The Sphinx's Lair

Sphinx

00:05

2

Shade some squares in the grid so that: Squares with numbers are unshaded. Each number is equal to the product of the number of unshaded squares it can “see” in its row and column. (A square can see another square if they’re in the same row or column and the sight line between them doesn’t have...

PolygonPotpourri

00:21

Great clue!

Sphinx

01:12

0

Q: The missing two letters

What are the two missing letters (indicated by __) PROBLEM PROBLEM PROBLEM PROBLEM PROBLEM PROBLEM PROBLEM PROBLEM PR0BLEM PROBLEM PROBLEM PROBLEM PROBLEM PROBLEM PROBLEM PROBLEM PROBLEM PROBLEM PROBLEM PROBLEM PROBLEM PROBLEM YM MD HP __

enigmatic-puzzle

Sphinx

01:57

0

Q: Special set of numbers version 2

Can you find a set of 11 positive integers such that the product of every pair of numbers plus one is a distinct prime? So the set should generate 55 distinct primes. Computers are allowed.

mathematics computer-puzzle

Sphinx

05:19

0

Q: Happy Square Year!

Some of you math nerds may be looking forward to the year 2025 because it's a square number: $2025 = 45^2$. But not just any square number: It's the square of the sum of the two-digit numbers resulting from cutting the digit string in half: $2025 = (20 + 25)^2$. This is a rare phenomenon that wil...

mathematics no-computers number-theory

Sphinx

06:27

0

Q: What's the minimum number of moves to solve this Water Sort puzzle?

These are the rules of the game Water Sort: You start with several flasks containing layers of differently-colored liquids, with just enough of each color to completely fill one flask. Your goal is to get each color of liquid entirely within a single flask. A move consists of pouring the top lay...

mathematics optimization strategy

oAlt

07:12

Is there such a thing as the Atlantic Yyoue?

oAlt

07:28

@msh210 I'm guessing this is pound (= lash = drive) = U in pond (the Atlantic, because of the English phrase "across the pond")

Sphinx

1

Q: PSE Advent Calendar (Day 5): 835

This puzzle is part of the Puzzling Stack Exchange Advent Calendar 2024. The accepted answer to this question will be awarded a bounty worth 50 reputation.< Previous Door Next Door > While stepping out of the UK's National Gallery this morning, I remembered that I meant to design a card with a sp...

visual steganography language seasonal

msh210

08:12

@oAlt so am I!

oAlt

08:28

CCCC: Gold and nitrogen in oxygen? They can produce sounds (6)

Daniel S

@oAlt OR + GA(N)S

Jafe

here i'm googling whether gornas are something that can produce sounds

Stevo

i went down that path too

except i was searching for gaunas

Jafe

valid

oAlt

08:47

@DanielS yep!

Daniel S

CCCC: They make sounds… sounds like paper. (5)

oAlt

09:20

@DanielS choir sounds like quire, 1/20 of a ream

Daniel S

@oAlt That’s the one!

oAlt

CCCC: Finally cross the Atlantic to reach west region (6)

Daniel S

09:58

@oAlt _S _E _C + TO + R_ ?

Hmm the underscoring at the beginning and end converted to italics

msh210

ftfy

Daniel S

@msh210 tvm

oAlt

@DanielS yep it is

Daniel S

CCCC: Finally cross puzzlers on a bearing of 157.5 degrees to reach west region. (6)

msh210

10:18

@DanielS finally cross = X at the end; puzzlers = US (the pronoun); on = next to; a…degrees = SSE; to reach west = moves one end of the SSE to the extreme left to turn US+SSE+X into S+US+SE+X, a region

Daniel S

@msh210 Not quite.

An awful lot right though.

msh210

oh maybe it's: X at the end; WE (the pronoun); SSE to reach WESSEX (a west region)

… though Wikipedia calls it a south region, so maybe not

but I'll ping @DanielS just in case

Daniel S

@msh210 That’s it.

msh210

whew

I don't know my British sexes.

Apparently there's Essex, Sussex, and Wessex, but no Norsex?

There is Middlesex, though.

CCCC: Quite a trip to Middlesex, with no detailed directions at the start, nor text read in the middle (5)

Jafe

MI(-d,d)LES(-ex)

PolygonPotpourri

10:31

...that was quick.

msh210

@Jafe aye

Jafe

CCCC: Keith and John having 16 Grammies between them? That's not true! (5,6)

msh210

yesterday, by Jafe

Do and Haiku seem like good names for Busta Rhymes's next kid, Do Haiku Rhymes

^ also no Grammies

PolygonPotpourri

Hey, 'Haiku Rhymes' fits the enumeration!

msh210

so does Busta Rhymes, I just realized

but I don't see wordplay for it… nor even a definition

PolygonPotpourri

10:35

Definition's likely [That's not true!], for something like FALSE SAYING or something like that.

Daniel S

@Jafe Heh URBAN LEGEND

Jafe

correct!

Daniel S

Well played sir

Jafe

thank you sir

PolygonPotpourri

Oh, is KeithAndJohnHaving16GrammiesBetweenThem some sort of Urban Dictionary powerhouse?

msh210

10:37

@PolygonPotpourri Keith = Urban. John = Legend. Keith and John having…them = Urban + Legend. "that's not true" = urban legend

PolygonPotpourri

@msh210 I know.

Daniel S

CCCC: For example, books multiple award winner. (4)

PolygonPotpourri

EGOT?

E.G. OT [multiple award winner]

Daniel S

@PolygonPotpourri Indeed!

PolygonPotpourri

@DanielS ...and I just searched up, and I now know that OT refers to the Old Testament.

msh210

10:40

seems to be common for "books"… along with NT

PolygonPotpourri

CCCC: 0+6<10+2, at first, is tenuous (11)

msh210

seems right to me

PolygonPotpourri

@msh210 Yeah, whoever wrote that in the textbook must've been anagrammed in the bar last night.

2

msh210

@PolygonPotpourri none xis< ten t_

PolygonPotpourri

@msh210 Of course.

I presume you have nothing in your clue queue.

msh210

10:49

Never presume. It makes a pres out of u and me.

PolygonPotpourri

@msh210 Why would we not want to be president?

Oh right, the incredible stress and tension that comes with it...

msh210

Co-president? Fah! Full control or nothing.

PolygonPotpourri

@msh210 We got a world domination expert right here, ladies and gentlemen!

Jafe

unlimited powerrrr

PolygonPotpourri

@Jafe 'Unlimited power' sounds like a clue for OWE. [Have to give up unlimited power (3)], maybe?

msh210

10:56

@PolygonPotpourri CCCC: People without a leader, indeed (3)

PolygonPotpourri

'without' clues WO, so people = WOMEN without without is MEN, which are leaders, but that's clearly nothing akin to the solution.

(MEN are leaders? Are you sexist? No, it's just that literally every US president has been male.)

Jafe

alternatively, "amen" without the lead letter

PolygonPotpourri

'indeed' meaning AMEN?

Jafe

yeah

PolygonPotpourri

That's probably correct.

@msh210 Is that ^ correct?

msh210

11:03

@Jafe aye

PolygonPotpourri

Ultraviolet rays are harmful to you, but not nearly as harmful as an ultraviolent Ray, who will, if you are particularly bad, make a 10-or-so-minute video about every single harmful thing you did, and likely make sure that you NEVER show your face in public again.

Jafe

13:18

CCCC: Cutting it back as Antichrist terrorised people without a leader (10)

oAlt

@Jafe anarchists = asantichrist* - it

Jafe

yup

oAlt

13:36

CCCC: Kind to put text (4)

Jafe

type ddef

oAlt

@Jafe yep

You've gotten ten of my fourteen latest clues

Jafe

musta been asleep the other four times (puts on sunglasses, drives into the sunset)

also suspicious that you've been keeping track... hmm

juicifer

I was just thinking the same thing lol

Jafe

CCCC: Bad source of water for children (9)

fun fact: msh210 would never run for president of france because he would then have to be co-prince of andorra

alternative solution is annexing andorra immediately after being sworn in (thereby becoming the sole leader), but that would surely anger all six people who know or care what andorra is

juicifer

13:49

@Jafe yeah he would never be a president and/or a prince

Jafe

heheh

Daniel S

@Jafe OFF SPRING

Jafe

correct

oAlt

14:04

@juicifer oh my gosh I now know what you did there

Daniel S

CCCC: Christmas hit period horsemen. (4,3,7)

juicifer

14:34

@DanielS stop + the cavalry

Daniel S

14:44

@juicifer Correct!

msh210

14:55

@DanielS I know Brits call a period a "full stop"; do you also call it a "stop"?

@juicifer Is there also a Good Friday hit called "Stop the Calvary"?

stop

Noun: stop

(international standards) ITU & IMO radiotelephony clear code (spelling-alphabet name) for full stop / period.

Oh, hm:

juicifer

15:12

CCCC: Measure of evergreens? (6)

@msh210 I've heard there's also a version popular in edmonton called "stop the calgary"

Daniel S

15:23

@juicifer FIR + KIN

oAlt

Wow, nice find

juicifer

@DanielS that's correct

definitely thought that would last longer, well done

Daniel S

CCCC: Nick Spice Girl’s song. (5,4)

juicifer

@DanielS heh, this is SANTA (nick) + BABY (spice girl)

Daniel S

@juicifer It is indeed!

oAlt

15:29

Agh just found it too

I wondered which was the right Spice Girl

msh210

@oAlt yeah

juicifer

15:42

CCCC: Game currently underway featuring West Ham's old apparel (11)

Daniel S

Hmm backgammon only has ten letter

oAlt

@juicifer Whammagedon = W Ham (has?) aged don (apparently apparel can be a verb)

juicifer

16:01

@oAlt right on

oAlt

CCCC: Snow Queen, formerly, returns a vehicle for the winter, its size reduced (4)

Daniel S

@oAlt (-D)ELSA<

oAlt

@DanielS yep!

Daniel S

16:18

CCCC: Witches attempt Thatcher's tune. (8, 5)

juicifer

@DanielS coven try carol

Daniel S

@juicifer Correct!

Wanted to do King's tune, but wrong sort of Carole.

oAlt

@PolygonPotpourri Ray tracing the evidence

(that one links to the graphics one, but I'm more familiar with the physics one)

juicifer

CCCC: "Opposite Directions": Albert, BB, and Carole's tune (2 5 5)

Daniel S

@juicifer Heh WE THREE KINGS

juicifer

16:30

@DanielS yep

Daniel S

CCCC: Air small King's scale. (6, 6)

oAlt

My knowledge is really being tested

Stiv

16:54

@DanielS LITTLE DONKEY = LITTLE (small) + DON (King) + KEY (scale)

Daniel S

@Stiv That's the one!

Stiv

School assembly classic there...

Stiv

17:24

CCCC: "Penny... Penny..." "Hello Sheldon... [edges away] ...PhD" (5)

Daniel S

@Stiv D + P + HI + L

OK someone needs to tell me the not italic markup.

Stiv

@DanielS Correct :) Use a backslash before the underscore

juicifer

escape it with a backslash

Daniel S

Excellent Big Bang Theory lore

CCCC: Song from furries’ birthplace accompanied by Bart’s cousin, Pippin’s cousin and Bond’s girl. (8, 5, 9)

oAlt