The Sphinx's Lair

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12:28 AM

Q: Knocking on doors to find the princess -- a variation

The original problem is stated here: Why does this solution guarantee that the prince knocks on the right door to find the princess? My variation involves 10 princes each given 20 days maximum to find the princess. Each prince will try in turn with his 20 days maximum during which none of the ot...

bobble

12:59 AM

Is "Going on vacation in fall (8)" a valid cryptic ddef for TRIPPING? (background: I came up with it and was curious what y'all thought)

Sphinx

1:18 AM

Q: cryptic clue - palidromic medic with difficult personality loses title [7]

Cryptic crossword type clue Palindromic medic with difficult personality loses title [7] (hints will be provided over time if necessary... )

cryptic-clues

Jafe

1:59 AM

@bobble sounds fine to me

May 9 '20 at 8:21, by jafe

CCCC: Making a misstep on vacation: being on drugs (8)

similar one :P

oAlt

Haha

bobble

No new ideas under the sun

4 hours later…

oAlt

5:52 AM

@Jafe took me too long to process, but I think I'll go with the same answer as Stiv here. Since "a baa is classified as a type of caa", then you can indeed use "caas" to define "baas".

Sid

6:24 AM

That Olympia C4 is still not solved yet? Ugh.

I thought the enumeration was 6. Hmm.

TakingNotes

It used to be, then msh210 posted a second clue almost exactly the same...

Sid

wait, what???!

Jafe

6:48 AM

the answer to the 6-letter one was CANVAS, ddef

this is a new one, same words but 5 letters now :)

Sphinx

7:12 AM

Q: Trio Tapa: Introduction

Rules of Tapa (copied from here): Shade some cells of the grid. Shaded cells should form a single [orthogonally] connected group; no 2×2 square should be fully shaded. Some cells have clues in them. These cells cannot be shaded. Clues give the runs of shaded cells in the eight touching cells, i...

logical-deduction grid-deduction

3 hours later…

AncientSwordRage

10:22 AM

@Sid we've been bamboozled

@bobble far too true

M Oehm

10:50 AM

Objective: New ideas under the sun, more than half-baked to start with (8)

Sphinx

Q: What is a Scary Number™?

This is in the spirit of the What is a Word/Phrase™ series started by JLee with a special brand of Phrase™ and Word™ puzzles. If a number conforms to a special rule, I call it a Scary Number™. Use the following examples below to find the rule. Scary Numbers™ -1555487920 -739891358 -...

knowledge pattern

2 hours later…

Sphinx

12:40 PM

Q: Some say, obsessed

The final answer consist of 11 letters. After you find the answer to the puzzle above, use this (to get the final answer): 107 71

knowledge visual

4 hours later…

msh210

4:55 PM

C4 hint: Both 'halves' have something to do with water.

Stiv

5:46 PM

@msh210 Is the answer SOUND? ddef: "Survey" in an aquatic sense can be to 'sound' the depths; cdef: "area where Olympia is" is the Puget Sound, if we're talking about the oyster Ostrea lurida a.k.a. 'the Olympia oyster'.

msh210

6:16 PM

@Stiv yes! Although I meant the city in Washington.

Stiv

6:28 PM

Ha, that would have been more obvious to go for really! (facepalm) You had me diving deep for obscurity! :)

Sphinx

Q: A Sporting Scandal?

It was the final of the world-renowned cricket tournament - the Cinders (not to be mistaken for the Ashes). The Owls were comfortably the favourites. They were unbeaten in the last 4 years, whereas the Snakes hadn't won in the last 3. It was perhaps the most obvious result in sporting history. Ho...

enigmatic-puzzle visual sports

3 hours later…

Stiv

9:46 PM

CCCC: New UK supermarket added to every stock exchange (6)

Sphinx

9:58 PM

Q: Let's build a tree together!

It's been a while since I've posted due to being incredibly busy at work, so I've got a short and sweet Riley for anyone interested. Look for the infix, odious indeed, Obscenities and evil, a hex, but no e. Oddly the suffix, denotes with just three, Prefixed by back, again, it is ? Spoiler Not...

riddle wordplay affix-riddle

Jeremy Dover

Nice surface Stiv! I have the obvious answer, but can't quite figure the last letter. Which means I likely don't have the answer.

Dmihawk

morning folks, finally back after being sick for 11 days :(

Amoz

10:19 PM

ah, had sound but couldn't connect the survey synonym to water, I was imagining 'sounding out ideas', nice job!

Gareth McCaughan

@JeremyDover For what it's worth I can't figure out the last letter either. (But I bet you do have the answer. Too much coincidence if not.)

msh210

10:39 PM

@Stiv N (new) Asda (UK supermarket) + Q (every, in prescriptions)

Gareth McCaughan

when does Q mean every in prescriptions?

in things like q.i.d. it means "four".

msh210

@GarethMcCaughan "Q Day" = "every day"

Gareth McCaughan

what does the Q stand for there?

msh210

(which is sometimes "QD" but that's frowned upon because it looks like "QID")

@GarethMcCaughan dunno. Something in Latin presumably.

Gareth McCaughan

I don't presume that, because I am not convinced there's anything in Latin that begins with Q and has that meaning. But I could extremely easily be wrong about that.

msh210

10:46 PM

@GarethMcCaughan Google tells me "quaque".

Gareth McCaughan

... was just typing "ooh, quaque" when your comment arrived :-)

msh210

:-)

Dmihawk

my wife confirms Q = 'every'

Stiv

@msh210 Yep :) And yes, for 'every' I was thinking exactly that (like in this list here)

Gareth McCaughan

and bleh, this is in fact found in the place I was looking (the OED entry for Q) but it mentions q.i.d., which I alread knew about, earlier in the same sentence so I missed it

(well, "so" there is a bit self-excusing; I could more accurately say "but I'm a doofus so I missed it")

Stiv

10:49 PM

@JeremyDover (Thanks :) I'm guessing you'll find the current discussion of interest!)

Dmihawk

Quaque is correct, and she adds it's an important distinction from QID on a prescription

msh210

CCCC: May proverb: "Heading from Chicago to D.C.: / some birdbrains that make a 'V'." (6,5)

Jeremy Dover

Yep...I ruefully line up behind Gareth in the doofus queue. Or is that a doofus Q? Either way, I'm in good company...

msh210

I probably would've been in the same boat had I not had a Q Day prescription at some point.

Dmihawk

QD or OD = Once Daily
BD or BID = Twice Daily
TDS or TID = Three times daily
QID = Five times daily
Then usually for paracetamol I'll write Paracetamol 1g PO Q4-6h up to QID
Usually you wouldn't see the Q on a prescription bottle as it's just our short hand

Jeremy Dover

10:52 PM

CANADA GEESE = CAN (may) + ADAGE (proverb) + ESE (heading from Chicago to DC)

That's a quality clue right there folks~