Can You Decode the Usernames from These Cryptic Clues?

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The discussion revolves around a game where participants create cryptic clues that hint at the usernames of members from the Physics Forums. Players attempt to guess the usernames based on the clues provided, often engaging in reasoning and collaborative problem-solving. Examples of clues include "fancy Russian included," which led to the answer "cyrus," and "disenfranchize, without Che inside," which resulted in "franznietzsche." The game encourages creativity and linguistic play, with participants sharing their thought processes and explanations for their guesses. As the game progresses, several clues remain unsolved, prompting players to offer hints or additional clues. The atmosphere is light-hearted, with humor and camaraderie evident among participants as they navigate the challenges of the cryptic clues.
  • #151
siddharth said:
24: It's got to be GCT then
Good one, Sid! That earns you a ban from 25, 26, and 27!

Explanation :
24. initially, three of the bases of the basis
initially => only the first letters (initials) count
basis (of life) = DNA
bases = A, T, G, C (from adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine from the nucleotide bases of DNA)
 
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  • #152
Kurdt said:
Jason was captain of the argus and if I remember he encountered medusa who could turn people to stone?
That's the correct answer and the first part is correct - Jason sailed the Argus in search of the Golden Fleece. But the second part - albeit a clever guess - is wrong; I don't think the Argonauts encountered Medusa in their journeys (perhaps, SA can confirm?). The only people I know that had anything to do with Medusa were Poseidon, who may have raped her, and Perseus, who slew her. In any case, you have credit for the solution.

But for completeness, the ROX needs accounting for.
 
  • #153
Ouch! I made a big mistake in Q21 - got my history and geography all messed up (I should Google these things to confirm I'm not screwing up big time).

Will correct it soon.
 
  • #154
Gokul43201 said:
But for completeness, the ROX needs accounting for.

Oh, that's right(R) by the beast(OX).
 
  • #155
Are we allowed to make up our own clues? If so,

31) Mister, try ride in it! It's mad!
 
  • #156
siddharth said:
Are we allowed to make up our own clues? If so,

31) Mister, try ride in it! It's mad!
Dimitri Terryn?
 
  • #157
neutrino said:
Dimitri Terryn?

explanation?
 
  • #158
siddharth said:
explanation?
Anagram of Mister(Mr) try ride in it.
 
  • #159
neutrino said:
Oh, that's right(R) by the beast(OX).
Correct.

Update on progress:

1. fancy Russian included -- cyrus (hidden clue) - solved by cyrus

2. disenfranchize, without Che inside -- Franz (remove all the letters in 'Che inside' from 'disenfranchize') - solved by cyrus

3. see no jogger stumbling -- George Jones - solved by wolram & George (anagram of 'see no jogger')

4. handheld firework, somewhat spoonerized - larkspur (spoonerize 'sparkler') - solved by mattmns

5. the French back -- EL, Al, etc ('the' in French is le/la; backwards) - solved by siddharth & neutrino

6. In short, are you Schutzstaffel? -- Russ (are = R, you = U, Schutzstaffel = SS) - solved by arildno

7. be a moron, silly! -- moonbear (anagram of 'be a moron') - solved by George

8. She performed a Vicker's test on the subject and proclaimed __________ ! -- Math Is Hard (Math is a subject and the Vickers Test measures hardness) - solved by George

9. mount Saint Man, clumsily -- mattmns (mount saint man = mt+st+man, and jumble it) - solved by neutrino

10. crazy as shelter -- heartless (anagram of 'as shelter') - solved by George

11. Only a resumé? O, that's strange! -- loseyourname (anagram of 'only a resume o') - solved by George

12. It flows through an Ouroboros -- cyclovenom - (Ouroboros is a snake swallowing its own tail) - solved by arunbg13. Shere Khan, with room -- SpaceTiger (Shere Khan = tiger (from, for instance, Kipling's Jungle Book, with room or space) - solved by neutrino

14. one turin collision -- neutrino (anagram) - solved by siddharth & neutrino

15. if real, then symmetric -- SelfAdjoint (think matrices) - solved by Sir George

16. See you in Mars -- Marcus (marCUs) - solved by 3trQN

17. Whip It band loses half a grand -- Evo (Devo - D) - solved by Astro

18. Terrible John Hunting -- Ivan Seeking (John = Ivan, Slavic and Hunting = Seeking) - solved by Astro

19. He's still alive - but then, he's not feline -- Schrodinger's Dog (reference to S's Cat) - solved by kurdt

20. short mountain of tomatoes missing, there exists some backwards mixture -- Tom Mattson (awaiting complete solution) - partially solved by Astronuc

21. in short, you are short of a racing state held in back of left hand - unsolved *this clue was corrected from its original version, which was erroneous

22. screwing around in a lord -- arildno (anagram) - solved by Lisa!

23. a bowl is a container -- Lisa (hiddenclue) - solved by siddharth

24. initially, three of the bases of the basis -- GCT (from the initials for guanine, cytosine and thymine) - solved by Siddharth

25. short engineer: 506 far off? - unsolved

26. Eerie garden of peril -- Danger (anagram as well as a synonym) - solved by Lisa!

27. Argus' captain is right by the beast -- JasonRox (Argus' captain = Jason, of Greek myth, right = R, beast = ox) - solved by kurdt and completed by neutrino

28. No longer man enough, we hear[/b] -- Rach (man enough sounds like - hence 'we hear' - maninoff) - solved by Siddharth

29. Mrs. Derek has her units of memory messed up -- BobG (Bo + GB) - solved by MIH

30. he had a vector hidden - DaveC (hidden clue) - solved by Siddharth

31. Mister, try ride in it! It's mad! - Dimitri Terryn (anagram) - solved by neutrino

32. Sheep and lion missing an eye somehow -- marlon (sheep = ram, lion - i = lon) - solved by Gokul
 
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  • #160
23: Lisa (contained in a bowl is a container)
 
  • #161
Here's another one:
32. Sheep and lion missing an eye somehow.

Gokul, could you please highlight those clues which are yet to be solved?
 
  • #162
siddharth said:
23: Lisa (contained in a bowl is a container)
Correct!

I'm also getting rid of the temporary ban rule - it's impossible to keep track of who's where. So everyone's back in - no curfews.
 
  • #163
neutrino said:
Gokul, could you please highlight those clues which are yet to be solved?
Done! Unsolved clues are in bold.
 
  • #164
neutrino said:
Here's another one:
32. Sheep and lion missing an eye somehow.
Marlon?

Sheep = ram, lion - i = lon
 
  • #165
Gokul43201 said:
Marlon?

Sheep = ram, lion - i = lon
Bingo! ...and thanks. :smile:
 
  • #166
30: DaveC (hidden)

How can you even think of such clues, Gokul? It's like an art!
 
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  • #167
siddharth said:
30: DaveC (hidden)
Correct, Sid!

That leaves 5 clues not completely cracked. Perhaps, in a little bit, I'll throw in some hints for the harder ones.
 
  • #168
28: Long shot, but is this Rach3? He used to be Rachmaninoff and maninoff sounds like man enough.
 
  • #169
siddharth said:
28: Long shot, but is this Rach3? He used to be Rachmaninoff and maninoff sounds like man enough.
Long shot, but right on the target! Nicely done!

Of course, one doesn't need to know the history of Rach3 to solve this - but you do have to know about the Russian composer.
 
  • #170
29. Mrs. Derek has her units of memory messed up - unsolved

BobG :smile:

Bo (Derek) + BG (GB backwards)
GB = Gigabyte
 
  • #171
Math Is Hard said:
29. Mrs. Derek has her units of memory messed up - unsolved

BobG :smile:

Bo (Derek) + BG (GB backwards)
GB = Gigabyte
Nice one, MIH!

Now who wouldn't like to see BobG in a Bo Derek "costume" ! :biggrin:
 
  • #172
Math Is Hard said:
29. Mrs. Derek has her units of memory messed up - unsolved

BobG :smile:

Bo (Derek) + BG (GB backwards)
GB = Gigabyte

I'm 18 and I never thought of that! I spent a good 30 mins trying to anagram mrsderekbyte, and it's variations.
 
  • #173
Gokul43201 said:
Nice one, MIH!

Now who wouldn't like to see BobG in a Bo Derek "costume" ! :biggrin:
For some reason I though Bo Derek was a male :redface:, and didn't consider that as being part of the clue.
 
  • #174
siddharth said:
I'm 18 and I never thought of that! I spent a good 30 mins trying to anagram mrsderekbyte, and it's variations.
Yay...company! :biggrin:
 
  • #175
Gokul43201 said:
Nice one, MIH!
Thanks!:smile:
Now who wouldn't like to see BobG in a Bo Derek "costume" ! :biggrin:
uh oh, here comes another poll. :biggrin:
 
  • #176
neutrino said:
For some reason I though Bo Derek was a male :redface:
How dare you blaspheme thusly? Go wash your mouth out with soap!
 
  • #177
Yes, Sir. :(
 
  • #178
Looks like we're left with the short ones! Time for some hints.

20. short mountain of tomatoes missing, there exists some backwards mixture -- Tom Mattson (awaiting complete solution) - partially solved by Astronuc

Notice the italics - and think math.
21. in short, you are short of a racing state held in back of left hand -

I've already said we're talking about horse racing. What state is associated with a horse race? And the complete answer to this clue is 6 letters long.

25. short engineer: 506 far off?

This too is 6 letters long - no wait. It's actually 4,6 - now that's a huge hint.Perhaps next time, I'll try and fashion a crossword.
 
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  • #179
Here's one that shouldn't be too hard.

DAMN JERSEYS
 
  • #180
Is #25 a jumble of ENGDVI? (Oops...have I told too much?)
 
  • #181
neutrino said:
Is #25 a jumble of ENGDVI? (Oops...have I told too much?)
Getting close. I sort of screwed up on the hint. See the correction above.
 
  • #182
Gokul43201 said:
25. short engineer: 506 far off?

This too is 6 letters long - no wait. It's actually 4,6 - now that's a huge hint.


Perhaps next time, I'll try and fashion a crossword.

Probably fred garvin from what you and neutrino have given so far.
 
  • #183
Good one, kurdt. My assumption that a short engineer is just ENG was obviously wrong. :biggrin:
 
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  • #184
Correct - it's engr + dvi + far (mixed up) = fred garvin
 
  • #185
jimmysnyder said:
Here's one that shouldn't be too hard.

DAMN JERSEYS

Mad Jess Nery

aka

James Snyder.
 
  • #186
OK is see the DVI is 500 + 6 = 506. Doh!

21. in short, you are short of a racing state held in back of left hand

The state I think of for equine racing is Kentucky.
 
Last edited:
  • #187
21. Hurkyl, ky and u and r within Left Hand backwards.
 
  • #188
fi said:
21. Hurkyl, ky and u and r within Left Hand backwards.
Nice one, fi!

Last man standing (actually, limping on one foot) is 20.
 
  • #189
George Jones said:
Mad Jess Nery
Close enough. There are probably many anagram servers on the net. I used this one.
http://wordsmith.org/anagram/
 
  • #190
Gokul43201 said:
Last man standing (actually, limping on one foot) is 20.
I presume it has to do with 'sn', but I looked for the shorthand and didn't find anything.
 
  • #191
The only thing I can come up with for 20) there exists some
connected with math is that it is an anagram for
"set some(sum) six three " = nine .
Am I close ? :-p
 
  • #192
The short mountain is Mtn
Tomatoes missing an E (backwards 'there exists' symbol)

MTN + TOMATOS (jumble them up) = Tom Mattson

Late edit: The short mountain could also be Mnt.
 
Last edited:
  • #193
Ah! I was reading the clue somewhat differently. :rolleyes:

I know \exists, but I read 'backwards mixture'.
 
  • #194
neutrino said:
The short mountain is Mtn
Tomatoes missing an E (backwards 'there exists' symbol)

MTN + TOMATOS (jumble them up) = Tom Mattson

Late edit: The short mountain could also be Mnt.
Good one, neutrino!

And that completes the game for me. I'm going to be busy with work again, but others may continue to make up clues if they wish. I'll include a final update, now.
 
  • #195
Gokul43201 said:
22. screwing around in a lord
Sheer brilliance, Gokul.
 
  • #196
Final Update (?)

1. fancy Russian included -- cyrus (hidden clue) - solved by cyrus

2. disenfranchize, without Che inside -- Franz (remove all the letters in 'Che inside' from 'disenfranchize') - solved by cyrus

3. see no jogger stumbling -- George Jones - solved by wolram & George (anagram of 'see no jogger')

4. handheld firework, somewhat spoonerized - larkspur (spoonerize 'sparkler') - solved by mattmns

5. the French back -- EL, Al, etc ('the' in French is le/la; backwards) - solved by siddharth & neutrino

6. In short, are you Schutzstaffel? -- Russ (are = R, you = U, Schutzstaffel = SS) - solved by arildno

7. be a moron, silly! -- moonbear (anagram of 'be a moron') - solved by George

8. She performed a Vicker's test on the subject and proclaimed __________ ! -- Math Is Hard (Math is a subject and the Vickers Test measures hardness) - solved by George

9. mount Saint Man, clumsily -- mattmns (mount saint man = mt+st+man, and jumble it) - solved by neutrino

10. crazy as shelter -- heartless (anagram of 'as shelter') - solved by George

11. Only a resumé? O, that's strange! -- loseyourname (anagram of 'only a resume o') - solved by George

12. It flows through an Ouroboros -- cyclovenom - (Ouroboros is a snake swallowing its own tail) - solved by arunbg


13. Shere Khan, with room -- SpaceTiger (Shere Khan = tiger (from, for instance, Kipling's Jungle Book, with room or space) - solved by neutrino

14. one turin collision -- neutrino (anagram) - solved by siddharth & neutrino

15. if real, then symmetric -- SelfAdjoint (think matrices) - solved by Sir George

16. See you in Mars -- Marcus (marCUs) - solved by 3trQN

17. Whip It band loses half a grand -- Evo (Devo - D) - solved by Astro

18. Terrible John Hunting -- Ivan Seeking (John = Ivan, Slavic and Hunting = Seeking) - solved by Astro

19. He's still alive - but then, he's not feline -- Schrodinger's Dog (reference to S's Cat) - solved by kurdt

20. short mountain of tomatoes missing, there exists some backwards mixture -- Tom Mattson (mtn+tomatoes-E) - solved by neutrino & Astronuc

21. in short, you are short of a racing state held in back of left hand -- Hurkyl (U R + KY inside 'LH' backwards - *the error in the original form of this clue was due to having Ur and Baku temporarily swapping places in my head * ) - solved by fi

22. screwing around in a lord -- arildno (anagram) - solved by Lisa!

23. a bowl is a container -- Lisa (hiddenclue) - solved by siddharth

24. initially, three of the bases of the basis -- GCT (from the initials for guanine, cytosine and thymine) - solved by Siddharth

25. short engineer: 506 far off? -- fred garvin (engr+DVI+far and jumble) - solved by kurdt and neutrino

26. Eerie garden of peril -- Danger (anagram as well as a synonym) - solved by Lisa!

27. Argus' captain is right by the beast -- JasonRox (Argus' captain = Jason, of Greek myth, right = R, beast = ox) - solved by kurdt and completed by neutrino

28. No longer man enough, we hear -- Rach (man enough sounds like - hence 'we hear' - maninoff) - solved by Siddharth

29. Mrs. Derek has her units of memory messed up -- BobG (Bo + GB) - solved by MIH

30. he had a vector hidden -- DaveC (hidden clue) - solved by Siddharth

31. Mister, try ride in it! It's mad! -- Dimitri Terryn (anagram) - solved by neutrino

32. Sheep and lion missing an eye somehow -- marlon (sheep = ram, lion - i = lon) - solved by Gokul

33. Damn Jerseys -- james snyder (anagram) - solved by George


That's All Folks!
 
  • #197
This was a great weekend solving clues. Thanks, Gokul.
 
  • #198
Gokul said:
That's All Folks!
...except perhaps for a little horn tootin'!

I tried to make some of the clues have a real relevance to things I knew about the person they were about. Here's a recap of those other connections:

1. I wanted to do this, to sort of pull cyrus' leg - he has no respect for Russian aviation engineering (as seen from his jabs in the "Tsu in a MiG" thread)

2. In acknowledgment of franz's political insights upon expanded executive power.

3. I know George goes for walks at insanely (and I kid you not) cold temperatures. When I read about that, I figured that either he must have been a runner, or this was some kind of unbreakable habit. I haven't since been able to dissolve the picture in my head of George striding steadfastly against a hailstorm with gale-force winds knocking trees down all around him - the stuff of legends. :smile:

4. This was inspired by larkspur's question in the "fire in the sky" thread about whether sparklers qualified as fireworks.

6. This was pulling Russ' leg - he's spearheaded the rebuttal to the common 'Police State' theme in P&WA.

17. This was somewhat inspired by the "Xena costume" thread, and my foggy memory of the Whip It video.

22. Actually, there's no additional connections here...sorry!

24. I wanted to make this a chemistry clue (for GCT) - it ended up being biochemistry, but that's better than nothing.

25. Fred is an engineer. He's also only 11 inches tall! :biggrin:

28. This is based on BobG's response to Rach in the "Complaint" thread.

29. This was inspired by the thought of BobG in a Xena costume. :eek:
 
  • #199
Gokul, that was an absolutely awesome game! Incredible amount of thought went into that, thank you!
 
  • #200
Thanks, Gokul! Those were fantastic clues! Beautifully done!
 

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