The Sphinx's Lair

Sphinx

02:07

0

Can you draw a shape that has 4 right angles and 4 sides of equal length, but is not a square? You may need to think outside the box ;)

Sphinx

03:14

0

Q: How do I determine if an n×n, modulo m Light's Out puzzle is solvable?

Solutions to $n\times n$ Light's Out puzzles can be represented via linear algebra with the equation $\mathbf{1}_{n^2} = A \mathbf{x} + \mathbf{v} $ where $\mathbf{v}$ is the initial configuration of lights (length $n^2$), $\mathbf{x}$ is the set of moves to reach the solution (length $n^2$), and...

mathematics algebra lights-out

oAlt

04:07

Bee Movie

Bee Movie is a 2007 American animated comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and Columbus 81 Productions, and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Directed by Simon J. Smith and Steve Hickner from a screenplay by the writing team of Jerry Seinfeld, Spike Feresten, Barry Marder and Andy Robin, it stars the voices of Seinfeld, Renée Zellweger, Matthew Broderick, John Goodman, Patrick Warburton, and Chris Rock. The film centers on Barry B. Benson (Seinfeld), a honey bee who tries to sue the human race for exploiting bees after learning from his new florist friend Vanessa Bloome (Zellweger) that...

Jafe

04:27

title of which is a pun on the existing term B movie, of course

that's a neat clue btw

Sphinx

05:51

0

Q: Magical Item Deduction

You've finally captured your sororal rival and have interrogated her to find out your brother's secrets. Due to the risks of her crying out as well as her oral hygiene, you had your darling boyfriend conduct the questioning in sign. Unfortunately, your boyfriend didn't quite understand all of you...

logical-deduction logic-grid

Daniel S

07:17

@Stiv Indeed so

Stiv

09:50

CCCC: Glam rock band making a comeback with poise and ease, touring Central America in a vehicle made for moving! (4,5)

Daniel S

Feels like DUMB BARGE with MUD reversed and BBAGE around _R_ though it's a major stretch that the Bed and Breakfast Association of Greater Edmonton means poise and ease.

oAlt

"with poise and ease" is confusing me since I can't find short definitions for both nouns that would still fit in 9 letters

Daniel S

10:06

... BB can mean balance beam. Does BBAGE mean gymnastic capability? I feel not.

oAlt

Yeah just found that abbreviation too

oAlt

11:30

@DanielS @Stiv Aha, the glam rock band is Mud, but the wordplay is Mud< + P (poise) + tuck (ease) touring _r_ for dump truck, which is made for moving since it has to transport things!

Stiv

@oAlt Correct :)

oAlt

nice spot on Mud, I had no idea that existed

CCCC: Meeting final character set back during nervous breakdown (10)

Sphinx

11:48

0

Q: "NOT" spatial at all ;)

The answer is a single word. What word?

word enigmatic-puzzle visual

oAlt

12:03

@Sphinx but rather, "special"

Jafe

12:17

ren(dez<)vous*

Sphinx

12:33

0

Q: Induction puzzle from Lanrt a

Induction, Matrix Reasoning, Visual. Source:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfJem2ocgmifwE9P_iiPROObYEVDUGvB9Yh-u0FqJd-hkkrrA/closedform

visual pattern

oAlt

13:09

@Jafe correct!

Sphinx

13:40

0

Q: Pandigital Chronometer

I set my telephone's chronometer a while ago and at the moment it stands thus: How soon will I see ten different digits? If I allow it to run indefinetly, how many times will it show precisely ten different digits?

riddle

Jafe

CCCC: Moray dances on date, entertaining knight whom everybody loves? (7)

juicifer

@Jafe well everybody loves RAYMO* (N) D

Jafe

correct

juicifer

CCCC: The series hinted at by my most recent CCCCs, and what its next installment might represent? (9 2)

Jafe

ooh

(in reverse order) blowing up, burrow, mento, drag queens, ravening, never, fey, ...

Stiv

14:03

These all appear to be words from campaigns in DIMENSION 20

oAlt

@juicifer Oh wow, I didn't see this one coming

Stiv

22 = Never Stop Blowing Up
20 = Burrow's End
19 = Mentopolis
18 = Dungeons & Drag Queens
17 = The Ravening War...
16 = Neverafter
15 = A Court of Fey and Flowers
...

The numbers that have been skipped are sequels to or expansions of previous ones

I believe it started here:

Jan 14 at 16:28, by juicifer

CCCC: France anxious to capture a castle in Spain (7)

19 clues ago with FANTASY (for 1 = Fantasy High) so this next one would be 'Dimension #20' in that sense too! @juicifer

Jafe

ahh that's clever

juicifer

@Stiv exactly right!

Stiv

Well done :)

juicifer

14:11

I'm glad you figured out that I was skipping sequels, I was a little worried that y'all were gonna get stuck on "well the next one would be season 25" lol

@Stiv thanks

here's the sheet with the deets

2

bobble

To summarize the edits that I keep having to make: use something actually descriptive in the title (not just the name of the test, but a distinctive quality of the question), use alt text for the images (replace "enter images description here"), don't put a list of tags/keywords in the question body (tags go on the tag field), use inline links ([link text](URL) format). — bobble 29 secs ago

It would be nice if they learned. So far the only things they seen to have learned are how to keep the question from being immediately closed (by adding attribution) and to not put difficulty in question titles (after I scolded them for the second time in an edit summary)

Stiv

CCCC: Lost in slime? Miss, I wish you well... (4,4)

oAlt

14:27

@Stiv goo d(L)uck, where miss = duck = zero in cricket I assume

Stiv

@oAlt Yep. Though more just 'miss' in the sense of to 'duck'/avoid a responsibility...

oAlt

Ah right... Facepalm

Jafe

clearly it was miss = (daisy) duck

oAlt

CCCC: Expert pen carries an almost huge series, taking chances? (13)

I'm not sure how long that will stay up, so the MD5 hash of the all-lowercase answer is 1959941cf1a921a01abb0ffb9ffdf4dc

Daniel S

14:45

@oAlt PROBABILISTIC = PRO + A BI(G) LIST in BIC

MD5 says yes and so...

CCCC: Feature used adverbially with comparatives to indicate how one amount or degree of something varies in relation to another (OED). (3, 5, 5)

juicifer

@DanielS I'm not going to pay for an oed subscription just to answer a c4 but I'm guessing everything between "feature" and "oed" is what's listed under "THE", SIXTH SENSE

Jafe

15:02

um what's the wordplay then?

juicifer

it's also a feature

Jafe

ahhh!

Daniel S

@juicifer Correct. Fortunately, the OED is the dictionary of choice for Google: google.com/search?q=the+definition

juicifer

ah fair enough

Jafe

so it's a double definition, with one being a literal dictionary definition

juicifer

15:08

CCCC: At least 2 × 10¹⁵ cue sports? (9)

Daniel S

@juicifer BILLIARDS ddef

juicifer

yep

not sure why I bothered pinning that one tbh

Daniel S

I'd only come across MILLIARD before, so it was an inference for me.

CCCC: The Nicholson-Pacino film. (3, 6)

Jafe

the + jack + al :P

Daniel S

@Jafe Indeed so.

oAlt

15:16

@DanielS oh lol I didn't expect it to go that quickly

Jafe

CCCC: Wolf expert in Pacino film (8)

Daniel S

@Jafe SCARF + ACE

Jafe

correct!

Daniel S

CCCC: To Hans, the hearth; to Sven, resist obsolescence. (3, 4)

Stiv

Hahaha... I can see what this is going to be...!

Good use of Hans here too, if it is what I think it is :)

juicifer

15:20

hans and sven are both characters from the movie frozen so this must be LET ITGO

Stiv

@DanielS It's DIE HARD = DIE (To Hans, 'the') + HARD (hearth, to Sven)

(The Swedish for hearth is 'härd')

Daniel S

@Stiv It is! Wasn''t sure if using Karl for a Swede was OK).

Jafe

damn high school swedish fails me again

Stiv

Made me laugh

Stiv

15:41

CCCC: Jerk-hole cancelled Fourth of July for American (6)

oAlt

@Stiv yank e(-y)e

Stiv

@oAlt Yup

juicifer

as an american, I can confirm such a person would be a jerk-hole

2

oAlt

16:03

CCCC: After meat or alcohol with "hard" label, I consider desire to give away final Italian car (11 8)

Daniel S

@oAlt LAMB OR G(H)IN I COUNT ACH(E)

Stiv

Sniped :)

oAlt

@DanielS indeed!

Daniel S

The 11 was quick the 8 took research

Stiv

Exactly my position too!

Daniel S

16:10

CCCC: Classic video game and for millions, Las Vegas. (3, 4)

oAlt

@DanielS si(M->'n') city

Daniel S

@oAlt Yup!

oAlt

CCCC: Tea at trendy stores (5)

Daniel S

@oAlt CHA + IN

oAlt

@DanielS Indeed!

Daniel S

16:14

CCCC: Cryptic icon fit for cheap novels. (4, 7)

Jafe

pulp fiction, reverse anagram of "icon fit" = fiction*

juicifer

man I was thinking it was gonna be coin* something

Daniel S

@Jafe Yes indeed.

Jafe

CCCC: Cryptic icon nixes me cryptically (7)

oAlt

@Jafe Ximenes anagram, ofc

Jafe

16:20

ofc

oAlt

juicifer

@oAlt this must be TO + C IN O

Daniel S

16:39

Loving the dingbat

juicifer

who're you calling a dingbat :P

2

oAlt

@juicifer yep!

And I realize I could have continued the theme by doing "Cryptic icon to pork dish", but I wanted to bust out the hieroglyphics again

juicifer

Daniel S

@juicifer COPYRIGHT

oAlt

@DanielS (thx lol)

juicifer

16:45

@DanielS that's (copy)right

AncientSwordRage

I feel like that unfairly biases towards Mac users :p

oAlt

Ahhh C as in Ctrl+C

Daniel S

CCCC: Mystery meeting on St Lucy's Day. (5, 4)

juicifer

@AncientSwordRage not a fan of apple but the surface was better with "command" than it was with "control"

AncientSwordRage

@juicifer I can't deny that much

:D

AncientSwordRage

17:10

@DanielS BLIND DATE

St Lucy is known as The Blind

or at least is associated

> Because some versions of her story relate that her eyes were removed, either by herself or by her persecutors, she is the patroness saint of the blind

Daniel S

@AncientSwordRage Correct (she is also the patron saint of the blind)

AncientSwordRage

CCCC: Pete's broken up about poetic matchmaking event (5, 4)

Daniel S

@AncientSwordRage SPE(EDDA)TE*

AncientSwordRage

17:47

@DanielS correct

Daniel S

18:06

CCCC: Picture how deathbed could be seasoned? (5, 7, 3)

(Non-ximenean warning)

bobble

18:48

How is this answer okay? The puzzle has a list of operations, and parentheses != binomial

Stiv

20:09

@DanielS DEATH BECOMES HER (Picture) because (death -> HER)BED gives 'HERBED' which means 'seasoned'

juicifer

sheesh

Sphinx

20:23

0

Q: Hint to start this sudoku puzzle

I can't find the first digit of this sudoku puzzle, could you give me a hint ?

sudoku

Daniel S

20:47

@Stiv Correct!

Stiv

22:40

CCCC: OP and copilot initially take flight to frozen wilderness (8)

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