The Sphinx's Lair

juicifer

12:50 AM

@msh210 that's the one

Stevo

I'm getting a backlog of clues, better get solving.

AncientSwordRage

2:26 AM

@Stevo that's how I started, and Crosswords Unclued

Stevo

3:49 AM

@Stiv, I guess after Jeremy Dover's puzzle including Ingrid I shall hereby borrow Ingrid as a sequel to his puzzle.

Stevo

4:03 AM

This does not provide an answer to the question. Once you have sufficient reputation you will be able to comment on any post; instead, provide answers that don't require clarification from the asker. - From Review — F1Krazy 4 hours ago

This does not provide an answer to the question. Once you have sufficient reputation you will be able to comment on any post; instead, provide answers that don't require clarification from the asker. - From Review — Stevo 52 secs ago

That kinda dumb, 1 from low quality and one from late answers.

msh210

4:41 AM

CCCC: QI has episodes that should be taken in before bedtime (3)

oAlt

4:58 AM

Three, interesting...

juicifer

5:32 AM

@msh210 apparently q.h.s. means "take every night at bedtime" on prescriptions and such

msh210

6:14 AM

@juicifer So it seems. Does that help with the C4?

juicifer

well it's every other letter in "QI has"

so that would seem to be the wordplay

msh210

Yep! There you go.

("episodes" being the indicator)

juicifer

CCCC: Mad scientist cops out, in a way (6 7)

Stiv

8:45 AM

@juicifer DOCTOR OCTOPUS (Mad scientist) = wordplay-related &lit! describing COPSOUT*

@Stevo Is that a request?

Stevo

yes

Stiv

Sounded a bit presumptuous, the way you worded it...! If you can write something that stays true to her character (see my previous puzzles featuring her) and don't kill her off (!) then feel free to give it a go if you think she'd be a useful relevant addition to your puzzle... :)

Stevo

:) I wont be killing her off, not in christmas that it :)

Stiv

Guess that should be a Halloween puzzle really...!

Stevo

@Stiv she gonna go ice skating :) (I hope that in character)

Stiv

8:51 AM

I'm sure she'd be into that

Stevo

Now time to go character digging !

huh, you only have 2 puzzles featuring Ingrid

msh210

9:19 AM

@Stiv I don't understand the wordplay.

Oh, never mind, now I do.

oAlt

ah frick, I did notice that "cops out" was conveniently an anagram of "octopus" but I forgot that reverse cryptics existed lol

Stevo

question: what are reverser cryptics?

Stiv

9:44 AM

@Stevo Indeed, she's still very young and impressionable.

Stevo

ahhhh...

@Stiv Making her even a better candidate at skiing.

(or bobsleighing)

oAlt

10:18 AM

Jun 14 '20 at 16:08, by Deusovi

"reverse cryptics" are clues that give you the result of parsing the answer as if it were cryptic wordplay

Too lazy to type so I'm just gonna bring up a previous message lol

messages*

Jun 14 '20 at 16:08, by Deusovi

so effectively you have the "solution" and your goal is to figure out the "clue"

Wait...

No, that's not a reverse cryptic at all. That's a normal clue.

Ignore everything I just brought up, I can be dumb sometimes for some reason,,

That's a normal anagram cluing. My absolute bad

Stevo

ok :)

AncientSwordRage

11:40 AM

Ahhh so you have to figure out from 'cops out, in a way' you need to doctor (to alter deceptively) the word octopus, and make the cryptic word play 'doctor octopus'.

oAlt

11:54 AM

My brain amazes me sometimes (in negative ways). I dont know why I doubted myself then... It is a reverse cryptic,,

@Stevo actually don't ignore what I brought up lol, AncientSwordRage is correct

Gosh I'm really sorry for this airheadedness I'm leaving for a bit to forget about this

AncientSwordRage

1:20 PM

@oAlt come back soon....

Sphinx

2:03 PM

1

Q: It's a small word after all!

Text version This noun Is a 10 letter word Which is also a 6 letter word Which is also a 2 letter word Which is also a single letter too! No abbreviations or acronyms.

Sphinx

2:53 PM

0

Q: What's the best path through a garden that maximises the ground you can reach but minimises the steps taken?

I'm messing around with this toy problem I came up with. Say you have a yard that's 16 x 16 feet. Each square foot of the grid can either be a paving square for the path or a soil square for plants. A soil square can be either reachable or unreachable. You can start the path from any square on th...

optimization

juicifer

4:28 PM

@Stiv doc ock it is!

Sphinx

0

Q: What is a Vail word™

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 word conforms to a special rule, I call it a Vail Word™. Use the following examples below to find the rule. Vail Words™ Not Vail Words™ KNOTTED TIED ONLY C...