The Sphinx's Lair

2:27 AM

@Deusovi @msh210 :P

1 hour later…

3:39 AM

Q: How many scouts are there?

At camp every tent is given a number. My twin lives at the reverse of my tent number. The difference between our tent numbers ends in two. What are the lowest possible numbers of our tents? A problem I’m working on. I think I have a solution, but I’m not sure.

@Deusovi ah, thanks

i googled for "fin lincoln" and "lincoln fin" and went through different meanings of "lincoln" but didn't find that one

CCCC: Doctor Who? That's one of the Backstreet Boys? (5)

4:23 AM

@jafe HOW*+IE (Dorough)

4:39 AM

@Ankoganit that's correct

4:57 AM

CCCC: A show with devices for travelling in time or space, primarily following Doctor: Doctor Who (5,4)

5:19 AM

hah, nice

5:45 AM

@jafe :-) nice surface

@Ankoganit this too

thanks :)

6:12 AM

@jafe Sorry about that. I thought "fin" = "$5 bill" was well known to crossword solvers. But maybe not.

(And to no one else. :-) )

except deus lol

@msh210 thanks :D

1 hour later…

7:27 AM

@Ankoganit by any chance, is it MOTOR SHOW = MO + T + OR + S_ + HOW*?

I searched and MO is an abbreviation for "medical officer", and I wasn't familiar with it (both the abbreviation and the term). The bigger stretch I'm making here is using "medical officer" as a synonym for "doctor", but again, I'm not familiar with the term and its similarities, if any, to a doctor.

(Perhaps I overthought this again...)

7:47 AM

@oAlt Hmm… if it's right, then the definition half is using "show" to clue SHOW (and "in" is extraneous, I think).

@msh210 you're right about "show", but maybe "in" means that the synonym of the definition is hidden in the wordplay, which I'm fine with.

either way, I don't know another way to parse the clue lol

@oAlt that's it

Well, both objections can certainly be overlooked in light of the really nice surface.

@msh210 appreciate the generosity :)

CCCC: Type of drink to swindle chauffeur? (11)

7:57 AM

(I think [Def] in [wordplay] is legal? I confess I don't like it too much. And valid point re SHOW, but you know, surface and all :D)

Heh

Also my C4 material is becoming much easier as time passes, will be a while before I can upgrade the difficulty lol

@oAlt I think this is SCREW+DRIVER

hehe, fast

correct

Oops should have made a clue before posting that

Gimme a few minutes

Ahahaha

8:09 AM

apparently different style guides vary quite a lot... i was recently reading one that accepts both "[def] in [wp]" and "[wp] in [def]", but does not accept "large" and "small" for L and S

Huh

same

8:32 AM

CCCC: Primarily unauthorized, not allowed and bad! (8)

1 hour later…

9:47 AM

oof, I have no leads on this one

i have an answer that would work if the word "allowed" was written as 'llowed instead... do'oh

Hm not sure if I should say this, but my answer would actually work if "allowed" was spelled "llowed", except with a different wordplay

hmmm

user435118

10:05 AM

@jafe Where does REMA come from?

amer. (abbreviation for american) backwards

10:29 AM

@Ankoganit That would be u_ n_ l_ awful &lit. Your original one I guess must be u_ n_ lawful (not &lit).

11:21 AM

that would mean lawful = allowed and bad?

that is what i was thinking... but still don't see how the original works

i even tried to find abbreviations for L = allowed or NL = not allowed but haven't found anything

ah sorry, lawful = allowed, and "bad" is the def? i misread that

collinsdictionary.com/amp/english/nl

I really should have just done "not legal"

Welp

12:03 PM

aha, so it is an &lit.

i checked wiktionary and chambers for the abbreviation but that one wasn't in either of those... should have triple-checked from somewhere else

dictionary.com has it

2 hours later…

Q: Cryptic Family Reunion: String of Pearls

2:27 PM

The answer to this puzzle is a list of ten thematically related words or proper names or phrases. Each of these is clued cryptically, and the theme is to be determined. Since the definition part of a cryptic clue would give away the theme, these cryptic clues use a family member (e.g., mom, siste...

cryptic-clues

@Ankoganit Aha!

Q: Wednesday's Mirror Donimoes Problem

2:51 PM

Help four ghosts find each other in a haunted house. I just finished adding a new puzzle to Donimoes, my collection of domino puzzles and games, so I thought I would post a few bonus problems here. The puzzle is Mirror Donimoes, and the ghosts are four pawns that walk around on top of the dominoe...

sliding-blocks dominoes

3:22 PM

i just thought of the ultimate cipher, but i won't describe it here >:)

3:36 PM

CCCC: Detailed hymn sung by a group (6)

these c4's always confuse me hence why I never try solving them
also if you want to try and figure out my cipher (hint: reverse)...
can you turn "foobarbaz" into "bfoafozzr"?

2 hours later…

6:08 PM

guess not

Q: Code Puzzles: What (Not) To Do?

7:07 PM

simpler version w/o last step: "ogked yjbykuickraikeiit" final answer 4 3 3 6 2

Deusovi

7:39 PM

Here's a code. Can you crack it? fw8904730983kf89023ncweamnfiope20tmi9b6m89ny327nery895mbi9tm0ei09x2e1m3y8n2 Good luck! When a puzzle looks like this… AUGH. I believe that the main purpose of this site, apart from entertainment and sharpening our puzzle-solving skills, is learning...

discussion

1 hour later…

Q: Knight Battle: The Face-off

8:49 PM

Knight Puzzle Imagine a chessboard like this: You are the white knight and can move as a knight does in chess. Example: Your goal is to visit every square on the board using legal chess knight moves. However, someone is trying to stop you in your quest! They are the black knight: Every time yo...

chess knight-moves

9:08 PM

well sure @Deusovi but that was just meant to be a fun exercise

Deusovi

That doesn't change whether that meta post applies.

voldemortswrath--inp.repl.co

yes I am aware of that

sigh

@CarlLöndhal -- You're on the HackingForSoju team?

what even is that?

2 hours later…