The Sphinx's Lair

Alconja

01:21

@Stiv This is FREEDOM OF SPEECH (it's a matter of opinion), from FREED (let go of) FOMO< (anxiety about not attending; rising), SPEECH (lecture)

Parcly Taxel

01:57

Is there a solved puzzle on PSE about how many wazirs are needed to attack all white (or black) squares of an arbitrarily sized chessboard?

Because that question was just posted on MSE

(restricted to even-sized boards), and there ought to be someone who's solved that here

The answer for 2k*2k boards is k(k+1)/2 apparently but I have no proof

Jafe

@Alconja wait that was already answered above, lemme update the starboard...

20

Q: Where are the Wazirs?

A wazir is a fairy chess piece that moves like a rook, but can go only one square. We wish to place a number of wazirs on a 9 $\times$ 9 chessboard so the following conditions are satisfied Each wazir is being attacked...

for 9x9 specifically

Alconja

@Jafe Ahh.. the dangers of using hibernate and not refreshing live web pages...

Parcly Taxel

Not all squares, just those of one colour

2

Q: On a covering of an $N\times N$ chessboard such that each black square is next to a covered square

Consider an $N\times N$ chessboard where $N$ is an even positive integer. Determine the smallest amount of pawns one must place on the board such that each black square is next to at least one pawn. After testing some cases for small $N$, I believe the answer to be $\frac{N(N+2)}8$ but I can't pr...

combinatorics discrete-optimization packing-problem

Jafe

there's only one other question that mentions wazirs and it's not chess-related at all

so i don't think that's a duplicate here

Parcly Taxel

Can I "crosspost" the MSE question to here with attribution?

Jafe

02:08

questions are sometimes moved from one project to another if they fit another project better than the original one but i think we disourage posting the same question in multiple places

someone with better search-fu can probably find the guidelines on meta

msh210

02:38

CCCC: 101 Dalmatians lead Close to protest receiving early example of electric vehicle: "It's late!" (2-6)

oAlt

06:05

Nvm, that C4 theory was uhhh quite scuffed

Ok, I'll start over: one of the leads of 101 Dalmatians, at least in the 1996 film version, has the last name "Dearly", and here there's "to protest receiving early", so maybe DEARLY - EARLY = D? I'm not sure about the "Close" part and the other parts though.

I also have no idea what theme/pattern is going on in AncientSwordRage's C4's, but that's because I've become too busy to check his previous C4's. >_<

Alconja

06:37

I'm seeing: (early example of) E(lectric) V(ehicle) I(t's) L(ate). With Close's character being "De Vil"... but that's only 2-3, not 2-6...

Jafe

07:09

could also have nothing to do with 101 dalmatians... CI for 101, D for dalmatians lead, T for close to protest

if it starts with the C it could be co-something, but are there any such words that mean "late"?

Stiv

07:53

Working from the other end, I'm trying to shoehorn the wordplay into producing EX-PARROT (it's late), but I really have very little. 'Close to protest' gives the end 'T' and 'early example' might be the beginning EX, but what '101 Dalmatians' is doing in there I still haven't worked out...

No wait, it's CI-DEVANT = CI (101) + D_ + E-VAN + (-protes)T, def=It's late

@Msh210 ping

Ha, to think I was looking at EX-PARROT for so long...

oAlt

Agh dangit, I considered CI+D as well but I mistakenly thought that "receiving" would be a containment indicator somehow. Idk how I missed the "close to X" trick there either hahah

TIL for the answer as well; I don't know many 2-6 phrases, let alone one starting with "CI"

Stiv

(The 'E-VAN' part might even be E(-lectric) + VAN...)

oAlt

08:10

(oops, i reread and receiving is indeed a containment indicator. i guess what i meant to say was that i abandoned that possibility too quickly)

What's "early" doing in the clue? :0

Stiv

It's either [early example] of Electric giving an initial 'E' or there may have been an early (i.e. one of the first prototypes of) electric vehicle called an E-VAN - but it's quite hard to google the latetr without coming up with a lot of results for people called Evan!

Jafe

08:50

ahahah ex-parrot defined by "it's late" would have been so good

msh210

@Stiv yep!

Stiv

Brill. Afterwards you look at '101' and think "Of course, what else could that have clued, except CI?!"

msh210

@Jafe yep!

Stiv

CCCC: Broken arm. All safe - nothing to worry about... (5,5)

msh210

@Stiv The Wikipedia link is perhaps not best for this: it refers to French noblemen. The English word means, more generally, "late" (i.e. "former" or "erstwhile").

@Stiv false alarm*

Stiv

08:59

@msh210 Correct, and fair about the link

Here's MW instead

msh210

Didn't mean to complain about it — just explaining for those who might not realize how the word is clued by "late".

@Stiv thanks :-)

Stiv

Indeed

msh210

Not the best definition half, but I can't resist… CCCC: Ex-parrot (of screen fame) has shuffled off his… heart. (3)

AncientSwordRage

11:00

@bobble knower of Meta-Things, if a partial answer or it's comment contains something correct is it ok with put that or something like it as a hint (or otherwise) in the question

^ open to others but I know bobble has a knack for this stuff and doesn't mind being pinged

Jafe

12:06

a quiz question for the ages

"Who was Melbourne's founder: a) Batman, b) Tony Stark, c) Flash Gordon, d) Doctor Strange"

you'd think it's b) since that's the only normal human name but actually the correct answer is a) because it was John Batman

M Oehm

I guess his sidekick was Wombatman rather than Batwoman.

3

AncientSwordRage

@Jafe I was leaning that way, because this is also a batman

known because of Jeeves of Jeeves and Wooster fame

Sphinx

12:23

0

Q: Image Pattern Test

I'm looking for solution & explanantion

pattern

AncientSwordRage

13:17

Something is making me think 'parrot' is a sound-a-like indicator

Jafe

13:37

i was looking for famous tv imitators but not finding anything useful

AncientSwordRage

@Jafe I'm doubtful that's the right path, but does this help?

Jon Culshaw

Jonathan Peter Culshaw (born 2 June 1968) is an English actor, comedian and impressionist. He is best known for his work on the radio comedy Dead Ringers since 2000. Culshaw has voiced a number of characters for ITV shows including 2DTV (2001), Spitting Image (1994–96) and Newzoids (2015–2016), as well as appearing in The Impressions Show alongside Debra Stephenson from 2009 until 2011. == Early life and career == Culshaw was born on 2 June 1968 in Ormskirk, Lancashire, and educated at St Bede's RC High School and St John Rigby College, Wigan. Culshaw's radio career began in hospital radi...

bobble

@AncientSwordRage "Confirm Progress" is one of Deus's bullet points here: puzzling.meta.stackexchange.com/a/6368/69582

Just woke up, sorry for delay

Jafe

are fleece and fleas homophones? to my ear they sound the same but i sometimes struggle with the s/z distinction

@AncientSwordRage not sure... my working theory is we're looking for something that can have either its central letter(s) or the letter I removed for a 3-letter word meaning "ex"

juicifer

@Jafe I pronounce "fleece" with an s sound and "fleas" with a z sound

wiktionary, at least, doesn't give any alternate pronunciations

Jafe

13:54

makes sense, thanks

which means i have to rewrite some clues... darn

juicifer

oof

AncientSwordRage

@bobble if you only just woke up I'd consider that to not be any delay at all

@Jafe you might get away with it if you follow this: crosswordunclued.com/2009/05/indian-dialect-homophones.html

Jafe

14:14

ha

i think a homophone like that was used in a c4 at some point, indicated something like "as ive 'eard"

obv that's restricted to actual english dialects, i doubt i'd get away with like "Rip off Kimi Räikkönen's parasites (6)" :P

juicifer

@msh210 (-i)AGO

Jafe

huh, i looked for parrots in film but didn't find that... lack of google-fu strikes again

juicifer

I managed to find a list of fictional parrots, so that was helpful

he's also on wikipedia's list but I managed to completely miss him there lol

M Oehm

I guess many of the fictional parrots go well together with fictional captains.

(Which is, of course, also a category on Wikipedia.)

Jafe

14:29

there's even a category of fictional privates (perfectly SFW, get your minds out of the gutter)

decrease/decrees goes into the rewrite pile as well... oh dear

msh210

14:43

@juicifer yep! (heart of "his")

juicifer

yeah probably should've clarified for future reference

CCCC: Practice entertaining organ piece (7)

M Oehm

It defines.

oAlt

Oh

Dumb moment

So that was the definition lol

FIRM entertaining EAR is FIREARM (which according to MW "piece" can stand for) except "firm" isn't really "practice"...

AncientSwordRage

15:04

@juicifer (c/d)def? RAGTIME // RAG TIME ? RAG meaning Red Amber Green which is a management practice.

@oAlt it is a practice in the sense of practicing medicine/law etc

other perhaps it's an &lit for o(rag*)n time (e.g. timepiece), but I'm not sure how that fits practice

M Oehm

^ That's what I thought, when I read oAlt's suggestion, too, albeit only for medicine.

But you can rely on MW again, see here, noun, sense 3b.

oAlt

Ahh thanks

M Oehm

Super surface, which doesn't have anything to do with the answer.

msh210

@MOehm yeah

oAlt

yeah

juicifer

15:16

@oAlt that is indeed the answer

@MOehm thanks!

oAlt

CCCC: Prepare fashionable set for eight members of a family? (7)

Sphinx

-1

Q: Java set a property of all objects in a List when at least one object satisfies a criteria using a single loop

Here is the puzzle I was asked in an interview There's a List of Employee objects. Update all the objects in the list to be eligibleForHike if at least one employee exists whose salary is less than x; otherwise update all of them in-eligibleForHike in a single iteration/loop Requirements/Restrict...

logical-deduction strategy computer-puzzle computer-science

M Oehm

^ That a challenge for you, @oAlt? :)

Stiv

Ahaha

oAlt

Lolll

Stiv

15:22

@oAlt PLANETS = PLAN + SET*

oAlt

@Stiv yes!

Stiv

16:04

Cool. Will be a little delay before next clue, apologies...

(Life)

Stiv

22:47

CCCC: 'Rubbish tip' removed from polluted naturist beach after European Union says, "Ultimately, you have two of these!" (10,5)

Ankoganit

@Stiv EU+(say)S+(NATU(-r)IST BEACH)*=EUSTACHIAN TUBES

oAlt

Unfortunately, I'm experiencing the same thing AncientSwordRage and Alconja experienced, which is that new messages were loading late. I didn't even know Stiv sent a C4 until five minutes after I opened chat (it updated late) :p

Ankoganit

Huh, that's weird

Maybe it's worth posting on meta.SE if it's not been posted already

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