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00:37
1
Q: What is a Rainbow Word™?

SciborgIn the spirit of the What is a Word™/Phrase™ series started by JLee, a special brand of Phrase™ and Word™ puzzles. If a word conforms to a special rule, I call it a Rainbow Word™. The ones given here are particularly strong examples, to help you out, and while the order of Rainbow Words™ doesn't...

0
Q: Crossing out every second number

Dmitry KamenetskyWrite down all integers from 1 to 1000. Beginning with 1 cross out every second number. Now repeat the process - cross out every second number from those that remain. Keep repeating the process until just one number remains. What is this last remaining number?

01:02
3
Q: We got a nasty shock

chasly - supports MonicaOur polarity was mentioned but never revealed Coulombs we made, but our fate was sealed Repelling the dark, we refused to yield They had a battery: We died in the field Who are we and how many? (Please explain each line) Hints If we had been switched on, we might have better seen our fate. But...

01:34
@bobble ;)
"the resulting graph looks like a three-dimensional starfleet insignia"
01:49
@Sphinx OP accepted the wrong answer. :-/
For the riddle or for the crossing out numbers?
Ah, the crossing out numbers, I see. I think the wording was too vague on that one, i had also thought you started by crossing out the evens.
Yeah the wording might have been unclear based on the first two answers
What it fails to make clear is that you cross out every second number after you cross out 1
Yeah, that's very unclear
I left a comment saying as much
:0
02:19
0
Q: The Hand of God

Dmitry KamenetskyThis puzzle is dedicated to the great Diego Maradona. Maradona has the ball and is going for an amazing run. He must get around all his opponents and score the ball into the goals (gray cells). At each turn he can do the following: Move into one of 8 neighboring empty cells. Move into the neighb...

 
1 hour later…
03:45
In case anyone was wondering if Stack Exchange has a posterboard with stickies of sites all over it, the answer is yes. They do have such a posterboard.
(picture from here)
Looking for Puzzling, where is it?
@bobble Can you help me with my math hw
I think I'm literally going insane
sure, I'll hop into the Grove
I have somehow "proven" that sin(180-(b+c))=sin(b+c) which makes absolutely no sense
@Sciborg Those are sites that need mod elections at some point. We have 4 good mods, so no elections needed.
03:48
Ahh, nice :)
@PrinceNorthLæraðr That... sounds absolutely correct to me
Am I going insane
i think i can pull up a visual proof (will hop into grove in a while as well)
never mind-- seems that many people more versed in math have come to the rescue
04:28
0
Q: Addition Puzzle

Yellow X6 5 4 3 13 12 11 10 20 19 18 17 27 26 25 24 Arrange the following numbers in a way such that the product of all rows, columns and the diagonals add up to the same number.

05:01
Someone wrote up an answer with plaintext math, I prettied it up with Unicode math-italic variables and subscripts, and then they edited over to change it to MathJax. Thoughts?
Hehe, "prettied it up"
They actually drop by the sphinx every once in a while so just @00xxqhxx00 them
First answer in PSE ;_;
Actually @bobble you can explain to them about our policy on mathjax
05:06
We don't have a policy because I'm too shy to post my rant on meta
But anyhow, MathJax does not play well with screen readers
Can anyone just improve my answer?
@00xxqhxx00 Oh, it's not a big deal. The answer itself is good
Yes, anyone can edit your answer. If they don't have enough rep is has to be reviewed, but I can edit with abandon
The question let me think about 4x4 sudokus
Which is pretty easy
It's a good answer. I was wondering why you switched out my Unicode math-italics for MathJax - the latter is worse for screen readers, and I don't really see any formatting benefits
05:09
I am using my phone though, I can't predict what is projected
I'm not sure what that statement is supposed to communicate
What improvement do you see from replacing my Unicode math-italics with MathJax?
?
I misread that
It's an honest question, if there is some benefit I can leave it in
Yeah I read that as aggressive
Anyways I am not very good at this, hope someone can help me
05:12
Help you with what?
Improve my answer
I'm asking you, do you see an improvement with MathJax over Unicode math-italics combined with subscripts?
From a purely accessibility standpoint, the latter is the better choice
Can't tell though
Is there another angle that I'm not seeing here?
Can't tell what?
I am not an expert in these
05:14
Expert in what?
What you've said
These are all honest questions; I have no idea what you're talking about
it feels like there's some communication gap here
let's back up a bit
MathJax is the math formatting that uses $
Unicode math-italics are things like 𝑎𝑏𝑐𝑑
Subscripts can be added with <sub></sub>
Screen readers read text out loud for people who are blind or visually impaired
(tbh i think italicising probably works better over the Unicode characters a lot of the time - it's easier to edit at the very least)
05:16
Sure, italics work as well
Okay. Then feel free to edit my post
It's really no big deal, there is no solid policy yet and I don't want people to feel bad about their formatting. Your answer is fine either way :) the thing bobble was trying to explain is that when formatting math in puzzles, we try to avoid using MathJax in excess when other options are possible.
So bobble is asking for permission to edit your answer to remove it.
But you are totally fine, don't feel bad about it.
If someone edits to add MathJax after I made their math pretty in plaintext, then I try to get their permission before re-editing
It's a great answer and you are fine, keep being a great puzzler :)
05:24
@bobble you should have said clearer earlier
I couldn't understand what you were saying
To be honest I can't understand what you're saying there either
Okok fine:)
yeah there definitely was some miscommunication
glad y'all got it straightened out
8 mins ago, by 00xxqhxx00
Okay. Then feel free to edit my post
^^ only message I'm sure I understood in this whole conversation
Yes, I think we struggled to understand some of your messages. Are you perhaps an ESL speaker?
if so, no big deal, we just want to make sure we iron out the miscommunication.
05:28
Are slitherlinks like minesweepers?
...no?
They kind of remind me of them
I guess they both have grids with small numbers in them
but that's where the similarities end for me
Yeah, and those numbers indicate something about their surroundings
(Again, I'm tired)
hm, I guess
05:31
I would love to make them, except grid-deductions are not my thing
I suck at double-checking my work, and trying to make sure that a solution is unique is going to be a nightmare
Slitherlinks seriously remind me of minesweepers, but like lines instead of squares
Oh, actually, I could make an awesome slitherlink. Hold on
That escalated quickly
user image
4
bwahahahahaha
Behold: North's impossible slitherlink
I bet you could never solve it
Beautiful slitherlink, perfection, immaculate
I bet you could never solve it in a million years
I could draw four lines and now I'm stuck
2
05:38
I bet you could never solve it in a million billion years
This is a supreme slitherlink of amazing proportions
It's glorious
You should make it even more impossible by making it an infinite-sized grid
Oooh
Just an infinite sea of zero and in the lone middle is just a 4 surrounded by ones
That's the solution if you were stuck
Of course
05:42
As you can see, it's exceptionally complicated
even nurikabes are easier than this
The key to its complexity is its innate simplicity. Or rather, it would want to make you believe that it is simple
can't fool me, I saw how complicated this is at once
thanks to my supreme minesweeper skills
2
@bobble you didn't do anything wrong by the way, i just didn't want them to feel bad if they didn't know what MathJax was or what the issue with their answer was. they might have been ESL or have trouble communicating, hence the communication gap.
Oooh those Microsoft Minesweeper games?
I'm a pro at those
1 v 1 me on my Microsoft XP, any day
Oka that's enough of North Acting Like an Idiot(tm) for today
Good night!
05:46
Good night!
Good night :)
'night!
One day someone showed me a MS minesweeper hack so that, if you overlap the window with the minesweeper window exactly, you could see the positions of mines.
The caveat was that you don't get the correct mines if you don't overlap pixel-perfect
All I remember about Windows XP these days was that space pinball game and Spider Solitaire
05:51
And I saw someone playing pinball for 1 hour without dying once
apparently there are nine "stages" in the pinball game... never got past the second
There are stages?? Damn, I never got past the second one either
ye
My brother and I would compete for high scores all the time, but we never got past the second mission
05:53
same but competing with myself #OnlyChildGang
#OlderBrotherWhoBeatMeAtEverythingGang
hahah
CCCC: Disney princess (later, queen) inspired spirit music down under (8,7)
i was a beast at win minesweeper
i did win a few times but at the cost of losing like ∞ times beforehand
06:08
WALT (ZING) MATILDA? not sure how to parse exactly "princess (later, queen)"
@jafe
Who is Waltzing Matilda?
Today I Learned
0
Q: Puzzling riddles

00xxqhxx00 Pills and pills, stuck between the hills. I may be right but must not be wrong. I may be cute but will not be ferocious. I am from Greece. Oh! So precious. Short pistols, long snipers, From earth to heaven I form borders, The optimists would be seperated, The pessimists would call me an eye. ...

@Sciborg same
(My speculation is "MATILDA" is "princess (later, queen)")
06:12
that's correct
and im assuming shes the one from England
this is the one i was thinking of but the description probably fits several people
oh okek
CCCC: Capital E, in essence (5)
06:37
s(e)oul
@jafe correct
CCCC: Maybe Bruce Wayne is attracted to Robin's masculinity? (7)
MAN [maybe bruce wayne] + HOOD [robin]
that's right
06:53
ok here's a kinda dumb one
CCCC: Non-capital 5, in non-essence (5)
I'm stuck with small (as in non-capital letter)
@Deusovi oh gosh
Hahah
Only contribution I can make for now is that 5 can be V, not sure what else it can represent
(please do not overthink this one)
07:10
5 letters in "non-essence" make ESSEN, which is a non-capital
oh dang
(Essen has apparently been declared the capital of various things, but is not an actual geographic capital, which i found disappointing; next time i get a clue i'll try to make a better one to make up for this)
hey i warned you
07:24
Wahahah
CCCC: Be facing terrible fate outside emperor's final resting place (7)
BE+D(_R)OOM
(@jafe)
ooh
correct!
yay
Since we are doing silly ones
CCCC: Yellow layer of eggs? (7)
07:35
heheheh
:O
I've already gone past the surface reading, but I'm having trouble making the other definition part fit
I think you are on the right track
that's all I'll say, since it's too early for hints
07:56
CHICKEN ddef
(yellow ≈ scared ≈ chicken)
That's what I thought, although I didn't see any significant results for "chicken yellow" or "yellow chicken"
...oh
@Deusovi correct
i don't get why they named Wonder Woman 1984 like they did
they could have set the film in 1987 and called it Amazon Prime
7
@Deusovi (now's the chance hehe)
08:09
(working on it)
(yeye)
08:53
CCCC: People eroding head with "Yellow layer of eggs?" (5)
nice
@Deusovi YOLKS: layer of eggs, def; People eroding = fOLKS, which we should head with Y
...huh, that's actually not what I intended, but it's similar enough
oh, what'd you intend?
09:06
intended parsing was [People eroding head] → (-f)OLK; [with yellow layer] → "surround with Y"; [of eggs] → def YOLKY
oh nice
Ohh
CCCC: Case of infidelity very true (6)
i think this is af+fair
yep!
09:08
ha!
that's nice
Hahah
@Deusovi thanks
0
Q: IQ Test question - numbers inside a 4x3 grid

user71981I could not solve a question from an online IQ test: The options were: 10, -5, 32 and 18 The only pattern that I managed to find was that the numbers went in an odd-even sequence(that means, odd-even-odd-even or even-odd-even-odd), so the missing number would be odd. The only odd number is -5, ...

always love to see modern slang used in crosswords (cryptic or not)
09:19
CCCC: Pilot's spirit on the air (6)
Does "spirit" mean "songs, generally"? I don't see that it does. But if it does, we have LEADER = "lieder" on the air.
 
1 hour later…
10:25
1
Q: What game am I looking for?

infinitezeroNormally a nuke is delivered by missile or plane But not this time, as it was on a train Like a mirage, a mushroom in the sky Overpassing the clouds, so high I begin to experience vertigo Witnessing this huge inferno Only to be reduced to dust

10:42
not that i know of
10:59
oh, well :-)
what was the solution to the Case of infidelity NOT true (7)? cant find it
14 hours ago, by jafe
maybe infidelity = TREASON, minus T making REASON (case)?
6**
ah
thanks
i came across treason too
(a share: I'm actually not a fan of using "not X" to clue "subtraction of X", either, but 1) again, was too busy to care 2) makes for decent surface)
mm
yes
that was dam smooth
11:42
0
Q: Most Captures Chess

JKHAIn Most Captures Chess puzzle, you will need to provide a legal game where it is Blacks to play and where they have the most different ways to capture a White piece. For instance, the next game allows two ways for Blacks to capture a White piece. 1. e4 d5 2. c4 How many ways will you reach?

 
4 hours later…
15:33
3
Q: The Atom Riddles #1

zixuanYou wake up in a lab room, with papers, test tubes, computers, not understanding how you got there. A scientist is across the room. "Welcome to my secret lab", he says. "To get out, you must pass the Atom Riddles. " "I've been puzzled too much! Can you make it quick? And I don't like science that...

15:58
@oAlt Eyyy let's go #OnlyChildGang
heh
2
Q: What you need to say gets stepped on everyday

ention everyone My prefix lets you drop without delay. My infix forms what you need to say. My suffix gives equality in every way. My whole gets stepped on everyday.

0
Q: Do first, think later!

Ak.I asked my cousin where he's studying. He didn't answer directly, but said some random sentences. You love taking photographs, then you're much nearer. Do first, think later! You're looking for an animal and a vehicle. Could you find where my cousin is studying?

@Sciborg Omg Spider Solitaire
I learned how to play Hearts from Windows XP
*see "@Sciborg"*
*realizes that it's just a reply*
*is sad that Sciborg isn't here*
Oh, you're not happy to see me?
Okay, I see how it is
hmph
16:01
You're my favorite tree
I'm the only tree
I mean, I can see a tree out my window
You're better than that tree
Hmph
:P
It's kind of surreal how quickly Sciborg just fit into the vibe of the Lair
They joined like... two, three months ago?
It helped that they solved a decently-long-surviving C4 very soon after joining
Ah, the Sphinx's Lair. Where newcomers become old-timers, where old-timers become old geezers, and where old geezers like @msh210 make "old saw" C4s.
(We're never letting you forget that)
16:07
leans on cane
You're a rather young old geezer
Who's the oldest user (like the one that has been around PSE for the longest time) in TSL?
Probably Deus
Is it GPR? Though I don't know if he drops off that frequently enough to be called a "regular"
Looks like you're right, unless I missed someone
16:24
0
Q: Holiday Madness: Draw a line through all the gifts

Rudy MatunicCan you collect all the gifts? The rules: Start from the star At each intersection are arrows. You can only move through the intersection in accordance with the direction of the arrow. (e.g If you hit an intersection with an arrow pointing down and to the left, when you hit that intersection you...

I'm #9 for all-time editing. It's going to take a while to pass the #8 (Deus) since there's over a 200 edit difference...
16:44
who's #1?
Rand
Of course
@bobble I'm #5 for all time editing in LSE
I can pass Mith and Gallifreyan for #3 tho
Also I found this great picture of Occam's Razor:
@matt Your golden retriever is just ADORABLE
@PrinceNorthLæraðr :D thanks
17:00
@bobble Down for codenames?
econ is likely to turn to actual econ soon, so no
Oh actually I need to finish preppng my slides for philosophy club nvm
econ teacher: "99% of what we do in the classroom is actual teaching"
have you attended your own class??
@PrinceNorthLæraðr no
@Mithical Yes
Argh Gareth is making my life difficult because he actually edits stuff
17:08
scratch earlier comment of econ being econ - teacher is now ranting about billionaires
"<student name> you want to do econ? Don't worry, if this conversation goes the entire class period I'll just push the work to tomorrow"
(in response to a question about the assignment that's supposed to be due today)
@Mithical I'M COMING FOR YOU. MWAHAHAHAH
@PrinceNorthLæraðr I used to be a regular. Not so much anymore. I think Deusovi has been around here longer than me, though. Not sure about others.
No, actually. Looks like you've been here longer than Deus
It says 6 years, 1 month for you, 5 years 7 months for Deus
17:16
econ is now about how to do a good handshake???
the importance of not giving a "limp-fish" handshake
There's a "final's week self-care" video from our counselors, and it was recorded before any COVID stuff
So it looks so weird to see people without masks
yeah, movies/TV keep making my "STAY 6 FEET APAT" alarm go off
17:23
@PrinceNorthLæraðr Well, msh210 has me beat then. 6 years, 7 months.
Wow, he really is an old geezer
17:41
0
Q: Almost paper folding, but maybe not?

oldsailorpopoyeThis is one of the random iq test puzzles available on the internet. I can not find a clue to this at all and this is sort of bugging me for some time now. It could be some kind of paper folding or just rotations; I am not sure though. Note : Feel free to edit the title.

newest spanish thing:
> For today's attendance, you will go to Quizlet (Links to an external site.) and complete the "test" activity for Unit 3. In order for you to be marked present, your score must be 100%.
... that's not how attendance works?
What the heck
quizlet? just have the cards open in another tab
Oh you know what you can do
You can change the test settings
i can?
17:43
Yeah
Let me show you :P
to be just true/false :D
And only one question
(This might be cheating, but we're helping you circumvent a rather stupid attendance system)
and only starred words, then just star all the easy words
i'm listening
Hold on, pulling up my old quizlet
Click on options
and it pulls up a list
I'll show you what pops up
17:46
@PrinceNorthLæraðr I've been a chat user for longer than either >.>
@Mithical Oh, hush
@matt You can just uncheck everything aside from True/False, change the question limit to 1, and of course, only click "study starred" for "starred" only. Be careful though, your teacher might get sus if you turn it in too quickly
hm
I also believe they can only see the percentage, not how many you answered
That's how I did all my French hw
all of it?? sheesh
Yeah. We would have to take the "test" portion and a couple of other activities. So I just set the test to those up there
I still got a hundred on my french tests though so
(like the actual tests)
Also, don't do that stuff if it's an actual test because that's cheating. I only did that bc it was hw and not anything big
17:51
right
This is also why we're teaching you, because you know, having to get a hundred percent to make sure you're "present" is just a stupid way to take attendance
agreed
"100%"
(pun intended)
18:32
0
Q: Born U.B but mostly known as

Prim3numbahThe goal is to come up with an answer with the help of the image below. Together with the title, they should lead to the correct answer.

@PrinceNorthLæraðr I noticed.
@PrinceNorthLæraðr among those who have had any activity on PSE in the past year, I bet I'm one of the, oh, probably dozen been-around-longest-on-PSE users
Obviously, seniority is not a great measure of... pretty much anything.
@Mithical not than me
unless you mean TSL specifically
@jafe I know yer a furriner, but you do know that Wright and wraith are pronounced diffrent, dontchu?
18:57
@msh210 right, you're ancient
19:18
@msh210 yes i do, but if i didn't that would fit pretty well!
@Bubbler, found a grid-deduction genre only used as half of a mashup: LITS (which is weird, since it's a very cool genre)
19:33
@PrinceNorthLæraðr Me? Or are you talking about Gareth Rees over on Literature? (He's a friend of mine, btw.)
@GarethMcCaughan offline?
@msh210 The punctuation mark at the end suggests that that's a question but I'm not sure what the question is. If you mean "do I know Gareth Rees by some non-internet means?", the answer is yes.
@GarethMcCaughan that was, indeed, my intent
("He's a friend of [yours] offline?")
We were at university approximately-together. I think he was one year above or below me.
So you were simultaneously members of the Gareth Gang there?
19:48
If they get together, they call it a Gareth Ga(re)thering
Yup, there's definitely one of those.
@Mithical note that Gareth and Gather are anagrams.
@GarethMcCaughan Oh, Gareth Reese. He actually edits posts at a semi-consistent basis, which makes it a bit harder because everyone else before him have stopped editting
@GarethMcCaughan That's really cool
(I was obviously kidding about the Gareth Gang. But I imagine Gareth is a rare enough name that you'd know of others in your extended circle who had it. No?)
(Though I guess that's hard to test. If you don't know of a Gareth, how would you know you don't?)
20:05
Indeed.
@PrinceNorthLæraðr Rees, not Reese. I'm not sure I understand what he's making harder by editing posts...
North wants to climb the rankings of all-time editors
Oh. Yeah, if you want to do more of something than everyone else, then someone else who does it a lot will make that harder.
(Seems like a bit of an odd goal, but I warmly endorse everyone's right to have odd goals.)
20:27
It is an odd goal but
The username "Smartest1here" is rubbing me wrong the same way that "Prince Deepthinker" (or for that matter, "Deepthinker") does
I mean, it's not technically bad, just annoying to me
20:47
Eh
Does Prince in my name bother you?
Nah, because I know that yours is mostly playful. Deepthinker's "Prince" just seems pretentious to me.
21:04
Right, and my adorable profile picture :P
@OmegaKrypton Just an FYI, I probably won't be able to get to your puzzle until next week, because final's week is coming up
21:30
semester exams, how fun :p
0
Q: This puzzle is a loss

msh210What's next on this list? JBNRS, HF, GM, JPD, VL, AELMP, MS, WB, CB, GS, EC, SV, PD, PEJP, ?, …

 
1 hour later…
22:58
@bobble Hmm, too bad we can't change the rules now
what's the rule right now?
> Exception: a genre qualifies if it has only appeared as a part of a mashup puzzle of 3 genres or more.
ah darn
I can't get around that by using a variation, right?
though actually it's two puzzles with half LITS
@bobble Yeah, unless it's creative enough that it can be seen as a new genre
how did you find that? I tried several variations on the name
23:02
The puzzle you linked has a comment that links to that one
ah, I wasn't clicking through
23:39
0
Q: When do decimal-coded binary numbers XOR to zero?

A. RexBackground definition: XOR on numbers Given two non-negative integers $x$ and $y$, let $x\oplus y$ denote the bitwise exclusive or (XOR) of the numbers $x$ and $y$. This is the result of writing $x$ and $y$ in binary notation, then XORing corresponding bits (also known as "addition without carry"...

@Sphinx would this lose anything by mass-editing out the MathJax?
(Also, I don't have the necessary math background to tell if this is a legitimate puzzle as opposed to a problem - to those who know math stuff, is it?)

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