The Sphinx's Lair

Deusovi

12:07 AM

oh right, duh

hm, i do like having summer break. better, let's vote for summer to be colder

thecoder16

better, switch summer and winter break

i wouldn't mind having november to jan all off

ffao

so you mean summer break isn't december to february?

I've been lied to all my life

ManyPinkHats

clearly you're missing the easy solution to all of this

move to Antarctica

now your summers are colder and last for like six months!

thecoder16

sounds great

i'm packing my bags

Sp3000

12:23 AM

so you mean summer break isn't december to february?

I've been lied to all my life

thecoder16

???

Sphinx

0

Q: Cryptically dumb medieval jokes

Why did a chicken cross the river? Well, I believe that is a question too vague to classify for a riddle, eh? Well, I had to draw your attention. Actually, my story is a bit more complicated than that. Not so long ago I received an antique gospel book. It was sold for relatively low price becau...

Eric Tressler

12:40 AM

Sorry, I had to go for a while. I just didn't want my hint to be misleading. There are synonyms, but as far as {reversal, anagrams, container-contents, subtraction, etc.} goes, there is only one thing.

Deusovi

@thecoder16 Sp lives in Australia, which (as you may know) is in the southern hemisphere.

Eric Tressler

And he has miraculously survived the ordeal

thecoder16

You mean Australia isn't next to Switzerland?

Deusovi

And willingly goes back there!

thecoder16

I've been lied to all my life

Deusovi

12:42 AM

You mean Switzerland isn't in the southern hemisphere?

thecoder16

You mean Switzerland exists?

ManyPinkHats

I haven't seen Australia with my own eyes, so I'm still on the fence as to whether or not it actually exists.

Eric Tressler

@ManyPinkHats see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bielefeld_Conspiracy

ManyPinkHats

@EricTressler that's so great; I love it

Eric Tressler

Weird, the picture of the town has been photoshopped

You can see it where the building facades meet the sky

thecoder16

12:52 AM

there's also a small error in the middle building

Eric Tressler

Probably they were editing out the aliens

thecoder16

top left part, the sky bleeds, messy transparency mask

anyway bet you this is just buildings from hamburg

Eric Tressler

bah, Hamburg

thecoder16

^

North

3:05 AM

Aah I always miss the best conversations

I was at a performing a school band concert

@thecoder16 And we all know that Australia is next to China, because everything is next to China

Rubio

3:40 AM

@GarethMcCaughan I’m so surprised that puzzle took more than a day to solve. Better late than never. :)

Eric Tressler

4:05 AM

I figured out the enigmatic word puzzle.

Eric Tressler

4:21 AM

And then I edited my answer 50 times because I claimed too much, and then too little, and so on.

Sphinx

4:45 AM

0

Q: Where do I live? A layer of puzzles

Where do I live? Isn't it obvious? Each block of text is encrypted by a Vigenere cipher. You will be given a puzzle to find each key in the previous block. To start it off I'll give you the first key below - oh but wait, this key looks like it's encrypted by a Vigenere cipher as well! It need...

cipher enigmatic-puzzle steganography

Deusovi

5:26 AM

@Sphinx I was trying to post an answer all at once, but if we're going to enter into a partial answer war, so be it. :P

ffao

partial answer wars are not fun at all :(

Sid

which reminds me, those cryptic clues haven't been solved yet.

ffao

which ones?

Sid

this one

Deusovi

(fwiw I agree with all of ffao's comments)

Sid

5:33 AM

6 makes me wonder if it's an indirect anagram and I am starting to understand why people hate it so much..

and 3 seems to be a ddef, though I could be wrong

ffao

@Deusovi in case you didn't see it, the garbage text is encoded like the first text

I suspect it means use all three processes

Deusovi

oh, I hadn't figured out how the first was encoded

I used cryptanalysis for messages 2 and 3 to get keys 1 and 2, then got key 3 normally :P

Eric Tressler

@Deusovi Have you ever looked at cryptopals.com

Deusovi

nope, never heard of it!

Sphinx

0

Q: Help needed with deciphering coded message urgent!

So my teacher gave us this code he would like us to decipher, and I have no idea where to start. It is “Yzfknrlhzbxlopzhxkqfhim”. Does anyone know what this deciphers as or have any idea where to start or have any references I could speak with? Preferably just the decoded message would be ideal. ...

riddle cipher

phenomist

5:45 AM

partial answer warrr

Sid

@Sphinx We close these questions as "too broad", right?

Eric Tressler

I worked through just set 1, a few years ago when I was learning Java. It was pretty rough, compared to something like project Euler. Neat to get your hands dirty with those things, though.

ffao

@Sid why too broad? do you have reason to believe this has more than one answer?

Deusovi

^

Eric Tressler

Well, the asker doesn't even want to know the method used to get the answer, so we could plausibly claim that string decodes to anything. There are lots of answers if you don't need to justify anything.

Sid

5:51 AM

@ffao Plug that into quipqiup, you get tons of answers.

ASCII-only

@EricTressler well, yeah. those are basically crypto attacks

Deusovi

@Sid any meaningful ones?

quipqiup just gives you the statistically most likely things

Eric Tressler

@ASCII-only Set 1 doesn't really get to any practical attacks, but it took me a while because I was learning the language as I was working on it.

ASCII-only

@Sid but nothing with a decent score. but yeah there isn't enough data

@EricTressler hmm. aren't most C-derived languages basically the same though

H Walters

Google finds that string on answers.yahoo as well (posted about 5 hours ago)

Sid

5:54 AM

@Deusovi Point taken but then, with the data available, it's hard to get any meaningful ones with quipqiup..

Deusovi

exactly. that means quipqiup has failed, not that the question is too broad

Alconja

I think people have used the "unclear what you're asking" close reason for that sort of puzzle in the past(?). (i.e. it's unlikely the cipher text provides enough information to be expected to get a meaningful solution out of)

Sid

@Alconja Well, it's clear what they are asking. They are asking the string to be decoded.

ffao

@phenomist Deusovi already found it, you can stop editing now. :P

Alconja

@Sid I know. But it's similarly not "too broad". There's no fool proof close reason (perhaps there should be?)

phenomist

5:56 AM

rip

guess i need to dust off my imgur bruteforcing program for future use

Eric Tressler

@ASCII-only I don't know, that seems subjective. It was a helpful exercise, though.

ASCII-only

@phenomist what is this

ffao

if you're coming from C, "int array[5]" -> "int[] array = new int[5];" is far from obvious

there are still things you need to learn

phenomist

i have a link bruteforcing program for other purposes

Eric Tressler

crawl imgur, classify images, collect cat photos?

ASCII-only

6:05 AM

@phenomist bruteforcing how exactly

phenomist

to quote deusovi's solution "VC?kh. The third letter is screwed up, but by trying all the options we find that it should be X, giving us this image:"

Sid

@Alconja I don't think there can be a fool-proof close reason for these types of puzzles. Our current ones, at least are not. As in this scenario.

Ankoganit

imo downvoting is more appropriate than closing in this case

It is a puzzle, just a bad puzzle

ASCII-only

@phenomist for (var letter in 'a-zA-Z0-9') download(`imgur.com/start${letter}end.png`) :P

phenomist

right, but basically i had some functions that coded "download(url)" :P

(actually it only checks whether it 404's iirc)

Sphinx

7:08 AM

1

Q: The copper's already solved this one for you. Just fill in the blank

The Oxford Coppa gives you the facts: "We've arrested Jimmy, whom we saw with an axe." "We've arrested Bobby, whose morals appall." "One crime, two crimes, we've got evidence for them all." You ask the copper how he uncovered all the action The copper ejaculates: "Deduction, abduction, and _...

riddle lateral-thinking

Gareth McCaughan

8:39 AM

@Rubio It didn't take long once I actually looked at it and read the hints. (I don't remember whether I looked at it the first time around and missed the point, or whether I just ignored it because Youtube. Either seems plausible.)

Mithrandir

8:50 AM

@gareth puzzling.stackexchange.com/users/49361

Puzzling Meta

9:54 AM

0

Q: Page not found puzzle

Is the image below a puzzle? It's to hard for me in that case! If it is not; I think it should be. And I think it should be a community contest to create a visually as interesting piece which is at the same time a hidden puzzle. I like the image, it's quite intriguing, it even got a key. But i...

feature-request

ASCII-only

10:05 AM

@PuzzlingMeta why does this bot not have a name

even Metasphinx would be a better name

Sp3000

10:29 AM

~~Make it Meta Ridley~~

M Oehm

12:03 PM

@EricTressler I think your C4 is KEEPS + A + [yo]KE (or perhaps another burden).

Sphinx

0

Q: Trying to build a sudoku related puzzle box, struggling to ensure that there's only one solution

I want to build a specific puzzle box. The physical side I have down, but I'm struggling with ensuring that there's only one valid solution. The box consists of 9 freely rotating bands, inscribed with a random looking set of digits 1-9. The exact number of digits on each ring is about 30, but I ...

sudoku

Eric Tressler

12:44 PM

@MOehm That's right (and the burden I had in mind)

M Oehm

1:27 PM

CCCC: Rival presently takes back gun, is hesitant in the end (10)

Sp3000

AN(TAG<)ON+IS+_T

M Oehm

Yep.

Sp3000

CCCC: Call and ring visitor with no time for conversations (9)

Eric Tressler

I also had the word, but I hadn't figured out all of the wordplay yet.

Ankoganit

@Sp3000 DIAL+O+GUES(-t)

Sp3000

1:42 PM

(yup)

Ankoganit

CCCC: Rude guy put behind bars (9)

Eric Tressler

BAR+BAR+IAN

Ankoganit

yep

Eric Tressler

CCCC: Delinquent, without victory, in primitive housing yields food (6)

Okay, that doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, but it was that or an 8-hour wait for a new clue.

ManyPinkHats

2:30 PM

When are the new FTCs expected to start?

Rand al'Thor

Let's give it a week or so for the votes to come in.

Sid

I think it's 14 days after the current one.

Rand al'Thor

@ffao Now that my puzzle is solved, what do you think? :-)

Feel free to be honest if you still don't think it's a unique enough property. But it was pretty difficult to construct a meaningful sentence with those very strict constraints. Only 2 or 3 choices for each letter!

Sphinx

1

Q: Let's have a treasure hunt!

What if I told you that I found a treasure, and that I'm willing to share it with you? Of course you'll have to go through an ugly, not even rhyming, riddle... But I know you're quite fond of them, so enjoy this one! Make a 88 days round-trip Go North, then West, enter a country Between t...

riddle knowledge

Mithrandir

2:48 PM

Brace yourselves! The GentleDeadlyPurpleRain is coming!

Rand al'Thor

16 hours ago, by Rand al'Thor

Brace yourselves: GPR is coming!

So slow.

Mithrandir

Nah, I just needed to make a GPR joke

Gareth McCaughan

3:11 PM

Some nice surfaces in recent C4s.

Eric Tressler

3:23 PM

@Randal'Thor I think the puzzle is okay. It's totally unambiguous what the answer is, after you see it; it also drove me nuts for an hour or two.

Rand al'Thor

:-D

That's great!

Eric Tressler

I originally thought it had something to do with the "edit walk" around those words. Like "mank -> man -> ma". Most of those words can't form new words by operating on them except at the ends, but then I noticed "or -> our", and I found a lot of other words that also don't lead anywhere if you operate on them in the middle.

So that was my most time-consuming dead end.

GentlePurpleRain

@Randal'Thor I deemed it "no longer relevant", because the issue had been decided. If it were a particularly contentious issue, where it seemed worthwhile that the opinions leading up to the decision were preserved for posterity, I may have kept it around (or suggested it be put into an answer), but this is a very minor issue, with no serious ramifications either way, and now that it's been decided, keeping the comment only leads to confusion for anyone reading the post.

Rand al'Thor

That's what a really good puzzle should do, IMO: be hard to get a handle on in the beginning, but with a solution that's self-confirming once you find it.

@EricTressler Heh. I bet there are a lot of wrong trees to bark up: short words have a lot that can be done with them, but (I hope) only one thing that really stands out as unique.

@GentlePurpleRain After your dupe closure, I was considering VTROing the original and VTCing the rerun post. I probably won't, just not to rock the boat, but.

Good thing I don't have a discussion gold tag badge here yet :-P

Eric Tressler

I need to amend my C4. Sorry

GentlePurpleRain

3:31 PM

@Randal'Thor I appreciate you not rocking the boat. Again, if it were anything of any consequence, I would be very open to more discussion around the issue, but this really doesn't matter one way or the other. Nobody's experience of this site will be even minutely affected by the decision. It was simply a choice between two pretty much equivalent options, and I picked one.

Eric Tressler

CCCC: Delinquent, without victory, in primitive house yields food (6)

Rand al'Thor

Feel like an obligatory xkcd.com/169 — Aggie Kidd Mar 22 '16 at 20:05

This has never been more appropriate.

Sid

3:58 PM

Does "U" count as a valid definition for HORSESHOE?

Apep

It seems fine if horseshoe is the one in the clue. I'm not sure if it works the other way.

Sid

Yeah, i was talking about the other way.

maybe, a question mark on the clue, may work..

ffao

4:56 PM

@Randal'Thor it's interesting from a construction standpoint, but it's not interesting to me as a puzzle - as you mentioned there are a lot of wrong trees to bark up with no prior indication as to which is correct, so solving it is much like those cipher puzzles in which you throw spaghetti at the wall until something shows up

Hard to please everyone, but those were my thoughts

Rand al'Thor

OK, that's fair.

ffao

I actually saw the solution earlier and didn't say anything because I don't want to make it a bigger deal than it should be

Rand al'Thor

I probably should have put some sort of subtle indicator towards modular arithmetic or counting letters in the flavour text.

@ffao Not a big deal! I like to get feedback and think of ways to improve my puzzles :-)

Dragonrage

@Randal'Thor something like pi in the face, a big disgrace

oh wait. might be a bit too obvious

Rand al'Thor

Much more subtle than that :-P

I remember a nice example of this kind of subtle cluing ... let's see if I can dig it out.

18

Q: An encoded message for Nigel

Nigel came inside from his back garden carrying the peas he'd harvested, and dumped them onto the table to be sorted according to which were edible and which weren't. Just as he did so, he noticed a letter lying on the table, now mostly buried by the peas, in what looked like the handwriting of h...

cipher story

Hmm, not quite as subtle as I'd thought. And some of it is only self-confirming after the solution is found.

There's always more to be improved :-)

Sphinx

5:59 PM

0

Q: complete the words

Actually these puzzles have been made by me 2 years ago, but I've made it easier and faster to finish by reducing the calculation operation. A,B,C,D,E,F G,H,I J,K,L,M,N,O,P 3,15,14(E),20,18,15,12,12,5,4 2,25 20,8(A),5 19,9,20,21,1,20,9,15,14 5,14,22,9,18,15,14,...

mathematics cipher

Gareth McCaughan

6:45 PM

What happened to the Already Solved Puzzle? There were some people working together on it in a spreadsheet -- has it just stalled?

ffao

pretty much. I believe people got 3,4,5 and 6, but are clueless as to parts 1, 2 and 7

all we know about 2 is that it's thematic, so it's probably supposed to be backsolved

Sphinx

7:59 PM

0

Q: How can I calculate the number of permutations of any rubik's cube?

Recently I made a 1x2x3 Rubik's cuboid (example here) for my little brother, thinking that the number of possible permutations of the cuboid would be small enough that he could solve it simply by twisting randomly. Sure enough, he can (as can any one else). However, I wanted to know the exact num...

mathematics rubiks-cube

Erik the Outgolfer

9:05 PM

@Sphinx weird

Tumbler41

"Page not Found" :(

Erik the Outgolfer

it's been deleted...

(you don't have enough rep, neither do I over Puzzling :P)

Tumbler41

It looked so interesting.

ffao

the math one is still alive (math.stackexchange.com/questions/2784567/…)

it wasn't answered yet because there are some ambiguities that need to be sorted out first

Erik the Outgolfer

oh so it's cross-posting that led to its deletion

Tumbler41

9:09 PM

Cool

Rand al'Thor

@EriktheOutgolfer @Tumbler41 ^

Erik the Outgolfer

hm, so it got deleted by the OP

Dragonrage

it always feels weird doing stuff on other sites besides arqade. like i go to do something that i normally would do and realize i cant because i dont have 20k rep there

Tumbler41

Hehe, yup. Same for me except my highest (and basically only) site is vi/vim.

Rand al'Thor

@Dragonrage Yep. Now try being a mod on exactly one site :-P

"Why can't I delete these obsolete comments?"

Dragonrage

9:15 PM

@Randal'Thor i can imagine that would be a bit more weird.

i dont see any elections coming up on the arqade in the near future though as our current mod team seems to be handling everything quite well, and thats the only site im currently really qualified to be a mod on

ffao

well, at least you're only missing mod privileges here, since for everything else you have a gazillion rep

Erik the Outgolfer

9:38 PM

the other problem with this is, well, that you don't really have a choice for your chat parent

Rand al'Thor

Yes you do.

ffao

chat parent doesn't really matter all that much?

Rand al'Thor

^ that too

ffao

(don't you have to set it as your diamond site as a mod?)

Rand al'Thor

Yes, moderatorship and suspensions propagate from the parent site only.

As do username and avatar, if you use different ones across different sites.

Dragonrage

9:42 PM

@Randal'Thor we used to have one fellow that frequented the bridge who had a different username and avatar on each site and would frequently change their parent site to confuse people

Rand al'Thor

@Dragonrage Is that TOWMN?

Dragonrage

@Randal'Thor retrosaur is the name they most frequently went by, i dont recall the name TOWMN

Rand al'Thor

@Dragonrage I think TOWMN = The One With Many Names. Probably a different notorious shape-shifting user :-)

Dragonrage

could be. it normally only took about 3-4 messages to identify the person with every new name though

Eric Tressler

Did the user type with a lisp?

Dragonrage

9:55 PM

@EricTressler no, they just liked trolling (or attempting to), so it was pretty obvious it was them

Sphinx

11:12 PM

1

Q: MIT Puzzle Hunt: Word Puzzle

Many of the solutions to the 1995 MIT Puzzle Hunt have been lost. Several groups have been able to solve most of them, but #23 Connecticut Suite remains elusive. Here is a reproduction of the puzzle. The leadup is probably irrelevant, but I've included it anyways. All the puzzles that year we...

enigmatic-puzzle

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