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12:08 AM
@jafe Can I get an explanation on that one (you know, for other people who may not get it, because I totally do)? I see "testament" => "will" and "I'm" => "I am". I'm not seeing a spoonerism, but I know that Spooner was a William also. However, that would mean a triple-parter to do anything with the "not contracted to follow" (and I'm failing to see a william in there)...
 
12:47 AM
"Spooner" is the definition; "testament" = WILL, and then "I'm not contracted to follow" is parsed as "the non-contracted version of 'I'm' comes afterwards"
 
 
2 hours later…
2:25 AM
0
Q: Four fours to get $\pi$

Dark MalthorpFour fours is a famous puzzle (made trivial with logarithms). For this puzzle, we take inspiration from Glen O's challenge from a few years back. The rules here are slightly different, but the goal is the same. Your goal is to approximate $\pi$ to the highest accuracy (per operation) as possible,...

 
 
2 hours later…
4:11 AM
@Deusovi thanks. That makes sense. I was clearly over (or under?) thinking it.
 
 
7 hours later…
10:59 AM
1
Q: Shift and Sort the Sequence

Jason ToddGiven a permutation of integers 1 through N, we need to determine whether it is possible to sort this list in an increasing order by following certain conditions. The conditions imposed are : We are allowed to perform the following type of operation upto K times : Choose three pairwise distin...

 
11:35 AM
yeah, that was the idea
hm, i was watching a video about cryptic clues and the guy explained that generally there is generally at most one "hidden word" clue per puzzle
probably time to dial down on those a little bit... my current work-in-progress has nine at the moment
but they're so easy to write! do they expect me to come up with actually interesting stuff?
 
@jafe you mean like "hidden in these words" --> SEW ?
 
yeah
 
interesting. I'd guess it varies some by editor/publication (and of course by setter)
 
probably yeah
 
0
Q: A special Question

DudeWhoWantsToLearn(Some of you may already know the answer, so please just write a solution, if you never heard of this riddle) You are in a room. In there are two doors. Behind one is the thing you always wanted to have, whether it's money, fame, family, it waits behind that door. Behind the other door is unbeli...

 
12:32 PM
0
Q: Daily Life of Mr.X

Dannyu NDos 18 to 21: Search around internet like a blitz. 21 to 24: Exercise, both physically and mentally. 0 to 3: Direct and amplify a searchlight. 3 to 6: Forecast about cyclones twice. 6 to 9: Watch the sunrise. 9 to 12: Check his refrigerator. 12 to 15: Set mouse traps ...

 
12:56 PM
0
Q: Can you find the missing words?

eyl327Given that: $ \begin{gather} \ \text{ art}\hspace{1em}\Leftrightarrow\hspace{1em}\text{phi} \\ \end{gather} $ Can you figure out the words that are missing? $ \begin{gather} \\ \text{imps}\hspace{1em}\Leftrightarrow\hspace{1em}\text{???}\\ \\ \text{???}\hspace{1em}\Leftrightarrow\hspace...

 
1:42 PM
2
Q: What is a Transition Word™?

melfntThis is in the spirit of the What is a Word/Phrase™ series started by JLee with a special brand of Phrase™ and Word™ puzzles. If a word conforms to a special rule, I call it a Transition Word™. Use the examples below to find the rule. $$ % set Title text. (spaces around the text ARE importa...

0
Q: Brute force a keypad with minimal keystrokes

KrishSenario Say you have a keypad whose password is some two digit code which you do not know, say 34. Entering digits in succession on this keypad eg. 4651 counts for multiple password attempts, in this case 45 , 56 and 51. What is the shortest series of digits that runs through all possible comb...

 
Avi
2:25 PM
@msh210 How does this work? I'm seeing [Group of eight] go< (to party = do) A_ D_, but not understanding the middle conversion
 
2:36 PM
@Avi I think you have the whole thing. What do you mean by "the middle conversion"? I don't understand what it is that you don't understand.
(And it's not "to party = do" (as far as I know "do" is only a noun) but "to = concatenation; party = do".)
 
Avi
to = concatenation?
huh, didn't know that was ok
 
@Avi I guess. I don't know how else that clue works. @hexomino, wanna weigh in here?
 
Avi
tbh I'm reading the current C4 as "Communication" defined in "underwear/synonym (brief)" after bath starts
 
2:54 PM
 
Avi
D: I feel like I've given you an evil idea that I shouldn't have
 
Avi
3:44 PM
Bird uncovered animals, perhaps (5) - (-b)EAGLE(-s)
 
@jafe I do think that your puzzles generally lean rather heavily on substring clues.
 
By any chance, does "perhaps" at the end mean something? I see it often in cryptic clues, and I'm confused as to what function it takes.
(well, not "often", but it's not uncommon)
 
4:11 PM
@Avi It's for concatenation yes. Depends what you mean by "ok", one of the definitions of "to" is "before" (usually referring to time, as in "five to two") and another is "against" (as in "apply lotion to the skin") so I think it's as good as either of those words.
 
Avi
Alright - supplementing the additional definitions of "to" is helpful to understanding that in context, because they didn't pop to mind (for me)
 
4:47 PM
@GarethMcCaughan thanks, i'll try to rectify that in the future
it does make sense to avoid using the same trick multiple times in the same puzzle
 
5:13 PM
@oAlt One thing it sometimes means is "this is a definition by example rather than an actual definition". So e.g., "Mickey, perhaps, takes a short time to take advantage (5)" has "perhaps" because "Mickey" isn't really a definition of MOUSE, but "Mickey, perhaps" kinda is.
I think I've seen "perhaps" as an anagram indicator, too. "Make a change? Perhaps later (5)".
(note: the examples are not meant to be good clues; they're just examples.)
 
 
1 hour later…
6:37 PM
2
Q: A relatively easy cipher

Yuzuriha InoriYou are the head of the cryptanalysis department, and you are pretty nervous because you have sent your best field agent, John, who also happens to be a cryptographer in your team, to find out who in your office has been selling state secrets, and today's the day he is supposed to report back. Yo...

 
 
2 hours later…
8:57 PM
0
Q: A rubik's cube that fights back

Yuzuriha InoriAfter the incidents of Skyfall, 007 remembered a quote Q had said when he was accessing Silva's Omega site : It's like solving a Rubiks cube that's fighting back. 007, intrigued by this statement, asks the following: Starting from a completely shuffled Rubik's cube, for every 18 moves you make...

 
9:20 PM
0
Q: Only Connect Unchained

hexominoThe 16 words below may be partitioned into 4 groups of 4 connected words. Additionally, each of the four groups can be represented by a single group-word. Finally, the four group-words are connected by a single five-letter word. +--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+ ...

 

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