The Sphinx's Lair

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oAlt

00:06

Ah, I never would have guessed that. What does "thrown" mean in this case?

Alconja

@oAlt "throwing the horns" (or "throw up the horns") is a phrase that's used when referring to making the horns (🤘) gesture in a metal/rock context.

Sphinx

Q: It comprises that which composes it

Text version: GRINNING SUCCESSES INITIATION RESELLERS INITIATING SLEEVELESS CONCOCTION SASSAFRAS IGNITING ASSESSES --------- ---------- --- ...

juicifer

00:23

@AncientSwordRage I think this is SH(_AL_)OM*, although I'm not sure why "pit" is an anagram indicator

Alconja

I guess pit as a verb (as in put into conflict) sort of works?

juicifer

yeah that was my best guess

AncientSwordRage

01:02

@juicifer correct

I was trying to riff off the adjective, and I guessed if you pit something you could make it pitted not the strongest reasoning but I liked the surface too much

juicifer

I guess

at the end of the day I got there without too much trouble

AncientSwordRage

@juicifer that's good to hear

I wasn't expecting it to stand for long

oAlt

01:36

@Alconja thanks :0 I kinda guessed that was the case but I needed clarification

I did hear of "throwing up (gang) signs" before so looking back it shouldn't have been strange for me to see "thrown" used in that way in the clue

juicifer

02:01

CCCC: Where one might witness a standoff and a pirate flag, for example? (9)

oAlt

02:40

The pieces seem to fit but in the wrong way. A standoff can be a STALEMATE, and I think pirate can stand in for MATE but that leaves STALE with no explanation. Alternatively it could be CHECKMATE, and then the flag could be CHECKERED somehow. But then 1) where does ERED go? 2) A checkmate isn't really a standoff (since one player is winning).

Either way, the common problem of these two theories is that "where one might witness a standoff" would have to be CHESS which doesn't seem promising. I also have the feeling that this could be an &lit but I'm not seeing a parsing yet.

5 hours later…

Stiv

07:43

@juicifer I think this might be a ddef for BLACKJACK, as a tie in the card game is known as a 'standoff', and a 'blackjack' is another name for a pirate's black ensign.

@ChrisCudmore Got to be honest, I thought this would fall quickly overnight and am quite surprised to see it still unanswered this morning...

1 hour later…

oAlt

09:07

Ah nice spot

Stiv

09:21

@AncientSwordRage Any chance you could confirm if any of my thoughts on this puzzle were correct?

Aug 17 at 11:17, by Stiv

@MOehm My thoughts on this puzzle were that they are all rot13(evpu, tvivat n 'evpu GRN' ovfphvg, bar bs gurz orvat SVYGUL evpu, naq gur OevBpuR yrnqvat gb guvf cynpr va Senapr: link). However, I can't make the second half work yet... There's a LOT of unknowns here, and I can't work out if 'place of birth' is a country, town or a type of building...

For the second part, I've been playing a lot with rot13(Syrn, sebz EUPC, naq Zryobhear, juvpu pbagnvaf yrggref sbe 'ZR OYHR' naq pbairavragyl yrnirf gur erny anzr EBA oruvaq...) but this makes me wonder if my idea for the second 'dirty' word - which seems right - is actually incorrect. Thanks.

(Incorrect because I need to find an R and an N from somewhere...)

2 hours later…

AncientSwordRage

10:56

@Stiv would it be unsporting to confirm/deny either of those just here, it should it be in the post itself?

Stiv

11:13

@AncientSwordRage I would say it's fine to confirm/deny here, but if you prefer I add a comment to the post itself I can.

2 hours later…

juicifer

13:18

@Stiv aye, matey

Jafe

and here i thought the answer would somehow be "caribbean" because mexico is by the caribbean and there's a "mexican" standoff, and of course pirates of the caribbean

Sphinx

13:35

Q: How do I solve this sudoku without guessing

I am fairly new to Sudoku and couldn't find how to progress with this one without guessing.

sudoku

Stiv

13:56

CCCC: Alternative therapist is obscenely rich - I refuse to start meeting with someone who earns a living from fakery (12)

AncientSwordRage

@Stiv if you do I'm happy to reply

Stiv

Okay, will do that then

Jafe

@Stiv CHIR*+OP+R(-efuse)+ACTOR, an alternative therapist

Stiv

@Jafe Nailed it :)

Jafe

nice surface

CCCC: Mother is direct: "Give an electric shock to father." (5,5)

Stiv

14:04

Thanks - took me a while to work out a suitable R for the middle linkage...

M Oehm

OP as in Original Poster, I guess. I couldn't see how the middle part worked.

Stiv

Indeed

@Jafe Ooh, nice misdirection in here: FRANK ZAPPA (one of the Mothers of Invention) = FRANK (direct) + ZAP + PA

Jafe

that's right

Stiv

I was looking for someone female for a while!

Jafe

hehe i thought it'd take longer, although i guess frank = direct is pretty standard

Stiv

14:15

It was actually the ZAP part that helped me - PA immediately partnered with it, and then FRANK came last :)

Jafe

ah, interesting

M Oehm

I thought direct = ORDER and started looking for something along the lines of mother superior. Not quite the right direction.

Sphinx

Q: A robot that doesn't repeat move triplets

A robot is placed on an empty infinite grid. Each turn it can move in one of four directions: left (L), up (U), right (R) or down (D). It cannot move to a cell that it already visited. Also it cannot repeat triplets of consecutive moves. For example if it has moved RRDLD then it cannot go RRD or ...

mathematics optimization

AncientSwordRage

14:59

@Stiv replied

Sphinx

15:17

Q: Italian Exhibition - A Zebra Puzzle (Einstein's Riddle) Variation

You can play this Zebra Puzzle here: Woman #1 Woman #2 Woman #3 Woman #4 Woman #5 shirt name surname painter time age Five women are side by side talking about an Italian paintings exhibition. Each woman arrived at the exhibition at a specific...

logical-deduction logic-grid

Stiv

15:37

CCCC: God: "Silence! If I wanted pointless enthusiasm, church overseers afford that! Listen: 'In the beginning...'" (12)

oAlt

I have the answer but the pointless enthusiasm part is puzzling me

juicifer

@Stiv this is QU(-i)ET Z(-e)AL C_ O_ A_ T_ L_

oAlt

Ahh, nvm. @Stiv QUETZALCOATL (God) = QUET (QUIET (silence) if lacking I (wanted)) + ZAL (pointless ZEAL = ZAL (E = east, point on compass)) + COATL (church ... listen, in the beginn– nooooo :P

juicifer

haha

Stiv

Oh my, a flurry!

Jafe

15:41

hehehe

Stiv

And yes, you both have it with correct wordplay explanations - so I guess @juicifer qualifies as first past the post :)

juicifer

tbf @oAlt did get to the answer first and probably started typing before I did given that their explanation was much longer

oAlt

Nah, I'm fine with you taking it juicifer haha

I'll go with what Stiv said

juicifer

fair enough

CCCC: Sneak around while on top of building made of durable material (11)

oAlt

16:08

Jun 5, 2020 at 13:47, by Gareth McCaughan

Some nice parsing ambiguities there.

2 hours later…

M Oehm

18:01

@juicifer That's CRE(AS)EP + ROOF

juicifer

@MOehm it sure is

2 hours later…

M Oehm

19:36

CCCC: Artist is a newcomer hiding drink (6)

juicifer

@MOehm _t is a ne_

M Oehm

19:53

@juicifer Yes, that's it.

juicifer

20:20

CCCC: Former lover with chains, rings - pay an arm and a leg? (11)

Stiv

21:08

@juicifer EXTREMITIES (an arm and a leg?) = EX + T(REMIT)IES

Lovely diversion!

msh210

@Stiv indeed. Nice clue.

And well found (the solution, I mean).

1 hour later…

Puzzling Meta

22:21

Q: How to post an image with no text?

Some puzzles are self-explanatory and need only an image. For example, see the fish and the star. However, the question review software insists that I include at least 30 characters of text. I've tried unobtrusive text such as strings of spaces or hyphens, but it is not fooled. Is there a way a...

discussion support

1 hour later…

bobble

23:34

A: How to post an image with no text?

This answer is a frame challenge. Both of those puzzles are self-explanatory as long as the user can see the image. But that is not a given. For example, some users are blind/visually-impaired; without a textual transcription they would have no way of understanding or enjoying the puzzle. The int...