explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3117: Replication Crisis

2025-07-19T00:57:52Z

Justhalf: Add alternative, better, explanation

I believe the current explanation is a bit missing the point. It's supposed to mean that the authors shown in the comic failed to reproduce the result of the papers claiming that there are replication crisis, and therefore the original claim that there is a replication crisis going on is unfounded (since the papers claiming it cannot be replicated), and comically the headline in the last panel takes this to the next level by saying that this means there was no replication crisis to begin with.

[[User:Justhalf|Justhalf]] ([[User talk:Justhalf|talk]]) 00:57, 19 July 2025 (UTC)

2605: Taylor Series

2022-04-12T04:41:33Z

Justhalf: /* Explanation */ Make reference to television season clearer

{{comic
| number = 2605
| date = April 11, 2022
| title = Taylor Series
| image = taylor_series.png
| titletext = The Taylor series should have been canceled after the first term.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by CHARLES TAYLOR - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In mathematics, the {{w|Taylor series}} of a function is an infinite sum of terms that are expressed in terms of the function's derivatives at a single point. So the equation would never end. Which is indeed, good news.{{Citation needed}} However, it is often ''not'' loved by math students.{{Citation needed}}

The title text may be a pun on the use of the word "series" to refer to a television program. It equates each term in the mathematical series to a television season, suggesting that only the first term is useful. It makes fun on the common sentiment on bad series by saying that "The series should have been cancelled after the first season", replacing "season" with "term". It could also reference the "term" of US President {{w|Zachary Taylor}}, who died after serving only fifteen months in office, or the political career of {{w|Charles_Taylor_(Liberian_politician)|Charles Taylor}}, whose first term ended in civil war and exile.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[Miss Lenhart pointing a stick at a whiteboard]
:Miss Lenhart: At this point, you're probably thinking, "I love this equation and wish it would never end!"
:Miss Lenhart: Well, good news!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Taylor series expansion is the worst.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category:Math]]

Talk:2597: Salary Negotiation

2022-03-24T10:51:26Z

Justhalf:

The second panel is me every time I haggle for something, and I have to make sure I don't end up haggling the wrong way. Or starting above my desired price when I mean to start below so that I can meet in the middle at my desired price.

[[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.36|172.70.91.36]] 23:06, 23 March 2022 (UTC)
:It's not a one-time negotiation, anyway. During an annual review I'd have to suggest any pay adjustments. Was useless at it, too self-effacing. I left one job after ten years and later on found my exact same old position (which I had felt now wasn't adding much to the team, part of the reason I left) readvertised with a suggested salary range starting at ''twice'' that of what I had actually departed with. Seems they needed me (or someone quite like me) more than any of us knew. That experience didn't improve my assertiveness, though. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.211|172.70.90.211]] 10:25, 24 March 2022 (UTC)

They should offer him $61,333.33 plus a penny extra once every three years.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.198|162.158.107.198]] 23:31, 23 March 2022 (UTC)
:The way a friend solved it was to cut a penny into six pieces (like a pizza), and then give me two of them. [[User:Ruffy314|Ruffy314]] ([[User talk:Ruffy314|talk]]) 09:42, 24 March 2022 (UTC)

Any idea how Cueball arrived at the figure of $61 1/3 thousand?--[[User:Troy0|Troy0]] ([[User talk:Troy0|talk]]) 03:33, 24 March 2022 (UTC)

Interesting. In the UK, I was taught to call them recurring decimals. Never heard of repeating decimals. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.20|141.101.99.20]] 08:46, 24 March 2022 (UTC)
:I just assumed the usual trans-Atlantic difference in terminology. In general I'd also say "point three three three recurring" to establish the (unvarying) pattern, or something like "point one nine one nine recurring" for a bistable pattern, etc, so that it doesn't look like all-nines to infinity. But, to be honest, I'd be glad if people didn't use "point thirty-three" or the like. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.211|172.70.90.211]] 10:25, 24 March 2022 (UTC)

I don't think the 15% is meaning a 15% cut in the (offered) salary, as the current explanation has it. I think this is referencing agent-type negotiations, where the agent might take 15% of the salary negotiated for the person they're representing.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.209|172.69.79.209]] 09:15, 24 March 2022 (UTC)
:Fixed. [[User:Justhalf|Justhalf]] ([[User talk:Justhalf|talk]]) 10:51, 24 March 2022 (UTC)

2597: Salary Negotiation

2022-03-24T10:50:55Z

Justhalf: /* Explanation */ Fix explanation on "15% cut of the salary" as a confusion between commission and salary.

{{comic
| number = 2597
| date = March 23, 2022
| title = Salary Negotiation
| image = salary_negotiation.png
| titletext = "We can do 0.33 or 0.34, but our payroll software doesn't allow us to--" "NO DEAL."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a COMPLEX FRACTIONAL SALARY INCREASE - Please change this comment when editing this page, for fun and profit. Do NOT delete this tag too soon. Sincerely, management.}}
[[Ponytail]]'s company would like to hire [[Cueball]] for a job. And now she is telling him that their offer for his starting salary is $55,000.

When offered a new job, it is common to negotiate on aspects of the offer such as salary, and employers may offer below the market rate initially in the expectation that the final negotiated amount will be higher. Given that one's future income depends on the outcome of a one-time process requiring skills unrelated to the job one is hired for, it is advisable to take one's time and do as much research as possible.

Cueball realizes that he has ended up in this situation, but, in typically [[Randall]] fashion, he states the fact, saying out loud ''Wow. I guess I'm inside a negotiation!'' Ponytail comments that it's a weird way to phrase it, and would then probably have continued to say, ''but that is correct.'' Cueball, however, interrupts her by stating that ''I can do this.''

Cueball has clearly done some research, but perhaps too much as he is flummoxed by this high-stakes situation and starts to ramble with decreasing coherence. First he gets completely confused about the numbers. He might have said I wont accept a penny below $60,000, starting out by putting a bit more on, letting now, that this might not even be the lowest he would accept. Instead he says he wont have a penny over $50,000, thus cutting $5000 of the initial offer, and saying he will not have more than that. He realizes this was completely wrong, and corrects to ''under'', but is still 5000 lower. Then he continues to mess up the numbers. Clearly he meant to go for $60,000, but first says $60 then $600, 100 times below what he wishes to say. Then adds the word ''Thousand'' after a short break, and continues to say it as one word $600,000. That is of course 10 times more than he wished to try for.

Realizing that he is completely off he asks for "15% cut of the salary". Here, Cueball seems to confuse salary and commission. "X% cut of the salary" seems like what a recruiter/headhunter may get from their employer as a commission if they successfully make their person hired. This is not the phrase to be used when negotiating a salary, as is the case for Cueball here, since it's not commission based.

The next word he says is ''Raise''. This could make sense if he already had a job, and wished to negotiate for a pay raise. But that is not the case. After this, he begins to think of raise as in a card game and starts rambling off mainly poker related terms, like raise, fold and pass. He throws in double down in between. This can also be a card game term, as in blackjack where double down means to double a bet after seeing one's initial cards, with the requirement that one additional card be drawn.

But in everyday speak, in a fairly dramatic [https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=double+down&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cdouble%20down%3B%2Cc0 rise in popular usage], to double down is to take a further risk in a situation or passionately re-commit one’s efforts to a cause or course of action ''despite'' clear and contrary revelations. This could make a limited amount of sense in a negotiation situation in which one is trying to establish the necessary self-worth. But of course not in Cueball's ramble, that finishes with him saying ''Fill it up with regular'', something you would say at a gas-station, where they still had an attendant to operate the pumps. Likely something Cueball has only experienced when watching old movies...

At this point Ponytail tries to ask him something. Maybe, ''Are you OK?''. But again Cueball interrupts her, saying he is sorry and that he would like to start over. At this time he takes out several sheets of paper and looks at some charts. But the charts are not clear enough, or only have a suggestion for what percentage he should ask for. He asks if he can borrow a calculator (something he would likely have on his smart phone) and then asks what's 20% of $55,000. This last bit seems like he is finally following a common advice to take the initial offer and add 10-20%. That would be $11,000, so it would have been $66,000.

Once more Ponytail tries to give him some time to think, but once more he interrupts, as he eventually have settled on a number, $61,333.333.... He even states that the decimals of 3 should be repeating, as in forever. Thus exactly $61,333 + $1/3. He clearly states he will not take the job for less than that.

The value he settles on is 11.51515...% larger, or exactly <sup>184</sup>⁄<sub>165</sub> times the asking price, closer to 10% than the 20% he just asked for. In classic Cueball style, he has made the simple problem sufficiently complex that one must wonder how he got there. However, the value does still fall within the band suggested by the common advice.

Since this is not that much more than the starting offer Ponytail is ready to accept this and says ''Sure, $61,333 is fine.'' She is once more starting to say something, like ''That's actually a reasonable request'', or ''That's actually within our limits''. But for the fourth time Cueball interrupts her, this time almost yelling ''Point 3 repeating or I walk!'' Because what she just offered him was $1/3 less than he asked for, and thus more than a penny less.

This last outburst is just plain ridiculous as this would only lower his asking salary by 5 parts in a million. And for certain Ponytail would accept going to $61,334.

In the title text it shows that this is not good enough. Cueball has now confused himself to the limit that he will not only not accept less than his asking salary, he will also not accept more. So when Ponytail tries to explain to him that the point 3 repeating cannot be paid in whole cents, and tries to let him now that their payroll software only can handle whole cents, and he thus can get either 0.33 or 0.34 (the latter actually being more than he asks for), he again shout out ''NO DEAL.''

Since Ponytail cannot pay him out in a number with infinite decimals (1/3, pi or any other kind), it seems Cueball will let this job slip out of his hands, because he has completely misunderstood the concept of negotiation.

The situation could be resolved if he would be happy with an arrangement such as a leap cent every three years, but maybe Ponytail would at this point realize it was probably a mistake to hire such an easily confused person, and happily let him go.

This can be read as a cautionary tale about taking time to compose one's thoughts before responding to a situation. The confusion caused by the wad of papers also reminds us that more information does not necessarily mean more clarity.

For more interview-related xkcd comics, see for instance [[125: Marketing Interview]], [[1088: Five Years]], [[1094: Interview]], [[1293: Job Interview]] and [[1545: Strengths and Weaknesses]].

This could also be taken in series with Cueball (possibly as a stand in for Randall) misunderstanding classically "adult" ideas, see for instance [[616: Lease]], [[905: Homeownership]] and [[1674: Adult]].

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail sits in an office chair at her desk, with Cueball sitting in a similar chair on the other side with his hands on his knees. Ponytails has her hands on the desk and in front of her, there is a slim thing standing up. It could be a very small screen, but there seems to be no keyboard in front of her. Maybe it is a small tablet with a support for letting is stand up. Behind that there are what appears to be two piles of papers of different sizes.]
:Ponytail: We'd like to extend an offer! The starting salary is $55,000.
:Cueball: Wow. I guess I'm inside a negotiation!
:Ponytail: I... Weird to phrase it like that, but-
:Cueball: ''I can do this.''

:[Zoom in on Cueball's upper half.]
:Cueball: I won't accept a penny over $50,000. Sorry, I mean under. Under $60. I mean, $600. Thousand. $600,000. I want a 15% cut of the salary. Raise. Double down. Fold. Pass. Fill it up with regular.

:[The same shot, except Cueball is now holding three pieces of paper, and he is looking down on them. Ponytail is talking to him from off-panel.]
:Ponytail (off-panel): Are you-
:Cueball: Sorry, sorry. Let me start over.
:Cueball: OK, my chart says...
:Cueball: ...Can I borrow a calculator? What's 20% of $55,000?

:[Back to the scene from the first panel. Ponytail has taken one hand down to her knee, with the other still on the desk. Cueball has put the papers on his lap and has raised his hand in the air holding one finger up. In his other hand he holds either a borrowed calculator or his own smartphone.]
:Ponytail: Listen, if you need to-
:Cueball: I won't take this job for less than $61,333 point 3 repeating!
:Ponytail: Sure, $61,333 is fine. That's actually-
:Cueball: '''''Point 3 repeating or I walk!'''''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Job interviews]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

2597: Salary Negotiation

2022-03-24T06:52:35Z

Justhalf: /* Explanation */ fix math error

2594: Consensus Time

2022-03-17T04:21:10Z

Justhalf: /* Explanation */ fixed "average" into the intended "median"

{{comic
| number = 2594
| date = March 16, 2022
| title = Consensus Time
| image = consensus_time.png
| titletext = Now, you may argue that the varying hour lengths and feedback effects would cause chaos. To which I say, yeah, and I'm also curious to see how the weekday cycle interacts with it! So, you in?
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Daylight Saving Time}}, in which clocks in the United States are turned an hour forward, has recently occurred at the time of this comic in the United States. It is frequently complained about due to having been invented for a no-longer-relevant cause. One of many complaints about this is that it will still "feel" like 5am at 6, or whatever other case. A few days before this comic went up, the United States Senate passed the {{w|Sunshine Protection Act}}, which would permanently abolish the biannual daylight savings adjustment, setting (what was) daylight savings time as the default time zone for all but a handful of states and territories.
[[Randall]], jumping on this topic, proposes a system that allows everybody to say when it "feels" like 9am, and then the median 9am will become the real 9am. This happens every day. As the title text points out, this would be chaotic and, to put it bluntly, awful{{citation needed}}.

Presumably the times indicated on this diagram are as the clocks in this time zone would indicate, as opposed to an "ordinary" reference time.

Although the hours between midnight and 9 am are labeled as "longer" (which we can assume means each would take longer than an hour of ordinary time to pass) the effect on the remaining hours is left unstated. If we assume that the remaining hours pass at the usual rate then this would suggest that midnight would come sooner or later than normal and hence the next vote would occur sooner or later respectively. This implies the time in this time zone could drift further than a day (or even multiple days) from existing time-zones which could be what is meant by "feedback", "chaos" and the effect on weekdays mentioned in the title text.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:Proposal: Consensus Time

:Every day, anyone in the time zone can press a button when they feel like it's 9 AM. The next day, clocks slow down or speed up to match the median choice from the previous day.

:[A diagram representing the hours of two days with tick marks, with some of the tick marks longer than others and/or in boldface, and some of them labeled as follows:]

:Midnight
:6AM
:9AM today
:Median
:Noon
:6PM
:Midnight
:6AM
:9AM tomorrow
:Noon
:6PM
:Midnight

:[A brace connects the period from the second "Midnight" to "9AM tomorrow". It is labeled:]
:Longer hours

:[A scatterplot of 57 dots appears below the hashmarks, indicating the distribution of when participants pushed the "9 AM" button. The most extreme outliers are at roughly 3AM and 9PM, but they most densely cluster around a vertical dotted line labelled "Median" at approximately 11:15AM, interupted as it passes through the main mass of dots at roughly the position of the 29th plotted dot from either end.]

:[Megan, facing to the left, and Cueball, facing to the right, each hold a handheld device. The devices are too small to see clearly but are making sounds, implying that each of them has just pressed the "9 AM" button.]
:Beep
:Beep

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Time]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

2390: Linguists

2020-11-26T08:59:46Z

Justhalf: Expand the stub (and fixing the discussion direction) on the title text.

{{comic
| number = 2390
| date = November 25, 2020
| title = Linguists
| image = linguists.png
| titletext = "Do you feel like the answer depends on whether you're currently in the hole, versus when you refer to the events later after you get out? Assuming you get out."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A LINGUIST IN A HOLE. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Ponytail hears the cries of an unidentified person who has become trapped in a hole. She rushes over and asks whether the trapped person's chosen phrasing for their predicament - "fell down a hole" - is equivalent to "fell in a hole."

For the case "fell down a hole", most people would likely understand "fell" (action) "down" (direction) "a hole" (place), while it could also be understood as "fell" (action) "down a hole" (place). Since "down a hole" is about the same as "in a hole" (barring being completely inside or not), Ponytail would like to know of "fell down a hole" is meant as "fell in a hole" or not. This phrase, on the other hand, has the same problem of being ambiguous, but with the additional problem that it is not clear what the majority of people would understand [citation needed]. "Fell down into a hole" would likely solve the problem, but isn't mentioned in the comic.

In the caption, Randall comments that linguists' desire to extract exact meaning from phrases is, in fact, done with the best of intentions. He also claims that this is worse than if they were pedants browbeating their audience, possibly because a pedant could prioritize the elements a situation better than Ponytail is doing here.

The title text goes further on this quest of understanding by trying to see whether the different usages is tied to the current situation or not.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[Ponytail is walking to the left. A voice calls out from behind her (at the right of the panel):]
:Off-panel voice: Help!
:Off-panel voice: I fell down a hole!

:[Ponytail runs to the right, toward the hole.]

:[Ponytail, kneeling down next to the hole, calls out:]
:Ponytail: Hey!
:Ponytail: Is "fell down a hole" exactly equivalent to "fell in a hole," in your usage? Or do they have slightly different implications?

:[Caption below the panel]
:There's a myth that linguists are pedants who love correcting people, but they're actually just enthusiastic about understanding language in all its infinite varieties, which is much worse.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Language]]

Talk:2362: Volcano Dinosaur

2020-09-23T09:33:42Z

Justhalf: Add calculation for the percentage of comics using [CITATION NEEDED] joke

The nearest living relative of any 125 million-year-old dinosaur is all living birds. They are all descended from the same "stem bird," which was a dinosaur of a different group. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 02:08, 22 September 2020 (UTC)
: But some living birds will be fewer generations removed from that dinosaur than others [[User:Jeremyp|Jeremyp]] ([[User talk:Jeremyp|talk]]) 08:57, 22 September 2020 (UTC).
::True, but is a 100,000,000th cousin that different from a 100,000,001th cousin? [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 11:25, 22 September 2020 (UTC)
:::One might wade in caustic lakes, except when it flies to its feeding grounds, the other breeds in icy wastes and be flightless but a superb swimmer in freezing oceans. And if there's a large intestate estate needing to be inherited then be prepared for legal challenges! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.198|162.158.155.198]] 11:47, 22 September 2020 (UTC)
:::Just in case, if you have a parrot you should ask it if its family has any stories of a great-to-the-millionth uncle who went missing around the time of an eruption. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 13:37, 22 September 2020 (UTC)
::::But how close are parrots to dinosaurs? They might be the poor dino's 100,000,002nd cousin. [[User:Donthaveusername|Donthaveusername]] ([[User talk:Donthaveusername|talk]])
:::That would depend on the value of the estate. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 17:32, 22 September 2020 (UTC)
::::After 65 million years of inflation and compounding, it must be worth quite a bit. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 17:40, 22 September 2020 (UTC)
:::::Compounding would indeed increase the value, but wouldn't inflation decrease the value? The value after 125 million years should depend on which factor is outpacing the other, on average. Also, bird species with short generations would be more distantly related than bird species with long generations. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.89|162.158.107.89]] 23:49, 22 September 2020 (UTC)
:::::That would depend upon many things, like how it turns out if progeniture is the basis of branch-prioritisation (male/female-preference giving different results to the absolute version) and sallic (including semi-sallic and quasi-sallic) rules which could see an entitlement even dive back up out of the avian branch and down into any other sprawl of the tree-of-life... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.153|141.101.99.153]] 01:27, 23 September 2020 (UTC)
I'm only who feeling that [CITATION NEEDED] joke is overused by now? In every second comic there is [CITATION NEEDED] at least once. We have around 450 pages with that, https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:WhatLinksHere/285:_Wikipedian_Protester [[Special:Contributions/162.158.183.205|162.158.183.205]] 09:15, 23 September 2020 (UTC) LauLain
:There are 358 links to that page from actual comics (excluding redirect, talk pages, etc.). Since we have 2,362 comics, that's around 15% of the explanations. Quite high, but I guess not really overused, especially since it's not annoying. [[User:Justhalf|Justhalf]] ([[User talk:Justhalf|talk]]) 09:33, 23 September 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2032: Word Puzzles

2018-08-14T20:34:09Z

Justhalf: Add one more vote to put cryptic crossword into the explanation.

;Is it a real word puzzle?
Who wants to labouriously check if he's double-bluffed and used an actual word puzzle for this comic? :D [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.181|162.158.154.181]] 17:45, 13 August 2018 (UTC)

"Jeopardy" is misspelled in the description. Can someone who is logged in please fix?
Many of the "clue" words can also be rearranged, anagram-wise, to form new words, e.g., parts ≈ strap. {{unsigned ip|162.158.74.243}}

Most words have 2, 3, 4 or 5 characters. I do not believe, it is a simple crossword puzzle, otherwise he would not fool people. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.4|172.68.110.4]] 18:17, 13 August 2018 (UTC)

;Some thoughts:
*Cueball is messing with Megan and not presenting an answer what the "reminiscent of Jeopardy answers" would imply.
*{{w|Lance Ito}} is a judge well known for the O. J. Simpson murder case.
*{{w|Brian Eno}} is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer, writer, and visual artist. Read the Wiki article to learn more.
*No idea what "Ohio's AirAsia Arena" could imply.
--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:37, 13 August 2018 (UTC)
::Almost all the words in the alt-text / title-text are open to multiple pronunciations from a phonetic standpoint. Often they're placed next to a word containing the same sound with a different spelling, or the same spelling with a different sound.
::Once again Randall is creeping me out with this, as yesterday I complained about the spelling of "tear" with a comment including this line:
::tire tier tear tear tare tar ... teer?
::Randall so often does comics that feel intimately in touch with what I'm doing or saying the day before that it's almost spooky. If I weren't an outlier in so ''many'' scatter plots I might almost begin to feel "ordinary".
::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 22:35, 13 August 2018 (UTC)

;Moved from the explanation (discussion goes here)
The kind of puzzle that Megan thinks she is solving is called a "Cryptic", which has markedly different rules than ordinary crosswords. If Cueball's statement had been "Part of this aria is an Indian garment" the answer would have been "sari", because a part of the phrase "this aria" is the sequence "sari", which in turn is an Indian garment. Cueball's actual statement contains quite a few familiar cryptic puzzle triggers. The word "composed" can be a hint of a preceding or following anagram, in this case of "this aria" or of "by Brian" or of even longer adjacent strings. Although "opera star" could be a famous singer, say "Caruso", it might also be the name of an opera followed by the name of an astronomical star. "Au pair" could be any of its ordinary meanings, say "nanny", but might also be "earrings" (because AU is the chemical symbol for gold, and a gold pair could be earrings). The word "start" is often a hint to take just the beginning of a word, so "the start" would be "t", or "start of his" would be "h" or "hi". The New York Times runs a cryptic crossword as its "second Sunday puzzle" every other month or so, and there are other regular cryptic crossword venues. In case you are interested, there are various guides on the web for solving cryptics, such as this one at The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/puzzclue.htm. (-- John?)
:This sounds like the most correct explanation to me so far, much moreso than the strictly crossword-based interpretation. I think this ''should'' be in the explanation.
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 22:44, 13 August 2018 (UTC)
: Why was this moved from the explanation? This is a far better explanation then what remains there. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.38.172|162.158.38.172]] 07:52, 14 August 2018 (UTC)
::I've moved this because it's written like a comment (including the sign). And I think at first we should focus on the ''My Hobby'' thing, Cueball is messing with someone. If you're also ''sure'', like Megan is, that there is a puzzle to solve then Cueball is probably messing you too. Nevertheless all mentioned items and persons have to be explained. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 09:16, 14 August 2018 (UTC)
:::I think it's a given that Cueball is messing with Megan, and that the focus should be '''why''' Megan thinks this is a word puzzle. The current explanation says the "text contain[s] many words that appear frequently in crossword puzzle answers", which seems an unlikely explanation to me. Surely the trigger shoud be many words and constructions that appear frequently in word puzzle clues (not answers), and I think John gave a good explanation of why this shounds like a word puzzle clue. [[User:Sandor|Sandor]] ([[User talk:Sandor|talk]]) 17:17, 14 August 2018 (UTC)
::: I agree with Sandor. This should be put into the explanation.[[User:Justhalf|Justhalf]] ([[User talk:Justhalf|talk]]) 20:34, 14 August 2018 (UTC)
:: I agree that the explanation as a cryptic puzzle makes much more sense than an explanation that the sentence uses words common in crosswords. Where's the puzzle in saying ''solutions'' to crossword puzzle questions? In general, it also seems a little arrogant to remove someone else's explanation unless it's obviously wrong. If you disagree, just change it to say it's a "possible interpretation". [[Special:Contributions/172.68.47.36|172.68.47.36]] 17:46, 14 August 2018 (UTC)

Although Randall says he is messing with us, the fact that he is so much cleverer than any of the rest of us means that Cueball's statement might even be a legitimate cryptic clue. --John [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.214|108.162.219.214]] 18:40, 13 August 2018 (UTC)

If anyone has an account on https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/, that community might be able to figure out if it's a legit puzzle. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.142.64|162.158.142.64]] 20:59, 13 August 2018 (UTC)
:I just asked at puzzling.stackexchange: https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/69502/is-this-a-puzzle-if-so-what-is-the-solution. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.96.209|141.101.96.209]] 02:03, 14 August 2018 (UTC)
::One answer supports my statement above: "I see no reason to believe this is a puzzle: it's simply a bunch of words that commonly appear in crosswords." Just sayin. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 09:16, 14 August 2018 (UTC)

Two words: [[Nerd Sniping]] [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 07:21, 14 August 2018 (UTC)

:"opera star" = "au pair a[t the] star[t]"? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.230|162.158.88.230]] 07:43, 14 August 2018 (UTC)

When I first read this sentence, I thought he just wanted to be needlessly verbose for a simple joke, like [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE5KkmDAcDs here]. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 08:16, 14 August 2018 (UTC)

In the explanation, I think there's a misunderstanding of "post-live". Death is "post-life", while "post-live" is the period after an artist stops performing live (in rock conerts, on stage, etc.). The artist may still be alive, and even produce studio albums. So, according to the comic, Brian Eno has stopped performing on-stage, but has still continued to create music (e.g. compose an aria). - Assaf {{unsigned ip|141.101.107.30}}
: My thoughts exactly - post-live does not mean after death! [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 12:44, 14 August 2018 (UTC)
::Thanks for mentioning this. The phrase is still incorrect so I'll do an update. BTW: Is the concert on this album {{w|June 1, 1974}} the last or maybe even the only live performance Eno has done? --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 13:52, 14 August 2018 (UTC)

I arranged all the important words in the main text on a Scrabble board. The total score of all the letters is 69. The total from my arrangement is 116. {{unsigned|Misterblue28}}

Reminiscent of the alliterations in BoJack Horseman.
:"Are you still looking for a star for your Transgender Teddy Roosevelt Planes Trains and Automobiles reboot, Plans, Trans, A Canal, Panama?"

:"You know the actress Courtney Portnoy? She portrayed the formerly portly consort in the seaport resort. Courtly roles like the formerly portly consort are Courtney Portnoy's forte. This was supposed to be Courtney's crossover coronation. But that's sorta been thwarted unfortunately 'cause Courtney's purportedly falling short of shoring up fourth quadrant support."

:"But Courtney, more importantly, audiences are going to adore your tour de force performance as the forceful denim-clad court reporter in "The Court Reporter Sported Jorts", the jet-setting jort-sporting court reporter story."

:[[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.154|162.158.63.154]] Steve

Would it make more sense to interpret "Brian Eno's opera star au pair" as "Brian Eno's au pair, who is an opera star" rather than "an au pair to an opera star which belonged to Eno"? It seems to make more sense, and there isn't anything that I can see that necessarily divides "opera star" and "au pair" into two separate clauses (such as "opera star's au pair").[[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.25|162.158.187.25]] 16:44, 14 August 2018 (UTC)
:Sounds reasonable. I'm not native English but I thought the more complex variant would fit into this comic. Maybe I'm wrong and I don't mind when you or someone else is changing it. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 16:59, 14 August 2018 (UTC)
::I've done the proper change. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:17, 14 August 2018 (UTC)