explain xkcd:Sandbox
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We have an explanation for all 3218 xkcd comics, and only 66 (2.1%) are incomplete. Help us finish them!
Latest comic[edit]
| Plums |
Title text: My icebox plum trap easily captured William Carlos Williams. It took much less work than the infinite looping network of diverging paths I had to build in that yellow wood to ensnare Robert Frost. |
Explanation[edit]
| This is incomplete: This page was created by a rebellious icebox. Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page! |
This is a reference to the William Carlos Williams poem This Is Just to Say, in which the narrator gives an apology, possibly insincere,[actual citation needed] for eating the plums in the icebox. In this comic, the joke is that Cueball, learning that the person out of view has left themselves some plums in the refrigerator for tomorrow, cannot resist eating them as a reference to the poem.
The title text is another joke about trapping poets with situations based on their own poems, it is about another well-known poem, The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost, which has been recently referenced in another comic, 3076: The Roads Both Taken. Of course, constructing a network of infinitely branching paths seems physically impossible for Cueball, though some kind of circular or looping arrangement might work. Of course, the choice that Frost makes would change over time in such an arrangement, if he always takes the path least-travelled, so this could prove complex.
Transcript[edit]
| This is one of 45 incomplete transcripts: Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page! |
- [Cueball is sitting at a desk with a laptop on it. He is looking backward towards someone offscreen.]
- Out of view: I got you the ingredients for dinner tonight.
- Out of view: Oh, and the plums in the fridge drawer are for my yogurt tomorrow; you should just leave them.
- Out of view: Be back later!
- Cueball [thinking]: Oh no.
- Caption: Help. It actually happened. I shouldn't, but how can I not!?
Discussion
Make changes, try things out, or just have fun with the wiki here! Just leave everything above the line alone, please.
This is a test. PoolloverNathan[stalk the blue seas] 20:48, 16 March 2021 (UTC)
- This is not. —While False (museum | talk | contributions | logs | rights | printable version | page information | what links there | related changes | Google search | current time: 16:15) 18:38, 17 November 2022 (UTC)
- A foreign student asked me to help fight against his math teacher. That was unusual. He was in that class for just a couple of weeks. The teacher's phone number was sent to me. The student asked me to spam-call the teacher. 172.71.155.55 22:58, 18 September 2023 (UTC)
here i'm just messing around in html, ignore this
furhhfghure guyrburgryhuyvfr "rvhru"
interesting way of writing quotations xd
- hmmm this one of putting "<p>" in a line break will come in handy for when i want it to start at the same place than the first line
edit: da hek did that "</div>" come from An user who has no account yet (talk) 14:14, 13 October 2023 (UTC)
hi uh its hard to get here.
is this a reference to undocumented feature??? hmm... this is interesting.
108.162.241.216 02:05, 23 November 2023 (UTC)
yum yum [citation needed]
Hiuiedeixgeyceiyedhcdiedcve {{trout}}
This is the leaderboard:Last 7 days (Top 50) |
<a href=" [AT THE JULY 28TH MEETING][tab] "Cancel the meeting! Our cover is blown.">
More testing: hello doesthiswork (yesitdoes) This isn't a good name (talk) 22:44, 28 January 2026 (UTC)New here?[edit]
Last 30 days (Top 10) |
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Recent comments:20 February 2026
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Talk:3209: Plums (10 changes | history) . . (+3,174) . . [Xkdvd; R128; 42.book.addict; 2a0a:ef40:f62:5201:6863:3656:ed2b:1b1b; 185.98.169.32; 45.140.184.137 (2×); Elizium23 (3×)] |
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(cur | prev) . . (+262) . . 185.98.169.32 (talk) (The words “forgive me” do not make this an apology.) |
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(cur | prev) . . (+52) . . 82.132.239.77 (talk) (Was added as an alteration of a prior comment. Did not even look like a revisiting IP modifying their 2½-year-old contribution, but technically a 'reply' , so redone as a reply (rather than reverted away as unwanted vandalism).) |
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Talk:3208: SNEWS (2 changes | history) . . (+1,091) . . [BunsenH (2×)] |
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19 February 2026
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23:58 |
Talk:3208: SNEWS (5 changes | history) . . (+1,293) . . [96.61.125.76; 82.13.184.33; 81.179.199.253; 2001:16b8:cc31:8a00:4965:59fd:4204:21d7 (2×)] |
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| 17:17 | Talk:3179: Fishing (diff | hist) . . (+424) . . 42.book.addict (talk | contribs) |
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Talk:3076: The Roads Both Taken (2 changes | history) . . (+409) . . [DollarStoreBa'al (2×)] |
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| 03:39 | Talk:3207: Bad Map Projection: Zero Declination (diff | hist) . . (+161) . . This isn't a good name (talk | contribs) (alright :)) |
