graduation being canceled due to COVID.

Sciborg

That's true :(

But hey, you'll have the bobblies by your side and that's all that matters

bobble

Do you have any puzzle genres you'd like me to make? I need ideas.

Sciborg

Hmm

Slitherlinks are fun

bobble

04:28

ooh yes they are

Plus, I've solved a bunch when I really should've been paying attention in school

I shall try to make a slitherlink!

Prince North Læraðr

@bobble Linguistics!

Sciborg

Awesome :D

bobble

There is an implied "only grid-deduction or crossword" part to my request.

Sciborg

I figured that tended to be your genre :p

Ankoganit

Speaking of Slitherlinks, there's something I've wondered for while

Prince North Læraðr

04:30

@bobble awww

Ankoganit

Is it possible to have a slitherlink with a number in each square but non-unique solution?

bobble

Yep!

Ankoganit

I remember making examples for upto 5x5

bobble

8

A: Why you shouldn't buy cheap puzzle books

The final grind and its two solutions: From here Now

Ankoganit

never got beyond that

@bobble that's mine lol

bobble

04:31

oh

I never really bother looking at the authors when archive-diving

Ankoganit

I have tried the general case nxn for some time without some success

@bobble I get it, dw about it

Sciborg

This reminds me of a post I saw where a software developer was asked "do you have 3+ years of experience in this library" and he was like "of course i do, i built it"

Ankoganit

this probably counts as an interesting math problem, and open to my knowledge

@Sciborg heh

Sciborg

heh

I also started watching Perfect Blue by the way, I think you were the one who recommended that. It is wild

Ankoganit

nice!

lemme know what you think once you finish

Sciborg

04:36

There is... more gore than I expected

matt

my attempt at drawing a bobble:

Ankoganit

@Sciborg ah sorry, should have warned you

there's also some nudity

bobble

@matt this is a very good attempt

Sciborg

That bobble is ADORABLE

matt

thanks :) just made some triangles and drew over them

Sciborg

04:37

I would draw one too but the bobbleplush might get jealous

It sits on my dining table... watching me

bobble

Have you heard it calling to its fellows in the walls?

Sciborg

Sometimes at night we hear skittering...

ba-boow ba-boow

bobble

Random aside: for this night at least, my brain is very firmly informing me that I am male. It'll probably be gone by morning. is confused by own gender

matt

hm

3

^ because why not

bobble

yes yes this is accurate

matt

04:42

lol

Sciborg

Usually when I ask my brain if I'm a guy or a girl today it just says "yes"

matt

and then there are us binary folks

Sciborg

Those boring binary genders, who needs 'em :p

matt

(speaking of number bases, my conlang has some more ridiculous things)

Prince North Læraðr

You're also non-binary like Mick?

matt

04:44

me? nope

Ahh

bobble

yesterday, by bobble

Sorta. Still trying to figure out my gender/sexuality & if I'm aro/ace. So, all the identities are up in the air for me.

Sciborg

Figuring yourself out is 200% valid and we stan it.

Deusovi

gender is weird

Prince North Læraðr

@bobble Well, my best friend is pan-romantic but asexual

Sciborg

Yuppers, some people draw a distinction between romantic orientation and sexuality. So you can be like, biromantic heterosexual, for example.

matt

04:46

@Sciborg nope, haven't thought of one yet

bobble

According to my college apps I'm a cis female, because I didn't want to try to explain me to impersonal review committees when I can't explain me to me.

Prince North Læraðr

Yeah, that's fair

Sciborg

Yeah, paperwork is always a nightmare with stuff like that

matt

and the doctors offices things with only binary options ...

I bet you two hate those

Sciborg

Isn't it grand?

bobble

04:47

I did check the "gay/lesbian" box because for some reason there wasn't a straight "queer" option

5

I honestly did not notice that pun until I sent the message

Sciborg

A straight queer option

matt

ah yes, straight queer

Sciborg

Pinning that forever

matt

apparently Apple gives you topic suggestions after viewing a webpage

this page pops up "gray asexuality"

Sciborg

It was always funny to walk into a college class and raise my hand for roll call to an extremely opposite-sounding name from how I look, and have the professor look at me like "this... this is not right"

matt

04:51

funny in a good way or a bad way?

Sciborg

I mean I always thought it was funny in a good way, I try to find humor in being like "yeah, just call me Mick"

matt

professor be like "alright but that is weird by our binary standards"

bobble

My genderfluid friend managed to get a few teachers to switch names/pronouns based on the day. (They chose separate names for their nonbinary, female, and male selves)

matt

whoa

stonks

Sciborg

That is high stonks energy

matt

04:53

teachers were probably like "confused stonks" though

will be back tomorrow

Sciborg

Usually people are chill about it, but there's always somebody who is like "this is the name on your legal paperwork so that's what I'm gonna call you" and it was like... okay, weird flex, but fine

bobble

see you!

Sciborg

See ya Matt :)

bobble

'borg, you got any puzzle ideas soaking in them juices?

Sciborg

I finished my crossword so I am hoping to post that when I get around to it!

bobble

04:55

yessss

Sciborg

It's probably on the easy side since it's my first one, but I hope people like the theme

bobble

I never themed mine. You're ahead on that count.

matt

I never said I wouldn't be back today :P

Sciborg

come back to us matt

bobble

Well, I will be leaving now.

matt

04:57

nooooooo

Sciborg

Given that you guys are three hours behind me, it's probably hella late over there :p

Good night Bobble!

matt

yeah it's 9:57 here

bobble

@Deusovi, Anon is at it again

(saw it as I was leaving)

going for realsies now

Sciborg

Seeya Bobble <3

Anon just does not give up, dang

Deusovi

thanks for pointing it out

also, see ya bobble!

matt

04:58

angry gurgling noises

Deusovi

@Sciborg excited for that crossword

Sciborg

Thanks! I hope people enjoy it :)

matt

we definitely will :)

Sciborg

:)

I love coming here for my daily dose of wholesome energy

matt

yep :) any other ridiculous conlang ideas? my conlang juice is dropping

Sciborg

05:02

Hmm

We already did the crazy tenses thing

matt

current version for reference: website.merrybot.repl.co/conlang.html

Sciborg

Reddit suggested: <'> /ɴ/ (Can't pronounce this without barfing from the sound or the uvula contact)

I don't know what it means but it looks like you have to swallow your uvula to pronounce it lol

2

matt

um

I was thinking of more like general things :)

Sciborg

I'm not good at conlangs, you've drained all my terrible ideas :p

matt

sorry bout that. :/

Sciborg

05:06

How dare you

I'll send my bobblie after you

matt

cries in being slightly annoying

Sciborg

You never annoy me Matt

No worries :)

What's wrong?

matt

idk ... hits the "leave" button

Sciborg

Is it something I said?

@PrinceNorthLæraðr um is Matt okay?

I guess I will scoot, good night friends

Deusovi

night!

msh210

05:26

English has evolved a lot since I moved from the States. In just the past hour in this chat room, I see "stonks", "stan", "juice is dropping", "weird flex", and "gray asexuality", all of which are new to me afair.

("Since I moved from the States" was a joke. I haven't been here that long, and I suspect all those words are in fact older.)

Now to look them up....

Deusovi

"stonks" is from a meme - it's a deliberate misspelling of "stocks", usually used to make fun of bad/unusual decision-making (but it seems to be the opposite here)

"stan" is a few years old - iirc it's a portmanteau of "stalker" and "fan", and originally refers to being an obsessive fan of a celebrity (but later took on semi-ironic use to refer to abstract concepts)

msh210

Yeah, thanks, I was just writing -- "stonks" = "a win!". "stan" = "a fanatic", here used as "to be a fan of".

"to drop the juice" = "to imbibe"; here it was "my conlang juice is dropping", seemingly "I'm conlang-imbibing"

Deusovi

"weird flex" is "that's a strange way to brag" (here, with connotation more towards "assert power over someone")

msh210

oh so "weird" is just "weird", and "flex" is what's new to me

Deusovi

yep, but "weird flex" is a unit

msh210

05:31

thanks

Deusovi

you don't really hear "flex" by itself with that meaning

msh210

ah I see

Deusovi

and "gray asexuality" means "experiencing very limited sexual attraction (to any gender)"

i don't understand the "juice is dropping" thing either

msh210

and that concludes another episode of The Sphinx Teaches English

with thanks to our guest-host, Deusovi

Deusovi

thanks for having me on the show!

Ankoganit

05:35

That was actually very informative

Deusovi

glad i could help! because of the way my social circles intersect, i have had to be a "translator" for modern slang far too often. plus i'm interested in linguistics so i've (over)analysed a lot of these constructions

so feel free to ask if you have any other questions about something like that - can't promise anything but i'll give it a shot

oAlt

@msh210 heh

(the third and fifth are new to me as well)

also love how only white-and-black-profile-picture people have dominated the chat for the past ~40 minutes

Deusovi

05:56

yours has a gray border, time for a ban

oAlt

oopsie

humn

06:48

^ oopsie from me too v

Sorry, cleanup requested at:

8

Q: Martin Gardner - Persistence

A number's persistence is : The number of steps required to reduce it to a single digit by multiplying all its digits to obtain a second number Then multiplying all the digits of that number to obtain a third number, and so on until a one-digit number is obtained. For example : 77 has a per...

mathematics number-theory reachability

I just now approved the suggested edit from "77-49-36-18-8" to "77,49,36,18,8" with the intention of further editing it to be "77→49→36→18→8" but didn't know that can't be done until someone else also approves the suggested edit.

1) Could someone please second the suggested-edit approval so i can complete my intended edit?

2) Does "improve this suggested edit" give credit to the original suggester? That was what i really wanted because i do agree with the suggester's intent.

Sorry and thanks for 1) help and/or 2) answer and/or 3) telling me i should've just done nothing

Mithical

@humn Yes, it does, in the revision history.

I've approved the edit, you can edit it further now if you want

but yeah, "improve edit" would have been what you wanted

humn

Yet another thank you, @Mithical. A lesson i will remember.

Mithical

07:05

:)

@Ankoganit poggers

Ankoganit

07:17

...yet another thing to Google

learnt a lot today

oAlt

07:41

POGGERS

Deusovi

(can't help you there, sorry - still don't understand that one)

oAlt

08:04

I can barely understand the meaning ("nice"/"epic"/"so cool"/showing positivity, which may be due to hype(???)) but the etymology is a tougher nut to crack. I searched just now and there's an explanation on reddit, but I don't want to rely on that source alone

oAlt

09:31

to be honest, i've been interested in making a constructed language for a while now but I do not know where to start (well, aside from making the phonology/alphabet). much appreciated if y'all know of any helpful resources/guides for conlanging

Sphinx

10:31

1

Q: Kings' Chess Harem

Pursueing these two related puzzles, Chess Bloodshed and Devouring Nobility I create for you Kings' Chess Harem where you have to find, with the minimum number of moves, a legal game where all pawns get promoted to a Queen.

chess optimization checkerboard

Deusovi

11:01

@oAlt biblaridion on youtube has a pretty good series!

oAlt

11:27

:O

Mithical

oAlt

11:54

oh yeah that one too

Ann Zen

12:11

@Deusovi Hi. Thanks for the edit, but don't we need logical deduction in order the convert the conversation into mathematical steps?

Deusovi

That's not "logical deduction". We sometimes informally say that thinking like that is "thinking logically", but there is no deduction happening there.

Converting people talking into math is not formal logical deduction, as you might use in a "liars and truthtellers" puzzle or a Sudoku puzzle. The "logical deduction" tag is often misunderstood, but it's specifically meant for deductions rather than any puzzle that requires you to think 'logically' (which would be almost all of them!).

Ann Zen

Oh, okay.

I didn't don't think that it was pure math as some of the children's logic is illogical.

oops, typo

Thank you!

Deusovi

12:27

no problem!

Sphinx

12:59

1

Q: What's the Combination?

Hacker Harry really wants to get into the server room at a local dot com company, so he dressed up as a phone repairman and planted some bugs in the break room to listen in on the workers. Sure enough, against all security common sense, he hears two employees discussing the entry codes! "So the ...

enigmatic-puzzle story password

Prince North Læraðr

13:57

Some updates on the fire if anyone is curious: nearly 12,000 acres burnt, but 5% contained. It also seems to be moving away from us

The winds have kicked up again though, albeit not as strongly as yesterday

John Dvorak

what's "5% contained" mean?

Prince North Læraðr

"The status of a wildfire suppression action signifying that a control line has been completed around the fire, and any associated spot fires, which can reasonably be expected to stop the fire's spread."

John Dvorak

so if the whole forest is burning, it's 100% contained?

Prince North Læraðr

No, it's zero percent contained

The more something is burning "out of control" the less it is contained

Though, hypothetically, if the whole forest was burning but somehow the fire couldn't travel outside the boundaries of the forest, it would oddly be 100% contained because the fire can't spread

bobble

Two other people approved an edit changing "Taken From" to "Source" (I was the only rejecter). Seriously? How does that improve the post?

Prince North Læraðr

14:09

Can I see?

bobble

I'm not sure if it's acceptable to link here? Don't want to shame anyone.

Prince North Læraðr

Well, looks like Stiv accepted it

Honestly, it's not that big of a deal

Welp, no school today, at least

bobble

Last day to work on my two final projects is today.

(I don't have finals, just final projects)

Prince North Læraðr

ah

Stiv

@bobble Actually, there was one other slight change to the post, in that the link was also updated to https rather than just http. While of course that would usually be handled by the browser anyway I figured it's good practice to include https in all links by default so I approved it. With just the other change I would likely have rejected it.

I figured "Let them have their +2 rep this time" but if they start truffle-hunting round the site and making this kind of change repeatedly then I'd start rejecting :)

bobble

14:19

makes sense

Voldemort's Wrath

hi

halllooooo?

anyonneee?

Prince North Læraðr

"Nobody's here"

Deusovi

hello!

John Dvorak

...o!

bobble

Deus, should I have used a custom mod flag instead of pinging you in chat over Anon's posts?

(I had honestly forgotten that custom flags existed)

oAlt

14:33

Kinda got confused for a second cuz there's a user named "Anon" as well

CMON stop typoing oAlt

bobble

There is? Clarification that I was being too lazy to type "Anonymous25"

Deusovi

pinging is fine

oAlt

Yes there's such a user (shame only a few of their puzzles so far (which are always great) got answered)

Sphinx

0

Q: Jewel Cave: Long Reach

As in a previous puzzle, the goal of this Jewel Cave is to place the given shapes (in this case, the standard pentomino set) into the grid, subject to the following rules: All unshaded squares must form a single orthogonally (on a side) connected region. Two shapes cannot be orthogonally adjacen...

grid-deduction

bobble

I'm curious - did they try to post their "puzzle" again after the two I found?

Deusovi

14:40

just the two

@Sphinx oh boy, time to play another game of "can I solve this puzzle without one of the rules in the set"

guessing the answer might finally be 'no' given the setup

Deusovi

14:55

hm, this is a tough puzzle so far. partially because it actually seems difficult, partially because it involves one of my biggest weaknesses - counting

bobble

Counting! The horror!

(counting is definitely not hard for me, what are you talking about?)

Deusovi

second only to "basic arithmetic on single-digit numbers" and "remembering to actually read the puzzle text"

2

Ankoganit

* furiously takes notes for future Deus honeypots *

9

bobble

I feel your pain so much

Voldemort's Wrath

I don't like pain :(:(

hi mattttt

matt

15:00

hey voldyyyyy

Voldemort's Wrath

hows it goingggggggg

matt

good, you?

Voldemort's Wrath

eh im bored

hi jafeeeeeeee

matt

hey jafe!

jafe

hey

bobble

15:02

If you make a cryptic that requires "counting", "basic arithmetic on single-digit numbers", or "remembering to actually read the puzzle text", then maybe Deus won't solve it as fast :)

Voldemort's Wrath

hmmm duly noted

matt

for #3 - like the fluff isnt really fluff or something?

Voldemort's Wrath

i'm ~~reading an xkcd~~ in math class

matt

~~which xkcd?~~

Voldemort's Wrath

~~today's~~ none b/c im in math class

matt

15:05

lol :P

jafe

debating a title for a puzzle format: is "carcass walking" better than "night of the living carcass"?

Deusovi

oh boy, another xkcd phone

jafe

i'm leaning yes

bobble

I vote for "carcass walking"

Deusovi

hm, the latter seems slightly better to me, but i just don't get the reference for the former

matt

15:06

because the carcasses are walking

jafe

"dead man walking" is a thing i believe

Voldemort's Wrath

carcass is a fun word

that's my contribution

matt

heh

Deusovi

ah of course

didn't consider that it would be two words, but it makes sense

jafe

plus it sounds a bit like it could be a noun phrase like nordic walking :P

matt

15:10

my conlang juice hath recharged

Deusovi

(this might not be the most appropriate place to talk about your conlang, especially when a different conversation is going on)

matt

aight aight

Voldemort's Wrath

well, everything is off-topic here

matt

unfortunately the conlangs SE chat is not very active

Voldemort's Wrath

yea are there really rules for what you can/can't talk about in a specific chat?

matt

15:15

idktbh

Deusovi

nah, not in particular, but if a different conversation is going on then you should usually not interrupt with something entirely different

and niche topics that won't be of interest to most of the users of the site will sometimes be moved into a separate room

matt

s-sorry

bobble

interruption with something entirely different: when should a puzzle be tagged with both "logical-deduction" and "grid-deduction"?

John Dvorak

isn't every grid deduction based on logic?

matt

for those little "who did what, when" grid things

i guess

Deusovi

15:19

[grid-deduction] is a subtag of [logical-deduction] in most cases

bobble

Should both be used?

Deusovi

sure, why not? nothing wrong with using multiple tags

bobble

I'll keep that in mind for the future

Deusovi

the only time i'd use [grid-deduction] without [logical-deduction] is in a question about puzzles rather than a puzzle itself

John Dvorak

The other option would be to change logical-deduction to logical-deduction-without-grids and then do a massive retag :P

matt

15:22

or make [noitcuded-dirg]

@Deusovi reference to batteries

Deusovi

ahh

Sphinx

0

Q: Where is the pilot flying to? (Fourth destination)

This is the fourth in a series of puzzles where the answer will always be an international airport. Previous puzzles can be found first, second, and third. The puzzles are all independent, but follow the same general format and story. Barry was enjoying his time relaxing after the last job, but ...

enigmatic-puzzle story

matt

not used very often either

anyway ... will try not to mention useless conlang from now on

or else the bobblies will attack me

Deusovi

hm, just hit a contradiction on that Jewel Cave

ah found the problem with my logic

Sphinx

15:52

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Q: Guess the hat colors - Riddle 6

And for today, a new original hat guessing puzzle! CHALLENGE: Guess the hats of the 4 prisoners. SPECIAL RULE: One of the prisoners is lying DESCRIPTION: Each one can see the hats that are in front of them, and not their own. They give some tips about what they see (remember one of them is lying...

logical-deduction visual meta-knowledge hat-guessing

matt

@Deusovi which makes it third

i mean technically speaking...

ok how did that happen

somehow it added like a bajillion spaces

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