The Sphinx's Lair

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Jafe

12:48 AM

it doesn't take much to shock me... soneone mentioned that (()) is not a palindrome, but )(() is, and my brain 'sploded

i want the c4 to have an anagram of KID IS around TEN G but not finding anything that fits...

Sphinx

1:26 AM

Q: A ----------y Puzzle

The puzzle below asks a question. Can you answer it?

2 hours later…

AncientSwordRage

3:01 AM

@Jafe wait what how

Jafe

exactly

AncientSwordRage

Oh! Yeah because Bob, palindromically isn't 'dod'

Chomsky hierarchy

In formal language theory, computer science and linguistics, the Chomsky hierarchy (occasionally referred to as the Chomsky–Schützenberger hierarchy) is a containment hierarchy of classes of formal grammars. This hierarchy of grammars was described by Noam Chomsky in 1956. It is also named after Marcel-Paul Schützenberger, who played a crucial role in the development of the theory of formal languages. == Formal grammars == A formal grammar of this type consists of a finite set of production rules (left-hand side → right-hand side), where each side consists of a finite sequence of the following...

Things like parentheses are part of type-2 grammar and it's why regular expressions in the context of programming can't associate opening and closing brackets easily

Aka the HTML parsing problem, aka the Zalgo problem

6 hours later…

Sphinx

8:56 AM

Q: I am a creature from the ancient world

My head has two faces. My upper body is powerful. My belt honors two great men. My legs and feet are numbered incorrectly. What am I?

riddle

1 hour later…

Sphinx

10:10 AM

Q: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

You are finding 3 places. Also, Kiribati's flag is for checking if you got the "places" correcct.

enigmatic-puzzle geography flags

1 hour later…

Rand al'Thor

11:17 AM

Q: What is the point of introducing puzzle into tomb design if you don't want anyone to disturb whatever hidden?

My family comes from a long line of well known tomb designer and my spouse is a part time tomb raider, we really are a perfect match! I explained to my spouse that a tomb is a very sacred place for the decease to rest in peace and great care are taken to ensure that is the case for eternity, the ...

construction architecture death games

^ might be interesting for people here

(also didn't we have a question something like this here on PSE at some point?)

Rand al'Thor

11:28 AM

@AncientSwordRage Sorry, I rejected this edit for the wrong reason because I thought it was this unsolved question. I still stand by the rejection, though, for a different reason: after looking at the answer, I don't think the word tag is suitable.

AncientSwordRage

@Randal'Thor I thought the answer was a single word though?

Rand al'Thor

It can be described by a single word, but it's also a collection of letters which is not a single word.

Kind of depends how you look at it.

So if the OP had added the tag, I wouldn't edit it out, but I also don't think it should be edited in if the OP didn't want to.

AncientSwordRage

@Randal'Thor I can sort of see it

@Randal'Thor I was looking at it as the answer is a single word, even though the clues require you know what that word represents

If word means that not only does the answer need to be a word, but also the only clues allowed are about the word itself, then I agree with you

Rand al'Thor

11:46 AM

It's a bit open to interpretation, which is why I thought better to leave it in the original form.

AncientSwordRage

fair

It would be good to be able to suggest edits only the owner can see

Sphinx

Q: The hottest part of an automobile

What is the hottest specific part of an average modern automobile on the street? How much hot it is?

knowledge

1 hour later…

M Oehm

1:05 PM

(I'll just say that the "Hard riddle no-one can solve" that was just deleted wasn't quite as hard as the "Christmas-tree code no-one can solve".)

Lukas Rotter

Did you also have an answer typed out, nervously hovering over the post button while waiting for the OP to provide some attribution? :)

M Oehm

I wouldn't have bothered with answering here. I'd have gone straight for the advertised "MacBook Pro", which must have been the prize of the competition.

1 hour later…

Stiv

2:11 PM

Early CCCC hint (to assuage a guilty conscience): It is the word 'Community' that is 'a bit of a stretch' here. It commonly appears in thesauruses for the word it's standing in for, but I would argue that in general usage you probably wouldn't use them quite so interchangeably...

oAlt

3:09 PM

@Stiv UNITED KINGDOM = UNI + TE(DKI*)N G + O + M has to be it, but I haven't heard of "produce" = O before so need a bit of help on that heh

And yeah, UK can be a community I guess but it's indeed not that best for a definition

Stiv

@oAlt Might want to check your spelling there!

oAlt

Oops 😬

Revised: UNI + TE(DKI*)N G + DO + M

(Can't release a clue immediately because my eyes are calling me to sleep :0 )

Jafe

that is an acceptable reason

i was looking at "x, put in y" for y inside x but somehow didn't spot "x put in y" for the opposite, d'oh

Stiv

@oAlt This is now precisely what was intended. Well done for seeing past 'Community' (the lure of 'community college' as a misleading unit was just too perfect, even if the interpretation of 'community' was not...)

3 hours later…

AncientSwordRage

6:13 PM

@Randal'Thor that edit got approved

3 hours later…

Lukas Rotter

9:08 PM

winterbash2021.stackexchange.com

Countdown started :)

Sphinx

9:26 PM

Q: Friends or Foes?

Text version of clues: Center of the hearth? Year ring? Yes! Crazy place? Sound sleep? Summer house? Twenty winds? Wave hello? Ten times an unknown? Only ground? Strong by chance? Soul-nourishing apple? Broken wheel? Known evil? Go mad? This eastern evening? Expensive meat wagon? Celtic cock? ...

knowledge wordplay crossword-clues

Stevo

9:37 PM

@AncientSwordRage Guess ur talking about the suggested edit I proposed? Looking at the answer, I do admit that the word tag doesn’t fit.

AncientSwordRage

9:49 PM

@Stevo different question

1 hour later…

Stevo

11:05 PM

one more hour till the first gold badge...

Sphinx

11:32 PM

Q: Ernie and the Christmas Stars

Although Ernie professes to be an atheistic rationalist, he does love the Christmas season. He thinks long and hard to find appropriate gifts, brushes up on his Christmas Carol repertoire, plans a sumptuous feast well in advance, pens a great sheaf of cards, and delights in decorating his Christm...