The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[Myth Jellies]

Partial credit: egglayer = Swan = Syene (which also means swan) = Aswan. A confirmed egglayer would be ________?

Is Myth Jellies being pedantic?
Could the "A confirmed egglayer" be, quite simply, "A Swan"

Eratosthenes was born in Cyrene(Syene) = Aswan = A Swan.
Although, to be accurate, a female swan is called a "Pen".

Eratosthenes took Cyrene(Syene), to be on the Tropic of Cancer in his measurement of the Earth.

Could the oxymoronic place be - Alexandria

Alexandria = Alex and Ria = (Alex - male), and (Ria - female)

Alexandria = male/female. (oxymoron).

Perhaps a pen along with a cygnet-ure

Cyrene (in what is now Libya) is not the same place as Syene.

Alexandria is incorrect. The oxymoronic place is not hermaphroditic in nature.

Is "confirmed" used in the Christian sense, i.e. blessed by a bishop, anointed with chrism/oil?

Nice angle, but no.

[emm]

Anything to do with Cygnus?

[Myth Jellies]

Anything to do with Cygnus?

It is another swan, but no. I see I was not very clear in my answer to MCC. "Aswan" is correct, but it is incomplete since by itself it is a place, not a thing. "A swan" would be a thing, but it is incorrect.

[Bigtone53]

"Aswan" is correct, but it is incomplete since by itself it is a place, not a thing

Dam!

[Myth Jellies]

"Aswan" is correct, but it is incomplete since by itself it is a place, not a thing

Dam!

My sentiments, exactly!

Two down, one to go.

[emm]

I'd have said Damnation is condemnation rather than confirmation!

Anyway - are we looking up the Nile? The pyramids, of course - what's oxymoronic about the pyramids?

[Myth Jellies]

Anyway - are we looking up the Nile? The pyramids, of course - what's oxymoronic about the pyramids?

Zip, nada, nothing.

Just some asides. I really thought that "pen and cygneture" comment was pretty clever; but when I tried to explain it to my wife, it totally bombed. I suppose the staff at Late Night or the Tonight Show won't be beating down my door anytime soon

I do try to sprinkle some obscure hints in some of my answers when I can come up with them. One legend has it that Eratosthenes hit upon the idea of using the angle of the sun to measure the Earth's circumference by looking down an Aswan well at noon during the summer solstice and finding that he could see all the way to the bottom. I put "well reason" in my Christmas posting and highlighted it somewhat with the word "wish", but I suppose it was just too obscure.

[udosuk]

The scorching heat of the Aussie summer and the 5-0 whitewash in the Ashes series has my head spinning and I feel pretty thick right now...

Could anybody kindly explain the relationship between "a confirmed egglayer" and "Aswan Dam" that even a 5-year-old retarded kid could understand?

[emm]

This is as far as I get -

Dam is a word for mother. A swan dam is a female swan = egglayer.

I'm still working on the confirmed bit.

I never in a kazillion years would have picked the wishing well hint, MJ, though I did get the signature.

Generally, and I say this in the nicest possible way, I think you are a bit enigmatic, which is fine except that it does mean that we guess more because we haven't got a clue what you're on about!

[underquark]

"...measures the way..."

There is a site in the Aswan region called the "Nileometer".

[MCC]

Nilometer is the name given to one of several devices that are different in design but that all serve the same function: measuring water levels in the River Nile and thus allowing the keeping of comparative historic records.

MCC

[Myth Jellies]

A nilometer is the device that measures the way to the Aswan Dam. The nilometer I am thinking of is located at the phonetically oxymoronic place called....

The confirmed egglayer is certainly a rather enigmatic bit of wordplay. A swan that is also a female parent (A swan dam = Aswan Dam) would be a confirmed egglayer by virtue of her offspring. Otherwise, a swan, or even a female swan may or may not have laid eggs. At least that was my thinking on it.

In the age of Googling, it is difficult to determine what is an appropriate logical leap. I admit I tend to initially set the bar awfully high. That way it seems you get more interesting side discussions on planetary discoverers, A'tuan, etc., and also it seems more people get to contribute. To make up for it I try to be more accommodating when your efforts get close.

[MCC]

How about Elephantine island

The second nilometer design comprises a flight of stairs leading down into the water, with depth markings along the walls. The best known example of this kind can be seen on the island of Elephantine in Aswan. This location was also particularly important, since for much of Egyptian history Elephantine marked Egypt's southern border and was therefore the first place where the onset of the annual flood was detected.

MCC

[Myth Jellies]

That's it. Elephantine (pronounced Elephant-teeny) Island is your "Jumbo-shrimp" oxymoronical place. Well puzzled out everyone.

I had never heard of a nilometer prior to researching this, but I suppose if the Nile is your life blood, you had better keep track of it.

[emm]

I see the nilometers are actually defunct now that the dam is there.

Interesting riddle, MJ. Elephanteeny was an unexpected pronunciation - didn't everybody think!!