The Sphinx's Lair

« first day (3604 days earlier) ← previous day next day → last day (334 days later) »

Jafe

03:09

CCCC hint: the first letter is K

oAlt

03:27

hmm

4 hours later…

oAlt

07:11

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_islands_by_name_(K)

I'm going in I guess

msh210

The only 10-letter ones on that list IINM are Kalolimnos, Karaginsky, Killygowan, Kiritimati, Kokanongwi, and Kolmenasva.

oAlt

Ooh thanks

2 hours later…

msh210

08:45

And AFAICT there's no national capital city or national currency that's 10 letters starting with K.

msh210

09:03

Regional capital cities (e.g. of the provinces of some country) I haven't checked.

2 hours later…

msh210

10:43

There are no 10-letter K names at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fictional_islands or dreamfiction.fandom.com/wiki/…

Jafe

CCCC hints: 1) The first letter is K. 2) The answer is more commonly known in English by another name, starting with B.

adding hints because there are a few things about this clue i'm not crazy about (it was very late when i wrote it)

2 hours later…

juicifer

12:41

@Jafe KALIMANTAN (aka borneo) is LIMA protected by ATANK* N

Jafe

that's it!

Sphinx

13:22

Q: Two prisoners and twenty marbles

Two prisoners are planning their escape. Their cells are locked with a padlock that must be opened with a 5-digit code (numbers 10000 to 99999). Each prisoner knows the code of the other prisoner's lock. One prisoner starts with a small bag with 20 identical marbles, while the other prisoner star...

strategy

juicifer

CCCC: North is now two degrees in island capital (9)

oAlt

13:47

@juicifer ahhh I should have remembered that K name

@Jafe I think it's fine, though up as anagram indicator is something I think I've only seen now but idk it's probably more common than I think

(Said "think" too many times there...)

juicifer

(you're overthinking it)

Jafe

@oAlt yeah i don't like "up" in retrospect

oAlt

@juicifer :)

@Jafe I see

Stiv

14:12

@juicifer Out of interest, how did you find this answer?

juicifer

@Stiv went through en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_islands_by_name_(B) on a hunch that oalt was on the right track and started visiting pages for more significant islands to see if any of them had alternate names that were 10 letters and started with K

msh210

that's devotion

juicifer

idk I've definitely done crazier things for a c4

Stiv

14:41

Commitment to the cause. (standing ovation)

@juicifer ISLAMABAD (capital) = ISLA(n -> MA+BA)D

msh210

14:53

ooh nice

juicifer

15:21

@Stiv that's the one

@msh210 thanks!

Stiv

Satisfying

CCCC: Island in a moat is strangely giving people a religious experience? (12)

juicifer

@Stiv isl. amisation*

Stiv

@juicifer ind. eed

juicifer

lol

CCCC: Island in moat I'm organizing (5)

Daniel S

15:39

@juicifer TIMOR (hidden word)

juicifer

15:51

@DanielS right on

Daniel S

CCCC: Firm bluff bordering island. (8)

Sphinx

16:24

Q: Very Kind Neighbors

a) Place numbers 1 to 25 on the cells of this board so that each of them, except for 1 and 2, is the sum of precisely two of its (up to 8) neighbors. b) Do likewise with the numbers 1 to 36 in a 6 x 6 board? ¿Can a similar outcome be achieved in a square board of any larger size? Puzzle due to G...

mathematics

msh210

16:35

@DanielS con Crete

Daniel S

@msh210 That's the one.

oAlt

16:53

Augh, I finished my thing too late

msh210

17:37

CCCC: Uranium + water = oopsie (2-2)

Ankoganit

@msh210 lol this is U+HOH (=H2O)

msh210

it is indeed

juicifer

hah

Ankoganit

CCCC: Bit of magnesium and iron in charged cobalt particle condensation (11)

4 hours later…

Sphinx

22:05

Q: What song are these lyrics from (translated into emojis) ~ 2

😁👈🏻🤠🐎🎰 👈🏻🎰🗺️🏘️🏘️ 🕰👉🫱🏻🫲🃏 👉🧠🤠👈🏻🛏💰👈🏻👇 (2x) I am happy to share this wonderful song with you. You will love driving or doing any travel with this song. It's an English song, probably prior to 1973 (you don't need to read the exact year or numbers 1973 as a hint necessaril...

knowledge rebus music emoji

Jafe

22:49

@Ankoganit ooh i like this one, it's M_ + PRESS in CO ION for COMPRESSION

Sphinx

23:14

Q: How do you make numbers 1 - 100 using the digits "2 0 2 4"?

I'm trying to complete a class-wide challenge stating this "2024 Challenge", but I'm still missing quite a lot of numbers. I need your help to finish this challenge. All answers are appreciated. Rules: Use all 4 digits exactly ONCE! Allowed operations you can use: +, -, x, /, ! (factorial), !! (d...