The Sphinx's Lair

thecoder16

12:22 AM

@micsthepick Doing stated action, very painful.

Alconja

1:20 AM

Surely speaking doubles cannot present something diffic-- dammit!

John Dvorak

complex

micsthepick

very trying speaking doubles.

Wen1now

Is this Sphinx's Lair 2 now?

Rand al'Thor

Wecan always runwords into pairsif weneed tospeak doubles.

micsthepick

yuck-y

[insert witty statement]

Apep

1:26 AM

What about just using words having one greater or fewer syllables compared to other words beside it?

micsthepick

thats easy, not very complicated in any way.

Wen1now

Let's just switch languages

micsthepick

what about ascending!

Rand al'Thor

That implies increasing difficulty, unfortunately.

Wen1now

How does this work

I don't get it

thecoder16

1:44 AM

This causes sentences diminutive.

Alconja

1:56 AM

@Wen1now They increase every sequentially communicated syllabification.

Deusovi

2:07 AM

O, we can also (maybe) employ growing sentence phrasings singularly -- thenceforth backtracking, diminishing ostensible verbosity, reducing lengths before drops down low to 0.

Mike Q

@Deusovi Wow. I'm genuinely impressed by that one.

Alconja

(except "lengths" should be "syllables")

Deusovi

take another look, Alconja

@MikeQ Thanks! I'm putting off finishing a programming assignment. :P

Sp3000

In awe, we're quite amazed Deusovi. Must've taken time for it.

Alconja

@Deusovi I'm an idiot

Then I'll replace my complaint and say it should start with "O, we..." :)

Deusovi

2:19 AM

I considered that, but thought it'd be a bit of a hack

...then again, that's the entire point. Sure, I'll add it.

also, do the syllables work out too? that's pretty cool

...no they don't. "thenceforth" is a 2 surrounded by a 4 and a 3

Alconja

almost...

Mike Q

1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 4 2 3 4 4 4 3 1 2 1 1 1 1 1*

Alconja

zero could be naught/nil/etc

as you've now noted

:)

Mike Q

I do see that now, ok !

Wen1now

2:38 AM

> Does there exist a such that floor(a),floor(a^2),floor(a^3),etc. alternates between odd and even integers

Is that too maths-y for a puzzle

micsthepick

that sounds more like a mathematical problem than a puzzle

are you aware of a solution?

Deusovi

I think it's fine. It's not a rote problem or anything.

Wen1now

Oh, a is non-negative

I know the solution but not a proof

I'm working on it - I'll post it as a puzzle as soon as I've solved it myself

micsthepick

how do you know the solution,

but not have a proof?

Wen1now

Because the question was presented in a different way to me. I added the 'does there exist' part to it

micsthepick

2:53 AM

oh, was it something like, "prove that this a works"?

Wen1now

Yeah, something along those lines

I'm having trouble finding the initial source of the problem

Is 't alright if I just reference where I found the problem (in a book) as opposed to hunting down the actual source

micsthepick

I think I got one

nah, but it works for 1 - 40

Wen1now

Are you sure it's not floating-point errors?

micsthepick

unless I am running into floating point errors ^

okay then

@Wen1now how does onetimesecret.com/secret/le1j9ygshfpsx1xpmzt81q8e7jlvyuh look?

Wen1now

Yeah, that works

micsthepick

2:59 AM

cool

are there others like it?

looks like it actually

so I can confirm that the first one works up to 70 now

no larger because I ran into this error: InvalidOperation: quotient too large in //, % or divmod

that's a first.

Sphinx

3:42 AM

0

Q: Even I don't know the answer

(This is the question talking) Even I don't know the answer, Until I am posted. All I know is the length, 5 characters that is. Random it is, But less than the 64 base youtube id. This is what identifies me. What is he talking about? What is the answer?

riddle

Ankoganit

4:24 AM

Ah that's a nice one @Wen

Sphinx

0

Q: The message is obvious, no need to decrypt it

Today, I saw this strange message on my facebook's wall. I can't read what she wrote. but, I know she is struggling with her feeling. When I asked her, she said the message is obvious, no need to decrypt it. What does the message say? 1 \/\/1$!-! 1 /\/3\/312 11137 yo!_! $o 1 \/\/o!_!|_!>/\/...

cipher

M Oehm

6:18 AM

@Sp3000 I think it's CABRIOLETS (carriages) = BRI[st>O]LE (become angry, ST replaced with O) in CATS (jazz enthusiasts)

Alconja

6:28 AM

I'll just park the cabriolets near my suikinkutsu...

M Oehm

6:48 AM

Yes, I knew that cabriolets are convertibles, but not that they used to be horse-drawn carriages. And I didn't know the jazz enthusiasts, although that seems to be a bit of a crossword staple. But I got the capital of Oregon right away ...

Sid

This is obviously correct. New C4, then?

Sp3000

Yeah had to dip into some crossword-y cluing there unfortunately, but to confirm: yup

M Oehm

CCCC: Regime has me pushed forward before unknown god (5)

Wen1now

god = deity, so now to make the wordplay fit... I am hopeless at cryptics

Nice surface btw

Sp3000

grabs popcorn to watch wen nut it out

M Oehm

6:58 AM

You will need a much bigger bag of popcorn if Wen gets to set the next one. :)

Deusovi

@Sp3000 I notice you currently aren't testsolving :P

also, it's so nice to have a steady stream of cryptic clues to think about

Sp3000

That is a very good point. I'm procrastinating from work right now, but I could probably still work on a few of them without needing the sheet

Deusovi

pff, you have some answer sets memorized?

Sp3000

If you got me to name all the answers I could probably get at least 50% (definitely not 100% though)

stacksfiller

"nut it out"...?

Deusovi

7:02 AM

@stacksfiller yeah, I wasn't going to mention it, but @Sp3000, you may want to change your phrasing there

stacksfiller

oh ok yea

just looked it up

Sp3000

I didn't realise it was an Aus/NZ phrasing, huh

Deusovi

@Sp3000 still, that's pretty impressive. I don't think I could do that with most of them

Ankoganit

7:35 AM

@MOehm DEIT+Y(=unknown) (where DEIT is DIET with I "pushed forward")

Idk if there's a less verbose way of annotating that

M Oehm

@Ankoganit Yes, that's it. (So Wen was right all along.)

Ankoganit

CCCC: Scientist in white in Steins;Gate (8)

Deusovi

oh man, Steins;Gate is a great anime

(@Sp3000, you may enjoy this clue)

Ankoganit

^

Pretty easy clue but I needed an excuse to bring up Steins;Gate

Deusovi

_EINSTEIN_

Ankoganit

7:42 AM

Yeah

Deusovi

I need to rewatch it sometime

ffao

wow, random anime references

I'd never do that sort of thing

pff

:P

ahoy hoy

7:56 AM

@Sp3000 oh hey! speaking of australia and watching others nut it out, gay marriage is now legal there!

BmyGuest

None having any ideas for any of my two still-unsovled puzzles? I wonder if they are too hard (and need hints) or are just "lost" in time....

9

Q: A half successful police raid

Everything in the next section is flavor text only. You may skip right over it, if you´re impatient. "So, how did it go officer? I hope there was no blunder this time!" The chief commander looks rather stern and critical at the small group of men in front of him. "We´ve spent months to g...

cipher visual cryptography

14

Q: These alien safes have no end

Well, I could solve the last safe, but what did it buy me? Just another instant-teleport and boom... here I am again! In a single room with very few things around me, most notably a safe, and no door out. Just great. Somehow I can't fight the feeling that I'm tested in a more and more chall...

enigmatic-puzzle visual three-dimensional

Should have been "noone" not none :c)

Deusovi

I've been staring at both of them occasionally. Not had much time though - been busy preparing for finals.

Sid

@Deusovi oh, Good luck for your finals.

Deusovi

Thanks!

BmyGuest

8:12 AM

"Final" finals? 8-| Hope we are not loosing a mod after that (?)

ffao

8:30 AM

Deus is a freshman

Sp3000

9:12 AM

Just so Anko's clue - hah, and very nice (I'd join in but I'm trying to tone down overt weebness for fear of alienating other users)

Ankoganit

:D

ffao

I already made my Steins;Gate C4 - "Girl's endless tutturu is grating (8)"

Ankoganit

lol

ffao

I think as long as knowing the reference is not necessary to solve the clue, it's okay, but maybe I should tone it down for a bit too

Wen1now

@MOehm Wait what. I was joking :(

Sp3000

9:24 AM

fyi the popcorn comment was meant to be a hint for wen that you were actually right :P

Wen1now

I'd gone to take a shower/I was playing Corrypt

(sorry I wasn't actually here to keep trying)

M Oehm

Every good joke has a small truth hidden inside. So you're not as hopeless as you claim to be. At least your crossword intuition is good.

Wen1now

Thanks! That actually makes me feel good about myself now :)

Ankoganit

@ffao THGGHENY(rot13)

Sphinx

0

Q: Detection of gaps in binary vector through linear methods

Suppose I have a binary vector a = (0,1,1,1,0,0) of length $N$. I want to detect in a linear way whether a has any gaps in consecutive 1's. a as defined above has no gaps. But b = (0,1,0,1,0,0) has gaps. Quadratic solution: $$\sum_i^N a_i - \sum_i^{N-1}a_i a_{i+1} \le 1$$ Linear solution: $$?$$...

number-sequence

0

Q: Does there exist $a\geq0$ such that $\lfloor a\rfloor,\lfloor a^2\rfloor,\lfloor a^3\rfloor,\ldots$ alternate between even and odd?

Does there exist $a\geq0$ such that $\lfloor a\rfloor,\lfloor a^2\rfloor,\lfloor a^3\rfloor,\ldots$ alternate between even and odd?

mathematics

0

Q: Find this number

We are searching for a number. It is over 400 years old. Even longer ago there were people who said it wouldn't be so hot on your tongue. (I thought of this myself. Because English is not my mother language I would really like to see a better phrasing or even the same riddle in poem form.)

riddle

Ankoganit

9:26 AM

Whoa

ffao

@Ankoganit yep

Wen1now

^^

Ankoganit

I'd never think of using 'tutturu' in an actual clue :D

Wen1now

Which reminds me, I finally puzzled out that a,a^2,a^3 odd even thing. The silly thing was, I'd seen the exact technique before in a different question and I never even noticed

Ankoganit

I thought you had already solved it?

Wen1now

9:28 AM

I knew the answer, but I hadn't actually solved it

Ankoganit

Oh

Wen1now

10:37 AM

Speaking of corrypt, does anybody have any hints

(and if you haven't played it I recommend not playing it if you don't want to get extremely frustrated)

Sphinx

11:59 AM

-3

Q: Can some please help figure out the sequence in the following random key i got from an app. The key is 476690617241. Thanks in advance

Can someone please help figure out the sequence in the following random key i got from an app. The key is 476690617241. Thanks in advance

number-sequence

Mithrandir

12:20 PM

@lauir here's an offering:

The Hanging Tree - Hunger Games - Peter Hollens

►

Wen1now

Yay I recognised that it was from Hunger Games before I read the text at the top

Now I can say I actually achieved something today

Mithrandir

good job ;)

Sid

@Deusovi you owe us a C4.

Sphinx

12:47 PM

0

Q: Which letter am I?

Soul 61.2392559 46.6729113 Thunder 41.0257551 28.9742227 Rainbow 41.6947766 44.7778411 Marsh 25.2913771 51.5345946 Cascade 15.5297874 32.5621657 Boulder 60.187195 24.9250693 Follow the path in the correct order to solve this riddle. Which letter am I?

riddle knowledge video-games

Ankoganit

1:11 PM

@Wen1now I think you need some attribution in that floor puzzle

Sid

@Mithrandir the car insurance things seem to be now a whole SE-wide phenomenon

Mithrandir

it always has been

Sid

Physics.SE seems to be getting a load of it now...

Mithrandir

it's been network wide ever since it began

Sid

Okay, someone tell me whether the thing that I have drawn in the recent answer that I gave is an "H" or a "K"?

Oh, apparently it is an H...

Gareth McCaughan

1:19 PM

look much more H than K to me.

*looks

micsthepick

5:06 PM

@Wen1now That actually makes me more likely to play :P

Sphinx

5:58 PM

0

Q: Where’s my present?

sequel of: Which of my friends has a birthday today? Hello. It's me again. Today is my birthday! So of course I met my friends today, along with a new friend that I made the other day. This new friend of mine is called Felicity. Unfortunately, they're up to it again, and it seems that they have ...

logical-deduction liars

Sid

6:20 PM

@micsthepick Could you explain what you mean by "not all are telling the truth"?

never mind. Apparently, I was 1 minute too late

Apep

"The statement 'all are telling the truth' is false."

Deusovi

7:08 PM

@ffao Sophomore, actually. :P

@Sid Whoops, yes I do. Just a sec.

ffao

oh, that weird thing where you have years that don't match the calendar

Deusovi

yup

Deusovi

7:23 PM

CCCC: Destroying free bong, drawing in scholars (12)

micsthepick

well, it isn’t sophomores.

Sid

@Deusovi Is it LITERATI in (BONG)* = OBLITERATING?

micsthepick

looks promising

have you got one ready @sid?

Sid

@micsthepick nope. I will wait for confirmation, though.

micsthepick

I think it would be wise to prepare now, but you do what you want to.

Sid

7:35 PM

@micsthepick what I want to do is sleep right now. But, I can't...

Deusovi

7:46 PM

@Sid Yup!

Sid

CCCC: "King's officer" is the title given to a lawyer (7)

Sphinx

8:01 PM

0

Q: Three Right Triangles

There are three special right triangles, all of their edge lengths are positive integers. One of the triangles' longer leg, the other triangle's shorter leg and hypotenuse of the last triangle are all equal to each other. What is the least value of the shortest hypotenuse among these triang...

mathematics logical-deduction geometry

micsthepick

8:24 PM

@Sphinx a nice simple one.

Mithrandir

8:48 PM

Anyone up for Contact?

Contact

For playing the game Contact, where one person tries to "defend"...

Gareth McCaughan

9:25 PM

Can't right now but maybe in the not too distant future.

Mithrandir

Call to arms! Mithrandir is currently defending in Contact!

Sp3000

11:01 PM

(Contact started up again)

Sphinx

11:49 PM

1

Q: Strange calculations

The question is: If 7 + 16 = 1000 what is 23 + 42? Note, that I currently do not have the solution for this riddle, which is not publicly available. I have already tried the following: Input base 14 and output base 3, which would yield 10022 Base 987 calculation: 7 + 987*1 + 6 = 1000, 2*987+...

mathematics unsolved-mysteries

ffao

@Sphinx wow, OP really needs to tone it down in the comments

and it is too broad

Contact

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