30

Argh! I think I must be going mad!
Beating others in a fevered dream -
Colours whirling, twisting, changing,
Digits blurring, causing pain.

Experts say the tiger-owl is king.

Finally success is found!
Gasping, I survey my work:
Happy faces, no more blotches,
I think I've cured them all in time.

Just tell me: what's it all about?

Rand al'Thor
  • 116,845
  • 28
  • 322
  • 627

1 Answers1

23

The riddle describes

the process of solving a Rubik's Cube rapidly (something on which Emrakul is an expert) under competition conditions.

Argh! I think I must be going mad!
Beating others in a fevered dream -

I assume it's a pretty intense experience. Beating others, of course, in the sense of solving faster than they can.

Colours whirling, twisting, changing,
Digits blurring, causing pain.

The colours of the cube faces. Twisting because that's what the faces of the cube do. The digits are the solver's fingers, blurring (and in pain) because they are moving so fast.

Experts say the tiger-owl is king.

Emrakul's profile picture is of a lovely origami owl -- and before that, so I'm informed, it was a tiger. (And Emrakul is a very skilled cuber.)

Finally success is found!
Gasping, I survey my work:

Cube solved. Phew!

Happy faces, no more blotches,
I think I've cured them all in time.

The faces (of the cube) are now the way they should be, each its own solid colour. The mismatched colours have all been fixed, and I might even have set a speed record.

Just tell me: what's it all about?

See above.

I don't have an explanation for the A..J at the starts of the lines, but I am informed in chat that that's OK because it was done just for fun and not meant to clue anything :-).

Gareth McCaughan
  • 119,120
  • 7
  • 313
  • 454
  • Re the 5th line: what was their previous avatar? – Rand al'Thor Apr 28 '17 at 02:21
  • Oddly enough, I do not remember the complete sequence of profile images of everyone on Puzzling. Or in fact anyone on Puzzling. Was it perhaps a tiger? – Gareth McCaughan Apr 28 '17 at 02:29
  • Was just about to point out that it indeed was a tiger. – ffao Apr 28 '17 at 02:33
  • ...with wings... https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/7bbf2fadaebeb77eb32ed09203c8fcea ... http://www.ultrahdfreewallpapers.com/tiger-hd-wallpaper-0082/ – humn Apr 28 '17 at 02:33
  • @Gareth I do believe I remember the complete sequence of your profile images, just as I remember the complete sequence of your questions here on Puzzling. (And yes.) – Rand al'Thor Apr 28 '17 at 02:36
  • @randal'thor yeahyeahyeah, trivial special cases are trivial. (I explicitly decided not to bother qualifying my "anyone" comment and wondering whether I'd get picked up on it :-).) Anyway, thanks; answer edited appropriately. – Gareth McCaughan Apr 28 '17 at 02:43
  • Also, this link might be worth adding in somewhere. – Rand al'Thor Apr 28 '17 at 02:44
  • 3
    @randal'thor Good idea; done. I should also mention, in case anyone is concerned, that before attacking this riddle i established that neither Rand nor Emrakul minded someone other than Emrakul doing so. – Gareth McCaughan Apr 28 '17 at 10:12