The Sphinx's Lair

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oAlt

1:29 AM

I'm not seeing the wordplay...

silk is produced by insects but it's not promising

Oh hmm I've got an idea... but the "tighter" has to be "looser"

silk is produced by insects, and milk is produced by larger mammals, and that turns the S (small) into M (medium), and if it were the other way round it would be a tighter fit

Or maybe with respect to the M in milk, the S in silk is a tighter fit?

juicifer

1:46 AM

@oAlt exactly what I intended :)

oAlt

Yay

CCCC: Covert, he got disguised with large car (9)

juicifer

@oAlt chevro(l)et*

oAlt

@juicifer yeah that's right

juicifer

CCCC: Oddly, mayor near Raleigh wrapping gift for a newborn (5)

oAlt

2:06 AM

@juicifer m_y_r R_h

juicifer

yep

oAlt

CCCC: No region in the atmosphere has this gas (5)

1 hour later…

Sphinx

3:23 AM

Q: Set of numbers with median and mean

A set of distinct integers between 1 and 20 (inclusive) has a mean that is 6 more than its median. What are the numbers?

mathematics

Jafe

4:18 AM

@oAlt 0 zone

oAlt

@Jafe yes

Jafe

CCCC: In the family way is how Slaughter wrote "Cleaning the Gold" (4,5)

oAlt

5:13 AM

@Jafe she wrote it with (Lee) Child, and with child = pregnant = in the family way

Jafe

yup!

you'd think it'd be not ideal having the words "child slaughter" on the cover of your book

(no, it's not actually what it says on the cover)

oAlt

5:38 AM

Lol

CCCC: Old English leader taken captive by extraordinary Celtic prize like quartz? (13)

1 hour later…

Jafe

6:55 AM

encountered the most ambiguous question in human history when trying to book a haircut appointment

i was like hey can i book an appointment and the lady said one word: "for?"

what on earth am i supposed to answer... for a haircut? for myself? for tomorrow? for ben the barber? for the glory of odin?

Prince North Læraðr

HAHAHAHAHA

5 hours later…

Sphinx

12:11 PM

Q: Combine $8\times8$ square grid and $15\times15$ square grid into $17\times17$ square

You have an $8\times8$ square grid and a $15\times15$ square grid. You want to dissect them and combine them into a $17\times17$ square. What is the minimum number of pieces required? Only cuts along grid lines are allowed. All pieces be polyominoes.

mathematics geometry optimization dissection

3 hours later…

Sphinx

2:42 PM

Q: What is a Barbecuǝ Phrase™?

This is in the spirit of the What is a Word/Phrase™ series started by JLee with a special brand of Phrase™ and Word™ puzzles. If a word conforms to a special rule, I call it a Barbecuǝ Phrase™. Use the following examples below to find the rule. Barbecuǝ Phrase™ Non-Barbecuǝ Phrase™ Patira...

pattern word-property

oAlt

Oh that's prolific

Jafe

Jun 12 at 4:43, by Jafe

looks like JLee's getting close to contesting the spot for the most-mentioned user on PSE

tied for first now

Gareth McCaughan

2:59 PM

I do wish people posting what-is-a-X-word/phrase/... puzzles would stop using the very specific and totally ungrammatical wording that most people copy-and-paste at the start of them.

actually, "totally ungrammatical" is wrong; the trouble is with the meaning more than with the grammar. JLee didn't start the series with a special brand of [etc.], JLee started the series with one or more such puzzles, thus forming a special brand, which others continued with.

And to whatever extent it's a "special brand", "in the spirit of" is a really weird way to describe it.

"This puzzle continues the tradition of What is a Word/Phrase puzzles begun by JLee" or "This puzzle is in the spirit of JLee's What is a Word puzzles" or something would do just as well and not make me flinch so hard every time I see the wording :-).

3 hours later…

msh210

6:12 PM

@Jafe it was short for "Do you want it at 4:00?".

3 hours later…

Gareth McCaughan

8:55 PM

Huh, I see that my rant above actually took effect and L.R. changed the text! Cool.

2 hours later…

Sphinx

10:31 PM

Q: When Beatrix stops placing dominoes on a 5x5 board, what is the largest possible number of squares that may still be uncovered?

Beatrix places dominoes on a 5x5 board, either horizontally or vertically, so that each domino covers two small squares. She stops when she cannot place another domino, as in the example shown in the diagram. When Beatrix stops, what is the largest possible number of squares that may still be un...