AGS Cryptic

[Mandle]

Sorry for double-post:

I just thought I would make a list now of theories already debunked:

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* It has nothing to do with donkeys, mules, or any other equine species.

* It has nothing to do with splitting words or (as in one very ingenious attempt) actual letters in half.

* It has nothing to do with any single characters that happen to look like half-an-ass, nor anything to do with (as in another very ingenious attempt) taking a character that looks like an entire ass and then halving it.

* The hyphen in the clue is not a minus sign.

[Mandle]

A hint serendipitously supplied by Baron:

Spoiler

it has been laying out in front of our noses the whole time.

[close]

[nihilyst]

Is the letter in question an abbreviation of some sorts, like an element of the periodic table?

[Mandle]

Is the letter in question an abbreviation of some sorts, like an element of the periodic table?

No it is not.

[Baron]

Spoiler

An ass, in human terms, is someone who makes decisions without any consideration of the feelings of others.  The part of the mind that makes decisions is the EGO, and half of an EGO is "E".

[close]

Edit:

* It has nothing to do with splitting words or (as in one very ingenious attempt) actual letters in half.

Oh....  Well then, just disregard my surreptitious attempt at going through the entire alphabet without seeming to do so.

[Stupot]

Oh shit! I think I've got it!

Spoiler

It's ;
Or Semi-colon.
Semi being half and colon being part of the final stages of the digestive system.

[close]

[Baron]

A hint serendipitously supplied by Baron:

Spoiler

it has been laying out in front of our noses the whole time.

[close]

Sorry for the double post, but I did this deliberately, not serendipitously.

Half-assed (1)

*Sigh* Let's do this rationally, shall we?  The dreaded organized list:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

We've also ruled out the numbers 1 and 4, the $ sign, and the Japanese hiragana character "Mu"

We know that the answer is one character, although Mandle hasn't ever brought himself to specify that it is in fact a letter.  We know it is not anything to do with an equine animal, half of words, or half of characters, but that it has been "in front of our noses the whole time".

Half-assed (1)

Hmmmmmmm.......

Edit: Damn you Stupot+ and your marvellously lateral thinking brain!

[Cassiebsg]

Good thinking Stupot+!
Even if it's not the right answer, Mandle needs to accept it, cause it makes perfect sense.

[Mandle]

Oh shit! I think I've got it!

Spoiler

It's ;
Or Semi-colon.
Semi being half and colon being part of the final stages of the digestive system.

[close]

Spoiler

Firstly, let me congratulate you on being 100% CORRECT!!!

And then let me quote you on: "Oh shit! I think I've got it!"

And now let me ask you this: How did it feel when the answer clicked into place?

By which I mean that exact moment when you knew you had the answer and knew it must be correct:

These are the moments of ecstasy we play these adventure games for... and I'm trying to nail down the feeling of just knowing you are CORRECT without the game even telling you so ahead of time...

So...how would you express your feelings at that exact moment when you knew you had the right solution?

[close]

[Stupot]

Oh shit! I think I've got it!

Spoiler

It's ;
Or Semi-colon.
Semi being half and colon being part of the final stages of the digestive system.

[close]

Spoiler

Firstly, let me congratulate you on being 100% CORRECT!!!

And then let me quote you on: "Oh shit! I think I've got it!"

And now let me ask you this: How did it feel when the answer clicked into place?

By which I mean that exact moment when you knew you had the answer and knew it must be correct:

These are the moments of ecstasy we play these adventure games for... and I'm trying to nail down the feeling of just knowing you are CORRECT without the game even telling you so ahead of time...

So...what would you express your feelings as in that exact moment when you knew you had the right solution?

[close]

Spoiler

Yay, I certainly felt very clever.
I had previously tried playing around with 'semi' and didn't get the full answer. I can't quite pinpoint exactly what my thought process was for reaching that; it just kind of popped into my head. But once it did, I was preeeety sure I must be right. But actually there was a little bit of doubt. Like, I knew it was a clever answer and I'd have been pretty pleased with myself either way, but part of me wouldn't have been surprised if you'd said it was wrong.

[close]

[Baron]

Speech!  Speech!!!!!!!

[Mandle]

Spoiler

Yay, I certainly felt very clever.
I had previously tried playing around with 'semi' and didn't get the full answer. I can't quite pinpoint exactly what my thought process was for reaching that; it just kind of popped into my head. But once it did, I was preeeety sure I must be right. But actually there was a little bit of doubt. Like, I knew it was a clever answer and I'd have been pretty pleased with myself either way, but part of me wouldn't have been surprised if you'd said it was wrong.

[close]

Thank you for the on-the-spot-interview reply to my question...

It has given me the information I need to develop an all powerful weapon to destroy the entire wor some puzzle planning for my current project...

[selmiak]

  great!!!

[CaptainD]

Congrats to both Stupot+ for working it out and Mandle for setting such an absolutely awesome cryptic question!!!!!!!

Now, how on earth is anyone supposed to top that?!?!?!?!??!

[Stupot]

i+(([]-b)/2)(4)

[Baron]

Does the answer have four letters, or is that just part of the formula (multiply by four)?

[Mandle]

Does the answer have four letters, or is that just part of the formula (multiply by four)?

I'm thinking the former

[Stupot]

Yep, it's a 4-letter word :-)

[Baron]

Spoiler

Iraq?  []= brackets, -b = rackets, /2 = rac (and half of k....), +i = irac(k) or Iraq.

[close]

[Stupot]

Spoiler

Iraq?  []= brackets, -b = rackets, /2 = rac (and half of k....), +i = irac(k) or Iraq.

[close]

Boom, Baby!  That was too quick. Well played, sir.