The Sphinx's Lair

12:24 AM

@AncientSwordRage thx

Anyone else? :0

1:18 AM

@Amoz oh btw, I deleted my comment now– I'm not entirely sure, but given the link attached by the OP it seems to come from a course of some sorts (???)

Which is why I hesitated answering it and deleted my comment

I don't know how to describe it – I think it's the case that even with proper attribution, asking for help to get through a course is a completely different matter

Oh, never mind... OP already knew the answer beforehand. My absolute bad

@oAlt B is fine for sure, BT probably not according to the strictest standard

same as the clue i asked about earlier where "bug-eating" was to be read as "bug eating"

ah I see

then again i've seen a crossword clue with the word "godfather" where "god" was the def and "father" part of the wp, that one surely would have had no problem with an extra hyphen

Q: What's in the code?

The secret agency Tycoon emailed some code to its agent 006. They are "RACECAR, MURDRUM, SAGAS, ATTACK, and REPAPER". Leaving one which is fake, all other words have something in common. Can you help in finding the fake word? (Source: https://www.hitbullseye.com/)

@Jafe yikes

I think I was actually guilty of that in a CCCC

Nov 10 '20 at 3:00, by oAlt

CCCC: Gave advice about &lit (6)

😬

1:33 AM

another hyphen example was a c4 where "G-man" stood for GM, if i recall correctly at least gareth thought it was unfair since GM is not an abbreviation for a g-man

I think I could have hyphenated "&lit" as well ;-;

"G man" would obv have been standard

Ohh

Oct 23 '20 at 8:44, by Gareth McCaughan

But although "G" can indicate G and "man" can indicate M, I am not convinced that "G-man" can indicate GM. I mean clearly it can, because it does, right here, but I'd be a bit surprised to see that construction in a newspaper crossword.

Oh that's the one where "CCCC" was part of the clue :P

2 hours later…

3:38 AM

Looked back at my first cryptic crossword and surprisingly I didn't use too many first letter indicators... I really hope I can still uphold that in the next one >_<

logical-deduction story grid-deduction sudoku burr-puzzle

3:51 AM

Q: A Deceitful Rebus

I am thinking of an image. Using Photoshop, paint, or your favorite image editor, create and post the image I am thinking of (any reasonable logical equivalent). To ensure this post isn’t flooded with a hundred pictures of cats, here are some clues: Your image should contain five English words, ...

knowledge visual rebus

Q: "Puzzle Waffle"

A black man, tilting his head in satisfaction and checking it was about lunchtime, entered the Sphinx Café in downtown Washington D.C. on a Friday out of boredom with his usual lunch haunt and greeted the store owner. "Hey there, I'm Gabriel." "Whoa, whoa, I think you shouldn't be working today! ...

msh210

4:01 AM

C4 hint: The sixth letter is G.

1 hour later…

5:29 AM

Q: Elucidation

Your final answer should describe the legibility of this puzzle.

enigmatic-puzzle

3 hours later…

8:01 AM

Okay, re the C4, now I can't shake the feeling that the second word is GAS and the whole thing is supposed to be 'A molecule', like NOBLE GAS... but again I've got no leads on wordplay. WARG is a useful word for 'wolf' which contains a G, but I've got nothing concrete here.

Though this doesn't fit with the reworded 'carbohydrate' clue, so ignore me...!

8:25 AM

Hmmm...

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welan_gum

Not sure about it fitting any definition though, and ofc no idea on the wordplay

Oh, since the full link doesn't seem to be displayed in chat: "WELAN GUM"

9:11 AM

that is a carbohydrate but i see no way to make any of the wp alternatives work

2 hours later…

10:59 AM

@msh210 is it GROUP GUM? I haven't got a full grip on why

but leaders are sometimes called the glue or gum of a team

lamb flock and wolf pack are groups

and gum is a carbohydrate?

not sure where (female) is relevant

msh210

11:48 AM

@AncientSwordRage 'fraid not

Kinda glad it's not to be honest :p

It's possible the last word could be GOD, where the whole is some kind of 'leader'. Usefully, this is DOG (wolf) backwards; un-usefully, I see no reversal indicators, so this probably doesn't go anywhere...

And the fact that 'lamb flock' and 'wolf pack' are apparently interchangeable makes me think we're just looking for an equivalent word for 'group of animals' in the wordplay.

12:32 PM

@Stiv wolf (dog) pack (rearrange - god), lamb flock (religiously meaning humanity, leader of humanity in this sense - god)

so GOD as the last work works for me

2 hours later…

msh210

2:32 PM

C4 hint.

2:56 PM

Hmm, I'll try taking a stab at this

@oAlt awaits the stabbing

I have (bits of) reason to believe that the answer may be ALPHA GAL: 1) that's the common name of the carbohydrate galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose, and 2) apparently, females can also lead a wolf pack or lamb flock (alpha female for the former, and ewes rather than rams lead the flock for the latter)

Forgot the ping @msh210 . Anyway, there's a bit of certainty on this one, but if there's an even better answer then I'd be happy to be proven wrong on this attempt

MikeQ

That makes sense, although it seems more of a ddef than a cryptic ddef as per the latest hint

@oAlt That seems pretty watertight to be honest - I'd be very surprised if it were incorrect after all the hints (which it satisfies). And it takes us all the way back to the talk of ALPHA DOG right at the outset! Full circle...

seems very solid

Hi @MikeQ

3:27 PM

Agreed on both points MikeQ and Stiv

Though of course I want to know which definition msh210 intended to be the cryptic one

Anonymus 25

I like the misdirection of "molecule in wolf"

3:42 PM

Surely it's the second half of the clue that's the cryptic definition, as there's no such thing as an 'Alpha Gal' in the animal world - the point of that half of the clue is to suggest that an 'Alpha Gal' could be the name of a leader of an animal group even though it isn't actually a thing.

4:16 PM

@Stiv I think so

same way puffiness is not a real word, but it makes sense after analysing it as Puffin-ess

5 hours later…