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William Cloud Hicklin 04-18-2019 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pervinca Took (Post 715136)
Eeyore is a depressive donkey!

Anyond know of a rune that sounds like Eeyore?

There's a Viking rune called As/Oss, but thaf doesn't really get me anywhere.

Eeyore sounds like IOR, which begins the name IORHAEL, but I don't think that's whag the clue's asking for either.

On the right track though

William Cloud Hicklin 04-18-2019 02:22 PM

New page repost:

1. To rescue him, you must cut a group of terrorists off at the knees.
2. A depressive ***, a voiced rune? [OK, donkey. Bloody forum software]
3. A German pursues a backwards revolutionary, in front of his defense.
ORODRETH: Spanish gold leads to a confused forum topic, not an article.
5. Our German mumbles "Lieber G---" but without energy

Pervinca Took 04-18-2019 02:25 PM

Or maybe IOR plus the Old English letter ETH, for IORETH?

I think the letter 'thorn' was a rune. I'm not sure abouth 'eth,' though.

William Cloud Hicklin 04-18-2019 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pervinca Took (Post 715139)
Or maybe IOR plus the Old English letter ETH, for IORETH?

I think the letter 'thorn' was a rune. I'm not sure abouth 'eth,' though.

Bullseye! "Thorn" (þ) represented the unvoiced TH, and "eth" (ð) represented the voiced (cf. "clothes" as opposed to "cloth."), the former giving rise to bogus "Y"s in "Ye Olde Gifte Shoppe" nonsense. These two and "yogh" (ȝ) were the three futhorc runes that survived into Middle English.

William Cloud Hicklin 04-18-2019 02:42 PM

1. To rescue him, you must cut a group of terrorists off at the knees.
IORETH: A depressive donkey, a voiced rune?
3. A German pursues a backwards revolutionary, in front of his defense.
ORODRETH: Spanish gold leads to a confused forum topic, not an article.
5. Our German mumbles "Lieber G---" but without energy

Pervinca Took 04-18-2019 02:45 PM

The letter 'eth' is voiced th in the phonetic alphabet, of course.

I thought thorn and eth could both be voiced and unvoiced in Old English, though. Or maybe they were supposed to be different sounds but this wasn't always adhered to.

William Cloud Hicklin 04-18-2019 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pervinca Took (Post 715142)
The letter 'eth' is voiced th in the phonetic alphabet, of course.

I thought thorn and eth could both be voiced and unvoiced in Old English, though. Or maybe they were supposed to be different sounds but this wasn't always adhered to.

Actually you're right. In A-S orthography, there was a tendency towards thorn initially, and eth medially and finally, regardless of voice. But I needed to push a clue! And of course in modern PA, eth is used for the voiced dental fricative as opposed to theta

Pervinca Took 04-18-2019 02:52 PM

I had forgotten the Ye Olde thing ... how did it happen, though? Neither letter really looks like a Y. Was it just because it was a single letter?

Nothing to do with the letter wynn, which looks like thorn without the top bit?

Urwen 04-18-2019 02:59 PM

I think for five, if you follow the clues, you're left with these letters:


U S R L B O T T


Can you make something from it, Pervinca?

Pervinca Took 04-18-2019 03:04 PM

I can't! I wondered if mumble could be the German part, but that's 'murmeln,' (well, the infinitive is), which isn't ringing any bells for me.

I think 'Lieber Gott' could just be to get the word OATH or SWEAR or CURSE, though.

William Cloud Hicklin 04-18-2019 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pervinca Took (Post 715144)
I had forgotten the Ye Olde thing ... how did it happen, though? Neither letter really looks like a Y. Was it just because it was a single letter?

Nothing to do with the letter wynn, which looks like thorn without the top bit?

In 17th century orthography (yes, it lasted that long!) thorn really did look rather like a Y; it basically lost its ascender and took over the shape of wynn, which had fallen out of use not long into the Middle English period: https://proxy.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=h...lution.jpg&f=1

Yogh in a much smaller way has created a similar issue: names like "Menzies," which is pronounced "Mingus" because that Z is actually a yogh.

William Cloud Hicklin 04-18-2019 03:05 PM

FWIW, "mumbles" is just the anagram indicator

Pervinca Took 04-18-2019 03:10 PM

I did wonder why the politician, Menzies Campbell, was referred to as Ming!

So ... maybe UNSER mixed up followed by LIEBER GOTT minus a word that means energy?

Urwen 04-18-2019 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pervinca Took (Post 715149)
I did wonder why the politician, Menzies Campbell, was referred to as Ming!

So ... maybe UNSER mixed up followed by LIEBER GOTT minus a word thst means energy?


That's what I thought too, and I ended up with letter I listed above.

Pervinca Took 04-18-2019 03:20 PM

Oh, you took away the actual word 'energy?' I wondered how you came by those letters!

Hang on, what if it's energy in German.

UNSERLIEBERGOTT - ENERGIE = USLBROTT.

Hmmm. Unless it's a special kind of loaf they make in Rohan that I've never heard of ....

William Cloud Hicklin 04-18-2019 04:13 PM

It's less linguistic than scientific.

Urwen 04-18-2019 04:22 PM

The symbol for Energy is E.

Pervinca Took 04-18-2019 05:22 PM

Maybe it's just Lieber G we need to scramble.

If you remove E and do that, you get BERGIL.

Not sure about 'Our German,' unless it's also a German name. (It sounds like it might be).

Actually ... it's probably the German from the earlier clue.

What the blazes the password could be I do not know - unless it's BORIN, running from bottom to top.

William Cloud Hicklin 04-18-2019 06:52 PM

Pervinca scores again!!!

That's exactly it. "Our German" was just a callback to #3 (which in hindsight was probably needlessly confusing), and an excuse for Lieber G---

William Cloud Hicklin 04-18-2019 06:54 PM

1. To rescue him, you must cut a group of terrorists off at the knees.
2. IORETH: A depressive donkey, a voiced rune?
3. A German pursues a backwards revolutionary, in front of his defense.
4. ORODRETH: Spanish gold leads to a confused forum topic, not an article.
4a. Him gone, if her spelling is as confused as her grammar and gender identity.
5. BERGIL: Our German mumbles "Lieber G---" but without energy

William Cloud Hicklin 04-18-2019 06:59 PM

It occurs to me that Orodreth isn't a great fit for the clue pattern. An umpire would call it a "borderline strike." So here's an alternate #4 (O):

4a. Him gone, if her spelling is as confused as her grammar and gender identity.

Pervinca Took 04-18-2019 08:03 PM

Is the password MINOR, for minor characters?

William Cloud Hicklin 04-18-2019 08:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pervinca Took (Post 715160)
Is the password MINOR, for minor characters?

YES! On a roll!

Pervinca Took 04-19-2019 02:52 AM

Cool!

Can you tell me if 'cell' was the right element for the terrorist group?

Oh ... maybe it's the name of a group.

I still don't have the answer. But if you scramble RANSOM (rescue) and IR, (IRA cut off at the knees), you can get 'rosmarin' but also ARS MINOR. ;) I wonder if that too is a musical note or key I hadn't heard of before, and how one would *produce* such a note! :D

Anyway, it amused me enough to make me want to share it.

William Cloud Hicklin 04-19-2019 06:37 AM

1 I feared would tumble in 5 minutes; seemed too obvious from my seat.

That character was smart enough to know an old man's stick might be more than a prop, and also smart enough to let it slide.

Urwen 04-19-2019 06:54 AM

So #1 is Hama?

Pervinca Took 04-19-2019 07:14 AM

Oh yes - Hamas with the S cut off?

Pervinca Took 04-19-2019 07:25 AM

3. I think 'A German' is EIN. And backward revolutionary ... DER? (Red backwards). But defence? That makes me, with some of the elements, think EORED, but it's a character we want. And a minor one.

The N was giving me trouble.

Let's see if EOTHAIN would work. It has EIN, and he's a minor character.

William Cloud Hicklin 04-19-2019 07:51 AM

The "A" is leading you astray (I need to be more careful!). It was just put in to give the sentence flow. Ignore it at will.

3 probably is the hardest of the set.


1. HAMA: To rescue him, you must cut a group of terrorists off at the knees.
2. IORETH: A depressive donkey, a voiced rune?
3. ???N???: A German pursues a backwards revolutionary, in front of his defense.
4. ORODRETH: Spanish gold leads to a confused forum topic, not an article.
4a. Him gone, if her spelling is as confused as her grammar and gender identity.
5. BERGIL: Our German mumbles "Lieber G---" but without energy

Pervinca Took 04-19-2019 12:29 PM

Wonder what 'defence' could be. Shield? But Thorin Oakenshield isn't a minor character.

William Cloud Hicklin 04-19-2019 03:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pervinca Took (Post 715172)
Wonder what 'defence' could be. Shield? But Thorin Oakenshield isn't a minor character.

Pervinca, just wondering- are you a USAian, or one of our friends from overseas? "Defense" here would I think be an obvious clue to American and Canadian sports fans, but on reflection others might not be familar with the usage.

Pervinca Took 04-19-2019 04:57 PM

I'm a Brit, but we refer to defence in sports. I'm not really a sports fan, though, which is probably why I didn't think of it.

Perhaps the element I'm missing refers to a sport not played much over here, though, like baseball or American football.

Just asked my dad, though, if 'back' is a term for a defence position, and he said yes.

William Cloud Hicklin 04-19-2019 05:10 PM

Your dad is correct, but it's not on the right track (also, in US football there are both defensive and offensive backs)

Actually I was simply going for D: "The Patriots lead the league in scoring, but the Bears have great D." Or, "Kobe has to get back on D faster if the Lakers want to contain Boston's offense." Or just "Good D!" whenever a notable defensive play is made.

EDIT: Part of the issue must be transatlantic differences in pronunciation: US ˈdē-fen(t)s vs UK dɪ-ˈfɛns

William Cloud Hicklin 04-21-2019 07:53 AM

Since Pervinca guessed the Password, it's her turn. I guess two turns, since I jumped the queue.

Anyway, Number 3 is BEREGOND: REB reversed followed by EGON and D

Pervinca Took 04-21-2019 08:34 AM

Is that REB as in Confederate soldier?

I don't understand the EGON element, either.

Urwen 04-21-2019 02:11 PM

New puzzle?

Pervinca Took 04-21-2019 04:49 PM

I was wondering what the answer to clue 4a was.

1. Behold, cross-dressing, an elf spins round!
2. Amphibian hops around a Berlin street? See him change direction and turn!
3. He might drive around, alternatively.
4. You'll see his bonds, if you pluralise him.
5. He's Wise, but limited. Old, too. With a flair for light entertainment? Let this unfold!

Urwen 04-22-2019 02:17 AM

1 must be GALDOR (DRAG + OL spun around)

Pervinca Took 04-22-2019 03:44 AM

GALDOR: Behold, cross-dressing, an elf spins round!
2. Amphibian hops around a Berlin street? See him change direction and turn!
3. He might drive around, alternatively.
4. You'll see his bonds, if you pluralise him.
5. He's Wise, but limited. Old, too. With a flair for light entertainment? Let this unfold!

Yes. LO = Behold.

Urwen 04-22-2019 06:33 AM

Then the theme mus be lords of Gondolin. If we exclude the already solved one and the evil one, that leaves Glorfindel, Ecthelion, Pengolodh, Egalmoth, Tuor, Turgon, Salgant, Rog and Duilin


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