The Sphinx's Lair - 2017-05-08 (page 1 of 2)

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12:23 AM

-1

Q: The four seasons with capital letters in them spelling gent

GENT is in the different Seasons sprinG summEr autumN winTer

9 hours later…

8:56 AM

0

Q: $100,000 prize for this alphabetical puzzle

Before I introduce the problem I've been trying to solve for months, we have to learn some principles. All the pictures are at the end of this text. Here, we have 28 letters (or symbols). Each symbol is assigned a value. The ABJD system is shown below: As you see, each symbol has its own value ...

alphametic keys-and-locks

9:24 AM

0

Q: Is it on-topic asking about magic show here to reveal a magic trick?

Some of us love watching magic show on TV, the magician amazed us with his trick. We do not know how he do his trick, and the trick "PUZZLED" our mind for days. Can we asking help here, working together to reveal how the magician do his trick ?

feature-request

9:38 AM

Heh, wow. Can't believe this is the first time that badge has ever been awarded on meta.

Where did you announce it?

Perhaps I was the first person lucky enough to link to CPWNTD (as so many people do) from a question which was actually good enough to hit HNQ.

Please see Code Puzzles: What (Not) To Do. — rand al'thor yesterday

'Only clicks from outside the Stack Exchange network count towards the badge' - wouldn't that mean that a comment wouldn't count?

@boboquack It's a lie.

in The Reading Room, Apr 5 at 10:36, by Rand al'Thor

12

A: I received the Announcer badge for a link to a site-meta shared on a hot network question

This is not a bug. Yes, your link won't count if people clicking on it are coming from a Stack Exchange site. But the only way for Stack Exchange to detect this is by looking at the Referer (sic) header that a browser sends with the request. But because some people feel that that header reveals ...

(gasps)

10:06 AM

We had a whole long discussion about this over there...

(and then I got the silver badge for linking within SE, sooo...)

2 hours later…

12:01 PM

CC idea since I cannot find other ER ending words similar to ROBBERY that are 7 letters... I tried instead of the Break in meaning a B&E, it meant to interrupt, sadly I cannot find words for that either...

12:27 PM

-1

Q: Solve the Lyne puzzle

This puzzle comes from the game Lyne, the site has links to where you can buy it if anyone is interested, and no I'm not associated with the game, it's just fun. The rules: Start and end at the shape with a white dot in the middle Only connect same colours together Lines cannot cross each ot...

logical-deduction

12:49 PM

GaMen also to anyone around

gAmen

Mod nominations start in 6/7 hours...

what time UTC? 8?

Think so

puzzling.stackexchange.com/election/2

gaMen

I'm shakin' in mah boots

Maybe I'll throw in a Make Puzzling Puzzle Again platform :P

1:07 PM

GamEn

@n_palum Already prepared a draft? ;) You ll need a good script to meet the expectations :)

Also I think there should be a better way to know that its election time.. The number of views on question collection is too low. I hope the same doesnt happen with the upcoming one..

We were supposed to prepare a draft?

Or is this just me who thinks that? Is that how all elections go? Last year there were so many questions

I mean we have a solid collection I think..

Yes we do have. No that. Just wondering how many are aware of elections.. Probably a puzzle based on the event could have caught some more eyes :)

And I thought @Rubio was making one

Hmmm maybe? I mean the farewell puzzles had some attention

1:17 PM

What're we talking about here? Prepare a draft of what?

Two different things

making a draft of nomination, but he was also talking about making a puzzle to draw attention to the fact there is an election

I'm a little curious as to who plans on running

It is all speculation because no one has really said "Hey I'm running"

Except Gerbil who won't because of the suspension rule, and maybe Rubio

@GarethMcCaughan and @Alconja - are either of you going to run?

1

Q: Solution Is Clearly An Image

As the title suggests, the answer is an image. More specifically, you have to find the 7 character long imgur ID for the image: imgur.com/□□□□□□□ Each character can be any letter A-Z (case-sensitive) or a number 0-9. These are 7 little puzzles you have to solve, each corresponding to one ...

1:29 PM

I think Gareth would be good but I think he'll pass due to time commitment and same with Alconja, but who knows

If Gareth runs, I'm absolutely going to give him a hard time in the comments about not knowing how half the site works :)

(he's never asked a question on the main site, or on meta)

<redacted>

He has asked questions on other sites though :P

@Sconibulus what abou you?

I don't plan to run, I don't have much relevant experience

I mean, I kind of want to because I'm really really curious about certain things, but I don't think I'd be that good at it, and there are a good half a dozen other people I'd vote for before myself

1:45 PM

What are you curious about?

Agreed @Sconibulus - I think the rep is what my hurdle would be

@Sconibulus curious about certain things on Puzzling, or the mod tools in general?

Both, really

I don't know what tools a mod has above a 10ker, other than binding votes

And sometimes things happen where the reasons aren't immediately obvious

VTC: Too Broad

Lol

1:51 PM

My curiousity is a broad beastie :)

Choose one topic and ask about that :) (e.g, users, tags, answers, questions, chat)

Well, let's take an obvious topic, Mr. Roo, I don't know what's happened, other than sock purging and repeated incursions, and I don't know if anything else is in the pipeline from Grace Note or whatever, and it's driving me slightly nuts :)

(trying to avoid words that might be keyword searched in the archive)

...I know a bit more than the average user about this, but can't tell you anything. Sorry...

The pipeline from Note?

Yeah, that's the kind of answer I hate, even if I understand why you'd have to give it

Other things I'm curious about, how many flags are generated in an average week?

When should we use Too Broad vs Off Topic: Insufficiently Defined?

Actually, I could just make that one a meta question...

2:20 PM

@Mithrandir Also, do moderators have access to things like voting patterns?

@Sconibulus yes

But not who voted for each post, only CMs can see those

@Sconibulus depends on the site

About 5 on Lit at the moment

@Sconibulus points to Puzzling Meta

yeah, that happened a few minutes ago

Actually, I think that too broad, unclear, and off topic are all used for those o_o

unclear usually seems to be used when we can't figure out what the question is

@Sconibulus suffice it to say that people are aware of the problem and are working on a fix

2:38 PM

oh hey, that's my first meta question, cool

2

Q: Buttons on an old non-scientific calculator are less sensitive

All 5 numbers are entered in an ascending order. These numbers are in an arithmetic progression. While adding these numbers, two plus(+) symbols were accidentally not entered due to the bad calculator, giving the sum as 71157. And while finding the product of these numbers, two multiplic...

mathematics logical-deduction calculation-puzzle arithmetic

@Tech good start for Sunrisers!

Wohoo.

2

Q: Too Broad vs. Off Topic: Insufficiently Defined

Currently we have two close reasons that are very similar, and seem to be being used interchangeably. One of these is the standard StackExchange Too Broad close reason, the text of which is below: Please edit the question to limit it to a specific problem with enough detail to identify an ad...

discussion close-reasons

That's a home ground. :)

And they don't have any option - win or go home @BeastlyGerbil

2:49 PM

Ah dropped...

Dropped..

Last night Punjab lost just due to the dropped catches..

Else it was a straight win

Do either of you know of a good way to watch Cricket for an ignorant American that wants to understand it?

And guess what, @BeastlyGerbil Amla was my captain last night :p 2128 current ranking..Have Warner today

@Sconibulus I am open to knowledge sharing :)

@Sconibulus twenty20 is the best form, most exciting form of the game. So I advise you start there. IPL is currently on which involves the worlds best players so they have some pretty good games

@Tech ooh better hope he scores 100 ;)

And the next starts 1st June.. That's champions trophy.. Similar to World Cup

2:53 PM

thats the odi world cup basically isn't it?

Haven't actually watched it before

@BeastlyGerbil And someone other than Rohit Sharma plays a knock.. Else, others get the points too :p

Are matches uploaded to Youtube or anything convenient like that? I don't think it's carried on TV here

@BeastlyGerbil No, its a straight Knock Out tournament

@Sconibulus People upload it on youtube.. But you can watch live as well. There are many live streaming sites

@Scon there are ipl match highlights here

@BeastlyGerbil The Champions Trophy differs from the World Cup in a number of ways.The matches in the Champions Trophy are held over a period of around two weeks, while the World Cup can last for over a month.

For 2002 and 2004, twelve teams played a round-robin tournament in four pools of three, with the top team in each pool moving forward to the semi-final. A team would play only four games (two in the pool, semi-final and final) to win the tournament. In 2006, eight teams played in two pools of four, with the top two teams in each pool playing in the semi-finals. Losing a single match potentially means elimination from the tournament.

It started as a knockout.

2:58 PM

ooh nice catch

@BeastlyGerbil One more.. I have Kaul in my side as well :p

heh hes done well so far. 2-7

user image

Yeah..

I see him full of energy with that Bandana tied..

The fantasy sports I play are so much less complicated

@n_palum Like which one? Rugby or EPL?

3:01 PM

Haha neither - more American sports

Basketball, (American)Football

I did Fantasy Football once because all my coworkers were

it was very strange

I prefer playing the real thing :)

Yeah.. It used to be quite infamous. @Sconibulus I tried.. but the EPL lasts too long

I like EPL because well, its weekends are there is usually always a good match to watch

Just received this IM -

3:03 PM

Heh, EPL makes me think of ECL

I'm most interested in NHL, of all sports though

user image

Frustrated colleague :p

Joining in the suicide?

O_o

Thats how a deployment goes :D

3:05 PM

@BeastlyGerbil I prefer playing too XD

You must have a really high turn-over rate then

@Sconibulus Just don't tell @GentlePurpleRain that the Jets stink :P

meh, american sports are weird to me

@BeastlyGerbil I can't run like the way I used to.. And cricket requires a lot of that :p

@n_palum I mean, it takes a couple years to get Georgia out of your system

3:06 PM

I follow NFL a bit but thats it

Fanaticism with sports is weird to me

they'll be fine in 2020

@Tech hit fours, run no more :P

Haha..:D

Well European sports are weird to me :P

3:07 PM

My main problem with Basketball is that it seems like the rules are there to make playing defense as difficult as possible

We used to play a lot of street cricket.. It's called Gully Cricket and used to break a lot of windows..

It's in a tricky spot right now sadly..

and then Football is Rugby with a break after every tackle

rugby is hands football is feet

I thought American football is called Rugby :p

3:08 PM

@Techidiot Similar but different rule set

american football has too many breaks for me and not enough action

yeah, I feel similarly about it and baseball

Ohh..

I understand Baseball better

American football is the NFL, it's its own thing, Rugby is played here too though

baseball is basically rounders with a few different rules

3:10 PM

Baseball is pretty straight forward

I'm not familiar with rounders

its literally baseball but with no home runs

So you can't hit the ball far enough to allow a full run?

well if you hit it hard enough you can run round all the bases

That would be a homerun

3:13 PM

Yeah I meant you can't hit it into the stands for a free run :P

Well what happens if you do?

as far as I've known if there any any spectators ten they aren't anyway they could be hit

I think home runs started as a way to handle unrecoverable balls

like, if it gets hit way farther than you think it will be, and lands in a hedge-row

instead of chasing after it, grab another ball and do a circuit for the points :)

Well when you hit the ball outside the stadium getting the ball before the runner makes it all the way around is fairly unlikely

probably something like that in rounders. I only ever played in primary school

We play 'softball' at secondary which is very similar just with a bigger ball

apparently its a variant of baseball

3:17 PM

Rounders (Irish: cluiche corr) is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams. Rounders is a striking and fielding team game that involves hitting a small, hard, leather-cased ball with a rounded end wooden, plastic or metal bat. The players score by running around the four bases on the field. Played in England since Tudor times, it is referenced in 1744 in the children's book A Little Pretty Pocket-Book where it was called "base-ball". The game is popular among British and Irish school children. Gameplay centres on a number of innings, in which teams alternate at batting and fielding. A maximum...

GentlePurpleRain

@n_palum v

user image

@BeastlyGerbil It's typically considered a women's sport in the US

@GentlePurpleRain PLEASE TELL ME THAT SOMEHOW THAT IS YOU

I also second what dc said about softball

GentlePurpleRain

@n_palum Sorry, no. Just found it on the interweb.

All my hopes and dreams are now crushed

3:19 PM

well if my all male school is teaching softball, I doubt it is considered a female sport in the UK then :P

@n_palum I've been acknowledged!

I'm off (yes to play sport) see you guys later

America seems to have a male/female version of every sport

@dcfyj Uhhh you're welcome? I feel my acknowledgement isn't worth anything though

@GentlePurpleRain You're going to send me on a quest to find out what you and Gareth look like to see if you're true Dads

@n_palum I've been saying things on and off for a bit, no one has directly replied to me :P

GentlePurpleRain

@n_palum I won't say it's impossible, but I will be surprised if you can find a picture of me via internet sleuthing.

3:25 PM

@GentlePurpleRain That depends entirely on whether or not someone has ever uploaded anything of your likeness on the web before :P

Well you're welcome then

although, either way it would be incredibly hard to find someone's picture via a user handle rather than their name

@GentlePurpleRain I figured maybe sooomewhere on Gareth's page he links would have sooooomething of him or a link to somewhere that does... but nooothing :(

GentlePurpleRain

@dcfyj Oh, I'm sure my likeness is there -- it's just linking it to me that might provide more of a challenge. (But like I said, not impossible).

@n_palum Yes, he does have a lot of info about himself, but no pictures.

Oh my goodness you Geocache too? You're upping that Dad status

3:29 PM

there is a disturbing focus in these rooms on parenthood...

GentlePurpleRain

@n_palum Is that on my profile? Didn't realize that.

It's not on your profile, you put me up to the challenge of finding you and you use the same username for your geocaching too

GentlePurpleRain

@Sconibulus It's all n_palum. He seems fixated on my and Gareth's status as parents...

@n_palum Right. Makes sense. How do you know that's me, though... ;)

Well you did kind of just admit it :P

I'm guessing he's young then :P

3:31 PM

and it's from Winnipeg

I know Gareth's age, that's available, GPR I'm not sure

I was saying you're young (n_palum) for being so interested in the parenting folks

Ooo I'm relatively young yeah, I'll be 22 in a couple months

Older than me and a bunch of people here ;)

Born in 95 then

GentlePurpleRain

Ah, you young pups... :)

3:34 PM

Yeah I'm not that young but it's all relative, and yes @dcfyj

wow, born in 95, that sounds so young lol

Crazy to think it's been two decades since then

GentlePurpleRain

I know. Weren't the 90s just a few years ago?

Oh I am aware... I've passed all the exciting birthdays

@GentlePurpleRain Feels like it

yeah, that keeps biting me... "It's not that old, it came out in like 2000!" "Dude, that was over fifteen years ago..."

3:35 PM

@Sconibulus Yeah, I have those moments, a lot

I've been stumped on finding images of either of you two

90s music qualifies as "oldies" now >.<

GentlePurpleRain

@n_palum If you search google images for "GentlePurpleRain", the first result is a picture of me. :P

Once you've done this, make a note of how old they were. Then, when their age reaches double that, show them this chart again.

That isn't YOU

3:37 PM

@GentlePurpleRain lol, I was expecting something like that

@Rubio That isn't even accurate?

@n_palum which one are you referring to?

Unless by majority it just means literally 50%

that's what it means

@n_palum In this case, pretty much

3:38 PM

Saying these things have been around for most of your life sounds like at age 19 the Wii has been around most of your life which is barely true

Came out in 06'

GentlePurpleRain

@n_palum It's a reasonable likeness, though.

xkcd is famously meticulously accurate about these things. hehe

@GentlePurpleRain I need a name.. once I get a name I have a better shot

@n_palum How is that barely true? the Wii has been in your life for all but 8 years of it, I'd call that a majority lol

Not me but someone who is 19 sure

Been around for almost 11 of my almost 22

3:40 PM

Well, yes, of course, you already said you were on your way to 22, but it's still been around half of your lifespan

Barellly

GentlePurpleRain

@n_palum Yeah, that would help a lot. Good luck with that!

You're not supposed to look at the lines for ages younger than you anyway, and expect them to be relevant to you

@n_palum that's most of my life

@GentlePurpleRain My only guess is GPR is your actual initials but then again that doesn't help anymore than you live in Manitoba, maybe near Winnipeg

3:43 PM

@BeastlyGerbil No. Not this time I guess.

Gareth doesn't exist on the internet really

GentlePurpleRain

@n_palum How many people with those initials could there be in that area? :P

I'll see how well I can stalk you later :P

Maybe not that many, but I don't have a way to look that up :(

GentlePurpleRain

@n_palum Maybe Gareth just uses a pseudonym elsewhere.

3:44 PM

What if G is for Gareth in GPR?

GentlePurpleRain

Gareth P. R. McCaughan

4

Exactly.

Ohoho I found a winnipeg, manitoba person search

Agh but your initials could be GPR or RPG I guess

that'd be fun XD

user image

I found @Rubio though

Impressive. I thought I was better hidden.

That was a bad fur day

Looks like a pretty good fur day to me

4:06 PM

Hm, impressive. Rubio looks cute though. :P

@gareth probably a hint for the CCCC? It has been unsolved for days now.

He gave one yesterday

He did?

19 hours ago, by Gareth McCaughan

@n_palum hi. You requested a hint on the CCCC and said you had a question. I'll let you ask your question, and here in just a moment is a hint:

19 hours ago, by Gareth McCaughan

@Sp3000 this not-serious answer to my CCCC is less absurdly far from correct than one might think.

Interesting what passes as hint nowadays.

I don't understand what that means. Is he saying it is far from correct or close to the right answer?

4:20 PM

It's not as far away from the real answer as it looks. The answer was ROBBERY (break in) = ROBBY (a childish old cow in some obscure TV series) "without", i.e. outside ER (hestiation).

So... That is a hint?

Apparently so

It probably means that either the definition part is identified correctly as "break in" or that the "without" construction is used. Or something else entirely, of course.

I have a feeling he means we are on the right track with wordplay but the def is wrong.. but I cannot find any better words than ROBBERY

Gareth McCaughan

4:36 PM

In answer to the question above: I am still thinking whether to run for moderator. I kinda think I already spend more time on Puzzling than is optimal from a not-getting-fired perspective, but perhaps the only difference would be that I'd spend the time doing more-meta-y things rather than crossword clues and Contact and puzzle-solving.

I am not GentlePurpleRain and I'm fairly sure GentlePurpleRain is not me either.

I apologize if my crossword-clue hint was, apparently like the clue itself, too obscure.

Totally agree with that "from a not-getting-fired perspective" and I am glad to hear you and GPR are not the same

Also sent your email @GarethMcCaughan

@Gareth I need to call in the cavalry on this one, I'm stuck. :)

@MOehm You spelled Silenus incorrectly :)

choosing you because you had an amazing answer on a more different Alien Message

@Techidiot Quite embarrassing, that. Fixed it. (I'm getting like my grandma who had troble to get the names of her grandchildren right, especially those that started with M.)

4:51 PM

It's okay nitram, I'm sure she loves you

@MOehm It happens to my grandmother too, sometimes. (And what a coincidence of the initial letter M)

Come to think of it, she only mixed up my cousin Markus and me. But yeah, I'm sure she loved us both.

And she mixes up me and my brother Anshu. :/

Nitram and Sukram

@manshu Does she mixes up or you don't hear it right? ;)

Also, I hope you don't have any Himanshu around. That would make things..complicated ;)

4:58 PM

@Techidiot No, I know that she mixes up. Coz later she corrects herself. :p

Wow. People's grandmas are still alive.

@Techidiot There is no Himanshu to confuse the whole house by God's grace.

Though Himanshu = Hi + manshu

@Sid Mine's not. No nani no dadi either..

Neither is mine.

Gareth McCaughan

@Sconibulus I'll take a look at it but not for at least another hour or thereabouts. Perhaps someone else will have solved it by then :-).

5:01 PM

Both are alive in my case. I enjoyed my last 3 days at my nani's house. (without Internet)

How do you enjoy without internet?

My maternal grandma is alive though I haven't met her in like years..

I spent time with my cousin and uncle and aunt.

Also I had my keyboard to play. :p

2 hours tick tock

@n_palum for?

puzzling.stackexchange.com/election/2

GentlePurpleRain

5:07 PM

2 hours...

Oh, the elections? Meh. The initial days are boring. Just a bunch of people introducing themselves.

GentlePurpleRain

I will find it interesting to see who decides to nominate themselves.

^ that is what I am interested in

GentlePurpleRain

(Plus I have a more vested interest, since I'll be working with them...)

Is it solely self nominations?

5:08 PM

I am more interested in knowing how the nominees answer the questions.

GentlePurpleRain

@n_palum It is.

I nominate GentlePurpleRain to be a mod

GentlePurpleRain

Aw, thanks! :P

@n_palum You volunteer as tribute?

I don't even wanna imagine how fast a nomination from me would get voted into the dirt

GentlePurpleRain

5:09 PM

I think you might be surprised.

With how bad?

GentlePurpleRain

No.

You may not be the top-voted candidate, but I think quite a few people would vote for you.

Low rep != strong dislike for suggestions

What do you mean strong dislike for suggestions?

@GentlePurpleRain ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Thanks I guess

Just because you have low rep (ish) doesn't mean people are going to hate/dislike whatever you suggest

5:12 PM

Yeah n_p, even I got some upvotes on my such a bad intro. You'll get a lot more than me :p

Ha, "you'll" implies I've decided to do it :P

Rep doesn't matter much in elections IMO. If you have contributed positively and haven't been a pain in the butt... You would garner a few votes.

I think Gareth P. R. McCaughan would argue the pain in the butt side ;)

GentlePurpleRain

I think maybe rep matters more to those who aren't as active on the site. It's one of the only ways they can judge a person, besides their election blurb.

@n_palum That I would. :P

:O Not even a clever attempt at dancing around it

Straight to the point

GentlePurpleRain

5:17 PM

In the most loving and gentle way, of course.

Someone with less than 5k rep on SO got like 70 or so upvotes on their questionnaire answers, who's already a mod on another site...

@GentlePurpleRain I'd expect nothing but gentle from you

@Mithrandir 2k and 3k are pretty important milestones though, privilege-wise (edits and close votes)

Mith it makes sense if they're another mod though

and yeah, experience on other stacks would certainly transfer

5:20 PM

stares at ♦, imagining who will be the lucky one to take out the trash

I guess I do have some experience on other sites..

@GentlePurpleRain Can I see the deleted questions on which I answered (with just my answer visible)?

Almost the 3k on Arqade :P but there are so many active users on there and people always butt heads

@n_palum yeah, I started really using Stack for things other than work there..

GentlePurpleRain

@manshu I'm not sure of the answer to that, but I'm pretty sure you can always see your own questions and answers, even if they've been deleted.

5:21 PM

It gets messy :) I've mostly stopped

You can run for mod at 300 rep, except for on SO, where it's 3k.

:O I'm top .14% on arqade this year atm

@GentlePurpleRain I clicked the link to the question "How to become president of the United States of America" and voila...I could see the question. And I don't even have those fancy tools of 10k users.

*mumble mumble* arQAde... *mumble mumble* question and answer...

GentlePurpleRain

@manshu It's probably because you have an answer there, then.

5:25 PM

Yes I have

all questions on arqade seem to be either answered in 15 seconds or about games I've never heard of

so I can't help much there

There are these two people that literally are answering 80%+ of questions

They just research everything half the time

GentlePurpleRain

@n_palum Sounds like most of those questions should be being closed then, if they can be answered from a quick Google search...

There are already a ton of closed or on hold questions

I posted my first question on SE after 1 year of searching and confusion.

5:30 PM

It's a mix of, "Couldn't figure it out or find it themselves" "They don't wanna put in the effort" or IMO people seem to ask questions for the rep.. especially when new games come out.. some people post questions about every minute

5:44 PM

@GentlePurpleRain I was able to find Gareth on LinkedIn but no image ;_;

I don't suppose there's a hint to his C4 there?

@n_palum @Matt up there

@Matt No, but Gareth has promised to apologize if his last hint or the CCCC is too obscure. I reckon that's left until we've solved it.

I figured out Gareth's full name by following his suggestion to google him out of curiosity, that's more than I even wanted to know

I'm fine with no pictures

GentlePurpleRain

@n_palum Just be aware that while I'm fairly certain that all of this is just in fun, it certainly could be taken as quite "stalkerish". You may want to be careful about how much you pursue attempting to find personal information about people. (And how much you discuss it.)

5:56 PM

@GentlePurpleRain Noted

All in fun :)

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