WOW! Now THAT is digging deep: Harthad Uluithiad "Hope Unquenchable," the poetic name given to Sam by Gandalf at Theoden's funeral feast in the first draft of "Many Partings."

HART + HAD + 2 U's + ITHIL + AD. Jeez.

TELCONTAR: Negative rattle troubled him.
BOROMIR: More capacious? Change note to perturb him!
HARTHAD ULUITHIAD: Deer possessed you twice, we hear! Publicity for the moon? It gets even crazier before he appears!
???N???: Leech scurries around, but gains direction for him.
INCANUS: Fiery ball runs back to meet mixed-up killer for him.
GIMLI: Note measure losing direction, and spin to find him.
LEGOLAS: Measure a pudding, and mix it well for him.

Well, given that I was writing my third 'Council attendees' password in a row, I had to put *something* challenging into it! And it was also the only way I could get a U, because I needed 'Incanus' for the second C.

Not *that* long ago I used the twin-term, BRONWE ATHAN HARTHAD, as one of my passwords, and I thought some of you might remember it and realise Sam was given a 'name' at the same time. Frodo's means 'Endurance Beyond Hope,' so the answers to the clues were things like Amon Sul (for Weathertop), various other sites of woundings, Hunger, Thirst, Ringbearing, but also Aragorn's Singing :D (Weathertop camp fire) and Rankin-Bass songs, which I called the trick question. :D

That was probably my favourite of all my passwords, not least because Frodo is my favourite literary character.

I don't think I could manage to find 16 different kinds of *hope* though, so Sam will have to be content with *his* alias just being the answer to an individual clue. :)

Now, for the last one. It's not as hard as it seems. It uses an *unusual* synonym for 'leech,' but one that is there in the list if you google for synonyms. It's how I found it, anyway. (Well, at least, I googled the word I needed to use and got 'leech' as an option).

...

OK. You can find leech if you google for synonyms of the word we need, but you can't google leech and find the word we need.

Think of a leech as an idler who does no useful work. Think of another term, maybe in the insect community ....

Elrond (Drone + L, for left)

TELCONTAR: Negative rattle troubled him.
BOROMIR: More capacious? Change note to perturb him!
HARTHAD ULUITHIAD: Deer possessed you twice, we hear! Publicity for the moon? It gets even crazier before he appears!
ELROND: Leech scurries around, but gains direction for him.
INCANUS: Fiery ball runs back to meet mixed-up killer for him.
GIMLI: Note measure losing direction, and spin to find him.
LEGOLAS: Measure a pudding, and mix it well for him.

THEME: PEOPLE PRESENT AT THE COUNCIL OF ELROND.

Drone and Elrond it is.

I wanted to make it COUNCIL the first time, but could only find one C. Then I realised I'd forgotten Incanus, but I'd written the clues for MEETING and also I couldn't have used all the lesser-known ones like Erestor and Galdor in COUNCIL.

Anyway! Over to William.

OK, let's go in a different direction!

1: This wagon was Gollum's turbulent cause of death, more or less
2: Diseased whale: it's serious.
3: Seven sisters give direction to a goofy mime? Pointless anger!
4: The cause of the insanity- it sounded like an Eastern leer, eh?
5: You'll find Sol in the endless golf cave river.
6: "To hold your goal and yourself in both hands, you must first let it be"- the Messenger
7: Vigorous activity results in the opposite of depressed for the star bird.
8: "Cut the head off that phone salesman, send it to Giles' anarchic lordship!" exclaim the pirates. Oh, Ryan!

8. Corsairs?

A bit too literal

A little tip: your clues are also supposed to contain a straight clue (ie. something which describes the answer. For example, 'Jewel-Maker' = Feanor. Using 'him' or 'her' will suffice too. Take a look at Pervinca's puzzles for reference.

Edited.

3. Valier?
7. Elwing?
8. Rian?

Nuh-uh.

Here's a hint: only one of the eight is a person.

1. This made me wonder if there could be a make of car called LAVA.

I don't think there is, but, fascinatingly, there is a car rental company called LAVA CARS at two locations in Iceland! :D

I think 3 is MENELMACAR or MENELVIGOR for Orion / The Seven Sisters, but I can't quite get mime AND anger (presumably without a compass point) to work in either.

Hang on ...

8 is TELEMAKTAR, isn't it? (Telemarketer).

Because Oh Ryan = Orion.

Not sure about the decapitation, though.

Is the theme stars and constellations?

Sorry. I thought the Seven Sisters was another name for Orion.

It isn't. It's the Pleiades.

Which makes 3 REMMIRATH: MIME + WRATH - W + R.

This makes me wonder if the password is EARENDIL, (the one answer that is a person, as per William's hint), but I think 8 has to be Telemaktar. Maybe Earendil for a password not/not wholly made of initial letters?

1. Is this CARnil?

Well ... it's red, like the lava.

And it contains 'car' for wagon.

And there was no/nil car at that point to rescue him ... the Eagles had not yet arrived.

1: This wagon was Gollum's turbulent cause of death, more or less
2: Diseased whale: it's serious.
3: REMMIRATH
4: The cause of the insanity- it sounded like an Eastern leer, eh?
5: You'll find Sol in the endless golf cave river.
6: "To hold your goal and yourself in both hands, you must first let it be"- the Messenger
7: Vigorous activity results in the opposite of depressed for the star bird.
8: "Cut the head off that phone salesman, send it to Giles' anarchic lordship!" exclaim the pirates. Oh, Ryan!

8: you're very, very close.

1: LAVA is a component, yes....

Theme: The Heavenly Lights

1. VALACIRCA.

LAVA + CIRCA (around).

Does this constellation look like a wagon?

8. TELIMEKTAR? (my spelling was wrong). Or TELUMEHTAR?

It's known as the Wain in some circles, which I believe means wagon. :)

#2: Uin the great whale is ill? It must be ILLUIN, the northern Lamp.

hS

The Plough, yes, which looks like a wagon (just checked it).

Ah, I found Uin, but not the star/lamp. :)

...

Telumehtar Umbardacil defeated the corsairs (pirates). I never heard of a corsair named Giles, though ... farmers can be dark horses.

I think 6 might be EARENDIL. It begins with EA (Be!) and has END (goal). Can't account for RIL, but he went to the Valar as a messenger.

Oh! R and L for both hands, (right and left), and I for 'yourself/himself?'

I for 'yourself', and L+R for 'both hands' (left and right)? It fits together in the right order, too.

hS

Great minds ....

Nice work on Earendil!

Also Illuin is right, but I screwed up the clue a bit, since I confused Illuin (the northern Lamp) with Helluin (Sirius).

And #1, got it. According to Tolkien, the Shire-Hobbits called the Plough (Big Dipper, Ursa Major) the Wain, a synonym for wagon he used quite a bit, as in Wainriders. Also called the Sickle and the Burning Briar: almost as multimonickered as Aragorn!

Close enough on #8, since Tolkien never could decide how exactly it was spelt. (Farmer) Giles' lordship was Thame, and pirates exclaim "R!" (Arrrr)

1: VALACIRCA
2: ILLUIN
3: REMMIRATH
4: The cause of the insanity- it sounded like an Eastern leer, eh?
5: You'll find Sol in the endless golf cave river.
6: EARENDIL
7: Vigorous activity results in the opposite of depressed for the star bird.
8: TELEMEHTAR

Password: Almagest?

BULLSEYE! We have a winnah!

1: VALACIRCA
2: ILLUIN
3: REMMIRATH
4: ???A??? The cause of the insanity- it sounded like an Eastern leer, eh?
5: ???G??? You'll find Sol in the endless golf cave river.
6: EARENDIL
7: ???S??? Vigorous activity results in the opposite of depressed for the star bird.
8: TELEMEHTAR

Did 'cut the head off' mean 'Get rid of Umbardacil?'

It meant remove the TELE from MARKETER and move ("send") it to scrambled THAME (Giles' anarchic lordship)

The answer is the constellation, not the King of Gondor.

5. Edegil?

7. Soronume?

Anyone else up for helping me solve the remaining three?

I would if I had time, but I have a very busy week.

DAMN! Wilin means bird in Qenya, but the star bird clue needs an S, and Wilwarin doesn't have one.

4. Perhaps RANA, purely because the moon has traditionally been associated with lunacy. No idea about the 'Eastern leer.'

Or ANARRIMA, which contains 'mania.'

#5: I've found the word 'BRAGLORIN', apparently for the sun, which contains the letters 'gol' - ie, golf without its end. I admit I'm not sure how 'bralin' comes out as [endless] cave river, but I figure it's worth a shot. :)

And I think I can provide an explanation for #7 SORONUME - it's an anagram ('vigorous activity') of UN-MOROSE ('the opposite of depressed'), and is of course a star bird by name.

hS

Sorry, folks, was out of town the last 3 days.

7: Yes, SORONUME ("Eagle of the West," i.e. Aquila) is correct. Hun is absolutely right: UN-MOROSE
4: RANA is the right answer, and the 'lunacy' part is correct- but can you decode the clue?

5: keep trying, nobody's close yet (It is a tough one)

1: VALACIRCA
2: ILLUIN
3: REMMIRATH
4: ???A??? The cause of the insanity- it sounded like an Eastern leer, eh?
5: ???G??? You'll find Sol in the endless golf cave river.
6: EARENDIL
7: SORONUME
8: TELEMEHTAR

A cenote is a natural underground reservoir, but that's not quite the same as a cave river.

5 uses all everyday words, nothing abstruse or archaic

There is a river called BIR in India. GOL is endless golf.

Is it BORGIL? Is the Sol element just that it's a red star?