The Sphinx's Lair

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msh210

03:34

@juicifer CCCC: Inside it are many different types of animals (including setter, horse), beheaded. Weird. (9)

Jafe

but if the setter was beheaded, who wrote this clue?

msh210

It's not like I type with my head.

Jafe

of course, what was i thinking

1 hour later…

Jafe

05:06

cryptic's live folks

Sphinx

Q: Mammoth cryptic crossword

Solve on Penpa+ Across 1. Intimidate entertaining painter Bob with second-rate weapon (8) 6. Get hitched close to that child, says the Reverend (3,3,4) 11. Ace thereof had many hits in the '90s, and that's detestable (4) 13. What workers are paid hasn't been given weight for a long time (4) 19. ...

cryptic-crosswords

Q: Coloring a 4 x 4 grid

Beginner puzzle (suitable for people who are new to puzzle solving). A 4 x 4 grid is to be covered with 16 square tiles. There are four tiles in each of the colours red, black, green, and yellow. Each row must contain one tile of each colour. Each pair of tiles that touch along a side or at a cor...

mathematics combinatorics

bobble

06:08

@Jafe amazing!

Jafe

06:33

hehe thanks

1 hour later…

Stiv

07:46

@msh210 MENAGERIE = ME (setter) + NAG (horse) + (-e) ERIE

msh210

08:24

@Stiv yes indeed

1 hour later…

Stiv

09:24

CCCC: This guy's a genius? Ah, my plot needs a rethink... (8)

Daniel S

@Stiv POLYMATH*

Stiv

@DanielS Nice of you to say so

And yes, it's correct

Daniel S

CCCC: Singer Frank is almost a teenager! Caper after caper! (6, 6)

oAlt

09:42

@Sphinx oh my gosh

Stiv

10:03

@Jafe 5/8 down - surface-wise, did you mean baseballers here? Possibly a more famous baseball team by this name than basketball ones...

@DanielS OCEAN'S TWELVE (caper after caper, i.e. movie sequel) = OCEAN (Singer Frank) + 'S TWELVE (is almost a teenager)

Daniel S

@Stiv Just so.

As fair warning, I think that'll be the last in the Bruce Willis clues. Everything that I wanted to do for LAST MAN STANDING was heading into the obscure territory of YOJIMBO or Y: THE LAST MAN,

Stiv

10:22

CCCC: Location central to Drag Race (4)

oAlt

@Stiv Agra hidden word?

Stiv

@oAlt Indeed

oAlt

10:35

I wonder if there's a theme going on, but I'm too tired to check

CCCC: Wandering, an attorney I need is getting past standing French author (7 2 5-7)

Daniel S

10:45

@oAlt ANTOINE DE SAINT-(EXUP)ERY*

Stevo

i knew the author, just not when exup came from

oAlt

@DanielS it is indeed

(EX UP, ofc)

Daniel S

CCCC: A little Prince set log in a crossword. (4, 2, 5)

oAlt

11:04

@DanielS Let's Go Crazy reverse cryptic, a Prince song and hence having this music is having a little Prince

Daniel S

@oAlt Right on the money.

Jafe

@Stiv augh, yeah baseballers is right... lemme fix that

Stiv

No worries

Sphinx

11:34

Q: What is the angle? (seven circles in a triangle)

What is the value of $\theta$?

mathematics geometry

oAlt

CCCC: Last team sport (8)

Stevo

11:51

@oAlt ah right, stupid me

oAlt

It's fine, ofc

Jafe

12:10

@oAlt ultimate ddef

Daniel S

@Jafe Here was me trying to work out why backside might mean sport...

Jafe

hehe

oAlt

12:25

@Jafe yes that's it

Jafe

wow, after 7 hours, two answers within 12 sec of each other

Stiv

I shouldn't have stopped to double-check my formatting, clearly!

Struggled for a looong time with 34A, 56D (particularly!) and 65D, but got them all in the end

Jafe

tbf noedne's missing the wp for several clues

Stiv

Adding Wikipedia links takes time too - but I think it's worth it explanation-wise. I can't guarantee everything in my solution is 100% correct; maybe both answers will complement each other!

(I've tried to make sure it's all there, mind, but sometimes things slip or formatting goes awry)

Daniel S

@Jafe To spare me checking, is the mammoth double pangrammatic?

Jafe

12:40

yup!

Daniel S

@Jafe Lovely grid! Thematic and x2 pangram. Sorry that I can only upvote once.

Jafe

wait no i think there's one q missing, spoke too soon

but yeah i really like the grid, always nice to not have to resort to a lot of small words

Daniel S

The Q is on an intersection which includes the central theme, so I'd be happy to say asterisked double pangram.

Jafe

hehe

msh210

13:16

@Jafe very impressive

oAlt

Yeah, and that was effortful too

msh210

@oAlt For you, it'd have been effortful. For me, impossible. For Jafe, I'm sure, it was a walk in the park.

Oh, wait, did you mean solving it? I assumed you meant composing it.

oAlt

Yeah, composing it

And yes that's also true... he makes it look so easy

Jafe

CCCC: So called "Rushmore" – effin' worthless! Ugly presidents' faces? That's a big mistake! (7)

oAlt

13:31

@Jafe screwup, left faces of the first seven words

Jafe

correct!

and yeah sure that was more work than a regular-sized crossword but it didn't take ages to finish, 23 days for 77 clues

oAlt

CCCC: Christian song #16 in the computer, then older (or bassless) version (2,3 7 (5 3 4))

Jafe

clue filed under "fun to enumerate"

oAlt

Hehe

My backlog isn't empty but it only has clues with short answers... As much as possible I want to make another long-answer one

juicifer

14:06

obviously™ "#16 in the computer" clues IOOOO

2 hours later…

Daniel S

16:02

@juicifer ...or OXIO or PXVIC or HASL or LAPPTOP (which I think is also a term for Sami headgear)

@oAlt Apologies, juicifer is right this is 10,000 (REASONS BLESS THE LORD)*

10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord) - Matt Redman (Best Worship Song Ever) (with Lyrics)

►

juicifer

oh wow lmao

I mean technically I wasn't right; I 10000% assumed the clue was all letters

1 hour later…

oAlt

17:19

@DanielS it is indeed

@juicifer it is indeed :p

Daniel S

CCCC: Squeeze drug inside rock band. (5)

2 hours later…

Stiv

19:17

@DanielS CREAM (rock band) = CR(E)AM

Daniel S

@Stiv That’s the one; over to you

1 hour later…

Sphinx

20:31

Q: Make 2025 using 3 single digits

Make 2025 using exactly 3 single digits (not necessarily different). Rules: Allowed operations: $+,−,\times,\div,!$ (factorial) Parenthesis are allowed and can be interpreted as bimonial coefficient. Everything else is not allowed, f.e. $(5*9)^2=2025$ (uses exponential) or $45^2=2025$ (uses expo...