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Triple Slartifer, Part 12 -- New Rules


Slarti

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"My names," Slartibus said to the Demon, "are like--"
But the Demon knocked him out of the way and replied:

 

"SLARTIFER!!! SLARTIFER!!! SLARTIFER!!!1!!!!!!1!!!!!"

 

It's time to banish some more PDNs! In the post below, you will find a list of 38 PDNs (chronological) and 38 crossword-style clues (sorted into groupings).

 

Your task is to correctly identify which PDN is described by each clue.  You will earn:

1 point -- simple match

2 points -- match with a good explanation

3 points -- match with one of the best explanations

 

NEW RULES, inspired by Dikiyoba:

1. You now make guesses by sending me a PM, rather than by posting in this thread.  (Please make my life easier by keeping all your guesses in a single PM thread.)

2. I will respond to each set of guesses in that PM, telling you which are correct and which are incorrect.

3. After approximately 1 day, I will update this thread, revealing all matches that have been guessed.  For each match, I will print the best explanation that was given; that person is guaranteed to receive the maximum 3 points for that match.

4. For the first update, I will wait 2 days instead of 1 to give everyone time to join in.

5. You may use Google (or any other resource) to figure things out.  You may also discuss matches here, or anywhere else you want.  But you'll only get credit for matches you submit via PM.

 

You don't have to wait for me to respond before you submit additional guesses!  However, you only get 1 pending guess for a given PDN (or clue) at a time.  (Given the finite possibilities, I think that's necessary.)

 

Note: When making a guess, please paste the entire PDN (with number), as well as the clue. Please do not retype it from memory as this tends to introduce confusing errors. For example:

 

1. Dame Annals -- Murasaki nickname

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505. Precise language boing can do all for you
507. Spiderweb Go
509. Guia
510. Duplicitous Melodious Flea Bag Eve
513. Jade Jade
518. The Wilting of Reality
527. That name is already in use please choose another
532. The Mechanical Sound
537. Read-to-Wear

Elemental listener
 

Brokenly powerful robotic exploit
 

Imaginary item for a weary doomsday protagonist
 

Overlapping legacy
 

Bound aphorism for good faith debating
 

Work about a state disciplinary apparatus
Make it a work!

 

High-stakes forum dodgeball

There was no particular meaning to this one

Spoiler

 

 

503. Pie’s Peaks
504. Life Imitates Chart
505. Precise language boing can do all for you
506. Deconstriction
507. Spiderweb Go
508. Ill.
509. Guia
510. Duplicitous Melodious Flea Bag Eve
511. Absolutely Drab
512. Loop of Dullness
513. Jade Jade
514. The Little Engine That Said
515. NOP
516. Antigrind
517. Golem Golem Golem
518. The Wilting of Reality
519. Errorball
520. International Colouring Contest
521. Re Runnings
522. Tyra's Quinceañera
523. Hasty Modulo and the Double Turntoise
524. Ptooitary Gland
525. The Pity of Bilbo
526. Dillema Pickle
527. That name is already in use please choose another
528. The Point Entirely
529. Whose Line Segment Is It Anyway
530. IRONY
531. Metaly
532. The Mechanical Sound
533. From Fantasoft to Tyranicus
534. Cloak of Corak
535. American Football Morality
536. Bring It Off
537. Read-to-Wear
538. Some Prig
539. Slarty is the NSA
540. Tell It to My Chart

 

Cheerleader burlesque
Elemental listener
Null instruction
Overwhelming case

 

Brokenly powerful robotic exploit
Obstinately slimy draconic retranslation

 

Run the gamut of Spiderweb distributors
Run the gauntlet of a salty Mystic regent
Run-of-the-mill opposition
You can run, but…

 

Dummy item for a roll of 59-60
Imaginary item for a weary doomsday protagonist
Misremembered item for a mysterious ancient Guardian

 

A kneeling legacy
Lucia Pamela's legacy
Overlapping legacy
The ruling legacy
Transferred account's legacy

 

Bound aphorism for good faith debating
Partial idiom for bad faith debating
Finite saying for limited entertainment
Minor truism for limited extrapolation

 

Work about a state disciplinary apparatus
Work about a traditional mother-daughter relationship
Work about abstracted love
Work about aging QA analysts
Work about an orthodox wizard activity
Work about giving up
Work about Jamaican TV executives
Work about the ironically filthy
Work about Zebulon and Norma
Make it a work!

 

Could explain what happened to World 4
High-stakes forum dodgeball
In which approximate arithmetic unfairly disadvantages Achilles
More Midwestern than it appears
There was no particular meaning to this one
You'll breathe easier when you take it apart

 

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Newly Matched Clues:

(Note: I am not listing everyone who got the clue right, just the person whose explanation is quoted here.  In some cases there were several excellent explanations, so you may receive 3 points even if yours is not listed here.)

 

503. Pie’s Peaks -- Work about Zebulon and Norma (TRIUMPH)

"obviously a reference to Pike's Peak, which is named after Zebulon Pike. Also, there's apparently a show called Twin Peaks (hence the plural) with a character named Norma who makes pies at restaurant."

 

504. Life Imitates Chart -- Minor truism for limited extrapolation (DINTIRADAN)

"The truism in question is "Life Imitates Art". Extrapolation is what you do to estimate the values of a variable beyond the domain of a chart/graph/whatever."

 

506. Deconstriction -- You'll breathe easier when you take it apart (NIKKI)
"Deconstruction means literally taking things apart. Constriction is something a snek does to mek you stop breathing. Deconstriction will therefore make it easier to breathe. I also feel like I'm missing a Derrida reference, but the only thing that springs to mind is differance: Slarty has changed one letter to make a new word, as Derrida did -- except the point of differance with an a is that it *sounds* the same as difference with an e."

 

508. Ill. -- More Midwestern than it appears (TRIUMPH)

"an abbreviation of Illinois, a Midwestern state."

 

514. The Little Engine That Said -- Work about giving up

Guessed but not largely explained.  This is indeed related to The Little Engine That Could, but it's actually a reference to (warning: strong language) this work.

 

515. NOP -- Null instruction (DINTIRADAN)

""No Operation", a common assembly command. Fun fact: usually has a value and is not actually a null opcode."

 

516. Antigrind -- Run-of-the-mill opposition

Guessed but not largely explained.  There is a double meaning here, and the key is that the opposition isn't run-of-the-mill -- rather it's opposition to grinding: which is (1) generic, run-of-the-mill filler in RPGs; and (2) what takes place when an actual mill is running.


517. Golem Golem Golem -- Work about an orthodox wizard activity

Guessed but not fully explained.  The fantasy golem is often made from clay, and originates in Jewish folklore -- recalling the song "Dreidel dreidel dreidel / I made it out of clay."

 

520. International Colouring Contest -- Lucia Pamela's legacy (DIKIYOBA)

"Lucia Pamela was a somewhat eccentric musician who (among other things) produced a coloring book. The band Stereolab produced a tribute song to her titled "International Colouring Contest" in reference to the coloring book. Hence, the color book has become part of her legacy."

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEMRCjMsKeg

 

521. Re Runnings -- Work about Jamaican TV executives (TRIUMPH)

"A fusion of Cool Runnings (the famous movie about the Jamaican bobsled team) with reruns (rebroadcast TV shows, something TV executives would be involved with)."

 

522. Tyra's Quinceañera -- Transferred account's legacy (DINTIRADAN)

"That perfidious Tyranicus swapped accounts with Marlenny, who as I recall was Hispanic, I think? I'm guessing his stolen account turned fifteen at some point, even though he hasn't been around that long, the fraud."

 

523. Hasty Modulo and the Double Turntoise -- In which approximate arithmetic unfairly disadvantages Achilles (DIKIYOBA)

"A modulo has several mathematical definitions, mostly relating to the remainder of a division calculation or in finding two things that would normally be different to be equivilant. Zeno's Paradox of the Tortoise and Achilles is a logical paradox in which Achilles races a tortoise but cannot overtake it because no matter how quickly he reaches the spot where the turtle was, the turtle has always moved some short distance ahead. I think there's probably a third reference to properly tie the two together, or maybe I just understand how the math works."

 

Slarty adds: The other half of the reference was to a situation in which the foibles of a modular calculation results in a slower character getting two turns in a row, and thus getting to act more at a critical moment than a faster character.

 

531. Metaly -- Obstinately slimy draconic retranslation (TRIUMPH)

"in the NES game Dragon Warrior, there was a monster called Metaly, which was a type of slime. Eventually the games and much about them was re-translated - now the series is Dragon Quest, and the monster is Metal Slime."

 

Slarty adds: Actually, it started as Metal Slime in the games released as DW, then was Metaly in a number of releases, and has returned to being Metal Slime in recent releases, I believe.  Metal Slimes are known for having incredibly high defense, making them very difficult to kill, i.e., obstinate.

 

533. From Fantasoft to Tyranicus -- Run the gamut of Spiderweb distributors (DIKIYOBA)

"Fantasoft was a game producing/distributing company that helped distribute the Exile games. Tyranicus has done some work (like host the original graphics) to keep Nethergate available for people to enjoy."

 

Slarty adds: And he packaged up the original Avernum games to allow them to be played on more recent systems, IIRC.

 

534. Cloak of Corak -- Misremembered item for a mysterious ancient Guardian (DINTIRADAN)

"Google says that Corak is a Guardian created by the Ancients in the Might and Magic games."

 

Slarty adds: I was convinced there was an item called "Cloak of Corak" in M&M2, but there isn't.  I must have just mixed the two similar words together in my head somehow.

 

538. Some Prig -- Work about the ironically filthy (TRIUMPH)

"a prig believes himself morally superior (or, other words, more pure) than those around him; "some pig" is the message Charlotte the spider famously wrote in her web; pigs are notoriously filthy."

 

539. Slarty is the NSA -- You can run, but… (DINTIRADAN)

"The NSA is a US government organization that is known to spy on its own citizens, especially through electronic communication. Slarty is a SW historian who dredges up old content. We can't run from him."

 

Slarty adds: No, no, you can run from the NSA -- you just can't hide.  Oh, also, this was actually a quote from Salmon, of all people.

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3 hours ago, Discontinuous Douglasses said:

539. Slarty is the NSA -- You can run, but… (DINTIRADAN)

"The NSA is a US government organization that is known to spy on its own citizens, especially through electronic communication. Slarty is a SW historian who dredges up old content. We can't run from him."

 

Slarty adds: No, no, you can run from the NSA -- you just can't hide.

I really was tired when I wrote that.

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Those of you who are not Triumph may want to steal some of the remaining matches from him ;)

 

Newly Matched Clues:

 

512. Loop of Dullness -- Dummy item for a roll of 59-60 (TRIUMPH)

"PDN sounds like a silly DnD-style item name."

 

Slarty adds: An item (or anything else) that is dummied out in one version of a game typically means the item is removed from the game, as is its functionality -- appropriate for an item that might not do anything.  "Dull" and "dummy" can also both be opposites of bright.  Finally, a percentile dice roll of 59-00 on the Magical Items Table in the 2nd edition DMG leads you to the sub-tables for "Miscellaneous Magic: The Weird Stuff"

 

525. The Pity of Bilbo -- The ruling legacy (TRIUMPH)

"is this a reference to the Ruling Ring, which Bilbo acquired from Gollum, on whom he took pity?"

 

Slarty adds: In addition to that epithet for the Ring, Gandalf says "The pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many," foreshadowing the the climax of the entire series.

 

526. Dillema Pickle -- Run the gauntlet of a salty Mystic regent (TRIUMPH)
"“Ozzie’s in a pickle!” And he’s a Mystic regent for Magus. And pickles are fermented in brine, i.e. with salt. Huzzah Chrono Trigger!"

 

Slarty adds: This is, of course, a Chrono Trigger reference; you run a gauntlet of challenges each time you encounter Ozzie.

 

528. The Point Entirely -- Partial idiom for bad faith debating (TRIUMPH)

"I would expect the phrase to be "Missing the point entirely," but it's missing "missing," hence it's only a partial idiom; one who misses (or ignores?) the point his interlocutor is making certainly will be a poor debate partner."

 

529. Whose Line Segment Is It Anyway -- Finite saying for limited entertainment (DINTIRADAN)

""Whose Line is it Anyway" is an improv show, comprised of short skits. Compared with scripted TV shows that have continuity, it is "finite", or "limited". Definitely entertaining. Line segments, unlike lines, have a beginning and end point, and are also "finite", "limited"."

 

530. IRONY -- Overwhelming case (TRIUMPH)

"I wonder if “case” doesn’t hint at the fact that this PDN is all uppercase letters."

 

Slarty adds: This is also a reference to a famous line of Archmage Alex's about member Overwhelming and his attempts to force "aid" on the BoX community.  Alex wrote "The irony is overwhelming."  I believe it was a debate with alhoon, though, that prompted me to take on this PDN in the moment.

 

535. American Football Morality -- A kneeling legacy (TRIUMPH)

"a reference to NFL player Colin Kaepernick's highly publicized practice of kneeling during the national anthem last year as a form of protest."

 

540. Tell It to My Chart -- Work about abstracted love (TRIUMPH)

"references the song and/or album Tell It to My Heart by Taylor Dayne, but in replacing “Heart” with “Chart” has turned the love song in a more mathematical, abstract direction."

 

Slarty adds: The chart specifically referred to the SW real life meetup chart, which was at the time being expanded due to meetings occasioned by a wedding!  The specific inspiration for the song was this colorful incarnation:

 

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  • 3 years later...

Looks like we never finished this one!

 

Time for a bump.  And a question: preferences on sending guesses by PM versus posting them in the thread?  I liked the PM concept, which prevented people from feeling excluded because they weren't online early on.  But I wonder if that was part of why this one stalled out...

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Hmmm... that's odd -- I have been receiving messages somewhat recently, at least.

 

Either way, I see no problem going back to answers in the thread.  And here's a nice one to start us off!

 

536. Bring it Off -- Cheerleader Burlesque (EDGWYN)

 

I went through and collected as many PDNs as I could from the last few years.  I have a few gaps, unfortunately, due to IPB cutting the number of old PDNs it preserves when I wasn't paying attention.  But for this numbering of recorded PDNs, I believe I'm now on #712.

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519. Errorball -- Work about aging QA analysts (EDGWYN)

 

"Moneyball was a movie with some aging baseball players (some of whom had better stats then the new stars) and how analysis became a driving force in baseball.  Quality Assurance people are supposed to find or prevent errors."

 

Slarty adds: I was actually thinking more directly of Mirrorball, which really didn't take off, but of course that title is itself a reference to Moneyball.

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511. Absolutely Drab

Work about a traditional mother-daughter relationship

 

Absolutely Fabulous was a BBC focusing on a mother-daughter relationship, developed from a book "Modern Mother ad Daughter".  A traditional mother-daughter relationship would certainly be drab and boring in comparison.

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