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1:22 AM
Not sure how to vote for this question in terms of edit
Like the question is closed, I believe editing it will just put it in for re-open queue
 
My feeling is that editing an off-topic post doesn't count as an improvement, if it doesn't make it actually on-topic
 
^
If it was on-topic and they fixed grammar errors, why not
But if it's already closed and you're making edits for grammar, what's the point?
 
@PrinceNorthLæraðr I used a custom reject "causes harm" reason: "Please don't edit a closed question unless you can drastically improve it and make it on-topic"
 
@bobble Ah, I just used the standard, "superfluous" one
 
Custom is better here, I think, because it explains to them why unambiguous fixes actually aren't an improvement. The standard one could cause confusion.
This is assuming they even bother to look at their rejected edits
 
1:38 AM
CCCC: Game board square unimpeded by average card value. (4,7)
Sorry - I forgot I hadn't posted one. Hopefully that gets me off the hook ;p
 
Only 4-letter colr that comes to mind is "blue"
 
I was thinking of FULL HOUSE but house isn't 7 letters
 
! Blue householdefghijklmnohhhh
"Blew"?
 
@humn You huffing and puffing, wolf humn?
 
Breathing air. That's too much in itself. I need sedation.
@Graylocke , no i am not the big bad wolf. I'm the big good rat, trying my best while doing my worst.
 
1:49 AM
Best rat I know... Mind you it is a "one out of one" situation :P
 
?
(Thank you for acknowledging one way or another)
Oh yeah, i'm the best rat. The original arpanet rat. I chew everything and eat whatever's left behind.
 
@Graylocke free + par + king
 
@Jafe :D Yes
 
That didn't come with qualifiers, so maybe that one was at least fair ;p
 
1:54 AM
I thought MATE for "game board squares"
Or DRAGONS as in DnD for 7 word
 
Another 4-letter colr is OPAL. But too late. RUBY? The tail wags while i put on rain clothing.
Know better, but see you next time, with all my heart:
 
2:10 AM
CCCC: Prison director inside morning market (6)
 
war den moth her
 
Urm, why are you pinging jafe?
First thing I thought of for "prison director" was obviously WARDEN, but I don't think the wordplay works
 
2:29 AM
@Anonymus25-ReinstateMonica hi
 
@PrinceNorthLæraðr My first thought was SLAMMER, to get AM in there again, but I don't think I am capable of making that work either...
 
I think director can be D
ADMIN is only five letters darn it
It's obviously IN+M+ATE, because Inside--? IN, M--> Morning, and ATE because you eat those samples in the markets, and INMATE runs the prison
#badc4solutions
 
CO(COO)N -> Prison = cocoon def, COO = director, CON = morning market/convention?
 
#sciborgvibes
We need a # chain
 
2:39 AM
I am hoping the inmates are not running the prison ;p (or the asylum)
 
@Sciborg hm, maybe? Seems a bit stretched
 
Jafe: Last seen 4 m ago
 
Too stretchy, but it hit me as interesting so just tossing it out there
I doubt it's actually the solve
 
I can kind of buy prison and director, but not CON
 
Yeah
 
2:41 AM
ASYLUM is 6 letters, but can't see the wordplay
 
Hm, SYLU...
 
but where does "market" come in
 
Yeah I didn't really get that either.
 
It was in my brain's list of "related words with AM"
I might need to stop using that ;p
 
2:43 AM
other six letter word of interest surrounded by "AM": ATRIUM? but that's too much of a stretch
 
Meh
You'd need to explain what a TRIU is
 
yeah
 
I don't know that jafe would necessarily use the same wordplay element either ;p
 
Hmmmmm LOCKUP kinda works, cuz Steven Lock is the name of a director, and morning can mean UP in the morning? That would be EVIL if the man is not well known
 
I like "prison director inside morning" though
@Anonymus25-ReinstateMonica That doesn't work
 
2:44 AM
Explain?
 
You'd first of all, need to explain market. Second of all, that is way to far-stretched to be considered fair.
 
i like the idea of "prison" being used as a verb, i.e. to imprison.
 
How can UP=morning? Also, "LOCK" as director doesn't really work
 
Yeah, I did say "Kinda", cuz market is really stumping me
 
@Anonymus25-ReinstateMonica "morning" = UP is not a synonym
 
2:46 AM
@PrinceNorthLæraðr As in waking up
 
Those aren't synonyms, like Deus said
@Sciborg I'm trying to see if prison could actually be an indicator
 
if Steven Lock is an actual ridiculously obscure director, then that would work, but it would be awful and everyone would hate Jafe for it
 
But I don't think so
 
Yeah. I don't see "prison" being an indicator, i feel it's gotta be either the def or cluing a noun/verb
 
Yeah, it WOULD make Jafe evil
 
2:47 AM
i like "director" cluing something like COO, CFO or CEO
 
@PrinceNorthLæraðr "prison [director] inside [morning] = [market]" seems like a possible parsing
 
Jafe, in my experience, is not known for obscure clues in C4s
 
@Deusovi agreed
 
@Deusovi Ah, that is plausible
Wait prison as an indicator?
What is it doing?
 
it's an instruction
 
2:49 AM
Ahhh
So like
 
like "put X inside Y [[to get]] Z"
 
But DIR is the usual shortening of the title... and I can't think of a 3 letter word for morning >.>;
 
oh, so this could potentially be a double or single container with either or both "prison" and "inside" as indicators.
 
The first word that comes to my mind as a synonym of market is RETAIL
 
2:50 AM
I prefer the C* that 'borg was using :)
 
not both - i think they just work together as one
 
So prison and inside are one indicator pair
^
 
(if it is, indeed, a container)
there aren't enough words to have X inside Y inside Z
 
I think that might work
 
ah, ok
 
2:51 AM
A(director)M
 
besides ASYLUM though, i have no idea how A(director)M could be plausible....
 
Is SYLU a director's name? If so, then it works, kinda
 
Never heard of it
 
MORCON my new name for a prison... because it contains MORe CONvicted felons... or something
 
seems very unlikely, and even then, it wouldn't be a synonym of "market"
 
2:53 AM
also true... sadly I made my non-definition on the wrong word :(
 
MW says "sun" is a synonym of morning
As is DAY
DADY :P
 
BOR(IN)G = Borg (because i'm a great director) with IN inside #perfectC4solutions
 
that's obviously it
 
BORING=market? :P
 
2:58 AM
of course, because stocks are boring :p
 
are there other acronyms of DIRECTOR?
 
i'm trying to think of some, yeah. all i can think of is COO, CFO and CEO
and D and DIR, obviously
would MAN (manager) be another valid one, or too stretchy?
 
i kinda like COO because COOLER is a slang term for a prison
 
Is there an acronym for market?
 
3:02 AM
none that i can think of...
NYSE stock exchange i guess
 
DOW?
What's the American one
 
indicator, not a market
 
NASQDA or smthing?
 
NASDAQ, S&P and DOW are market indicators, but not markets themselves.
 
3:03 AM
(source: my dad used to force me to watch squawk box)
hmm, i actually like NSE (new york stock exchange acronym)
 
I had VERNAM = goVERNor + AM, which uses a questionable interpretation of "inside" and has nothing to do with market
 
(market could be a verb? sell, peddle, etc.?)
 
i'm not sure what VERNAM means, honestly
 
Ah, inside can be a different indicator, I forgot
 
@jafe I believe it's _ING MAR_, the director of Prison
 
3:05 AM
wow... lol
 
????
 
INGMAR is a famous director
 
Ingmar Bergman
Brilliant Ankoganit!
 
but GMAR = morning market?
 
3:06 AM
Hidden word
 
Ohhhh Prison is a movie
 
mornING MARket
 
........
 
I mean
At least he's famous
 
that's brilliant but i would never have gotten it in a million years
 
3:07 AM
^
My pop trivia struggles
 
i didn't even know Prison was a movie
 
I only got it by wishful thinking and googling
 
i'm just in shock
silent note to self to always google movies when "director" appears in a clue
 
@Ankoganit that's correct
 
Awesome clue jafe!
 
3:09 AM
hehe thanks
 
i think me and North were too Gen Z to get that one, but it was very clever
 
Aye
Meanwhile 'borg and I and Deus are like "director in morning"
 
CCCC: Reverend's cooking food in a show about cooking (8,3)
 
Oooh, is this a spoonerism?
 
*wikipedia: born in 1918*
*borg: born in 1999*
 
3:12 AM
I think we have a Spoonerism here :D
 
Won't confirm or deny
 
er, i need to check what those are :p
 
0
Q: length of straight line made with irrationals

Vassilis ParassidisWhat is the trick to constructing a straight line AB with length $AB=( \sqrt {14\sqrt{6221}-7} + \sqrt{7})$?

 
> The spoonerism clue is similar. A "spoonerism", named after Reverend William Spooner, is a transposal of the starting sounds of two words in a phrase. For instance, the spoonerism of "nook and cranny" is "crook and nanny".
got it
 
I think it's a spoonerism especially because it's a two-word answer
 
3:16 AM
Yeah. Hm
i love the surface
assuming it is a spoonerism, the def is in the second half
 
On second thoughts maybe I should have put a question mark at the end
Oh well
 
There's no (8,3) in here
 
yup, so i'm guessing it's not the name of a cooking show
i like the idea of the (3) being FRY or OFF, i.e. a bake-off or cook-off
 
3:39 AM
0
Q: Wanted: Sudoko data in CSV

acaciaI am a computer science student looking for unsolved sudoku games that are valid and available in a comma separated text file. Does such a prepared data set exist and where can I find such a data set? If not, does anyone know of an open source solution that can perform the OCR from a picture of a...

 
baking bread > breaking bad, a show about cooking meth!
 
@Jafe that's it!
 
oh!!! clever :D
 
:D
 
All these great CCs
 
3:44 AM
this one made me laugh IRL, i love it
 
CCCC: The man in the middle of kitchen; leader in food-making? (4)
 
C(HE)F?
not sure if CF works for kitchen, eh. probably not it
 
Leader in food-making could be FM
 
"leader" could be lead letter, in which case "F"?
 
true that as well
 
3:48 AM
the only reason i think C(HE)F is because HE = "the man", but all i can think to justify CF is "cocina" which would be a non-English word
 
oh
 
If I get the next one, I know just the cc, but early hint, cuz I ain't sure of legality
 
it's HE inside kitChen and F(ood-making)
&lit
 
Ahhhh, there you go
You get that one
 
that's it
 
3:50 AM
Oi nice, Borg!
 
i didn't get the right wordplay, so that's all yours
 
feel a little bad taking over at the last moment, but if you say so :)
 
nah, i didn't realize the &lit so i didn't get it right - all you :)
 
I wanna showcase mine, make it easy
Eyyyy, Gray's here!
 
Some of the time :)
 
3:53 AM
Everybody's in the house!
 
It's just Ank and Jafe just trading back and forth :p
 
sniff sniff I smell collusion
 
Jafe and Anko, the CC Robbers
 
i got 50% there on that one, but Anko took us home :P
 
3:55 AM
Star that :P ^^
 
look, anon, you really don't need to announce/welcome people when they come in. it made me leave.
especially every single time
 
CCCC: Reset sound after scan (8)
 
READ + JUST
 
yep!
 
darn I have to make one
 
3:59 AM
ahh, another nice one :)
 
:)
 
there will be a slight delay... runs off to make a C4
 
Wow... after my tiresome one it's bam bam bam ;p
 
pow, smack, C4 attack
 
CCCC: A lunatic - "Hah! Rigged!" (4, 5)
not hard but funny to me
oh now i want to take it back
oops
>< should I retract it?
i think it's a little iffy
anyone?
 
4:11 AM
Uhm - I haven't looked yet ;p
 
>< I used a definition-by-example without indicating it
 
Ah - maybe you can edit to put a question mark?
 
nope, too late
i can just reveal the solution, maybe?
 
Yeah
and then make a new one?
 
it's HIGH GRADE*, with "A" a definition-by-example
 
4:18 AM
Ah. Yeah, that probably wasn't like 100% fair
A bit questionable
 
CCCC: Coordinate system: first, or second/last in math? (4)
that one is very legal
 
Ah, yes, lega;
Hm
I think of POLAR or CARTESIAN, but like you know
Clearly 4 letters
 
what do you mean POLAR is definitely 4 letters, because 5 - 1 = 4, and polar makes you lose one part of your soul
 
Ugh, we're starting polar coordinates and I am confused O_O
Why do we need polar coordinates? Aside from making pretty flower shapes
 
to torture kids, is what I figured out
wait till you have to take derivatives and antiderivatives and AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH
 
4:26 AM
Go 3D and you get cylindrical and spherical coordinates
They're even worse
 
Hm
Hm, maybe coordinate is... AXIS? Meh
 
4:45 AM
Sciborg, are you up for grid-deduction puzzling tonight?
 
5:26 AM
@bobble S_ + OR + __T_ (second-to-last in "math")?
 
correct
 
Yay!
 
yay!
 
Sorry for triple ping
 
's fine, I only noticed the second time
plus I don't have earbuds in
 
5:37 AM
CCCC: Impenetrable argument (5)
 
brain: so this is a ddef, right?
 
We is on a C4 roll, sorry, was afk
 
@Jafe @Ankoganit only nitpick i have (because the clue itself is great anyway) is that "bread" and "bad" may not have the same vowel sound for all people (which applies to me: i do roughly [ɛ] for the "bread" and [æ] for "bad")
 
5:54 AM
@oAlt agree, the Spoonerism doesn't really work phonetically
3 hours ago, by Ankoganit
On second thoughts maybe I should have put a question mark at the end
@Bubbler I think this is ddef for PROOF
 
Nice...
 
Correct
Bonus CC, because I'm not sure how valid this clue is: Instructions to be run for countless seconds, starting with a mark (8)
 
6:13 AM
CCCC: A studious nerd? On the contrary, one big annoying smart alec (4-2-3)
 
hey mods, i feel personally attacked by this CC :p
 
@Ankoganit oops, overlooked that one
 
:p
 
i see how it is, you made a C4 to call me out
 
@Bubbler (the intended answer is COMMANDS; parsing is left as an exercise to the reader)
 
6:19 AM
@Sciborg Uh huh that C4 is directed at people who are definitely not me
 
Definitely
who's projecting? not us, that's for sure
 
Yup obviously not
That'd be crazy
 
@Bubbler Well countless seconds could be N seconds (NS) and a mark could be COMMA. I think I lost the D somewhere :( I'm not sure if this is the direction you were going...
 
Clearly a reference to how the Nintendo DS is to be run for countless seconds
 
:P
 
6:23 AM
obviously NDS = No Damn Snakes in this Airplane
 
@Ankoganit ANKO-GA-NIT?
 
(sets self as target)
:P
 
countless seconds = 2nds minus 2
 
That moment when you realise that your tag is the same length...
 
6:24 AM
@Bubbler ohhhhh
that's actually hilarious and clever, i love it
"countless" = "everything but the numbers"
 
@Graylocke heh
 
@Bubbler !!!
@Ankoganit since I realised it, GRAY-LO-CKE is also a potential solution, so I am not sure this is fair if it has multiple answers ;p
 
Obviously it's SCIB-OR-G and it's meant to be 4-2-1
 
Well shoot
 
6:27 AM
a perfect C4 solution again, nailed it
 
@Bubbler I agree that this is far cleverer than I would ever get to ^^;
 
yeah, i would never think of it but it's super clever!
definitely not stealing it
 
But I am
How do you do that XD
 
three dashes before and after the text
 
Like this?
Noice
We gonna have a partayyyyyy
 
6:33 AM
@Bubbler ha, that one's nice
 
Thanks :)
 
6:46 AM
Now 9 out of 10 messages on the starboard start with CCCC
 
7:46 AM
@Ankoganit know-it-all ddef?
 
@msh210 Hm, I don't that would work as a ddef
Both definitions are effectively the same
 
@Ankoganit No, I thought it was weak, but figured I'd try.
@Ankoganit right, exactly
oh, KNOW< I TALL
^ @Ankoganit
 
Yep!
 
8:02 AM
Nice clue.
@Ankoganit (also, I wouldn't call baking bread "cooking")
 
I guess it's cooking in a broad sense
 
yeah
with a "?" it'd be all right
Heh. I went to check whether I have a clue prepared, and found that I have one (besides the several marked as not-really-usable). Unfortunately, I failed to write down the answer, so now I have to solve it before I can post it.
Ah, right:
CCCC: Money, murder come together? (8)
 
@msh210 ah, fair point
Oh well
 
 
3 hours later…
11:02 AM
@msh210 CHACHING Someone named Cha In Ha was murdered, and CHING is the sound when symbols come together
And Money as def
 
11:45 AM
@msh210 COINCIDE? COIN (money) + -CIDE (as in homicide, etc.), all meaning 'come together'
 
 
2 hours later…
2:15 PM
@Anonymus25-ReinstateMonica what?
@Stiv yep! It was meant as a punny ddef (not charades).
 
2:34 PM
@msh210 Ah, okay. Well, it works both ways :)
 
3:03 PM
CCCC: Round-the-clock sore head; taking drink at beginning and end of day (6)
 
Well that's why their head is sore - shouldn't be drinking so much! tsk tsk
 
0
Q: Ask [prefix] [infix] [suffix] permission. What's [whole]?

risky mysteries Ask [prefix] [infix] [suffix] permission. With the above a grammatical and logical statement, what is [whole]?

 
3:54 PM
^ how does that not have any stars
 
4:15 PM
rollback this answer to individual spoilers instead of fancy MathJax table?
(and then edit to convert the MathJax numbers to plaintext numbers)
 
 
1 hour later…
5:19 PM
2
Q: Nurikabe: Five Below

SciborgThis puzzle is another one of my Nurikabes, and this time it's a smaller one made entirely of pieces that are 5 or less. Perhaps you can tell that making puzzles in this genre is slowly becoming my thing! As always, I hope you enjoy. Rules of a Nurikabe (copied from my previous puzzle): This is ...

 
5:31 PM
@JeremyDover my mouse was heading towards the "Post" button when I saw your answer come up... I am a little sad, but good race!
I will now mournfully Discard my answer
 
Ouch! Sorry bobble :-) I'm glad to delete if you want to post!
I deserve the penalty...I screwed up my poetic cryptic.
 
I just Discarded, though... my answer is no more
So I'd have to write it up again. You did post first
 
@JeremyDover Just seen your message on the post - will hold fire to let you fix it :)
 
I can't edit this with a clear conscience
 
Might not be quick, alas...cryptic clues are hard enough to write. But fortunately it was the slam poem that was wrong!
 
5:34 PM
No worries - it happens!
 
If I hadn't hesitated for 30 seconds at the start, wondering about the ethics of solving and posting during school... would've got it
 
That is one good thing about retirement. I only have to worry about being caught by my wife.
 
 
1 hour later…
6:48 PM
@JeremyDover, this is a bit late, but in your "Some more logic in the upper left:" spoiler, do you mean V instead of L?
(for the Pento-Doku)
 
Probably. I ended up rewriting most of my solution after I realized way too late about R3C1, and I'm not sure everything got edited correctly. I will go look.
Ah, I know what it was. I had been working with tetrominos for my LIT sudoku, and just had L on the brain. It was later when I needed the real L that I remembered the correct nomenclature. Will fix.
 
1
Q: Arranging another Riley

Ben BardenMy prefix is tricking you My infix is fruity My suffix is controlled and uniform My whole must be set What am I?

 
7:29 PM
@JeremyDover Okay, done. Hopefully I've covered most of the wordplay in my rhymes but it was tricky!
 
I COMPLETELY sympathise with your problem, so I will grade on a curve :-)
Stiv, thanks for your answer. It can be tough to tell in advance how something like that is going to go over, so I'm glad you at least got a kick out of it :-)
 
Sid
8:31 PM
I received a bunch of tag badges today. Has there been a change in some site policy or something regarding that?
 
There was some discussion earlier about some people getting re-awarded a bunch of badges they already have. Maybe it's that?
 
@Stiv I have an answer if you allow my finger to slip one key over to the side on the keyboard. :-)
 
39
Q: Tag badges are re-awarded for some users

GlorfindelAcross the network, users are reporting cases where tag badges are re-awarded: Re-earned all my tag badges at once (Role-playing Games) Tag badges "re-awarded"? (Mathematics) Why were all tag badges unawarded and then awarded again? (Spanish Language) Tag badges got refreshed just for me? (Arqad...

 
@Stiv ALWAYS (Round-the-clock) = S(ore head) taking ALE (drink) A(t beginning) and (end of da)Y. If you allow W=E, I've got it made.
 
0
Q: A Harsh Vowelburger™ Critic

Cloudy7You can find other Vowelburgers™ Riddles here. Once a restaurant renowned for its delectable burgers, the customers of the Old Consonant's Diner have been noticing the quality of food slowly slipping away. Finally, a day of reckoning has come: the town's newspaper has sent a food critic over to ...

 
 
2 hours later…
11:08 PM
@msh210 Ha, nice try, but yeah that's not quite it :)
 

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