The Sphinx's Lair

12:10 AM

i want the c4 to be POLOKWANE, the capital of south africa's limpopo province, but can't quite see how... P is the provincial capital, the "one" is either ONE or LONE, containing KWA (foreign character, i.e. korean 과)

but then "western side of [south africa]" would have to be O, OL or LO

Sphinx

12:29 AM

1

Q: Behind the clouds

The cloud obscures three rays. What are they?

oAlt

1:24 AM

@juicifer oh my hahahah

oAlt

1:39 AM

oh man I'm gonna have to search for every country aren't I

Oh wait no, not all countries have provinces as the names of their subdivisions

oAlt

2:40 AM

@juicifer After much searching, I think the answer is [PICHILEMU](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pichilemu) . It's P (Provincial capital) I (one) on the west side of CHILE (where Pichilemu is) with MU (foreign (Greek) character).

It's also the capital of the province of Cardenal Caro, and is right beside the western border of Chile. However I don't know what "foreign character" is doing in the surface...

Why doesn't the formatting work >_<

juicifer

@oAlt yes it is!

"foreign character" in the sense of "this place has a lot of character"

oAlt

Hmm makes sense

Anyway that was quite a surprise... I didn't expect a city to contain in the middle of its name the name of its own country lol

HTM

and have the remainder be greek letters at that

a cryptic setter's dream

oAlt

Ahahaha

juicifer

@HTM yeah that clue almost wrote itself haha

Jafe

3:09 AM

hah very nice

oAlt

3:34 AM

I hope the formatting doesn't flop again

Wait still revising whoops

oAlt

3:52 AM

I give up trying to make this more complicated

CCCC: Volcano's active after May (5)

Jafe

4:07 AM

@oAlt MAY+ON, a volcano in the philippines

oAlt

@Jafe yup!

Jafe

CCCC: Head of famous family is given permission to helm orchestras playing with daughter? (5,7,10)

oAlt

4:20 AM

@Jafe MAYER AMSCHEL ROTHSCHILD, head of the Rothschild banking dynasty = MAY (is given permission to) + HELMORCHESTRAS playing + (with) CHILD (daughter)

That was one of the first search results I saw when I was attempting to solve Stiv's C4 lol

M Oehm

4:31 AM

Nice clue, but a missed opportunity to use "Crazy M Oehm scratchily heralds head of famous family"

(Let's say using my handle as anagram fodder hasn't done my modesty any good ...)

Jafe

hehe that's right

also missed the opportunity to continue the "after may" theme

M Oehm

That would have been even fresher.

oAlt

CCCC: XK = S (4)

M Oehm

@oAlt That's a K + IS + S.

oAlt

@MOehm yup!

M Oehm

4:48 AM

That clue satisfies the KISS principle.

oAlt

Loll

Jafe

heheh

M Oehm

5:15 AM

CCCC: Fictional captain was ordered to anchor at the quai to evade the shores of Tobago (7)

oAlt

5:37 AM

aha, i also had this in mind when attempting to answer the fictional captain clue. @MOehm Captain HADDOCK = HAD TO DOCK (was ordered to anchor at the quai) - (to evade) TO (the shores of Tobago).

M Oehm

@oAlt Yes, correct.

Clearly, the world needs more fictional captains.

Jafe

5:57 AM

when you call the fictional captains' emergency line you never know whether they're going to send captain america or captain obvious

M Oehm

Or Captain Birdseye, who will bury the villains under a heap of fish fingers.

Jafe

"not a hero we deserved... but a hero we needed"

oAlt

CCCC: Barbaric man stands by the base of mountain behind the clouds, initially ambitious (7)

been a while since a title clue lol

Jafe

well if it was barbaric woman it would clearly be Barbara

Sphinx

9:21 AM

1

Q: A Riddle In Between

I'm looking for a 10-letter word. Right now I'm twelfth. But now I'm tenth. Now I'm sixth. It's weird I keep changing, now I am third. What Am I?

riddle word

Sphinx

10:11 AM

0

Q: Determine the hidden digits in this long division puzzle

The following problem was given in the Eureka journal (October 1963/University of Cambridge). This problem can be solved by hand without computers. There is a unique solution. Have fun solving! Fill in the asterisks with digits other than three to make a correct division. You can assume that all...

mathematics logical-deduction no-computers missing-digits

AncientSwordRage

10:47 AM

@oAlt would you accept 3-4 partial answers in lieu of a full answer?

oAlt

11:36 AM

@AncientSwordRage let's hear them

and just in case others get ideas too

Jafe

well i'm hitting a wall starting from the assumption that the barbaric man is CONAN so i think the def might be barbaric

which would also explain why it's "barbaric man" and not something like "barbarian"

M Oehm

Vandal? Hun? "Barbaric" could also be an angaram indicator., but "man" doesn't make a good fodder, unless you want to clue amnesty, which doesn't mean ambitious.

AncientSwordRage

@oAlt d(-b)y (nam) i+c(loud) - def. ambitious: issue - missing DI, of mountain behind the clouds unaccounted for// homer (barbaric man) i c(louds): issue - stands by the base of mountain behind the unaccounted for // ADAM A(mbitious) (mountai)N T -def. barbaric, issues: too many to mention

there's some others but nothing great

also some of the defs are from wordhippo which is ... loose with what it considers a synonym

I'm assuming by the silence that I've given someone the spark of an answer which they're working on now

Jafe

11:52 AM

i have nothing

AncientSwordRage

@Jafe JAFOE?

3

oAlt

@AncientSwordRage yep thanks very much. @oAlt I think the answer is--- just kidding

AncientSwordRage

@oAlt HAH

Jafe

willem jafoe... "i'm something of an actor myself"

2

CAVEMAN is seven letters, and has "man" behind something, and also e for base, or maybe n for base of mountain, and also contains c for clouds initially, or maybe a for initially ambitious

i wonder if "the" is important... i know it's literally from the puzzle title but the title could still have been "behind clouds initially" if the the wasn't needed

AncientSwordRage

HE(man) A(mbitious) THE (mountai)N

clouds as in obscures/surrounds

oAlt

12:02 PM

@AncientSwordRage yup!

AncientSwordRage

:o

oAlt

although could you send a clearer explanation of the wordplay? thanks. :D

Jafe

aaa nice

AncientSwordRage

Barbaric(def. Heathen) man(he) 'stands by' the with 'base of' (-mountai)'n' behind (as in the 'n' is after the following) 'the' and clouds (as in surrounds) 'a' (from 'initially ambitious')

I'm never good at writing the explanation clearly

M Oehm

For what it's worth, I found the first answer clear enough, if it is read together with the clue.

Jafe

12:07 PM

same here

oAlt

@AncientSwordRage yup!

@Jafe @MOehm yeah that's fine

i just personally prefer more complete explanations. :0

AncientSwordRage

well we have both now

oAlt

(and just in case others in the chat don't understand, which has happened more than once before)

AncientSwordRage

@oAlt yup, I've definitely solved one of these before

Jafe

12:35 PM

argh, think i started a way too ambitious project but now can't abandon it after getting this far...

you can expect to hear me talk about it like george RR martin talks about Winds of Winter

blink-and-you'll-miss-it sneak peek at one of the grids, it's a candy cane hexagon

oAlt

woah :000

AncientSwordRage

12:49 PM

CCCC: Perhaps an ambulatory beam from star over a broken oculus? (10)

Sphinx

1:08 PM

0

Q: Stitches solution and tips

I've lately played a lot of "Stiches" puzzle game on this site : https://www.puzzle-stitches.com/ . Slowly going on harder ones, I'm know stuck on a "10x10/3÷ Hard Stitches" puzzle (see screenshots below). I can't see what to do to go futher without doing a blind guess. Does someone knows how to ...

logical-deduction

oAlt

@AncientSwordRage I think this is MIRACULOUS, with the ambulatory beam referring to the miraculous beam in the ambulatory of Christchurch Priory. The wordplay is MIRA + CULOUS (broken "oculus").

Sphinx

2:24 PM

1

Q: Six undefined words

X is an important part of something that constitutes Y. That 'something' depends on Z. A, B and C are important parts of something that also constitutes Y. That 'something' depends on X and Z. Identify X, Y, Z and A, B, C with the help of the following three operations. Operation 1 (Examples)...

knowledge enigmatic-puzzle wordplay

AncientSwordRage

2:38 PM

@oAlt Correct!

oAlt

3:08 PM

:D

CCCC: Information disseminated at academy... partly (4)

juicifer

@oAlt _D AT A_, who of course is a fictional ~~captain~~ lieutenant commander

oAlt

:P

@juicifer yup!

juicifer

3:54 PM

CCCC: Tortured man with evil spirit - in bad shape? (9)

msh210

7:06 PM

Puzzle-minded folks may be interested in a recreational-math question I recently posted elsewhere.

AncientSwordRage

@juicifer I keep coming back to MALFORMED, but is it MAL(colm) or MAL (bad) or AL or ALF? FORM is in there, as well as FORM (shape).

Oh and if L-forme is a thing it's got MAD around it 🤷🏻‍♂️

Chris Cudmore

8:47 PM

@BeastlyGerbil There's a pending edit to your rock and roll question.

Beastly Gerbil

9:05 PM

Yeah I'm not sure whether to accept or not, was hoping community could vote on it (I'm not sure if it's gone in the queue though?)

On one hand it clarifies the statements, but on the other I want it to look simple, and more lines makes it seem more complicated

I personally want to reject, I think it's fairly clear they are separate, but not sure

Ankoganit

I approved the edit. I feel in a puzzle where the crux is avoiding one specific almost universal assumption, it's worth being precise about the assumptions you do want the solver to make

Beastly Gerbil

Yeah fair enough, also makes it more clear they are statements which is also key, I've approved

Sphinx

9:36 PM

2

Q: Pigpen Tic-Tac-Toe

This puzzle is part of the Monthly Topic Challenge #3: Pencil and Paper Games Introducing a new tic-tac-toe variant of my own devising (at least I haven't found an equivalent anywhere online). Background and example Xavier and Olivia are playing 'Pigpen tic-tac-toe'. The game is played on a larg...

letters game tic-tac-toe

Sphinx

11:17 PM

2

Q: Any help with decoding this cypher?

Can anyone help me decode this cypher? I have absolutely no clue what the key is. All I’ve been told is that it’s a substitution cypher and looking for words with double letters, like ‘mass’ and ‘kill’, may help. (My subject in school is mass killings). Even any tips would be great! Thanks :)

cipher

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