The Sphinx's Lair

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juicifer

00:31

all this talk about stalk vs stork has me wondering where ironman fits in

oAlt

00:56

@AncientSwordRage ok this is noted

1 hour later…

oAlt

02:17

CCCC: They restrain someone from Chinese dynasty at capital in United States, very strongly (9)

Jafe

02:53

han dc u(ff)s

oAlt

03:13

@Jafe yep :)

Jafe

03:31

CCCC: 50+ Kölzig saves were made here (8)

1 hour later…

Sphinx

05:01

Q: Brit’s Alphabet Block Cube

This puzzle is part of the Monthly Topic Challenge #11: Now in 3D. Please do not write a computer program to solve this by brute force. Use of existing online tools like anagram solvers or dictionaries is okay, though it is a more interesting challenge to solve by hand. A solve path exists. Brit...

three-dimensional

msh210

@Jafe L and over. Cute.

Jafe

05:18

correct!

thanks

msh210

05:33

CCCC: The nineteenth backup solution works. (5)

Jafe

06:16

plan T = plant (works)

msh210

@Jafe just so

Jafe

06:32

i only got it because i had made a similar clue before hehe

CCCC: Singer is lost, awry, at sea, touching Iglesias's left foot (6,5)

msh210

@Jafe oh oops. I must've read that chat message in the past, so I guess I didn't really make this clue up (though I certainly didn't remember it consciously). Sorry about that

Jafe

oh i've done the same thing at least a couple of times hehe

not everyone is like oAlt who remembers every chat comment from years ago

i really like the use of "works" there btw

msh210

@Jafe thanks

oAlt

@Jafe oh that's nice, I love that

Jafe

hehe thanks

oAlt

06:44

like with juicifer's i love that "50+" can be parsed into a longer part (well in this case all) of the answer

@Jafe ( :P )

oAlt

07:38

@Jafe ah, this is Taylor Swift (singer) = LOSTAWRY* at sea, touching I_ (Iglesias's left) + FT (foot). I got misdirected for a while by thinking that "left foot" was an indicator

Jafe

that's right

impressive theme in today's independent cryptic btw

15 themed answers in a 15x15 grid

oAlt

08:00

CCCC: Play around and gamble with Henry behind Mom's back (7)

@Jafe wait that's impressive. Fitting in more than 5 themed answers is already hard for me

Stiv

@Jafe I've now finally spotted what the theme is, and why 23A makes sense! Feeling slow today...

msh210

08:47

@oAlt _m ac< bet H… except that I think "around" is serving as both fodder and indicator

Jafe

could be ma for mom and the around is just the c

msh210

but then what's "back"?

Jafe

hmm

could it be behind x's back = after x?

i think it works

msh210

hm… maybe

yeah, I guess it does, at that

oAlt

09:44

@msh210 yep. Jafe's correct too; around is c, and Mom's back means that everything happens behind the A of MA

and I think you should go next instead of Jafe, as you got the answer and the "beth" part already

*(well, behind Mom's back, I mean)

Jafe

10:43

makes sense

Stevo

11:15

mission: solve a Cryptic Clue Chain before everyone else.
Chance of success: 1%

Chance of critical failure: 99%

msh210

11:26

@Jafe eh. Really it's yours. But whatever. I happen to have one prepared, and I'm sure you'll get another chance soon.

CCCC: Custard tarts, pasties, and tea — in combination (7,2,4)

Jafe

i read that as "i happen to have one prepaid" and was briefly confused

Stevo

11:55

Pasteis de Nata right lmao

yeah it is (pastiesandtea)*

Jafe

oh nice

juicifer

12:24

@Stevo turns out 1% is larger than you'd think

oAlt

was about to say haha

msh210

@Stevo yep! nicely found

1 hour later…

oAlt

13:42

May 14 at 6:54, by msh210

The C4 sequence I finished recently is explained in this Google Sheets spreadsheet. Anyone who wants to think about it some more shouldn't check. And anyone who checks shouldn't give it away.

By the way, I just checked this out now. Nicely done @msh210

msh210

@oAlt thanks :-)

I'm proud of the X clue.

Jafe

ah, secret quadruple def for the letter X?

smack (kiss), strike in bowling, variable in maths and ×

that went right over my head hehe

msh210

13:57

@Jafe yeah exactly… except for the enumeration

Jafe

pretty impressive to have that work as a normal clue for something else

msh210

yeah cool how it worked out

oAlt

14:10

agreed

5 hours later…

Puzzling Meta

19:34

Q: Offering a bounty after accepting an answer

Suppose a user posts a question, gets an answer and then accepts that answer. Later on a new answer from another user is posted and the user posing the question wishes to accept both answers. Since it is impossible to accept the second answer while still keeping the first answer accepted, is it...

discussion bounty

Sphinx

20:11

Q: You'll have to rotate

Figure out how the two puzzles should connect. Use the following words: bkkz bwni hsklmjwk jlt jra luwujqrbui mktvmhk qfcdfchohwcb winnih wullin ywna B E U C H I O N P D U S D B U D W M R A F V E R U I C O T T O N M L I K Q W R E V E O O P U R S R A A I C S M O P R S E F S A V E Y T...