Or maybe places connected to the Battle of Five Armies in some fashion?

And for 6, River Running (RN RN RN + GIVE + UI, like you said)

Theme: People/Places in the Kingdom of Dale

I found a term for banker which is close to UNDOMIEL: MONEY LENDER

Ruddy heck! That's a clever clue.

Yep!

1: WITHERED HEATH
2 ???I???: Here you'll find the bewildered spokesman for the heads of failed enterprises.
3: LONELY MOUNTAIN
4 ???D???: Here they confuse Arwen with a banker
5: ESGAROTH
6: RIVER RUNNING
7: ELVENKING'S HALLS
8: LAKETOWN
9: BEORN
10: DALE

I had hoped that using "3" rather than "three" would have been a tipoff.

You're getting closer, but it isn't Undomiel.

Then if it isn't Undomiel, and it isn't Evenstar either, then what is it?!

"Here." It's a place, not a person. Arwen is just part of the clue.

How about a riverbank - a river for the banker?

Yeah, but you said that the final answer doesn't contain either Undomiel or Evenstar (you dismissed the second option when you said it isn't 'investor'.)

That leaves only ARWEN as possible part of the clue, and I've tried all places that contain that. None of those contains any letters needed for synonym of 'banker'.

Places which contain 'arwen': Woodland Realm. Remove 'arwen' and you're left with

O O D L D A L M

Now do tell, which is the synonym of banker that also exists within these letters?

Who sez "Arwen" is part of the final answer?

Go back to LENDER and see what you can do with it

[completely OT: why won't the forum software accept ANY custom avatar I try to upload? Yes, it's well within size limits]

But you said that Arwen is part of the clue.....

It is, but that doesn't mean the letters A R W E N....

Again, if you play with LENDER you'll probably get the answer, and then see how Arwen ties in.

So you mean only the letters LENDER are part of the puzzle?

Okay, I will try some anagrams of lender.

Elenarda, maybe (A LENDER + AR, from ARWEN)

Come on, stick with the password. And LENDER doesn't give you all the letters, just 6 of them.

But it is some form of AR+LENDER, right?

Right, so I took all five places containing 'lender' and I removed the word 'lender from them', and these letters are what I was left with


S O A T I O O F T H D A G O N
S O A T I O O F T H O R A N N O N
F I O F C E L B A T
G A D R I V E
T A U E D O S

You overlooked one.

http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Category:Rhovanion


Do you see one, apart from these five when you click that link?

Unless you mean Wilderland itself (If we switch A to E, we get LENDER, plus something extra).

Maybe the clue simply means to swap A with E (or vice versa), in which case, a few possibilities open themselves up.

Oh, okay. the theme is actually "names found on the Wilderland Map from The Hobbit"

Rivendell (LIV + LENDER)

Which means the last one is The Desolation of Smaug

Got it!


1: WITHERED HEATH
2 ???I???: Here you'll find the bewildered spokesman for the heads of failed enterprises.
3: LONELY MOUNTAIN
4: RIVENDELL
5: ESGAROTH
6: RIVER RUNNING
7: ELVENKING'S HALLS
8: LAKETOWN
9: BEORN
10: DALE

---------------

DoS is way off.

What are the heads of FAILED and ENTERPRISES?

And this?

F and E?

And FE can mean....?

Oh, you mean Iron Hills?

SHILL + Fe = IRON HILLS


1: WITHERED HEATH
2: IRON HILLS
3: LONELY MOUNTAIN
4: RIVENDELL
5: ESGAROTH
6: RIVER RUNNING
7: ELVENKING'S HALLS
8: LAKETOWN
9: BEORN
10: DALE


Over to you!

I've prepared this one in advance. :D

1. In turmoil, goals meet endless direction, for him
2. A tree? Nay! Spin it for her.
3. A disturbed distant number for him
4. Mix a drink with a direction for him
5. A Monopoly square inside of a favor for him
6. Chase an element and a note in circles for a songstress
7. A fish and a triple direction combine for her that was lost
8. A geek and a winding street combine for her
9. An organized crime group and a double direction circulate for him
10. A pronoun within a bloomer for her

Ah, looked up 'shill.' It's North American slang.

See, it's not only me that does it! :D

8. NERDANEL.

NERD plus 'winding' LANE.

9. Faramir.

Mafia + r + r.

7. Less confident here, but I'll try ELENWE.

EEL + N + W + E.