The Sphinx's Lair - 2020-06-07

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1:25 AM

@Deusovi true

1:58 AM

1

Q: What gets past the bluegrass bulge?

Sort of in the style of that old classic, ‘What goes through the green glass door?’ What gets past the bluegrass bulge? Blue does, but green doesn’t. Grass does, but glaze doesn’t. Bulge does, but door doesn’t. Poem does, but muse doesn’t. Conversation does, but talk doesn’t. Gent does, b...

Gareth McCaughan

2:08 AM

@Alconja Aha, your CCCC solution is EMOTIONS ("sadness and anger[, perhaps]") which is MOTI(-f) ("pattern ending early") with EONS on the outside ("a long time without").

(As so often, it'll be a while before I can post a new one.)

1 hour later…

3:11 AM

@GarethMcCaughan Yep. Nice work.

Btw, now that it's solved, does having multiple examples remove (or reduce) the need for an explicit "perhaps/for example"? I wasn't sure, hence hedged my bets with a "?" (the absolver of all cryptic sins).

4:12 AM

1

Q: Are functional-equation problems on topic?

Please vote up if you think this is on-topic, and vote-down if it isn’t. My functional equation questions always attract close votes, and some people say that functional equations are math textbook style. It is very frustrating to have people argue over, and today, someone argued with me about if...

discussion on-topic

7 hours later…

11:15 AM

For an &lit to be valid, is it strictly the case that the whole clue is the definition and wordplay at the same time, or can it be that, for example, three words at the start are part of the definition only, and everything that follows is then both definition and wordplay?

@oAlt The former.

thx :0

oh boy, I'm struggling to make this &lit work

Feb 13 at 16:03, by Deusovi

going for an &lit on random words is not a great idea, IMO - there's a reason they're so rare! my advice is to wait until you've found a word that seems naturally workable into an &lit (and to know what seems naturally workable into something, you need a lot of practice with making your surfaces smoother)

Feb 13 at 16:11, by Deusovi

&lits are not inherently better than other clues - they're neat when they come up, but too much forcing and they're unfun

:o

indeed, I plan to have one &lit in the crossword, and I don't think I'm going to add more

3 hours later…

Always Confused

2:25 PM

11

Q: A fairy tale in a golden toy

Once upon a time, long long ago, in the days when good stories were far more beautiful and far harder to come by, a king was asked by his spoilt but beloved princess daughter to give her a fairy tale. In answer to her request, he bestowed upon her a mysterious golden toy. Below you will find a pe...

mathematics knowledge enigmatic-puzzle visual steganography

this looks impressive

2:37 PM

indeed

Always Confused

30 dots

15 white, 15 black

connectes through 1 thread each pair

2:53 PM

@AlwaysConfused It looks very interesting. The title reminds me of youtube.com/watch?v=-w-2K9U8UIs (warning: terrible music).

Always Confused

A fruit (vegetable) that can pressurise one's family and relations

what fruit it is?

it is actually edible

I know a poet who can, but not a fruit.

Always Confused

Which poet?

Push-kin.

Always Confused

Almost close

3:01 PM

Alexander Pushkin

Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (English: ; Russian: Александр Сергеевич Пушкин, tr. Aleksandr Sergejevich Pushkin, IPA: [ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn] (listen); 6 June [O.S. 26 May] 1799 – 10 February [O.S. 29 January] 1837) was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era who is considered by many to be the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature.Pushkin was born into Russian nobility in Moscow. His father, Sergey Lvovich Pushkin, belonged to Pushkin noble families. His maternal great-grandfather was African-born general Abram Petrovich Gannibal...

Always Confused

You are toooooooooooooooooooooooo close

Thanks for teaching me about Pushkin

You are right about Kin

and the first part is a machine whose function is to push

Well I am adding a hint. The fruit represents Halloween

hmmmm.... strawberry?

Always Confused

Pumpkin

OH!!!!

Always Confused

msh dont wory pushkin was a harder guess

3:06 PM

I would not want to pressurize my family members with a pump.

Always Confused

I know

Except maybe one of them.

Always Confused

it was cryptic clue and wordplay

not to be taken seriously

I cant hold answer for prolonged it gives me anxiety

@msh210 Oh this makes me think of a den which is not hollow, rather yellow in colour.

Always Confused

3:35 PM

Amazing Paper Craft by Japanese Artist Haruki Nakamura

this is insane!!!! Amazing level of paper craft

4:10 PM

person that everyone thinks is a bot walks in

question bout that puzzling notation: how exactly does it work, like what does (XXX)< etc mean?

Oh, cryptic clue notation?

First of all, do you know how cryptic clues work in general? There's a link to a guide on the right.

As for the notation I use, it's usually: * for anagrams, () for grouping/insertion, + for concatenation, < for reversal, "..." for homophones, _ for letter extraction. Any lowercase letters are to help explain the solution; the solution is given by the uppercase letters only.

just wondering, can we use copyrighted/reserved/whatever it's called characters in puzzle framing devices?

i want to use Rose Granger-Weasly because I like her

(from Harry Potter and the Cursed Child stage play)

It's not against site policy, and I doubt JK Rowling's lawyers will go after you.

yay :)

4:31 PM

@Deus interesting. where's the link though? (posting image of screen in a sec here)

88

Q: Cryptic Clue Guide

This post is not a puzzle. There is nothing puzzly hidden inside it or the self-answer, posted at the same time. What exactly is a cryptic crossword clue, and how do I write one?

wordplay puzzle-creation cryptic-clues cryptic-crosswords

edit: nvm the upload button vanished

4:45 PM

that wikipedia list is really interesting >:)

It is, but I think a lot of them are a bit questionable - I'd avoid using a significant amount of them.

too late ...

5:14 PM

0

Q: Sweet town in Pennsylvania

Your goal is to make sense of these nonsensical phrases: Honored friends. Officer, tailless corpse. Zero head life. Backwards arrival time and relate the result to the title of this question. Hint 1:

word knowledge cryptic-clues

@matt Are you trying to do "Officer, tailless corpse" → "Officer corps" → OC? That's not allowed in cryptic clues.

(Not saying that you can't do it in your puzzle. Just that it's not a valid cryptic clue if it uses a device like that.)

Always Confused

5:38 PM

Hi all. Am I only one in this SE who cannot do simple market calculations by mind?

Seemingly I have some form of dyscalculia :(

Market calculations?

Always Confused

Although i have not yet tested for that. I have a diagnosis for mild autism (asperger type)

@Deusovi changes

coins

say Rs. 5 - Rs 3.50

Or how many months is 12 weeks

this type of simple mental maths

I experience a lot of other problems though

Sounds like it could be dyscalculia? But I'm no expert.

Always Confused

its ok to be not to be expert

In my locale there is almost no awareness of learning disabilities and my teachers forever mistreated me; either underestimated or overestimated

am i banned from chat?

seems some error message

No, you aren't.

Always Confused

5:50 PM

thank you

I dream for an world where all maths and science is accessible for dyscalculics

and I dream for an world where research papers are readable to dyslexics.

I dream for a world where people say what they mean

Always Confused

Thats great

I cant sometime phrase corectly what I want to mean

especially when I am anxious

that happens to me too!

but mostly i mean sarcasm, or saying one thing and them using body language to communicate something else, etc.

'cause i just can't get that

Always Confused

When I play chess; I can see only 1 future step. How much steps do u all predict?

Probably it is called depth of search

@GarethMcCaughan has not posted a C4 yet?

Well, I probably shouldn't be complaining since I also take days to post one...

5:58 PM

@AlwaysConfused Anywhere between 0 to 5, depending on the day, my dehydration level, how sleep deprived I am, and how focused I am on the game.

Always Confused

@bobble Before my autism diagnosis I didn't even knew that body language is a serious thing

@AlwaysConfused I don't predict very far. Since I'm not good at chess, my usual strategy is to annoy my opponent

@AlwaysConfused well, I can predict to about 4-5 moves but they are mostly wrong from the first move itself...

Always Confused

I can't almost play chess

@AlwaysConfused I only know what body language means because I read books where it just tells you :)

6:01 PM

0

Q: Cryptic Friends and Family: News of the Day

This puzzle is a cryptic family reunion, but we've again invited some close friends that are not actually family. The answer to this puzzle is a theme and a list of fourteen words or proper names or phrases; ten of them are related to the theme, the other four are close, but not actually on theme...

knowledge cryptic-clues

Always Confused

@bobble I am no expert but maybe you have form of differently wired brain. Temple Grandin says most brilliant scientists have brains similar to autistics!!

Cognitive diversity is amazing thing

Maybe neuroscience will be able to tell one day why one puzzle hard for one person is easy for another.

@Sid okay I am posting a temporary one: alkaline sphere

(8)

@Deusovi how so exactly? why isn't it allowed?

@matt Cryptic wordplay must lead directly to the answer string. That doesn't: it gives you a synonym, not the answer itself.

(well, a synonym of part of it, but presumably it would be only part of the clue)

@AlwaysConfused Are you sure this is a valid cryptic clue, with both definition and wordplay?

Always Confused

not sure

Oh I missed a subsidiary indicator

alkaline sphere. dont break neighbour's glass (8)

homonym and wordplay

That's not how cryptic clues work.

Always Confused

6:15 PM

Sorry

One part of a cryptic clue is a definition, like you would see in a normal crossword. It should be a synonym of the answer, with the same part of speech (as well as the same plural/conjugation/whatever).

Always Confused

OK

The other part is wordplay, which is a sequence of instructions telling you how to get to the answer, by manipulating parts of words.

Always Confused

Ok

(And what makes cryptic clues interesting is that these parts are disguised; first by the wordplay being phrased so it looks like normal English, and second by the two parts being mashed together.)

Always Confused

6:17 PM

Cryptic clue = {noncryptic definition} + {cryptic wordplay} am i right?

That's right.

(In either order.)

Always Confused

Noncryptic: dont break neighbour's glass. Cryptic: alkaline sphere. Answer=baseball

i phrased it that way

"Don't break neighbor's glass" is not a definition for "baseball".

Always Confused

Oh okk

thank u

The definition should be a direct synonym of the answer, with the same part of speech (and pluralization, etc).

The easiest way to tell is to try to replace it in a sentence.

Always Confused

6:22 PM

{Sphere for playing}, {it is alkaline} (8) maybe now it is theoretically okay

?

Not necessarily good one

"He caught the baseball" is okay, but you can't say "he caught the don't break neighbor's glass".

"He caught the sphere for playing" would be a weird phrasing, but it's still an accurate definition, and it's still grammatically correct. So that part's fine.

But now the wordplay doesn't work: "it is alkaline" doesn't give you BASEBALL. It gives you ITISBASE.

Always Confused

Thank you

(Or maybe ITSBASE, or THATISBASE, or something. But not BASEBALL.)

Always Confused

@bobble Sometimes sarcasm makes me afraid

I tend to avoid sarcastic people

I end up taking them at their word and getting embarrassed later :(

Always Confused

6:26 PM

White lies are at worst

I inevitably feel them as true

and loose trust and overreact

Did anybody further tried to complete my "no brainer" puzzle?

can you link it?

Always Confused

Yes

@Deus huh interesting. never a bad time to learn stuff!

Always Confused

4

Q: Not to mean no-brainer

What does this picture mean? What are meant by different component of this picture? What is indicated by the square inside the red bevelle? Answer need to contain explanation. Ps. I made the puzzle so I know my intended answer which I'll publish within tomorrow. Hint1: Hint2: ...

wordplay visual rebus

I published an incomplete answer because i was unfamiliar about ettiquettes here

I should have been publish them as better hints instead

Bye tonight. Its about 12:15 here

gdn8

Gareth McCaughan

@Sid Correct, I haven't. Sorry. Later.

7:35 PM

0

Q: Find the next number in the below series

I created this puzzle. Find the next number in the following series: $$0, 1, 2, 2, 8, 36, 376, 16832, 6948320, 119573019392, 832844372118349824, 99591503127864016598742704128, 82944234799305314358754027827756996410887110656$$ Hint 1: Hint 2: Hint 3:

number-sequence

3 hours later…

10:42 PM

0

Q: A club for men only

Sixteen people tried to enter the local Club for Men Only this month. However, there is a precise rule that states who can be admitted to the club: of course the candidates can't know the rule before entering the club, so eight of them were rejected. Here is the people who were admitted: And ...

10:52 PM

Herb found around weird bale - it's primarily lacking game (8)

terrible surface, but it's essentially BASI(BALE*)L - I_

11:05 PM

Game starts to back artists in strange labels (8)

BASE(B_ A_)LL*

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Jun '207

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