[texhax] Unicode Replacement Character in Standard TeX

[Philip Taylor]

Good morning Doug --

> This is helpful and shows how to solve the problem similarly to the
> earlier solution, using the \llap (left overlap) macro.  But this
> doesn't quite work visually, because the lozenge is too narrow to
> hold a question mark.

How odd.  In my environment (TeX Live 2014, Windows 7 Enterprise), a 
7-point CMR "?" fits perfectly in the default 10-point AMS black 
lozenge; can you post a screen-shot of yours so that I can see how it 
differs ?   Mine can be seen at :

	https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-jMaVNesW6_E/VLjWcylqT3I/AAAAAAAAOyc/4B9YX5gEHLg/s912/Fullscreen%2520capture%252016012015%2520091201.jpg
	
> Plus there was some overlap when two or more
> are adjacent.

Ah, that I confess I did /not/ try ...  It would occur because I failed 
to properly restore the /a priori/ x-coordinate after the llap; 
corrected in the code below.

> So I tried it with an exclamation point, and after
> some fussing to get things kerned and centered, I though this looked
> pretty good:
>
> $\blacklozenge\mkern-3.4mu\llap{\raise-.15ex\hbox{\textcolor{white}{!}}}\mkern2.5mu$

And that (in my environment) really pushes the envelope; see :

	https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-pvBKbcUzApI/VLjXdeTU1eI/AAAAAAAAOyk/pkhVzOHH78g/s912/Fullscreen%2520capture%252016012015%2520091626.jpg

>  Many thanks.  Both solutions are proving useful.

You are most welcome.
** Phil.
--------
Revised code :

\documentclass [a4paper]{minimal}
\usepackage [dvipsnames]{xcolor}
\usepackage {amssymb}

\font \cmr = cmr7
\def \missing {$\blacklozenge \mkern -2,5mu \llap {\hbox {\textcolor 
{white} {\cmr ?}}}\mkern 2,5 mu$}

\begin{document}
\begin{center}

\missing \missing \missing

$\blacklozenge\mkern-3.4mu\llap{\raise-.15ex\hbox{\textcolor{white}{!}}}\mkern2.5mu$

\end{center}
\end{document}

See 
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--7XEUmwvxh4/VLjZ0G76pFI/AAAAAAAAOyw/j7HCpeSZXOA/s912/Fullscreen%2520capture%252016012015%2520092631.jpg