The Sphinx's Lair

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juicifer

00:08

@msh210 sun-dries

msh210

@juicifer yep yep

juicifer

CCCC: Abolitionist Brown seen in symbol of integration, something which would give him a warm, fuzzy feeling (4 5)

msh210

I'd think he'd have a cold, fuzzy feeling, a-moldering in the grave.

juicifer

00:24

that's why the word "would" is there

msh210

00:38

@juicifer long johns (John seen in long S)

oAlt

01:00

@Stiv am still lost... is it because of the "&lit"...?

Sphinx

01:25

Q: Number encoding puzzle

An "ancient" writing system for numbers was discovered: How would the number 75 be represented with this code? (Two symbols)

juicifer

01:46

@msh210 yup!

@oAlt yeah it's "&litude" but then the "&" is being represented as "&" according to the wiki page linked below

3 hours later…

oAlt

04:45

@juicifer oh

msh210

05:19

CCCC: Sharpen knife; finally assassinate abolitionist (6,3)

Daniel S

HONE + STAB + E

msh210

@DanielS yes indeed

Daniel S

CCCC: Statesman Spooner tells us to depend on fighting. (6,7)

msh210

Nice surface. Many times Spooner clues are awkward.

msh210

05:37

(I mean, in the C4.)

3 hours later…

Jafe

08:30

warren harding was a statesman, and warring means fighting... but then it'd be something like "harden warring", which a) isn't a standard spoonerism and b) doesn't mean "depend on fighting"

Stiv

@DanielS It's JUSTIN TRUDEAU - a Spoonerism of 'TRUST IN JUDO'!

msh210

08:50

ooh nice clue

Jafe

yeah that's a nice one

Stevo

09:30

how the hell would you get that from depend on fighting LIKE OW DOYOU KNOW ITS TRUST IN JUDO GRR

Stiv

10:26

@Stevo By thinking around words that mean 'depend on'... I fixed on 'rely on' for a while, but couldn't think of any world leaders with a name that rhymed. Then I thought about 'trust in', realised that rhymed with 'Justin', realised that Justin Trudeau (a world leader) had a name beginning with the required 'TR' sound for a Spoonerism, then realised it would give me 'Judo' for the other part, which is a manner of fighting.

All a case of thinking about synonyms until something fell out nicely

Stevo

10:38

ahh i see

Daniel S

11:19

@Stiv Nicely done! Correct!

Sphinx

Q: Connect and r - - - - e

What is drawn below? Give me the answer (5, 7, 7) and explain your reasoning.

knowledge visual

Stiv

11:47

CCCC: Crop top (4)

Mithical

12:26

I'm tempted to suggest TRIM ddef, but the "top" is a bit sketchy

msh210

It could be WHIP ddef (a crop is a whip, and to top someone in a competition is to whip him).

Stiv

I knew this one being so short would mean it potentially had multiple solutions. My intention was neither of these, though I think 'whip' is a good one. To help speed things along, I'll say that no nouns are involved.

msh210

12:42

Maybe POLL ddef then? To poll hair means to crop it, and to poll a tree is to top it. Though those are kinda the same meaning.

Stiv

13:34

Ah, hang on, ignore my previous remark about nouns. I entirely misspoke there. (This Covid is taking a while to shift...) To repair my damage there, I'm looking for a verb for 'Crop' and a noun for 'top'. (Sigh)

Sphinx

13:57

Q: Chess with jumping

Puzzle Statement: Consider the game of chess, but with a slight modification of the rules as follows: all heavy pieces (i.e. the queens and rooks) are allowed to jump as far across the board as they want, regardless of any pieces (pawns/minors/heavies/kings) in the way. More specifically, any ver...

chess checkerboard

4 hours later…

Sphinx

17:43

Q: Cryptic crossword: trading places

This is a cryptic crossword. Each clue contains an extra letter which must be removed before the clue is solved, leaving real words in place. Solvers may find a use for these letters. Each corrected clue consists of wordplay for itself, and a definition (not necessarily in that order) for a di...

cryptic-clues cryptic-crosswords

4 hours later…

Sphinx

21:54

Q: Excuse me, I don't wear pointy hats!

There's a guy moving into my neighbourhood. People have seen him do some strange, reality-bending things, like materialising objects out of thin air and moving things around telekinetically with a wave of his hand. Rumours are spreading that he's a wizard, a real magic-wielding wizard. So I went...