The Sphinx's Lair

Jafe

00:52

abandoned working title found in rick astley's notes

5

juicifer

01:31

CCCC: TV western featuring martial artist Norris and fly-catcher Steele (at least for the two months he was in the show) (6, 5 6)

Jafe

hah! this is a ddef for WALKER TEXAS RANGER, as in the tv show and texas rangers player steele walker

i wonder how many times a day the guy heard that name while in the team

juicifer

@Jafe yes it is :)

(to wrap up some loose ends for those of you who aren't as familiar with baseball: "fly-catcher" is because walker is an outfielder and catches fly balls, and "the show" is a common nickname for the major leagues, the highest level in north america)

Jafe

very nice

juicifer

thanks

Jafe

(didn't realise "the show" had a specific meaning, thought it just loosely meant while he was around)

CCCC: Late director John Dexter's debut TV western (8)

bounty went to waste in the mathematical operator q :/

msh210

03:11

@Jafe dead Woo D_

Jafe

yes it is

msh210

06:28

CCCC: TV Western with old ad? (2)

oAlt

06:55

@msh210 T_ o

A Latin borrowing, for example as in "ad hoc"

Which in English means "to/for this"

Likewise ad infinitum meaning (literally) to infinity

msh210

@oAlt yes indeed

and I've seen it outside of Latin phrases, too. Specifically, in some old texts, where the writer wants to address multiple numbered points, he may write "Ad 1," meaning "Regarding point #1,…".

oAlt

I see

CCCC: A dance then accident occurs in Jamiroquai song (6 4)

Mithical

07:44

I've submitted some suggested edits to the imgur-maze tag wikis in preparation for the i.stack.imgur.com > i.sstatic.net migration. The migration itself should be happening next week, and I've also raised a mod flag requesting a rename of the tag. The suggested edits will need some 5k+ rep users to review.

ACB

08:05

@bobble puzzling.stackexchange.com/revisions/4156/6 it's a bit unclear. Is it mandatory to use [mathematics] with [geometry]?

See, we have a problem.

msh210

08:19

6,4 Jamiroquai songs: Cosmic Girl, Planet Home, Canned Heat. If there are any more, I haven't found them. And I don't see any wordplay for any of those three.

Stiv

@oAlt CANNED HEAT (Jamiroquai song) = ADANCETHEN*

msh210

ah thanks

Stiv

You're welcome

msh210

That "accident" can be an anagrind didn't occur to me. (Not that I'm contesting its use as an anagrind. It's a fine one imo.)

oAlt

09:02

@Stiv Yep! And it has become the song involved in my current episode of last-song syndrome...

Sphinx

11:04

0

Q: Numerical sequence: 47376, 122689, 302464, ?, ?, 41688361

My friend sent me this number sequence. 47376, 122689, 302464, ?, ?, 41688361

Stiv

11:52

I'm so sorry to hear that...

CCCC: Matter of Britain halting EU errand is complicated (9,6)

msh210

12:13

@Stiv I assume "halting EU errand" must be an anagram of Arthurian legend.

Stiv

@msh210 It's generally dangerous to make assumptions... but you would be correct in this case.

msh210

CCCC: The last Marvel character to meet a Marvel villain in a grapple (4)

oAlt

@Stiv I'm not sure if you mean that you hate the song lol. Assuming you did, I did find that relatable for a time, then I listened to it more and it became a bit better in my eyes. It was (is) so catchy.

Stiv

Hah, no, more just a comment about having earworms in general... Nothing against Jamiroquai, though just in case he does take offence I'm going deeper underground...

msh210

I've never heard it called last-song syndrome (though it makes a lot of sense). Someone I used to know via Usenet called it stuck-tune syndrome, or STS for short.

oAlt

12:21

@Stiv haha yeah I did figure that was another possible case :))

@msh210 interesting

msh210

Oh, apparently (I just searched the Web) it's commonly known as stuck-tune syndrome. TIL.

oAlt

Ahh

msh210

… and as last-song syndrome, too.

oAlt

@msh210 This is probably (marve)L + Doc Ock for lock (grapple)

msh210

@oAlt I'll up your probably to a surely

oAlt

12:22

Yay

oAlt

12:51

CCCC: Beef at the foreground, Kendrick - second to none? - having essentially grabbed Drake's foot (4)

msh210

@oAlt gotta be K_ + _o_ + _b_ + _e (a beef)

oAlt

@msh210 yup!

(I'm not personally following the news about this, I'm just passively absorbing what Twitter gives me lol)

msh210

yikes, I had a clue prepared, and I just realized I'd already posted it

(the memory goes first, they say)

CCCC: Zero end up in your "major" ensemble (7)

oAlt

@msh210 O fin< inside ur M = uniform (ensemble)

(O fin)<, rather

msh210

13:07

yes indeed

oAlt

13:17

CCCC: Gloomiest doctor and The Terminator star sign contract in the end (9)

juicifer

@oAlt dr _e aries _t

very nice, love the diversion on "star sign" especially

oAlt

@juicifer That's correct, and thanks, it was satisfying to include that

juicifer

CCCC: Rewrite technical bit of text (9)

oAlt

I wanted to put "movie star" there initially so I had to do "Eastern movie star" since I couldn't think of any last letter indicators, but I had to abandon that since that was unsatisfying since Eastern on its own can already mean E

msh210

@oAlt nice

oAlt

13:27

thanks

bobble

13:38

6

Q: Should math sub-tag excerpts state that [mathematics] should also be used?

We have quite a few sub-tags of mathematics: geometry arithmetic probability combinatorics etc. etc. Now, these tags are useful. They allow filtering based on the specific type of mathematics involved. They are also all sub-tags. Puzzles involving geometry, for example, all also involve mathema...

discussion tags tag-wiki

oAlt

@juicifer catchline*

juicifer

@oAlt indeed

oAlt

@Jafe CCCC: Limits for hero with living spaces (7)

juicifer

13:53

@oAlt H_O USING (with)

oAlt

@juicifer you got it

oAlt

14:05

@Stiv By the way, I just realized... by any chance, did you put a pun in your message? :)

juicifer

CCCC: Allen Iverson enters into North American soccer league and puts one into the post (5)

oAlt

14:19

@juicifer An Internet search gives me "AI" as another nickname used for Allen Iverson (in addition to "The Answer", which unlike the former is on Wikipedia), meaning this is AI entering into MLS (Major League Soccer, North American soccer league) to give mails (puts one into the post, i.e. the organization that delivers letters)

juicifer

@oAlt that is in fact the answer :)

oAlt

CCCC: Ball sport not under revision (8)

juicifer

14:34

@oAlt ah ok, roundnet* is a sport

oAlt

@juicifer that's right

juicifer

I've heard of it but I've usually heard it called spikeball

oAlt

Yeah

juicifer

CCCC: Ball sport's hero under siege, surrounded (8)

oAlt

@juicifer I guess this is _ro under s_, a ball sport similar to softball and baseball

juicifer

14:40

@oAlt and you would be right

oAlt

CCCC: Ball sport depicted in two images: one with setter and one with ball (4 4)

It's a bit hard to come up with clues on the spot but I kinda accept this challenge lol

juicifer

@oAlt p(I)ng p(o)ng :)

oAlt

@juicifer yep!

Technically racket sport would have been a better definition but I wanted to continue the theme

juicifer

if there's a ball in it it's a ball sport

oAlt

I guess yeah

Jul 19, 2020 at 14:02, by msh210

feels like a tennis match

I guess we're playing one right now too lol

juicifer

14:54

CCCC: Developed lovely back-and-forth in ball sport (6)

:)

Jafe

i like the casual quoting of a random 4-year-old chat comment from memory like a lawyer quoting a landmark supreme court ruling

2

oh this is volley*

juicifer

yes it is

now it's a three-way tennis match? I have no idea how that would work but it feels way more exciting

oAlt

@Jafe :)

@juicifer hahah

Jafe

i believe the term is "combo breaker"

CCCC: "The Answer" appearing in horizontal position in extremely lame ball game (7)

msh210

15:18

@Jafe across in l_e = ball game

Jafe

yup

oAlt

8 letters but yeah just found it too

msh210

oh I didn't notice

apparently neither Jafe nor I can count :-P

CCCC: Maybe Ruth from Brooklyn's catching balls (4)

Jafe

no no cross is 5 letters so that in l_e should be.. no wait

juicifer

but ruth is from the bronx

msh210

15:20

@juicifer shhh

surface doesn't matter, does it?

juicifer

I guess not

msh210

phew, got away with it

juicifer

lol

msh210

as long as no one else heard juicifer

juicifer

anyway this is B(OO)K (maybe ruth)

msh210

15:21

@juicifer it sure is

Stiv

@oAlt Heh, just a little one ;)

oAlt

:)

msh210

I propose that "What does this mathematical operator do?" was just a prank and has no intended solution. Whadday'all think?

(I'm only half-kidding.)

juicifer

15:39

CCCC: Sport league involving balls (4)

msh210

@juicifer pool (sport) = PL (Premier League, a league) involving OO

juicifer

@msh210 yup

msh210

CCCC: A type of sport: balls thrown in baskets (layups and dunks chiefly)? (5)

juicifer

@msh210 B_ L_ D_ containing OO, as in blood sport

msh210

@juicifer just so

juicifer

15:49

and I would definitely say that basketball is a blood sport

msh210

heh

juicifer

CCCC: Gore principally seen in description of blood sport? (5)

oAlt

16:19

@juicifer Since ruby is a deep red color I'm assuming blood can be described that, so we have ru(G_)by

juicifer

@oAlt exactly right

oAlt

CCCC: Sport with ball bursting in nets (6)

juicifer

16:53

@oAlt tennis*

oAlt

@juicifer yep

There's probably an &lit hiding there somewhere but I don't know what

juicifer

CCCC: Sport with ball captured by head coach and legend (6)

PDT

Who is up for reviving the fortnight challenges?

I got some suggestions number/letter sequences with an interesting twist. Rebus crosswords or hybrid with some other genre. Emojis based puzzles? What do guess think/suggest?

Sphinx

17:10

0

Q: What is the number of essentially different solutions for a 3Doku?

The 3Doku is a Sudoku-like puzzle with blocks of 4×4 cells on the faces of a cube. Instead of columns and rows, it has bands of cells that loop around the cube. It has me wondering how many essentially different solutions there are for a 3Doku. Essentially Different Solutions We can number...

sudoku

juicifer

@PDT we've actually stretched them out to a month recently

they were running monthly for a while; not sure what happened but I don't think we've had one since november

PDT

Did you do the pass the baton if you solve it kind of scheme recently?

Or was is all scheduled?

juicifer

all scheduled

(see this meta post for more details, it's the most recent one we did)

Sphinx

17:55

1

Q: All below hundred

What phrase is hidden below? 3 ? 5 ?? 8 ?? 7 ?? 20 ?? 12 ?? 9 ?? 28 ?? 11 ...

visual

Sphinx

20:12

0

Q: "Loops Of Zen"-ish solitaire

That should explain everything. It doesn't? OK. A "tile" is a 3*3 square. Color subsquares white and black. Rules: No checkerboard pattern wbwb around a point (i.e. no crossing lines). Since only the implied lines are relevant, you may always swap white and black to get the same tile. Rotated ti...

jigsaw-puzzle

Ankoganit

21:45

@juicifer O captured by H_ C_ and KEY =HOCKEY

(HC=head coach is apparently common, had to look that up)

juicifer

@Ankoganit yep!

Ankoganit

22:15

CCCC: Oath is taken in high school ball game's finale (7)

oAlt

23:36

@Ankoganit is taken in prom (high school ball) (gam)E = promise (oath)

Ankoganit

@oAlt Correct!

Sphinx

0

Q: Try to make numbers 1 - 100 using 2, 0, 2, 4

Try to make the numbers 1 - 100 using digits 2, 0, 2, 4 only ONCE. What you're allowed: Basic Operations (+ - * /) Square & Square Roots (Squaring uses a 2) Brackets & Concatenation (e.g. 20-(2+4)) Any kind of Factorials (!, !!) However, the modulus operator and rounding are NOT allowed. Good l...

mathematics formation-of-numbers

oAlt

CCCC: English-Albanian singer's binary alphabet (3 4)

oAlt

23:58

Nov 6, 2023 at 2:00, by oAlt

And also, I think yesterday is now the day with the most CCCC clues. (The previous one was in 2017, but I can't remember the exact date...)

beaten again

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