The Sphinx's Lair

Q: Tetromino tilings of a 4x5 rectangle with minimal diversity

3:11 AM

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This is a relatively easy manual tiling puzzle. In fact the tiling is all done for you, you just have to specify how many of each of the 26 given tilings to use. The puzzle is: Using N complete sets of tetrominoes, tile N 4x5 rectangles in such a way as to minimise diversity of pieces across the ...

no-computers graph-theory tiling

3:32 AM

C4 theory as to the answer - Richard? From Richard wagner composer of The Ring of the Nibelung

To sepulcher = to get RID of something, and is buried, e.g. could be to CHAR (aka burn bodies rather than the traditional method of burying)

I'm probably way off though 🤣

I also thought of that, but I doubted "char" = "buried e.g." at first. But now with your explanation it actually seems promising

I think's it's a stretch tbh haha

Your charnel theory was really appealing to me, but I also couldn't figure out how buried, e.g. clues to the letter R

I was thinking something along the lines of RIP, and it only clues to the R, but idk

3:52 AM

Hmm

Jafe

4:07 AM

hmm interesting

4:27 AM

I quizzed Music Lover/Teacher:

"Ya know what 'con bria' means?"
"Lively."
"Ya know what 'giocosa' means?"
"Playful."
"Ya know what 'humorosa' means?"
"You're funny."
"Ya know what 'amoroso sostenuto' means?"
"Neverending love."

When she's right, she's right alright.

4:44 AM

@G_as_in_Gnome Hm. That would define "char" by "is buried", which doesn't mean char and which doesn't have the right grammar. And I don't really see RIP there, either. (Something that I can see, though is "rests" for "is buried", as in "Here rests ...", but it's probably too llong to fit here.)

Q: What's the minimum number of airplanes needed for one to make a round-the-world trip?

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Inspired by this puzzle. You have many airplanes starting at the same airport. Each plane has a fuel tank that holds just enough fuel to allow the plane to travel $\frac{1}{10}$ the distance around the world. These airplanes possess the special ability to transfer fuel between their tanks in mid-...

optimization

5:12 AM

@oAlt never mind, for some reason I failed to spot the most basic reason why it's not as promising as I thought (as MOehm pointed out): the tenses are different

If char is somehow an adjective it could still work. However it's not used as an adjective

5:26 AM

@MOehm yeah you're totally right, it was too big of a stretch to begin with

No worries. I think this one must be tackled with a bit of loose brainstorming, stretch or not.

5:47 AM

Something that I've been thinking of is Chamber, where AMBER is the composer of ring, and Chamber is a sepulcher, but I can't see how is buried, e.g. links to the CH

this is another stretch, but ch

could stand for chain, a unit of measurement = 66 feet, so 6 feet underground?

Also, not sure if this was intentional as I'm really new, but the ? at the end usually implies puns in NYT crossword, is it safe to assume the same is in play here?

It can clue a definition by example or a looser definition.

Gotcha

6:03 AM

I'm not sure what it cound mean here, though, and I don't see the significance of "e.g." if it isn't a component of the wordplay, i.e. EG or SAY are used in the wordplay. "Buried, e.g." as a unit would mean that we need something of which an example is "buried", or maybe "is buried". Hm.

IE could be a part of the wordplay too right?

Or is it not common practice to interchange i.e with e.g in cryptics

"In sepulcher?" could also mean something like "engraved" or "encrypted" in an oblique way, but I don't really see how this can work with the rest of the clue. As defs, they are too long anyway.

@G_as_in_Gnome In my opinion e.g. and i.e. are different things and not interchangeable.

What about Pulcher? He was a member of the tribunate of the plebs, so could be a composer of the ring, as in ring of members in the tribunate.

And then is buried, e.g. could mean that Pulcher is in the word sepulcher

Buried inside of the word sepulcher, say

6:20 AM

And the "e.g."? "Buried in" could indicate a hidden answer, but "buried, e.g., in" doesn't. (At least I think it doesn't.) Also, to be a member of something is not to be a composer of it. (I think the same applies to "amber": There are amber rings, but amber isn't a composer of rings. A jeweler – 7 letters! – might be, perhaps.)

msh210

@MOehm or "lies" maybe

C4 hint 2: The question mark is there because of "Composer".

@MOehm okay, makes total sense. The ? at the end keeps making me think it's a pun with the word composer, and could mean like something that composes another thing could be a 'composer' of that item, like a pun

@msh210 and there is my answer 🤣

So i'm thinking things like gold can be a composer of ring because rings are composed of gold, but again idk if that level of pun is something traditionally clued in by a ?

Using LIES gives me Iliescu, who wasn't a composer. And an ICU is not a sepulchre – yet.

6:38 AM

I keep going back to Charnel, Chanel is a composer of a ring, and the letter R is also a 'composer' of ring as in ring is composed of the letter R, so it's buried in Chanel = Charnel

@oAlt your theory has brainwashed me 🤣

Lolll

(I'm kinda stumped by the hint, though: is msh implying that a question mark being placed at the end of the clue doesn't necessarily mean that that question mark applies to the last word/s of the clue? Cuz I thought that wasn't allowed (but again I'm an amateur so I'm not one to dictate).)

6:55 AM

@oAlt i'm guessing that's the case. Composer probably has a punny meaning in this cryptic

7:16 AM

Crazy idea: "is buried, e.g." means AMID and the sepulcher is a PYRAMID. Now the only thing left to do is to shoehorn PYR into "Composer of Ring?".

7:28 AM

Me google-searching "composer of ring" for the nth time

7:48 AM

Since the question mark applies to the composer, I doubt googling that will get you anything, except perhaps some Brownie points for "doing research".

Lol

8:05 AM

@MOehm or its P YRAM< ID somehow

That seems far less likely

8:27 AM

I can think of one more "Ring", which is the fairy ring, in which case the composer is MUSHROOMS (greater than 7 letters) or FUNGI (less than 7 letters, but doesn't seem promising at all)

Oh, MYCELIA's 7 letters but I can't think of a way to justify it at all

(and anyway that doesn't really "compose" the ring)

8:52 AM

@oAlt it really does compose it:

> Fairy rings are caused by an individual fungus growing underground. The fungus sprouts lots of small threads, called mycelium, in a circular shape. A year later, the mushrooms pop up out of the ground at the edge of the circle, creating the fairy ring.

woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2019/08/what-is-a-fairy-ring

MY CEL(-L) +IA somehow?

Also, fungi are (de)composers but that's on the silly side instead of the serious construction above

9:33 AM

@MOehm i don't know why I always latch on to the crazy ideas, but pyr stands for pyridine, which is a chemical compound that is a ring

10:03 AM

@G_as_in_Gnome sems likely then

10:29 AM

@bobble did you get a satisfactory answer to puzzling.meta.stackexchange.com/q/7371/9316 ?

10:52 AM

@AncientSwordRage I get what u mean but what I meant was that it's not the mycelia itself that composes the ring, but the fungi

@oAlt but the mycelia is the part of the fungi that creates/lays down the foundation/composes (verb) the ring, whereas the fruiting body (the fungi) is what the final ring is composed of

Ok that makes sense

Q: Three planes fuel tanks for less than halfway around the world - how can one plane make it around the world and what is the minimum fuel tank size?

11:14 AM

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Inspired by this recent question here is a variation. Three identical aeroplanes are based on an island with one airport. Each plane can take fuel to get less than halfway around the world. Fuel can be transferred between planes in flight instantaneously. Planes are also fuelled instantaneously ...

mathematics calculation-puzzle

Q: Out of options which number should replace the question mark?

12:04 PM

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The options are as follows, choose one: 6, 9, 8, 7

pattern logic-grid progressive-matrix

12:45 PM

@Sphinx uh-oh

1:01 PM

Hmm "it's a private test" they said

lurking

We can't confirm then so I'm laying a close vote

@whiskrs :0

I have something for @GarethMcCaughan . Lover of music.

And so much else, but this time it's music.

Retreat to:

The troll

This room is the kind of room that makes people say "what kind...

Q: What option should replace the question mark?

1:45 PM

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What number should replace the question mark? Sourced: https://www.facebook.com/kailashdhakalKD/photos/a.111319136881205/598793478133766/

logic-grid

bobble

@AncientSwordRage the answer I got from the discussion was basically "we're not going to do anything"

Again, and again, any worth question is a puzzle.

@bobble that sorta sucks

Typing, again, as one who has admittedly stolen puzzle books from libraries.

Not my best face, shows how fanatical.

Never met a puzzle worth downvoting. Tempted.

. . .

bona fides:

among two dozen by now puzzles in the works is one where almost every answer is "X"

A cross, and down.

The trick is to figure out where isn't the X.

Use your imagination. Mine is used up.

First version was a 3 x 3 grid of Xs. But that is too easy.

(I had every clue to XXX. How about that, they'll be back.)

Being solver beyond bounds, my favo(u)rite puzzles take forever to figure out.

3:20 PM

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Q: Friday's Fujisan Problem

Four Shinto Priests have traveled from their various prefectures in pilgrimage to the top of Mount Fuji. You must find pathways for them to move up and down the mountain until they can all achieve the peak. Often, this will require you to guide them into positions from which they can assist each ...

dominoes

4:19 PM

I have no further leads on the C4; it's a sign that I need to focus on the homework that I've neglected for a while. :P

10:55 PM

@oAlt same, I'm stumped