The Sphinx's Lair

Sciborg

5:00 AM

i've got some much better deductions off the bat now

bobble

yay!

Sciborg

instead of just, like, randomly fitting shapes lol

bobble

@JeremyDover, I've got one group for your connect-wall but am having trouble identifying the rest of the Also-Rans. Too many old white guys who pose the same and look the same in pictures :(

Sciborg

Ah yes, the Old White Guy problem

bobble

I can, sadly, recognize a bunch of Old White Guy presidents, but knowing the Also-Rans was not important for AP US History

Sciborg

5:07 AM

i think i have one of the minoes

bobble

show picture?

Sciborg

do you want my whole thought board or just the minoes?

bobble

anything and everything! I like seeing people solve my puzzles

Sciborg

Deusovi

not convinced it can't be an L shape rather than a ⅃ shape

(fwiw that's all the progress i had too, apart from one other unshaded cell)

Sciborg

5:10 AM

it could be the other shape, that's true...

bobble

yeah, I don't think you can say the up-point has to be on the right

Bubbler

That must be an L, but it can be placed in multiple ways at that point

Sciborg

well, time to stare in confusion some more

bobble

Deus, did you figure out the rest by yourself or look at Bubbler's solution?

Deusovi

neither

well, i bashed my way to the end but i didn't find a nice path through yet

bobble

5:13 AM

It's a small enough board that case-bashing does work, I guess.

Deusovi

ah wait just saw the next step, neat

bobble

Sciborg, you want a poke as to where to look next?

Sciborg

no, i think i'm workin

Deusovi

solved, cool puzzle!

bobble

thank you!

Sciborg

5:16 AM

i think i hit a cool little deduction, let me make sure this works

this is kinda turning into a big thought board of a solution

bobble

MS Paint skills?

Deusovi

if you like this you may enjoy statue park

Sciborg

MS Paint skills

bobble

yeah, this is basically Statue Park, minus the white dots and with the constraint that all shapes must have a dot and all dots are part of different shapes

... come to think of it, that is quite a few differences

Sciborg

got stuck again, bahh

Deusovi

5:19 AM

it does have very similar shape-placement logic though

bobble

show progress?

I'm quite enjoying watching someone solve this

and am asking for my enjoyment

Want a poke now?

probably yeah

can bottom-left really be either maroon or green?

Sciborg

5:22 AM

...yes?

Bubbler

One of the two is instantly crossed out, think Nurikabe

Sciborg

wait

ahh, shit

i'm a dumbass

Deusovi

(that took me a while to see too, you aren't a dumbass)

bobble

(this was intended to be the deduction you make immediately after sorta-placing the L)

matt

@sciborg - you are anything but :)

bobble

5:23 AM

combining shape-placement and extension logic turns out to be difficult

Bubbler

Actually that part assumes some amount of experience with tetromino Statue Parks

Deusovi

i wouldn't say it assumes that but it certainly helps

bobble

I have a very shape-placy brain, so I see that kind of stuff immediately. Sometimes I forget that other people do not have as much practice.

oAlt

:0

Deusovi

i normally see it but didn't realize that i could make that deduction there for whatever reason - i noted "ah yeah this can't be S" and then carried on my way without realizing "wait there's only one shape it can be"

Sciborg

5:29 AM

solved it

bobble

YES

Sciborg

Good puzzle, I'm glad I finally got smart enough to solve it :D

bobble

you get a large trophy, handed to you by a gruff, many-pointed bobblie

oAlt

that is larger than the trophy

Sciborg

I took Deus's advice of testing my options to find contradictions

bobble

5:31 AM

wait why did you leave R4C6 - R4C7 with shading at 3rd row of pictures?

R what now?

r row, c column :0

oh, row column

R_C_ = row _, column _

Bubbler

Also, there are four ways to place the I horizontally, not two

bobble

5:32 AM

would you like to know logic you could use to skip case-bashing?

Bubbler

(and you're supposed to apply some more nurikabe after placing the T)

Sciborg

listen, i just learned how to do these today, cut me some slack

what was the logic i should have used?

Bubbler

:) Just keep in mind that the fun is not in case bashing, but in the logical path hidden behind the puzzle

Sciborg

I tried my best to find the logical path, sorry it got bash-y :p

Bubbler

For one possible logical path, you can see my answer

bobble

5:36 AM

I am making picture to show a separate path

Deusovi

to be clear, for "testing options to find contradictions" it's usually best to do that only in small places - the guideline i use is that if i can't do all the testing in my head, it's probably too far into a casebash to be intended

Sciborg

sorry

bobble

okay, so here you are after nurikabe-ing the T

What can you say about the blue square?

specifically, what happens if it is ocean?

Sciborg

um

bobble

is this a stuck "um"

Bubbler

5:41 AM

Hint: 2x2 twice and then reachability

bobble

to be clear, "blue square" is not the one my cursor is on

Sciborg

i am stuck

bobble

if it is ocean, is there any way to prevent 2x2 on either side?

(specifically left side)

Deusovi

if the blue cell is shaded then you get Problems

Bubbler

and you need to get away from Problems :)

Sciborg

5:46 AM

it looks like you can still prevent 2x2 if it's ocean?

bobble

how about the square it its left? if that is ocean as well then a 2x2 is formed

and is there any way to reach that square if blue square is ocean?

Sciborg

oh.

bobble

do you see now?

Sciborg

so that has to be a grey space

bobble

yes

Deusovi

5:48 AM

(that's the one i marked earlier)

bobble

now, at least 1 of the blue squares must be island

can you mark any as for-sure island?

as in, which can you reach?

Bubbler

Hint: T is already taken

Sciborg

well now you can only reach it with a straight piece, so that has to be the straight piece

bobble

same logic on the other side now! which of the blue can you reach?

Sciborg

can reach the bottom left square of the blue with the s-shaped piece

bobble

5:51 AM

can you reach any else?

Sciborg

no

bobble

okay, so I've nurikabe-d around the S to connect the oceans

can you see the only solution now?

Sciborg

yeah

Bubbler

Erm, no you can't shade R1C5 before unshading R5C6

bobble

ocean cannot go throw R5, because L will block it

so ocean must connect through top

oops that may have been a bit too big to gloss over

Bubbler

5:53 AM

Fair

bobble

so, bobble has finished presenting Solution to Tetromino Nurikabe

takes a bow

and now bobble must go to sleep

g'night

Deusovi

night!

Sciborg

Thank you for explaining, good night :)

i feel like at a certain point i start doing sideways jumps in these that i shouldn't be doing and i should try and go back and justify them with logical intended puzzle-y steps, will work on that.

Deusovi

yeah, it's good to be 100% sure of everything you write down

oh, did you see the two "intro pack rejects" i shared here

2 hours ago, by Deusovi

Sciborg

Yeah, i should give those a try :p

Deusovi

5:59 AM

you might like them

Sciborg

i feel bad because now that bobble explained it, it makes perfect sense, i just thought of it so differently i guess

Bubbler

If you're really stuck, you can learn from others' solution paths (make sure to convince yourself why it works though)

I guess it is one of the uniqueness (and actual strength) of Puzzling SE

Sciborg

Your path made so much sense, mine was like a serial killer mood board

oh no, i just realized i have to count 17 boxes

msh210

@Bubbler 'fraid not

Bubbler

Oh, okay.

Sciborg

6:08 AM

It was a solid idea though

Sphinx

0

Q: Lasers :- Introduction (Level $1$)

Lasers is a new type of puzzle I created. (Taken help from this example, The Lazy Laser Physicist: Part 2) There will more ideas to come too, and they will be a bit simple yet different. Rules :- There will be lasers which are shaped like an arrow. The arrows pointing in the respective directio...

i think this is it

yep!

there's a new master nurikaber in the chatroom guys

oAlt

YEAH

Bubbler

6:18 AM

Bronze badge: Master any one grid-deduction genre.

Sciborg

I will wield this power with great responsibility

Bubbler

Now to the Gold badge: Master the grid-deduction category as a whole.

Deusovi

haha good luck

Sciborg

A gentleperson can have dreams

Deus if you've got any more practice level packs, send 'em my way, I really like them :D

Deusovi

not any of my own, but highly recommend mellowmelon's intro packs for statue park and fillomino

mellowmelon.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/pack02statuepark_v2.pdf

mellowmelon.wordpress.com/2012/11/13/puzzle-pack-4

the latter was what got me into logic puzzles, and both are some of my favorite genres

Sciborg

6:28 AM

ooh, I've never done a statue park. Is it similar logic?

Deusovi

sort of!

statue park is basically entirely the "shape-placement" logic from the tetromino nurikabe you did

but the variety of piece banks make it pretty interesting

Sciborg

Sounds neat, I will give it a try :D

oAlt

hi jafe hi htm :0

Sciborg

ahh, okay, so the black circles have to be part of the shapes, and the white circles cannot be part of the shapes.

Deusovi

yep!

Sciborg

6:30 AM

This looks fun :D

Deusovi

it is a very fun genre

(oh and both of the puzzle packs have helpful depictions of what a solve path might look like!)

HTM

@oAlt Hi :)

Sciborg

I like the note about "you can solve these through intuition, but it's less fun"

Deusovi

definitely - solving by guessing often misses the really neat tricks

oAlt

:0

Bubbler

6:36 AM

:0 doesn't ping a chat message?

(fortunately it doesn't)

oAlt

yeah nah it doesn't

Sciborg

These statue parks are so weird, I'm now having to unlearn all the nurikabe rules I just learned to try and wrap my brain around these :p

Bubbler

6:53 AM

It happens while you're starting to learn a couple of similar-looking genres

but eventually (hopefully) you'll get good at mentally switching the rules

jafe

8:50 AM

@msh210 reaching here but a DRESS is a cover, musical indicates a homophone, and the DRES are folk

Sphinx

10:16 AM

1

Q: What the guiding guide guide

Here's a riddle I created for Puzzling: Two guardians for a guideRadiant ladies on her side.Oh back, the first preside;Herb pac the second replied.Both have notorious great pride,For id luny was cast aside.Read the lines and please don't hideWhat the guiding guide guide. HINT #1: HINT #2:

riddle knowledge

oAlt

11:37 AM

"I love sports. Especially, I have a great affinity for baseball." Is "especially" allowed to start a sentence like this?

John Dvorak

Yes

oAlt

Epic, thanks

Mithical

12:14 PM

@oAlt sounds quite weird though

From a pure English viewpoint I'd write "Specifically, I have a..." or "I especially have a..."

(I presume there's a CC or something at play here though)

oAlt

12:27 PM

@Mithical yeah it does

nah it aint a cryptic clue, just an example similar to one of the lines in a post i edited

and also I saw @bobble 's Five Fours and @Ankoganit 's Legendary Wall on HNQ :D

Ankoganit

ooh, nice!

oAlt

and it hit 1k views too how great

Ankoganit

:)

Mithical

1:19 PM

Y'know, I've never done acid, but from what I've heard about it I imagine it must feel almost like reading through the transcript of this room.

8

oAlt

~~especially Avi's out-of-context monologues~~ do you have a specific portion of the transcript in mind that illustrates this?

Sphinx

1:56 PM

1

Q: Lasers: The Reflection (Level $2$)

Previous Level:- Lasers : Introduction (Level $1$) So here is my lasers level $2$ continued, and I have something new, mirrors ! Rules : There will be lasers which are shaped like an arrow. The arrows pointing in the respective direction shows where the laser goes and the colour shows the colour...

visual optimization physics

1

Q: Sergeant Sequence calls for back-up

An entry in Fortnightly Topic Challenge #42: Wordless Connecting Walls "Sequence, get in here! Your man's definitely up to something!" The mood at Headquarters was tense. Sergeant Sequence obediently entered the Chief Investigator's office to find him staring at a map on his wall, tugging at his...

pattern story geography connect-wall

oAlt

3:04 PM

must-- do-- requirements-- and not-- succumb to-- sleep--

Sphinx

3:35 PM

1

Q: Find the missing number (HackerRank general cognitive test question)

HackerRank general cognitive test has the following question that I cannot solve: Please find the missing number: 6 8 6 2 4 2 9 7 8 9 9 8 ? 1 3 Can you help me understand the logic here?

pattern

bobble

hehe "Five Fours" was my placeholder title until I thought of something better

oAlt

haha

Sciborg

Fancy seeing you here :p

How is your day going?

bobble

Great so far! No tics as of yet, which is nice after last night :)

Sciborg

Was there a particular tic trigger or just stress in general?

bobble

3:40 PM

Well, two days ago I forgot to take the tic-suppressing medicine due to election anxiety. That probably had something to do with it.

Sciborg

Ahh

Glad today is going better!

bobble

So I took a double-dose last night, which hopefully won't throw me out of whack :) Playing with drugs!

Sciborg

Do drugs kids

I've been doing my knuckle/finger tics at work again today, rather annoying when I'm trying to write code :p

Deusovi

hopefully you're feeling a bit better today! anxiety is awful - take care of yourself

Sciborg

Self-care is important!

oAlt

3:43 PM

true

bobble

I have an extremely wide variety of tics - basic hand shaking/flapping all the way to hitting myself on the head with books and to spinning around while clapping.

Sciborg

Nowadays mine are mostly limited to knuckle cracking, I used to do flapping and rocking pretty badly as a kid but I've learned to suppress it in adulthood.

my friends all have a joke about when I'm doing something stressful on Discord calls and they can hear me just incessantly popping my knuckles

bobble

The tics are on top of (and sometimes are the same as) stims, which I very much do not want to suppress

Sciborg

The distinction between stims and tics is very important

bobble

should we talk about puzzles now?

Sciborg

3:49 PM

puzzles

oAlt

let's do it

Sciborg

i'm still working on learning statue parks at the moment!

bobble

how many Statue Parks did you get through?

Sciborg

none yet, lmao

Deusovi

puzzles!

bobble

3:49 PM

want to ask for help here?

Deusovi

:56073291 Don't be rude.

This is not something you should make jokes about if you're not personally affected by it.

matt

:|

bobble

yeah, I have literally been reduced to sobbing in a ball on a bathroom floor by tics. please no jokes.

Sciborg

matt, make fun of me all you want, but please don't be rude to bobble, she was sharing something personal.

Deusovi

Anxiety is very much not a fun time to deal with, and you should absolutely not joke about other people's anxiety. Ever.

Sciborg

3:52 PM

that, yeah

not cool

bobble

To be fair, the doctors never figured out what was causing my tics. They're not even sure it's tics, that was just the most convenient diagnosis they could get, since I tested out of epilepsy.

Sciborg

Hopefully things get better for you, having tics is extremely stressful.

bobble

I'm on half the maximum dose of my medicine, so if the tics keep being bad I'll up my dosage.

but: puzzles? Statue Park? help with solving?

Sciborg

I wish I could help in a more concrete way, but I'm always here if you need to talk or need a virtual hug.

Deusovi

i know the arm flapping thing is a common trait of autism/adhd - would be happy to talk more about that privately if you'd like. (also what sciborg said, i'm also here to talk if you ever need it)

but yes! puzzles!

Sciborg

3:56 PM

Puzzles!

bobble

PUZZLES

Sciborg

I think my struggle on Statue Park so far is the active effort to not do intuitive shape thinking and think purely logically in steps, since that's where the actual puzzle lies.

Deusovi

it helps to focus on one cell at a time in smaller puzzles

bobble

shape thinking is important for some harder ones

Deusovi

a lot of the 'region extension' logic is similar to what you already know from nurikabe (but color-flipped, kinda)

but yes shape thinking is still important - you just need to be sure that your shape thinking is rigorous

bobble

3:57 PM

If you want an example of very complicated shape thinking, see Deus's answer to my Bobblie Statue Park.

Sciborg

I'm trying to apply Nurikabe logic to it, i like to imagine the black circles as being numbered regions given that I already know how big the regions need to be with the tetromino set.

bobble

but they can merge with each other!

Deusovi

makes sense! that type of logic is definitely useful. keep in mind that you can merge sets of black circles though (or create more shapes out of nowhere)

Sciborg

the problem is just that I don't have a lot of 1-spaces or obvious Nurikabe deductions at the moment

Deusovi

how far are you in the first puzzle?

Sciborg

3:58 PM