The Sphinx's Lair

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Sphinx

01:09

A bloggers' team needs to process two video files: one twice the size of the other. The volume of the larger video file is 6 GB. In the first half of the night, the whole team worked on the large video file, and at midnight half of this file was ready. Then, after midnight, they split in half: t...

mathematics

5 hours later…

oAlt

05:41

@Aranlyde imma take this opportunity to say that I loved your "Untitled, for Now" puzzle

3 hours later…

Sphinx

08:28

Q: What is the value of $32⊗34$?

The operator $⊗$ acts on two numbers to give the following outcomes $2⊗6 = 44$ $4 ⊗ 10 = 87$ $8 ⊗ 18 = 1613$ $16 ⊗ 22 = 2019$ What is the value of $32 ⊗ 34$? I am trying to look for a pattern. Any comments and suggestions on how to solve this problem will be much appreciated. Thank you! (C) 2019 ...

mathematics pattern

oAlt

08:51

another supplement for fitness..

oh boy

tho mith said that spam usually dies quickly here

2 hours later…

Sphinx

10:29

Q: Pattern recognition problem having figures

The following pattern was given to me by one of my friend: If , and then, what is the value of My Thoughts: From the first figure we conclude each clock is represented by its equivalent hour value, so $$9+9+3=21$$ From second figure we conclude each calculator is represented by its sum on its ...

logical-deduction pattern

4 hours later…

Beastly Gerbil

14:39

Does anyone know if its possible to somehow insert a hyperlink in mathjax? As in clicking on a piece of mathjax will lead somewhere else?

(Sorry if thats poorly explained)

I've found its possible to hyperlink a piece of mathjax text, but is it possible to hyperlink a word thats within say a box

bobble

15:10

@hexomino, another CCCC hint?

hexomino

@bobble Apologies, I've been so entranced by topological nim today that I've forgotten about this

CCCC Hint 2: "short and wide" is a single unit.

jafe

@hexomino i think it's ABLATE (remove material from) around SQUAT (short and wide) U (uniform), making ABSQUATULATE (leave abruptly)

Jeremy Dover

Oh, boy! Is it ABSQUATULATE?

Dangit, @jafe!?! :-)

jafe

heheheh

Jeremy Dover

Just learning the word is reward enough :-)

hexomino

15:21

@jafe This is correct!

Well done!

jafe

i was never getting that without the hint... had no idea "squat" has that meaning

John Dvorak

WAT

double WAT

jafe

CCCC: Nice for Italians to get a bit of parmesan for topping their food? (5)

hexomino

@JeremyDover Also, well done! Did you find the hint helpful too?

Jeremy Dover

@jafe: I think it's PIZZA. Italians call Nice "Nizza", and we get a bit of (P)armesan for its topping.

jafe

15:25

@JeremyDover that's it! nice work

Jeremy Dover

@hexomino: Got it exclusively from the hint. Contra jafe, "short and wide" gave me squat, and a regex search got me the word.

CCCC: Powder her bosom. The top two, right?

jafe

how many letters are we looking for? :)

Jeremy Dover

Grr...(4)

CCCC: Power her bosom. The top two, right? (4)

GRRRRR~!

CCCC: Powder her bosom. The top two, right? (4)

jafe

btw, non-native problems: i have no idea whether you'd actually say "for topping their food"... i know the way i put it sounds like they'd get the parmesan as a reward for topping their food (possibly with something else)

Jeremy Dover

IMHO, topping is a great word for cryptic setters. It is a noun for "something on top", and also a verb which can mean both "putting on top" (e.g., topping up a drink) and "removing the top" (e.g. topping a tree). I had no difficulty understanding what you meant.

Deusovi

16:18

@jafe That sounds pretty natural to me.

jafe

16:55

thanks!

yeah topping is pretty useful... i like indicators that can mean completely different things depending on the interpretation

like the "in possession of" i mentioned earlier... i was pretty amazed when i came across a clue where it meant "x in y" in the surface but "y in x" in the wordplay

Sphinx

17:23

Q: The trip of a lifetime... but to where?

Your best friend Alex is great, but she's a bit too into puzzles for your taste. Today, she sent you a package. It included a letter informing you that she’s planned the adventure of a lifetime for the two of you for next year… if you can figure out where the adventure will be, and the combinatio...

knowledge enigmatic-puzzle cipher

2 hours later…

jafe

18:54

rate the unorthodox clue:

Ubangi flowing here? (6)

answer's BANGUI* (city through which the ubangi river flows)

10 is "ech, fine with a question mark"

5 is "ugh, how dare you"

1 is "seems like you're trying to create a cryptic clue - these are generally separated into definition and wordplay parts, which..."

Deusovi

pretty close to 1 for me, but that's because I am strongly against semi-&lits

Avi

semi?

I don't see the "here" doing anything

Deusovi

Yes, hence the "semi".

It's a device sometimes used in more libertarian cryptics.

Not allowed by strictly Ximenian rules.

Avi

I see

jafe

19:12

i'm sure there's an actual &lit in there somewhere waiting to be written... closely related meanings and one word being easily transformable to the other is such a promising combination

1 hour later…

Jeremy Dover

20:18

How about "Wherein Ubangi flows" as an &lit? Definition-part, we can interpret this as "in which location the Ubangi flows", but wordplay-part, "wherein" seems like it could be neutral in the "in this wordplay, Ubangi flows" sense. Makes sense to me, but interested in other opinions too.

Deusovi

20:28

I definitely like that better

ooh, just had an idea

Ubangi's routing! (6)

with 'routing' being "location something is guided through" in the def, and "scattering (as a defeated army)" in the wordplay

jafe

yeah that's better

1 hour later…