The Sphinx's Lair - 2017-07-07 (page 3 of 3)

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5:06 PM

Okay, I've threatened to shut up and go out for a walk, hoping for and dreading another homeless story (mine is in the works, see how that goes?). Bye for now.

(On the way out the door) When a puzzle of mine gets 5 votes of approval I only have to think that some fellow freaks have found their way back. Welcome, traveler(s)! (I still don't know if you are more than one and I still don't care. Welcome!)

...

I really get lost around here sometimes

Get used to that.

Being used to it doesn't make it any less uncomfortable. :P

Get used to that too.

I bristle and whine.

Don't forget edit.

5:19 PM

And edit! And expect others to accommodate.

I have scars that (to repeat, i guess) will only show at the autopsy.

And I'm used to that.

Autopsy after autopsy. (Poetic license.)

That is why doctors recommend getting an autopsy at least once per year.

You'd think you'd see more Y incision scars with those flowy summery tops in season

laughing too hard to find eht doorknob

@MikeQ , I was halfway down the block and laughing like the fool I am. Then worked back that same half block to schedule an autopsy.

Sooner or later.

Only the living have lived to tell their close calls.

Now I'm gonna work my way down that same block thinking of those who split the other side.

Whatcha up to humn?

Just the best I can. Not always the best possible. Thank you for asking.

I do go in search of stories. Sometimes it takes a buck, sometimes a shirt.

5:35 PM

@humn not sure where you live, but "Whatcha up to?" usually means "What are you up to?"

I try to come off like a peacock with feathers to spare.

You also try to come off as sounding insane apparently lol

When is the last time you slept?

I want to rustle others' feathers so nobody will notice me.

Not how that plan typically works out

(Thanks for asking about sleep. Catch as catch can. Perhaps too much recently.)

5:39 PM

Sounds more like not enough to me haha

I feel awake but reality keeps waking me more.

(Do you need sleep, dcfyj? I need dreams.)

Rubio changes room topic to: Things that make you go humn

@humn Do you quack?

I do need to go out and meter my bearings from those on the street.

@dcfyj , when qrinkled . . .

lol

5:44 PM

Have you had any recent earthquacks?

Yesterday, random music posts. Today, just random posts.

Stop it! I'm trying to go outside again.

I'm sorry if my classical music playlist did this to you humn

That was a great spool. Thank you again, dcfyj.

It seems to have made you go insane though.

5:46 PM

Insane for music?! asdjgakgjkdajkgdjaskjdaskfjdask!

After I've wrestled language to the ground, music rises up and pummels me.

There's no escape!

Clearly.

The Tubes- Mondo Bondage

(that's the PG version)

I figured it out!

only took me almost 2 full days...

You must've been starving!

I have been listening to 21 pilots for last two days. One of their great songs:

twenty one pilots: Car Radio [OFFICIAL VIDEO]

5:50 PM

@humn For knowledge I guess?

Also, hi!

Hi humans*

On this planet?

humans everywhere.. :(

* is the symbol for anagrams in CCs, no?

5:52 PM

ERROR 404: No Martian found.

I get the impression that anything confusing counts as anagram indicators in CCs

@dcfyj Yes, * denotes letters of a solution that are from anagrind fodder

Especially that "Love = 0 = O". I know it is taken from tennis but it seems like a stretch

@manshu , you are a 404 that makes me ^o^

M-A-N-S-H-U. MANSHU!! (Al-Pacino style)

5:55 PM

SAY M ..... M

SAY A ... A

M .... M

SAY N.... N

Wow, it's really pouring down, here

SAY S.... ASS

That could be interpreted as a no-no

5:56 PM

SAY H.... H

SAY U... humn

Please go Y ... Y

errr...what?

Sloppy seconds.

humn, how do you pronounce humn?

Soha Farhin Pine

I made this random puzzle, but I'm afraid to post it because it might have mistakes in them. I need someone to give a brutally honest feedback on it.

How can I do it?

5:59 PM

@manshu , homnd

honest feedbacks you'll get...when you will post the puzzle...

Depends on what kind of mistake(s) you expect. Are they minor (grammatical, cosmetic, etc) or are they crucial to solving the puzzle?

Do we do that on chat? Or do we do that on e-mail?

Soha Farhin Pine

@MikeQ Both.

@Sid I know we don't do them on chat

but normal people don't get puzzles

so email isn't a option too

i don't want to email any of the users here

Returning to an earlier suggestion I made - Show it to a 3rd party, explain the solution, ask what they think.

6:01 PM

^ That

I still don't believe you are a 13 yr gurl, @Soha Farhin Pine. Please don't push it even if you are.

make a private chatroom.

Or you could ask a mod to set up a private chatroom

I was a 13 yr gurl once.

Soha Farhin Pine

@humn Why is it so unbelievable?

6:02 PM

(What was the consensus on that btw?) @Rubio

Soha Farhin Pine

@Sid Oh, didn't know that.

@manshu I will. Thanks.

Private chatrooms can only be made by mods

I'm skeptical of everyone, including myself and manshu.

@SohaFarhinPine probably because of your participation in so many communities on SE. :/

Soha Farhin Pine

@Sid I don't know which people are mods, frankly.

GentlePurpleRain

6:03 PM

I can make you a private chatroom for this purpose if you like, subject to the guidelines here.

I think we decided that private chat rooms were appropriate, yeah

The ones who have blue on their name

Soha Farhin Pine

@GentlePurpleRain Oh, please do if you can.

And I trust everyone just as much as I suspect them. Including manshu and myself.

GentlePurpleRain

Be aware that it is not really private; all mods on all SE sites as well as community moderators have access.

6:04 PM

@SohaFarhinPine A lot users here have emails specifically for puzzling

@humn me too

Soha Farhin Pine

@GentlePurpleRain Then they just should maintain privacy by not checking them out.

Who here will sacrifice the satisfaction of solving a puzzle

for reviewing my puzzle

depends on what kind of puzzle is it?

^

The trick is to traipse as if no one can trip you. (Signed, someone who has tripped over their own toes many times.)

Soha Farhin Pine

6:06 PM

@manshu I mostly write WHAT AM I? riddles

It's been a while since I have tried any puzzle. Though I should be able to help.

@humn Book idea: "The many signatures of @humn"

Soha Farhin Pine

@humn Great advice.

Another option is to go ahead and post the puzzle, put a note that says "This is experimental and may have errors" or something.

Technically, puzzling SE can be for questions about puzzles, rather than "Solve this puzzle".

Soha Farhin Pine

@manshu Is participating on multiple sites an indicative of how old a person is? Anyways, why did you use ':/'?

6:09 PM

Also, I don't see anything to be scared about either. I mean, we are here to help..

So a question along the lines of "Would this puzzle make sense" should be fair game.

I used ':/' coz I wasn't sure about my statement.

Soha Farhin Pine

@MikeQ But then I couldn't post that puzzle again for people to solve.

Also if you posting the puzzle then you can ask for feedback from the solver in the question.

Soha Farhin Pine

I lose trust on myself

"Maybe, I'm not so good as I thought."

@Sid You guys reviews are pretty much daunting to me, coz I really love making my own puzzles and get easily disheartened if someone downvotes or has a negative comment

6:11 PM

Yes, the internet rooms are harsh at times

Soha Farhin Pine

Slow net

(removed)

Try to interpret the harsh reviews less as "Your puzzles are bad" and moreso as "Make the next one better". Constructive criticism, not destructive.

That ^

Soha Farhin Pine

that's why I'm asking this

I'm very very new to the puzzling world

@MikeQ I do

so I know next to nothing

i just read different puzzles

6:12 PM

I suck at making puzzles myself. Everyone was new to puzzles at one stage..

Soha Farhin Pine

and try to imitate

My professional life has been spent on every detail. But when I go to the seashore, one wave laps after another and blurs the distinction.

When I wrote my first riddle, I had read only 1 on the site.

Not even "get better at making puzzles" - because (at least I hope!) you can tell that in general, the comments are pointing to specific deficiencies - the goal is help you understand what makes makes a puzzle unfit, unsatisfying or unsolvable

Yeah a lot of users' early puzzles are hit-or-miss

Soha Farhin Pine

6:13 PM

I'm very impatient

and have never been able to check my own work

revising isn't my cup of tea

Well, then that's something to work on first.

Actually you probably shouldn't check your own work.

If the goal is to set a solvable puzzle, have someone else try to solve it

Egads, why not?

There is personal bias when you check your own work

Soha Farhin Pine

@Sid Couldn't agree more.

6:15 PM

Yes, there is bias, but checking your work is still better by comparison than not checking it.

That way they're not relying on the knowledge in your head, they have to actually SOLVE it from what's provided. They're not able to think "well, this connection is obvious" - it may be obvious to you, because you've already intentionally made it.

Soha Farhin Pine

I get very excited at times

and excitement is very bad for my brain

for me, it's like a drug

GentlePurpleRain

Please note that this site originated as a place to discuss puzzles; not to solve them. It would be perfectly valid (and, in fact, encouraged) to post a puzzle you've created and ask for feedback on it. You could even supply the answer if you like.

2

What I meant was you shouldn't be the one checking your work, not that it should go unchecked.

@GentlePurpleRain There was the sandbox for that

Soha Farhin Pine

6:16 PM

@Rubio I do understand your point.

@Sid Even before the sandbox

GentlePurpleRain

@Sid But it's not off-topic on the main site.

@SohaFarhinPine You could also put it on the sandbox if you want people to check your work

Agreed too. Not off-topic either..

Setting puzzles for others to solve was a post-beta development, from what I understand, and for certain it was actually specifically off-topic for a while.

Rubio put what I was going to say very well - I'd like to add that this can be an inherent problem with riddles, too. It's easy to write a riddle - it's hard to write a good riddle.

6:18 PM

For the first time in my life I wish I had a mobile phone to watch while I go down the block.

This is better than cooking with gas.

@humn You should watch your wishes, or wish for a watch. Or a wash for a witch. Which witch? The watched witch.

Wish I'd thought of that! So wishy-washy. (Thank you for the set-up, @Mike Q)

Neighborhood watch vs. wrist watch. Discuss.

Soha Farhin Pine

What's "the sandbox"?

Which watch does the wishy-washy witch wear while wresting her wrists from the watched wash?

6:22 PM

@BreakingMyself I managed to beat it finally, took me almost 2 days to figure out what I needed to do.

GentlePurpleRain

18

Q: The Riddle Sandbox

Where am I!? This is Puzzling Stack Exchange's Official Riddle Sandbox™! Users who wish to post riddles can post them here first, and receive feedback, development advice and guidance before posting them on the main site. Writing good riddles the first time can be difficult, and this is intende...

discussion sandbox

(The level, not the game)

Also, should we also do a write-up on how to write riddles? Maybe ask Rand or Meyers or some other great riddler to do so?

(So I've rebolted the door.) Riddles are like sunlight here.

I don't think there's a strict procedure for writing riddles. Or any type of puzzle, really.

GentlePurpleRain

6:24 PM

I once started a "Riddles: What (not) to do" post, but never finished it...

There are some generally accepted rules of thumb, though.

Riddles make me grow while they give me sunburn.

1. "Don't make it too short or vague"

2. "Grammar and wording is important"

@GentlePurpleRain I'd love to see that.

3. "Try to think of 2 or more solutions. If you can, then the riddle is too open-ended."

Soha Farhin Pine

6:25 PM

@MikeQ I know the basic rules

but still make some silly mistakes

@humn You sure you don't mean, Riddles make me sunburn while they give me grow?

Soha Farhin Pine

i keep experimenting all the time

@MikeQ Sure, but there's a difference between avoiding pitfalls and writing something excellent. "Not terrible" is not necessarily good.

Soha Farhin Pine

i keep experimenting all the time
and sometimes my puzzles are excellent (by chance)

sometimes mediocre

sometimes terrible

GentlePurpleRain

@SohaFarhinPine Have you tried to analyze what made the good ones good and the bad ones bad?

6:28 PM

@Gentle Purple Rain, I don't know how to say this, so: !

(Don't let that go to your head.)

(Whew, that was awkward, but truth be told I'm a no-longer-secret admirer)

I now have a new rule of thumn - keep no secrets.

That is the secret to a fully functional society.

GentlePurpleRain

@humn I must say, I have no idea what you're talking about (as per usual...) :)

You're too modest, @Gentle one

Soha Farhin Pine

@GentlePurpleRain Irony: my first ever puzzle remains the highest voted

I can't find any pattern

6:34 PM

Voting isn't always the best way to measure puzzle quality.

As long as you get 5 ^votes the rest is gravy.

Good puzzles are frequently underappreciated, yet I see mediocre ones soaring to the top of HNQ.

votes don't really matter. For instance, when someone sees a puzzle made by a newbie, we generally tend to go soft on them.

It seems like most good puzzles can get to 10, beyond that seems almost random

If wishes were horses, I'd like everyone to begin with enough points to see deleted answers.

6:36 PM

After you have made a few puzzles, quite naturally, we would expect better than what you did when you started

If wishes were horses, we'd need to grow a hell of a lot more hay

If wishes were fishes, we'd need more chips

I'll never get out the door at this rate. I'll be arrested for laughter.

If wishes were watches, humn would wish for one.

I'll wrist-wrestle any of you wenches.

6:40 PM

Haul the wenches off with the winches

man's laughter (not manslaughter)

As for votes, they are pretty hit and miss. HNQ makes a huge difference in voting totals (higher views in general give higher vote totals), but high upvotes due to high views says next to nothing about the objective quality of a given puzzle.

Soha Farhin Pine

@GentlePurpleRain Check CR.

I just want to pule and again over how puzzles can receive fewer votes of approval than their solutions.

Similarly, low vote counts paired with low views can be indicative of any number of things completely unrelated to a puzzle's quality. It was posted on a weekend, for example, or at a time when some other puzzle or puzzle trend gave it lower appeal or visibility

Soha Farhin Pine

6:43 PM

@GentlePurpleRain Check CR.

@SohaFarhinPine Have you seen the highest-voted puzzles on this site?

Soha Farhin Pine

Yeah, some of them.

@GentlePurpleRain Oh good, I'm not the only one.

@feelinferrety I don't think anyone understands humn apart from humn themselves.

Eh. I know your argument @humn but I've seen a good number of puzzles where the solution writeup was excellent, but the puzzle itself suffered from one or more issues that made it downvote-worthy. And plenty where the puzzle was, well, just meh.

6:46 PM

Each itch worth a scratch is worth approval.

Soha Farhin Pine

Anyone interested in reviewing puzzles with me?

Which puzzles?

Like I said, you could probably put it in the sandbox or on the main site. Either is fine. More opinions=Better puzzle, I think

@Rubio , and yes, so many puzzles would benefit from an edit or two.

Soha Farhin Pine

@MikeQ @Sid A room has been made,

so anyone interested in joining it

6:49 PM

Sure, ok

Said the fly to the spider. Sorry, I have my curb face on by now and think I see through everyone.

...Where is the room?

I am assuming it's a private room

In which case, we can't see it.

(Normally I have my kaleidoscope face on)

Soha Farhin Pine

I don't know

how to add users

to it

6:53 PM

If it's a private room, you can't do anything..

(I think)

Soha Farhin Pine

Is only the mod who created it

able to add new users

@Sid

Yep. I think so.

Maybe whoever created it could help you..

Any mod should be able to

Soha Farhin Pine

Any mods out there?

(here)

um. hi. :)

6:55 PM

Rubio is a mod, so are Deusovi and GentlePurpleRain and Mithrandir

Soha Farhin Pine

@Rubio You could do it.

and Mith, Rand, Gareth

Soha Farhin Pine

@GentlePurpleRain is the one who made it

and needs to be AFK for a while

You probably just want a P.SE mod though. That's me, Deus, GPR or Gareth.

But yes, I can do so. Who wants to join it?

Soha Farhin Pine

@MikeQ agreed. Didn't you?

@Rubio Do I need to give you the link?

6:57 PM

no I have it

Soha Farhin Pine

Ohk.

....

Why is the room so eerily silent?

I am writing things in the room

Soha Farhin Pine

And I can't even access it.

"Private Room

The room you are attempting to access is private.

You have requested access to this room; please be patient while the room owners process your request."

It says that you are in the room

But you typed stuff in the room. Hang on

Soha Farhin Pine

7:08 PM

I was a member just a while ago
and now I'm denied access
What the hell is this?

This is what happens when mods go AFK

The mods work in mysterious ways.

Soha Farhin Pine

Hmm...

Try now

Soha Farhin Pine

@Rubio Works. Thanks.

7:34 PM

Working on a second Jormungand puzzle, if I get it done in time, might it qualify for the non-standard surface geometry challenge?

It's "Surface Geometry Mazes" though - is it a maze?

It's amaze-ing

Numbrix seems maze-ish

well, so am I, but I'm not entering myself in the FTC. ;)

This FTC is too smart for me..

7:40 PM

Would something similar to the strategy in this puzzle be valid for the current FTC?

Sure, if it was a maze.

Soha Farhin Pine

Need access to CRSFP

Came as quick as I could

@dcfyj Awesome. I'll have another go after the weekend.

You're a room owner, you have access

@Soha Try looking at the list of PSE site rooms and yours should be listed

1 hour later…

9:01 PM

My oh my, a muse just broke through my back door and said:

"I'm gonna spank English until it behaves."

Also asked

"Fellow writer, am I your type?"

9:40 PM

And then:

"Sometimes I use a screwdriver as a hammer/"

And:

"Irriitable vowel syndrome can lead to inconsonance."

8

You should lock your doors. Keep out those pesky muses and their musings. I am not amused.

10:32 PM

Dat, No.1/A Le Hong Phong (prolonged) Street, Thang Tam Ward, Vung Tau, Vietnam

@Rubio (͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Dear person who wants me to do work that isn't my responsibility: This may "address" your concerns.

Life is a story to be told by those lucky enough. It just ain't fair.

10:48 PM

Sometimes humn makes me wonder whether they are constantly drunk or something

Drunk on life. It just ain't fair. My trespasser patted my back while I cried over a lost traveller.

Again.

It'll happen to you too if you're lucky.

Our traveling companions are good for the ride until they're done with the journey.

@feelinferrety : And, yeah, I'm constantly drunk or something. Good call.

It keeps pinging me every time you edit it XD

... live and learn, with apologies ... my favorite people are teachers ...

Good teachers are the best kind of people

!

Yes - The Preacher, The Teacher

"I listen hard but could not see." (Ah, the senses. It just ain't fair.)

11:20 PM

My senses are almost as sharp as anyones', luicky to say, so I reel back and pull in those whiskers.

That was in some bizarre hono(u)r of those who honed my senses while losing their own.

It ... just ... ain't ... fair.

@Sconibulus I suspect ALBEDO -- Brightness (def ...?) comes from [=] rest [BED] in languid liniment [ALO-e, languid here carrying the sense of "endless" ...?] for AL(BED)O

I'm not convinced, but that seems to fit better than I'd expect if it's not the intended construction

11:39 PM

(How I love this site! After rubbing your magic bottle, Rubio, I'd like to scatch your back.)

(between consenting adults)

(that just comes out weirder and weirder with each explanation, but always worth a try)

("scatch"= "scratch" but it's too late to amend that trespass.)

(If anyone wonders, I love borderlines. I embrace the envelope!)

(See what happens when my poetic muse works their way through my liviing room door? I'm atwirl)

Rush Subdivisions (HQ)

11:59 PM

To repeat, that muse is who asked "When you close one eye, do you lose half the picture or all of the perspective?"

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Jul '177

The Sphinx's Lair

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