The Sphinx's Lair - 2021-03-15

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12:42 AM

0

Q: Expressing values of irrationals in the form of fractions

Let's have the following sequence of fractions: $\frac{24}{17}, \frac{816}{577}, \frac{941664}{665857}, ?$. What is the next fraction in this sequence?

number-sequence

4 hours later…

4:47 AM

shepherd's pie is a lamb dish fitting 9,3 and "father" could clue "shepherd" as they're both terms for a priest, but what on earth is the other 9 doing?

casserole? I don't know why you would need to add that.

(that said the shepherd's pie isn't necessarily a lamb dish... it can be made with beef and i think in sweeney todd they use an actual shepherd)

well - shepherd's pie is meant to be lamb :/ if it is beef, it is apparently a "cottage pie" at least according to some picky people I know who have berated me in the past (who may, of course, be wrong...)

Anonymus 25- Reinstate Monica

I think that's it! SHEPHERD'S PIE CASSEROLE

I'm starving right now lol

Who calls it that though? And I don't quite get the rest of the wordplay, rn.

Anonymus 25- Reinstate Monica

5:00 AM

But wait, the enumeration is wrong, if there is an apostrophe it should be clued on the enumeration

So it would be (8'1, 3, 9)

Well as per previous conversation not so long ago, apostrophes are not necessarily included.

@Graylocke ah, i see

almost in italian is "quasi"... not sure if helpful

although it could be just i for italy i think

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pescasseroli ;p

Anonymus 25- Reinstate Monica

Lol

I'll just get out the sledgehammer, shall I?

5:13 AM

hehe

3 hours later…

7:53 AM

@samm82 Very satisfying answer to the CCCC is: SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS! Wordplay: PA (Father) + GHETT(-o) ('Hood', almost) + I (Italy) 'aboard' (within) SAND (plane, from carpentry) + STEALLAMB*. Phew!

Definition is just 'dish' rather than 'lamb dish'.

oh, nice!

@Stiv nice!

Thanks - I spotted the STEALLAMB anagram and then it was just a case of figuring out the rest of the wordplay...!

8:15 AM

0

Q: A 4x3 grid puzzle with one missing number

I've been trying to solve this but i still can't find the solution, could someone help me please? and choices are A. 13 B. 15 C. 16 D. 19

pattern missing-digits

@Stiv Well done! :D

Though my Italian holiday to anagram of PIE CASSEROLE may yet one day happen.

(sledgehammer or no ;p)

:P

9:05 AM

0

Q: What was my friend talking about?

Can you help me understand what my friend was saying to me the other day? He's really smart (a math savant AND a huge fan of those cryptic crossword things), so I'm trying to spend time with him and have his genius rub off on me, but he can be really pretentious and hard to understand. He was wri...

mathematics cryptic-clues

2 hours later…

Anonymus 25- Reinstate Monica

11:01 AM

@Stiv That IS satisfying! I even have my cat doll celebrate with me :P

2 hours later…

12:35 PM

180/180, wooo!

Ooh! When's the expected launch?

Gareth McCaughan

Guaranteed to be at a time when Deusovi is around and I'm not :-).

tomorrow, unless i find some blunder in the test run :)

1:17 PM

@Stiv Yup, you nailed it!

The idea came about from the (possibly angering) "fatherhood" being split into "father" and "hood", but then I realized that "fatherhood" can't mean "a group of people" like "brotherhood" can, so we had to adjust a little, which ended up making it more fair in the long run

Brill. It was a nice clue, well done :)

Why thank you! I was very proud of the "lamb dish" misdirect :)

1:37 PM

@samm82 yeah, that was nice

2:23 PM

CCCC: Detective gone astray becomes scapegoat (6)

I think it is PI + (GEON)*

@Sid You think correctly :)

0

Q: Next in the number sequence problem: 20, 21, 33, 68, 172.5, 520.5

20, 21, 33, 68, 172.5, 520.5, What will come next in this number sequence problem?

pattern number-sequence sequence

2:40 PM

CCCC: African Country ignoring large part of Europe(6)

(-l)iberia :)

@Jafe Yes sir. You're up.

CCCC: African wants bananas and mandarins, essentially (6)

If it was (7) it could be SANDMAN = bananaS AND MANdarins

3:03 PM

ha, accidental hidden word!

3:38 PM

Ooh, how about NTWASA = def: "African", NTWAS* + mandArins

@samm82 Nice find.

I have a feeling the answer is intended to be TSWANA for the same wordplay reasons though...

@Stiv indeed it is

Feel a bit bad for picking that one off after samm82 did the heavy lifting...! Love 'bananas' as an anagrind.

@Stiv Honestly, go for it - Tswana fits better to the definition, and I just thought "hey, this person's African!" when I posted mine without checking if there was a better fit, so that's on me XD

3:51 PM

Okay, I'll have a think then... :)

0

Q: If you can see me, we both have one of me

If I am thirty-two, I am the smallest and I am alone. Twenty-two multiplied by four is twenty. Eight, twelve and sixteen are my own. If you can see me, we both have one of me. If you don't have one of me, you can't see me. HE has a lot of me and rides me worldwide. What am I?

4:06 PM

@samm82 why do you take the "A" from mandarins?

4:19 PM

@Sid If you consider 'essentially' as suggesting 'the essence of something' then you're looking for something at the very core or centre of its being, i.e. the letter at the middle of the word

4:33 PM

CCCC: A fight nearby in the neighbourhood - almost concerning! (5)

(With apologies in advance)

5:10 PM

1

Q: If you see me, I may be tied up

If you see me, I may be tied up. And if you need me, you may want me around a pup. If you're suicidal, I might be adorned. And if I touch you, you might become burned. I'm associated with licorice, Yet just as often seen with fish. What am I? The answer is one word.

riddle word rhyme

@Stiv ABOUT = quintuple def!: "A fight" = A BOUT, "nearby", "in the neighbourhood", "almost", "concerning"

With a super tasty surface to boot :)

@samm82 That's exactly right :) I've wanted to attempt something like this for a while. Hope it doesn't offend any purists!

(But you are all of course very welcome to be offended if that is the case!)

"nearby" as a synonym for "about" is a little weird, but I figured that was the intention - no offence on my end XD

Whenever I see a long clue with a short answer I get a little scared, especially when the setter apologizes for it (lol), but I enjoyed it

CCCC: Noteworthy Scrabble puzzle (4,6)

Probably a British-ism that one then :)

If there's an "Unfriendly or Unkind" flag of mine that got declined, and I disagree with that, what's the best way to bring that up? I'm not sure I want to link people directly there because the puzzle is old (took a while for the flag to get processed).

5:25 PM

The age of the post shouldn't affect handling time... the proper place would be meta, though you might be able to get away with a chat ping.

I flagged the comment shortly after seeing it, but the flag lingered as "pending" for a long time

"Old" as in Feb 25 question posting, comment flagged Feb 26

It seems so small to go to meta over, it's just that this one comment was pretty darn unfriendly/distressing to me

Yeah; if I had to guess with absolutely no context, I'd say it took so long because someone wanted to get a second opinion before acting on the flag.

I'm afraid of the meta effect if I link there; also, the user in question is someone that I've had troubles with before.

I see. Want to Discord me a link so I have a bit more context (and can raise a flag myself if warranted)?

Sure.

5:35 PM

Mithical#3479 if you don't have it already

I went to the PPCG server user list

6:13 PM

@samm82 Is this possibly BOSS BATTLE? Noteworthy = Boss (in the 'excellent/outstanding' sense) and Scrabble = Battle (in the 'scrimmage/skirmish' sense) - together being a kind of puzzle in a video game?

@Stiv Not quite...

Okay

Oh hang on, it'd be STAR BATTLE then, right?

@Stiv That's it!

Yes, that's much more appropriate!

I've been doing far too many star battle puzzles for my own good as of late lol

6:16 PM

Wordplay in full, for posterity: Noteworthy = Star (in the 'talented' sense) and Scrabble = Battle (in the 'scrimmage/skirmish' sense) - together being a common puzzle type

1 hour later…

7:17 PM

0

Q: Unable to solve this IQ question with hearts

I tried to do this free IQ test and got stuck on this question. They did provide me with the final answer, but I don't understand the solution, so I still have no idea how to solve it or why the answer is this. If any one can give me a hint, I really appreciate it. Thank you so much! (Here is the...

2 hours later…

8:48 PM

CCCC: Song lacking obvious finale features wretched pirate performing in theatre? (9)

9:14 PM

Unrelated to current C4: if a clue's answer has multiple words, can you clue one as a hidden word, or are hidden words only used for the whole clue?

9:28 PM

@Stiv (s)o(perati*)ng

@msh210 Indeedy :) Over to you!

CCCC: Tell a buddy using slang (10)

9:51 PM

@samm82 hidden words should cover the entire answer, as far as i know

@Jafe makes sense

10:08 PM

@msh210 inform + ally

10:44 PM

This isn't a CCCC, just an atrocity that I came up with that I can't post anywhere else (it is almost certainly illegal), but if you like suffering, check this out: A call without PhD, Neo (3)

Hint: rot13(vg unf bar qrsvavgvba naq gjb jbeqcynlf)

11:31 PM

@Jafe yes indeedy

11:52 PM

CCCC: Charlie, Romeo and Flora (6)

@Jafe Apparently there's a college soccer coach named Charlie Flowe. I assume that's not your intention, though.

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