Riddles in the Downs

[Urwen]

This is supported by third and fourth lines of the second stanza. Hunters hunt beasts, and Noldor (and the rest of the Elves) mistook Orome for the dark hunter that captured their kin, only to find out he is really sweet.

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Urwen

So something which sounds like 'Codswallop'?

Yep!

Originally Posted by Urwen

'Gods gallop'?

Orome?

Originally Posted by Urwen

This is supported by third and fourth lines of the second stanza. Hunters hunt beasts, and Noldor (and the rest of the Elves) mistook Orome for the dark hunter that captured their kin, only to find out he is really sweet.

Nope. :-/ The fact that I said 'Gnomes' is super duper relevant.

Reposting for the new page:

"Oh my God!" I hear them cry
(or perhaps my ears deceive me):
All the gnomes, I think, and sigh,
Yell "Codswallop!" when they see me.

I am the front that grows on the trees,
The box that makes some wheezy.
Am I for beasts or am I quite sweet?
Not sure - but I'm certainly easy!

hS

[Urwen]

In that case, I am drawing a blank.

[Urwen]

I still believe Cod sounds like God, but can't think of anything that sounds like 'swallop'. Unless it's 'Gods wall off', which they did after the downfall of Numenor. But the fact that Noldor are somehow involved removes that possibility. And there is 'Oh my God' line too. Which could be Morgoth.....

Now 'mae' sounds like 'my' and 'o' sounds like 'oh', but that leaves dhrs to sound like 'God', and as hard as I want to, I can't see it.

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Urwen

I still believe Cod sounds like God, but can't think of anything that sounds like 'swallop'. Unless it's 'Gods wall off', which they did after the downfall of Numenor. But the fact that Noldor are somehow involved removes that possibility. And there is 'Oh my God' line too. Which could be Morgoth.....

Now 'mae' sounds like 'my' and 'o' sounds like 'oh', but that leaves dhrs to sound like 'God', and as hard as I want to, I can't see it.

Why are you acting as if Gnomes speak English?

[Urwen]

Okay, so I searched some Gnomish and Quenya words, and can't find anything that could sound like 'codswallop'.

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Urwen

Okay, so I searched some Gnomish and Quenya words, and can't find anything that could sound like 'codswallop'.

I mean, I promise there is one? (It's Gnomish, for the record.) But I'd recommend using the second half of the riddle to solve it, and the first half to check.

hS

[Urwen]

Words associated with trees: Aigos, Golosbrindi


Golosbrindi does sound a bit like codswallop.


Can't find the words that match the other two lines, as there are not many gnomish words.

[Urwen]

Or maybe 'codwalion', gnomish word for chestnut. Chest could be the box, and nut does grow on trees.

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Urwen

Or maybe 'codwalion', gnomish word for chestnut. Chest could be the box, and nut does grow on trees.

"Oh my God!" I hear them cry
(or perhaps my ears deceive me):

ormagod n. “a (Spanish) chestnut”

All the gnomes, I think, and sigh,
Yell "Codswallop!" when they see me.

codwalion n. “walnut, chestnut”

I am the front that grows on the trees,

Chest - the front part of the torso. Nut - a thing that grows on trees.

The box that makes some wheezy.

Chest - a box. Nut - something that many people are allergic to.

Am I for beasts or am I quite sweet?

Horse chestnut - Aesculus hippocastanum. Sweet chestnut - Castanea sativa. The two 'chestnuts' of the British Isles.

Not sure - but I'm certainly easy!

"This he thought a dreadfully easy chestnut, though he had not asked it in the usual words." ~The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien

The answer is indeed CHESTNUT. Over to you.

hS

(PS: Eldamo gives over 3000 Gnomish words, including seven meaning 'chestnut'.)

[Urwen]

Yeah, I know. Eldamo is how I found it.

[Urwen]

New riddle will be up soon

[Urwen]

Here it is.

I am a bloomer, to earth I am bound
And I grow from the ground
You pass me in the dark, but I'm still around
When I am there, there is plenty of food abound
I might look like an ordinary shrub
But to you and yours I provide a fine grub

[Urwen]

Please, unless you're planning ti do nothing on the forum, then don't come online. Doing so gets some of us excited fir nothing, which is kinda mean.

[Morsul the Dark]

Is it potatoes grows underground hence the darkness but and everything else is describing the potato plant/top

[Urwen]

No.

[Mithalwen]

The special corn used to make lembas?

[Urwen]

No.

[Urwen]

Bump?

[Huinesoron]

Mushrooms don't exactly bloom, so probably not that. 'You pass me in the dark' might imply a specific scene.

hS

[Urwen]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

Mushrooms don't exactly bloom, so probably not that. 'You pass me in the dark' might imply a specific scene.

hS

It is not a scene, but rather how this specific character describes it.

[Urwen]

Want a hint?

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Urwen

It is not a scene, but rather how this specific character describes it.

This makes me think of Sam talking to Gollum in Ithilien. Dunno though. Who else talked about food?

hS

[Urwen]

Eh, a certain traitor - not M(a)eglin, though - did.

[Pervinca Took]

The food Mim provided. Which I once called Mim's Taters for a password.

[Urwen]

Indeed.

[Pervinca Took]

Oh dear. I have two passwords ready to go, but I'm crap at making riddles.

Let's see.

Withering with our fellows,
An airborne riposte,
And in a request both impertinent and half-baked?
What are we?

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Pervinca Took

Withering with our fellows,
An airborne riposte,
And in a request both impertinent and half-baked?
What are we?

I'm thinking some sort of insult. 'Impertinent' sounds like the sort of thing Gandalf would call Pippin, but I can't actually find it in the text. Half-baked also sounds like a Pippin thing.

Hang on, jumping tracks as completely as possible... the Silmarils are capable of burning and withering flesh, are used as an airborne weapon by Earendil, and were requested by Thingol in the most impertinent, half-baked idea he ever had.

So I shall guess the Silmarils, and hang the consequences! ^_^

hS

[Pervinca Took]

Sorry, didn't see your reply.

Good try! Not the Silmarils, though.

[Huinesoron]

So, Tolkien famously used 'impertinent' to describe Nazi Germany's question regarding his ancestry:

Originally Posted by Letters

I cannot, however, forbear to comment that if impertinent and irrelevant inquiries of this sort are to become the rule in matters of literature, then the time is not far distant when a German name will no longer be a source of pride.

He was even more blunt to Stanley Unwin:

Originally Posted by Letters

Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries?

"Impertinent and half-baked" indeed.

I'm not sure if this helps, though: what would be in the request, other than racism, which doesn't really seem to fit the riddle?

hS

[Pervinca Took]

Nope.

The answer is a physical thing. A common noun (in the plural), not an abstract.

Big Clue: 'half-baked' is literal. Not the metaphorical sense of 'gormless.'

[Huinesoron]

... surely it can't be Mim's Taters again? Potatoes and allied roots do wither, and I can certainly imagine them both being thrown at someone's head and being impertinently requested. Also baked.

Actually, throwing things at people's heads sounds more like Gollum; does he do that?

hS

[Mithalwen]

I could only think of Sam buzzing an apple at Bill Fernie but that was a good apple.

[Pervinca Took]

Originally Posted by Pervinca Took

Withering with our fellows,
An airborne riposte,
And in a request both impertinent and half-baked?
What are we?

I didn't say they weren't good.

The answer is, indeed, APPLES.

The AIRBORNE RIPOSTE is, as Mithalwen guessed, the one Sam throws at Bill Ferny.

Can you work out where the apples in the other two lines occur?

[Mithalwen]

The wrinkled store apples Pippin eats with Beregond?

[Pervinca Took]

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

The wrinkled store apples Pippin eats with Beregond?

Correct. Does it say wrinkled rather than withered? Those are the ones I meant, anyway.

Now, for the other line, I stretch the possible meaning of 'half-baked' a bit ... can you think, though, where an impertinent request concerning apples might have been made?

[Galadriel55]

Ohhh, good one! The Dwarves impertinently asked Bilbo for apple pie (tart? cake? other baked good?) among other foodstries. But knowing Bilbo's cooking to be very high quality, not sure why it would be half-baked.

[Pervinca Took]

Correct again. One of the dwarves asks for raspberry jam and apple tart. I stretched 'half-baked' because a tart has pastry only around the edge and at the bottom (sort of half as much as a pie has, which has a pastry top as well).

Mith guessed it was apples and two of the three examples, so I guess it's over to her?

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Pervinca Took

Mith guessed it was apples and two of the three examples, so I guess it's over to her?

Definitely so.

[Mithalwen]

Since I somehow managed to solve the password at the same time, I have done a quick and easy (at least from my POV) old school riddle for you to chew over while I set that:

My first is in battle but not in fight
My second in strength but not in might
My third is in wasp but not in bees
My fourth not in wood but trees
My last is in night but not in day
My all is that I am just what I say!