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12:23 AM
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Q: Reconstructing the Candidates Tournament 2018

A. RexThe Candidates Tournament 2018 was an eight-player double round-robin chess tournament, which was held in Berlin, Germany, between 10–28 March 2018. The winner, Fabiano Caruana, earned the right to challenge the defending world champion, Magnus Carlsen of Norway, in the World Chess Championship 2...

 
12:46 AM
For what it's worth, the CCCC archive has been updated to July 25, 2020. :0
(darn, I realized late that there's a lot to catch up on lol)
 
 
2 hours later…
2:21 AM
@GarethMcCaughan ahh thanks Gareth
 
 
2 hours later…
4:25 AM
Aug 2, 2020 at 18:40, by Gareth McCaughan
CCCC: Jerky and meat jelly no one eats -- a little too much (9)
If anyone's available, I need a bit of help understanding this clue. I understand almost all of the parsing, but one part at the end confuses me.

The answer was SPASMODIC: "Meat jelly no one = (-a)SPIC, and a little too much = ASMOD = A + SM (small) + OD (overdose)". The only thing I'm having trouble with is the OD part: from my understanding it can mean either "an intake of too much" or "to have too much", but not "too much" only.
 
4:41 AM
Nvm, I think I understand the parsing. (Still, correct me if I'm wrong.) "A little too much" = "a small overdose" (but equivalence holds only at the whole level, in other words "overdose" =/= "too much"), then parsing the indiv. components of the new phrase.

It seems a bit indirect since the parsing is not done on the original phrase, but rather on the new phrase, but at the same time I'm still somewhat comfortable with this indirectness.
 
Sid
5:31 AM
@Stiv Yes. That's correct.
 
@oAlt Progress!
 
5:56 AM
Indeed
 
 
2 hours later…
8:18 AM
@Jafe I have to say, nice one!
 
 
2 hours later…
10:03 AM
CCCC: Head of MI6 and criminal informant infiltrate big top, encountering tamer's assistant with its head lopped off - something more appropriate for a surgical theatre? (12)
 
10:19 AM
M + CI in CIRCUS plus (-l)ION = CIRCUMCISION
i thought CI was short for "confidential" informant, though?
 
@Jafe Correct :) And according to the Wiki page, this one's valid too...
 
ah, TIL
CCCC: Ontarian machine polishing ice arenas' surfaces, circling extremely lethargically (7)
nice job on the nikoli mega-puzzle btw @stiv, that must have taken quite a while to solve and write up
 
@Jafe Thanks :) Yeah, it took me two whole weeks of evenings, pretty much. I've looked at it before and made half-hearted efforts at solving it, but this time I thought I should crack it once and for all. It feels good afterwards, I can tell you!
 
i can imagine
 
My wife was... er... understanding about it... (I think 'utterly bemused' may be a more accurate description!)
When these things take you, they take you...
 
10:31 AM
hehe
 
(I'm leaving the CCCC for someone else to get, as I really need to focus on work now...! But it's a nice clue :) Can't be many more to go now...)
(hint)
 
@Jafe O.. M.. P.. I.. A.. around L.Y, and &lit because of resurfice.com (Olympia is an ice resurfacer brand, and the corporation building the machines is based in Ontario)
Quite interesting
@Stiv Heh
 
yup that's it!
and yeah 8 more to go :)
 
Capital of Washington, of course (for the record)
 
Oh I just realized, frick that's genius
Although the answer to your clue before that doesn't seem to be a capital? :0
 
10:37 AM
(Jafe is dipping in and out of the list, to keep us on our toes!)
 
there are regular clues in-between
 
Ahh haha
 
otherwise it'd be a bit too easy hehe
 
woah, I'd say I haven't been online lately-
could anyone bother to catch me up?
 
trying to make a c4 clue for every US state capital, 42/50 done :)
 
10:38 AM
Ahhhh
what are you missing?
 
i'd rather not list them, makes solving the remaining ones too easy
 
oh
yeah
that makes sense
 
(of course anyone can figure it out by going through the archive but)
 
@Jafe fair lol
 
There's the graph between -10 and 10
 
 
1 hour later…
11:59 AM
Jafe talked about Ontarian things, now let's talk about Quebecian things
CCCC: Quebecer, in her newly-built lab, initially an accomplished physicist (5, 9)
 
"Une Québécoise, dans son laboratoire récemment construit, est initiallement une physicienne accomplie"
(for the real quebec experience)
 
Hehe
 
i believe the answer is HENRIBECQUERE*+L_
 
@Jafe exactment
@Jafe (also, out of curiosity, is this from a translator or can you speak French to a certain degree? :00 )
 
12:19 PM
i spent a year in france back in the day as a student and used to get by fine in french, but i've forgotten a ton due to not using it since... had to look up like half of the words in that sentence
would be great if you could just learn everything once and your brain stored everything forever...
 
12:35 PM
CCCC: British Columbian dad, nightly starting to be visited by daemons, real troubled (6,8)
 
@Jafe ahh nice
 
12:49 PM
@Jafe PAMELA ANDERSON (British Columbian) = PA (dad) + DAEMONSREAL* + N_
(I did some work...)
 
that's right
 
Scary surface
 
i'd be troubled too
 
CCCC: With poise, singer exposes body part (6)
@oAlt I liked this clue, great surface :)
 
1:17 PM
0
Q: What's the answer to this mensa iq app question?

WillacyMeStuck trying to solve this question that popped up the other day. Spent the whole of the 15 minute test trying to find an answer to it.

 
@Stiv thanks :OO
(Not so related: I forgot to say this earlier but I personally liked the way "Quebecer" could be formed out of "Becquerel" and so I wanted to include that in a clue. At that point I didn't care much if the clue wasn't that hard lol)
 
 
1 hour later…
2:34 PM
0
Q: Who am I in this cruel world?

wysiwygHere is a poem that can explain who I am. yellow and red screaming but beautifully yet, some has plus one Y2V5RGRUUkpXRXQyZGxVPQ==

 
 
1 hour later…
3:51 PM
0
Q: Word Arrangement Machine Problem

InanimateBeingInput: All Indians Are My Brothers And Sisters Step I: 23 32 12 38 65 17 81 Step II: 30 70 41 156 328 104 568 Step III: 568 328 156 104 70 41 30 Step IV: 20 15 15 9 12 11 10 Step V: 41 32 33 22 29 28...

 
4:43 PM
0
Q: Pipes and Tanks Network

InanimateBeingIn the city XYZ, P is a water source from where water flows into the tanks – Q, R, S, T and U. The following diagram shows the network of the source and all the five tanks connected with pipes through which water flows. For any pipe, flow is the number of units of water flowing through it. For a...

 
5:35 PM
1
Q: Is this maths equation leading me through the first or second door?

PuzzlingFerretI needed to speak to my professor who has gone into hiding. I followed her directions, leading me underneath the university until I got to corridor with two doors, labeled with the Roman Numerals: I and II. The next step in the directions looked as follows: $$? = \frac{\frac{2ab}{a^{2}+b^2-c^2}}{...

 
6:13 PM
@Stiv p elvis
did not know poise was a unit until I looked it up
 
@juicifer Correct :) Thought that one would go in minutes!
 
@juicifer oh of course it is 🤦🏻‍♂️
 
@Stiv yeah I think it probably would've if not for the poise misdirection
 
6:29 PM
[topical]
 
CCCC: Insulting Democratic nominee for President upset a Conservative (10)
 
7:13 PM
@juicifer DEROGATORY (insulting) = D + GORE< + A TORY
 
7:24 PM
@Stiv absolutely
 
8:00 PM
Very smooth surface
 
8:14 PM
CCCC: Academy Award winner talks about Romeo and Juliet's fourth Oscar (and Othello's first) very loudly, with great wrath (8,2,4)
 
8:24 PM
@Stiv CHA(R+_I_+O)TS+O_+FF+IRE
 
And now I have that song in my head.
 
@Jafe Bingo!
 
CCCC: Exercise regimen of a governor (and Sabotage lead) (7)
 
@Jafe Pilate S_
 
well that was fast
 
8:35 PM
I always do pilates fast.
 
heheh
 
Make sure you stretch properly afterwards...
 
@Stiv that's what Pilate did
CCCC: "A Child's Fancy", a piece by Wieniawski (7,2,1,5)
 
i think chris pratt missed an opportunity not taking his wife's name when he got married with arnie's daughter
now it's like "starring chris pratt" when it could have been "starring christopher schwarzenegger"
 
@msh210 I've got the 2,1,5 part
@msh210 DDEF for Fantasy in A minor
?
 
8:49 PM
@AncientSwordRage not my intention
 
@Jafe or he could've gone the other way and shortened it to "x ə"
 
christ. schwa.!
 
exactly!
 
@msh210 it's kinda loose of me to assume that translates how I thought it would
 
@AncientSwordRage Sorry?
 
9:01 PM
0
Q: Excellence? Perfection? Success?

StivWhat are you striving for? ACENT / CENOS / AEGNTT / ACGNNOTT EEEJNSWY / AEEHIMNPRSW / AACHILNNORRT / AAEERLW / KNORWY / AGIINRV / AACEHMSSSTTU / AAEINNNPSVY / EGGIOR / CCCEINOTTU / AALMNRY AACDEEHLLOOPRRSST / ACT / GMPSY / CDMNRUU / AQTUZ / ACCELT / AOPZ / AAIPTT AHLLOW / CEERSS / EHINPX / AAAB...

 
@msh210 the piece I find was called Fantaisie Orientale in A minor
 
@AncientSwordRage ah
 
Translating that to just Fantasy in A Minor is a loose translation
 
yeah, got it
 
10:02 PM
@msh210 how about caprice in a minor
 
 
1 hour later…

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