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12:08 AM
How come the "do X 3 days in a row" hats take 4 days for me?
 
Just blame timezones.
 
1:02 AM
1
Q: Help with a holiday cryptic crossword

daveI'm trying to finish off a cryptic crossword these holidays. I'm down to the last three clues and I simple cannot figure them out. Can you help with the following clues? I've included the letters I have after the clue. Rank little child with a large head (5) __T_L Be discriminating about the eg...

 
Jim
@will how'd you get all those CCs so quick?
 
1:19 AM
Will actually set the puzzle OP was solving ;)
 
Jim
Really?
 
2:03 AM
No. But it was a funny thought.
 
Jim
I mean I was looking at them and bam solved
Pelota was great. Do you have to denote foreign languages?
 
2:46 AM
0
Q: Some Rebus puzzles Part I

Wen1nowSo a rebus puzzle is basically where you have to work out the 'hidden' meaning. For example would be So I've made 6 puzzles for you to enjoy :) Good luck!

 
Yeah Pelota didn't seem very fair to me
 
Jim
I loved it and love baseball but wasn't sure how to assume Spanish
 
 
3 hours later…
6:00 AM
@Will Is it ZITI(pasta) ? Z can be >(more) or <(less). Not sure about ITI
 
6:59 AM
Or ORZO -> Pasta(def), more of less(Z), in youR mouth O -> ORZO
 
@Techidiot How do you get that? Everything in the wordplay needs to be accounted for.
 
7:34 AM
0
Q: Witch Sugar Box is Different?

Masih Akbariwe have 10 boxes of sugar each box contain 1000 sugar cube weight of each sugar cube is exactly 10 gram all of boxes are with the same state except one that have 9 gram sugar cubes so we have a broken scale that only can scale one time and break after it how can we identify the sugar box with ...

 
Hello everybody
 
Hey!
 
That is a common puzzle type. Not sure if the tag is necessary, but I wouldn't immediately rule it out either.
 
@Deusovi You're right, and I can't see another tag fitting anyway
But I found it strange that lights-out was created just now
 
7:52 AM
0
Q: Witch option is correct for empty space?

Masih AkbariWitch option is correct for empty space? and Explain why?

 
8:11 AM
what is Masih Akbari doing, exactly?
 
Posting puzzles, apparently.
 
Who?
 
Sid
@Deusovi When the SUMS puzzle hunt is over, can you tell me how exactly you solved Act 2 Scene 2? (Only when it is over)
 
Oh, the latest removed puzzle
 
@Sid So far, we haven't.
 
8:15 AM
The two latest removed puzzles, sorry
"Witch"
 
lol
Witch SE does he mean to be posting these to hehe
 
What kind of sorcery is this question?
 
Sid
It's strange we are getting so many new puzzles which are being vtced in this week..
 
Many new puzzles have been removed by their author though
 
Sid
8:34 AM
Which doesn't really make sense, I mean, why would they remove their own posts unless it garners too many downvotes or is stolen from the internet?
 
@Sphinx @Sid this one was removed after one downvote, not sure about the others
 
0
Q: Hopping Frogs puzzle variant

Jaap ScherphuisThere is an old puzzle which has various names such as Toads and Frogs, Jumping Frogs, Hopping Frogs, Leap Frog, etc., and which has been asked here before. I'd like to share a variant of this puzzle that I came up and which I haven't seen anywhere else. There are is a straight row of 9 squares ...

 
Sid
What was the answer to the all-knowing being thing If anyone got it?
AGain, is there any pure lateral thinking puzzle that hasn't been flagged as too broad?
 
9:18 AM
10
Q: Superb Undeniably Awesome Legend!

Techidiot Never try to ignore, b'lieve in the pentagonal head of mine. It gives you my first three, out of nine. As a rightful person, look and say to my face. Three of these and thrice more, completes your half a race. Rammle all you find and get the squares off my back. Earn thr...

This is still untouched :-/
 
@Techidiot Rammle is a proper verb? I thought it was only a noun
 
 
1 hour later…
10:46 AM
0
Q: I made it up with no more than one. But one what?

IAmInPLS If you hope to reach more than six You will need more than one of us Wait, you can go from un to dix That means French is weird, thus? Though with just one, you can read these lines For three months as well, this is fine And you can sing from Do to Si But how will you go to X fro...

 
10:59 AM
44
Q: Find a straight tunnel

klm123 There is a circular area with radius 1 km. And there is a tunnel, which is just under the surface, but invisible - unless you dig. It is known that the tunnel goes under the area (at least touches it at one point), it is straight and infinitely long (in both directions). You have a plow and ...

 
@Mithrandir per chance did someone vote up all the puzzles in your series?
Because I have 4 upvotes all from 6 hours ago on all the clues I solved...
 
@BeastlyGerbil Can't complain :-P
 
Nope :P
 
Not all
a few
Like 5
 
 
1 hour later…
12:18 PM
0
Q: Putting up the lights two

Wen1nowI hope you are familiar with this. Basically Each strand of 20 lights is wired like a 5x4 grid, and each bulb can be either blue, red, purple, or green. However, when you change the color of 1 bulb, the adjacent ones in the grid will cycle to the next color as well. e.g You change the ...

 
12:32 PM
@IAmInPLS Though there may be grammatical flaws, they are not relevant. But well, fixed it for you :)
 
12:43 PM
Oh, you didn't have to, it was good anyway! There are many tags, so it's hard to know where to begin :-)
 
12:53 PM
That's fine. Let me know if you see any more grammatically incorrect things. I will check if I can fix
 
 
2 hours later…
2:46 PM
Any idea for the final answer on this: puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/47236/…
 
don't know the song, not very musical though :P
Hi @MariaDeleva!
@IAmInPLS ooh I think I have a breakthrough! The last letters say CAPS NUMS
 
Yes, I had it in my notes but didn't know what to do with it
 
Well the hint suggests that's right
maybe something to do with a keyboard
 
There is a song Locked Away..
Caps lock and num lock may be
 
Yeah, Adam Levine, I like him
Though I am not sure it's seasonal :-)
 
3:16 PM
-3
Q: What are the next two numbers in sequence?

user33082What are the next two numbers in the sequence: 176,184,186, 190, 192, 194, 198, 200, ?, ?

 
3:58 PM
@IAmInPLS Just for the heck of it, took the other letters, too - though I don't think we're going to get anything out of ricemmailipesinnmuamus
Lots of possible latin phrases, but too many to sift through, lol
 
 
1 hour later…
5:04 PM
@Khale_Kitha You're right, I can't see a phrase that corresponds to a song
 
Rice Mail I Pesin Mua Mus!
I know that song!
 
the NUMS in the puzzle are all prime
I wonder if that's relevant
 
@Sconibulus Yeah, I thought about it too but can't see what to do with the numbers
Though I'll add it to my answer
 
hmm
 
@Sconibulus I credited you of course
 
5:14 PM
Also, number of letters in each name, minus the first is
3 5 4 2 3 2 2 2
Obviously, add one to include the whole name
 
too bad 4 is not prime, we could have had something
 
Yeah -- though honestly I have a feeling that the primes are just coinciding with the fact that non-divisive numbers are needed to get the people's positions defined easier.
Obviously it could be designed without primes - but easier to do it with
-- and perhaps not.
 
Good thought :-)
 
I thought it was suspicious that 1, the only non-prime, was written "one" rather than the numbers used everywhere else
any chance this song starts with those letters? youtube.com/watch?v=FAYzJt91N2c
 
Is this song popular? I didn't know it
 
5:24 PM
I don't either
it was just the first result for "Prime Christmas Song"
 
Haha nice try
I'm expecting a song known by many, but we're never sure
 
5:46 PM
Here, let's stretch a moment.
Prime - First
The First Noel! :P
I think the key, however is.. (because I compared timestamps and this DOES apply to the current answer)
@IAmInPLS The notes that you have currently aren't any use. — Wen1now yesterday
 
Dilip has L's though
 
Sorry, that took me a moment, Sconibulus
ABCDEFGHIJKMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
I don't think this is going to help, but:
Caps Nums
In the original text on the chalkboard, these were the caps
E G
C D E
F E
D E
D G
There's 11 of them
 
1
Q: My Uncle's present

Beastly GerbilIt was Christmas at my Uncle's and I rushed downstairs waiting to see the present he had bought for me. But instead of a giant wrapped gift, I found a puzzle. My greetingc! I hope you are woll. If you are reading my letter you’ll be disappointed because you didn’t get a present, but ...

 
@BeastlyGerbil in the last line "where you're present is", is it an errror, or part of steganography?
 
error thanks
 
5:56 PM
Ok, so an error ^^
These puzzles are simple yet so cool
It's always hard to come with them
 
you solved it super quick!
 
Well, I got lucky because earlier today, I edited two question tagged eight-segment in seven-segment so I knew where to search immediately
 
Damn! Thought that might last a while but no
 
Happens to me as well for many riddles
Ok, back to the musical puzzle
 
I can accept in 19 secs :p
 
5:59 PM
Well, I suggest you to wait a bit
You'll gain visibility
And upvotes as well, of course
 
Good point sorry for retracting :)
 
That's cool :-)
@Khale_Kitha Yes, this.
 
For the music one, btw - the only other thing I've thought of, regarding the numbers is...
E3 G4 D4 D2 F3 E2 C2 G2
Regarding the number of letters, aside from the capital letter
corresponding to the octave of the note
 
Ah, good idea
But if he said that the notes are useless, I don't know if this leads somewhere
 
Well he said 'as is'
or rather 'currently'
 
6:04 PM
Oh, I see then
Maybe something with these on Musipedia
 
Well I can tell you, outright, that that series of notes, as I've written, is probably not anything useful
 
Also, he said
don't only consider the first letter
So that means that we have to considers the other letters and the first letters maybe
 
Yeah - I think that's where the key of CAPSNUMS comes into play.
Caps appears to clearly mean the first letters.
So nums..
 
6:23 PM
0
Q: The Prison Escape Pt. 1 (THE DOOR)

Bloc97You are currently escaping a prison owned by a mad scientist. As you were about to approach a large iron door that you think should be leading to the exit, a guard came out from the shadows. You quickly hid behind some wooden crates, next to your wife and daughter, who were anxiousl...

 
 
1 hour later…
7:35 PM
0
Q: Find a straight tunnel 2

klm123You have the same plugging task as in Find a straight tunnel , but now the problem requires a bit more imagination: Bob has a field, which is a regular polygon with $N$ sides and perimeter $P$. There is a tunnel, which is just under the surface, but invisible - unless you dig. It is known tha...

0
Q: No strings attached? Think twice! Which music video features a bird tied to a string?

Vincent VerheyenIt's 198-two. I might be a white cocka-two. Feeling caged, I try to brake free, from the 19th to the 21th: two seconds. Only one thing on my mind, not two; stupid line between me and my cage too: Break into ...!

 
7:48 PM
@BeastlyGerbil how's progress?
 
8:06 PM
The solution to Will's pasta CCCC is ORZO (it's a pasta shape and sounds somewhat like "or so").
 
That's it
 
I got the answer but didnt had better explaination. What is with or so? Didnt get it :-/
 
There is a pasta shape called "orzo"
 
More or less is or so?
 
and when you say it ("in your mouth") it sounds a bit like "or so"
which means something similar to "more or less"
("it'll cost a hundred dollars or so")
(though in my idiolect "or so" permits more but not less -- you couldn't say that about something that you know costs $90)
 
8:13 PM
In your mouth sounds like or so?
 
no
"in your mouth" is here an indication that what you want is something that sounds like something else
(other indications of the same thing might include "we hear", "it sounds as if", "orally", ...)
 
Hmm.. Well I failed may be due to the fact I am not a native English speaker
 
/z/ and /s/ differ only in that when pronouncing /z/ you use your vocal cords
 
But well get it now
@Will you posted it with "this should be a quick one" ;)
It was actually a tough one to explain
 
I thought it would be - there aren't many 4-letter pastas
 
8:16 PM
Isn't the Z in ORZO really /tz/ rather than /z/ ?
 
Yeah and the only reason why I got it earlier but well no proper explainations
I thought Z was more or less i.e. more > and less < joining them gives Z :)
 
cunning idea, but I don't think that would be considered fair play in a cryptic crossword.
 
Also I thought O relates to mouth
So OZO
But didnt had any clue about R
 
ok, a new CCCC. I shall refrain from the usual dance where I say "this should be easy" and then it takes a week to solve :-).
CCCC: Drink in malaria, Arbitrary Kangaroo! (9)
 
Haha..
Lovely!
Some drink name hidden in the words malaria,arbitrary and kangaroo.
 
8:20 PM
I've only ever heard it pronounced with a /z/ sound, but it seems some dictionaries do have it as /dz/ & anyway I have seen homophone indicators referring to the mouth rather than the ear, but I will admit I'm not sure how acceptable they are
 
I think "in your mouth" is absolutely fine.
 
@Mithrandir on clue twenty? Ive started on the parts not on the images yet
 
Just wondering if you had started because I sometimes push things like that off forever :P
@GarethMcCaughan gonna clear the stars on the old CCCC?
@BeastlyGerbil (Also, it's clue 21 :P)
 
I'm never sure whether I should assume that "extra" stars on an old CCCC are there because someone really liked the clue and wants it to stay around for a bit. But yeah, I can zap 'em.
boom, gone
 
It just gets confusing if the CCCC is solved when there's nobody to unpin/pin them, because then people try to star it to get it up.
(Everyone should just elect me RO and everything will be chaos fine.)
 
8:45 PM
@GarethMcCaughan I'm pretty sure I've got it but doesn't malaria have one a too many?
 
Ah, I've got it too. Yeah, definitely
 
@Will @Deusovi ooooops
 
(Well, unless I'm also missing an issue with "drink"...)
There needs to be a homophone indicator somewhere.
 
no, no homophone required
 
That too, yeah
 
8:47 PM
("drink" is a verb not a noun)
 
oh of course
 
but gosh, how embarrassing
 
Then there needs to be a U--I switch, right?
 
nope
 
8:48 PM
Oh huh!
I hadn't heard that before.
 
It would be nice to fix the extra-A problem by shoehorning in some word connoting shortening, but that would produce an indirect anagram and I really don't like those.
I think I'll have to just write this off as a cockup and set another one. (Is that the right protocol?)
 
You could do it by "without one" or some other clue suggesting A-removal.
I think we've just let it slide and given it to whoever solved it in the past. It's up to you.
(I do have a clue ready that I've been waiting to use for a while, though...)
 
I'm not any fonder of "anagram this and then make this change" than of "make this change and then anagram this"; both are roughly equally indirect. (Though in either case it's a rather benign sort of indirect anagram; the really toxic ones are the ones where the letters to anagram don't appear anywhere in the clue.)
OK, if you have one waiting to go then go for it and I'll just sit here feeling embarrassed :-).
 
CCCC: Periods around 1 BC, perhaps? (8)
Oh! You could've also just made the enumeration (1,9). :P
 
I really don't think "a marsupial" is the sort of phrase you can put in a crossword. Not for me, anyway.
 
8:52 PM
True, but we're generally more relaxed here.
 

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