The Sphinx's Lair

Sphinx

00:24

0

Q: PSE Advent Calendar 2024 (Day 8): Look, Santa’s Baffled

This puzzle is part of the Puzzling Stack Exchange Advent Calendar 2024. The accepted answer to this question will be awarded a bounty worth 100 reputation.< Previous Door Next Door > Look, Santa's Baffled... ... so can you help him? The Clauses were leaving North Pole Lutheran Church’s Christmas...

bobble

04:03

@GarethMcCaughan was the knowledge too heavily clued? I was mainly worried about it being too obscure, actually. I know this specific topic way better than an average person, because I play flute accompaniment at my Lutheran church's services.

Also, if I remember correctly, the above chat message is the first time I've explicitly copped to being religious on Stack Exchange. Heh. It's never been relevant before.

Stiv

09:13

@msh210 This mirrors what I'd found so far too. Plus if (as the subsequent renamings appear to confirm) rot13(gur snzvyl nyy funer anzrf jvgu snzbhf purff cynlref, gura Tneel vf yvxryl gb or n 'ubccvat ubefr', juvpu pbhyq znxr n yvxryl cerfrag sbe uvz 'BNGF', fhttrfgvat gb zr gung fbzr bgure grezf znl or zvffvat yrggref abg znexrq ol dhrfgvba znexf...)

msh210

10:00

@Stiv I don't understand where you get rot('ubccvat ubefr' sebz… gung'f abg gur rglzbybtl bs 'xnfcnebi').

Anyway, I don't know the correct solution yet, of course, but I suspect that the comment "it wouldn’t affect the solving process" is incorrect.

Ohhh, I understand where you got ubccvat from… but I doubt it's ubefr, since that'd mean all the family members should be counterparts, and there are only six varieties. not seven (unless you include fairies…).

Stevo

10:17

i saw gary and because ive been so engrossed with chess recently thought of kasparov. I did not make the connection at all that the puzzle may be related to it, even tho anatoly was there

msh210

@Stevo The reason we've been rot13ing is so as not to give away hints that people may not want to see.

Stiv

@msh210 Indeed, not necessarily saying that they are all counterparts - but since that one is indeed renowned for 'hopping' I think the OP is giving an oblique clue that it would be the type of animal I indicated, and those famously eat the other thing I mentioned which is easy to retrieve from the letters available...

PolygonPotpourri

10:45

CCCC Hint: It's something to do with pop culture.

oAlt

11:35

Airvault

Airvault (French pronunciation: [ɛʁvo]) is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in western France. It is located on the River Thouet. In January 1973 Airvault absorbed the former communes Borcq-sur-Airvault, Boussais et Soulièvres. On 1 January 2019, the former commune of Tessonnière was merged into Airvault. == Population == The population data below refer to the commune in its geography as of January 2023. The inhabitants of Airvault are the Airvaudais and the Airvaudaises in French. == Historical sites == A Romanesque bridge over the Thouet leads into the...

Makes for some good cryptic clue material

PDT

11:59

I have deleted my puzzle for the advent calendar out of disgust for the downvotes

People don’t know that I put in a ton of effort and thought to make a nice puzzle only for it to get downvoted because it was too hard. Thanks a bunch

oAlt

wait what

PDT

This is the last time I am posting any puzzles on this site I feel the reception that puzzle makers get here is hostile… this is the straw that broke the camels back…

PolygonPotpourri

Wha- really!?

I don't downvote puzzles just because they're too hard! I'm just... not that great at puzzles!

Sphinx

12:22

1

Q: What can i++ see here?

Follow the symbols in two different ways... → ← ↑ → ↑ ↓ 1 9 8 14 21 18 ... and you will get the solution (1 word).

word enigmatic-puzzle

Gareth McCaughan

12:37

@bobble I think it was correct to have the [knowledge] element made explicit. My solving path was: (1) notice a couple of obvious Christmas carols, (2) notice the reference to a hymnbook, (3) realise that there aren't a lot of places for a [number-sequence] to enter the puzzle, (4) go looking to see where some of the less common carols might be found together.

@PDT Obviously you should do what you need to do and if you're having a bad time here you should probably do something else -- but I think you should at least consider reconsidering. It's super-common for puzzles to get occasional drive-by downvotes. Sometimes they're from people who are just in a bad mood. Sometimes they're because of some minor flaw in the puzzle (most puzzles have minor flaws). [... continues ...]

[... continued ...] But if a puzzle is substantially net-positive -- as yours is -- that means that the community likes it. I think downvotes are seldom because a puzzle is too hard. I don't know why the two downvotes (compared with 9 upvotes) this puzzle has received were given; for sure neither of them was from me. I'll make a guess: one was random grumpiness and says nothing at all about the puzzle, one was someone annoyed at there being a spelling mistake. [... continues ...]

[... continued ...] The latter is kinda reasonable; I considered and rejected what now appears like a correct line of attack because "it would have been Judit not Judith" (for some reason the number of "r"s in Garry was less of a concern; I think because I am always inclined to misspell his name myself). Not enough to earn a downvote for me but others might judge differently. [... continues ...]

[... continued ...] But a downvote shouldn't be taken to mean "we hate you and think this was a bad puzzle". (If a puzzle's score is negative overall, sure, that means the community didn't like it. But this one is +9-2.) You should take it to mean "maybe there's something that could be improved, or maybe someone was just having a bad day".

I hope you'll undelete your puzzle. I haven't spent long looking at it but it looks like a fun one.

oAlt

12:57

@PDT I agree with Gareth. The puzzle isn't that bad

You have corrected the spellings anyway

msh210

13:52

@GarethMcCaughan This was my downvote.

@GarethMcCaughan And I agree with this, too. Some people will downvote more readily and others less; I'm in the former group, and (thus) my downvote doesn't mean "the community hates your puzzle".

^ @PDT

I'm thinking the C4 may be an &lit for a title (of some work of art e.g. a book or film) where the work of art is about a small amount of money(?) and the wordplay is IT (or ITS or maybe THIS or THAT or IE) around some word for a small amount of money.

Alas, I can't think of any 9-letter work of art that's about a small amount of money. (The question mark should broaden that category, but even so)

Jafe

true art is about the big bucks

msh210

@Jafe yep

oh, wait, that's the little buck

msh210

15:22

(You can see up- and downvote totals per vote-casting user on his or her activity page. For example, @PDT, it says you've cast 1385 upvotes and 383 down- (i.e. 78% upvotes) and it says I've cast 1842 up- and 1065 down- (i.e. 63% up-). (I bet if we'd restrict to just question votes, I'd have an even lower percentage, but I don't know a way to do that.)

Some other people who're listed as being in the chatroom now: Gareth, 72% up-; Jafe, 92%; GPR, 89%. My point is, don't feel bad about getting a downvote from me: I'm very free with them.

)

Jafe

contrast gnat with 25,808 votes up, 0 down

if that guy downvotes your puzzle you've probably committed a downright felony

well i guess technically he couldn't have downvotes with <125 rep but anyway

msh210

15:37

@PolygonPotpourri pennywise ddef

PolygonPotpourri

@msh210 CORRECT!

msh210

a flash of inspiration

Jafe

nice clue

msh210

@Jafe yeah indeed

CCCC: Good way off, with twists and turns, is lethargy (5,5)

PolygonPotpourri

It was the clown, not the pronoun!

PolygonPotpourri

16:57

@Jafe @msh210 Thank you!

oAlt

20:27

i've been awake for far longer than i wanted to, i hate this homework

Sphinx

20:59

2

Q: PSE Advent Calendar 2024 (Day 9): Special Wrapping Paper

This puzzle is part of the Puzzling Stack Exchange Advent Calendar 2024. The accepted answer to this question will be awarded a bounty worth 100 reputation.< Previous Door Next Door > What's inside these christmas presents? There's also a final word that fits.

word enigmatic-puzzle visual seasonal

bobble

21:26

@GarethMcCaughan mind if I edit your answer to add glosses for the emoji clues? (Or you can)

Gareth McCaughan

I thought they were all clear enough (given the answers) not to need them, but I can gloss them if you like.

bobble

@GarethMcCaughan I would prefer the glosses, yes, thank you

msh210

@Sphinx I wonder whether rot13(puevfgznf vf ybjrepnfr qryvorengryl).

Gareth McCaughan

22:09

@bobble OK, done. I confess I can't really imagine how anyone who didn't understand one of them before would understand them better now, but it's the best I can do without being excessively verbose :-).

Lukas Rotter

@msh210 nope

Gareth McCaughan

@PDT FYI I feel like I've figured out maybe 75% of your puzzle; I have plausible complete answers for all the presents, and have spotted certain commonalities, and I think I know what the piano is called. It's still not clear (1) how to do the various extractions that feel like they're called for, (2) how to identify the mother, unless she's called Marcus which seems unlikely, and (3) what the final [word] would be unless it's only 3 letters.

I definitely feel like I'm one or two insights short of an actual solution.

I mention all of this in case it's useful for hinting purposes.

Of course someone else who's figured out more than I have may swoop in with a complete solution, in which case the above is irrelevant.

bobble

22:53

@GarethMcCaughan thanks, I just like the closure of having things explained :)

Sphinx

23:36

0

Q: What is the symbol on the face opposite ● (solid black circle)?

MAIN QUESTION: Three different views of the same cube are shown. What is the symbol on the face opposite ● (solid black circle)? BONUS QUESTION: Would the answer to the Main Question be unique if you were only shown View 1 and View 3 of the cube? Attribution: Mostly Gauss Contest Grade 7, 20...

logical-deduction visual dice

Transcript for