FISH: Dish transforms, initially.
2. Deadly disease loses direction, note, for them.
YRCH: Why, we hear, is a curved top unsung for them?
4. Sounds like it has very little fat on it.

Y + (A)RCH (the note, A, is not sung).

Based on the clues something more specific to food would possibly be FARE.

The two clues suggest things Gollum has eaten.

FISH: Dish transforms, initially.
???A???: Deadly disease loses direction, note, for them.
YRCH: Why, we hear, is a curved top unsung for them?
???E???: Sounds like it has very little fat on it.

THEME: THINGS GOLLUM EATS

Well done!

Didn't know Gollum ate Orcs.....

'Goblin he thought good, when he could get it.'

Probably not after he lost the Ring, but only because he couldn't catch and throttle one whilst visible.

The second one the closest I can get to an answer that makes sense is Rabbit from rabies minus E and S directions adding a B note where the t comes from I’m not sure other than logic....

Nearly!

Uncannily, you chose the correct disease AND the correct note. But you need to keep the E and the S and put the note somewhere else.

I believe this clue is slanderous, since it was never confirmed that Gollum was eating BABIES around Mirkwood...

hS

FISH: Dish transforms, initially.
BABIES: Deadly disease loses direction, note, for them.
YRCH: Why, we hear, is a curved top unsung for them?
???E???: Sounds like it has very little fat on it.

THEME: THINGS GOLLUM EATS

'A ghost that drank blood ... it crept into cradles and stole the young.'

There could be dozens of ghost-like creatures in the Wild! :D:D:D

hS

The last one is killing me

I keep screaming Eggs because he remembers teaching his grandmother to suck them which I assume is some way of eating them.

I literally doesn’t fit.

Sounds like not a lot of fat.

Thin- Dinner
Lean- ??
Sleek- ???
Skinny- ???

Maybe he eats Piroline cookies

You're going to kick yourself. ;)

In fact, you've kind of mentioned the answer in a recent post, although for another clue.

Coney might sound like kinny like skinny...

FISH: Dish transforms, initially.
BABIES: Deadly disease loses direction, note, for them.
YRCH: Why, we hear, is a curved top unsung for them?
CONEY: Sounds like it has very little fat on it.

THEME: THINGS GOLLUM EATS

Or it might sound like BONY. ;)

Over to you!

I'd just like to point out this is true.

Written in a way to very heavily imply it was Gollum.

With no doubt *very heavily implied* tones and brow-wrinklings from Gandalf, who speaks those words.

Splitting hairs will get you nowhere. :p

Boney.... "Of course, of course! Absurdly simple, like most riddles when you see the answer."

I’m working on one I’m worse at making these than I am at guessing and I’m bad at that so please hold your call is important to us.

It was you who made up a really good one with a password of MEAT & DRINK, wasn't it?

It was I just looked it up again I was kind of clever in that one. Full disclosure I made this one based on a neat idea but the theme is forced to fit that idea.

1. Plymouth settler of a middling shade but a more common name.
2. Informally myself won’t then again myself seeing the back of a horse man. That’s one way to get over water.
3. A long trek for a soldier followed by the first American note. Akin to Washington or Jefferson.
4. Stretched but replacing the first of orange with the first of apple. With result of monsoons.
5. Take a puppet known for fire but the beginning is seen as the Weasel ‘s baboon foe. This should bring a vision of the answer.

1. GandalF
2. Iant IauR
3. MarchO
4. LangflooD
5. IrmO

5. The only thing 'puppet known for fire' is making me think of is the 1962-3 show 'Fireball XL5.'

That’s a deep cut, but this is a puppet that shares a name with someone associated with fire. Might be more apparent if you’re into memes.

Edit: that clue also has the most obscure pop culture reference.

2. This would appear from the last sentence to be a bridge. How about IANT IAUR? It has I twice for myself x 2. 'Informally I won't' could be 'Ain't' moved round or 'I ant.' RU part of rump for back of horse? Not sure about the 'man' bit.

P.S. Happy birthday! :)

I think that 5 begins with IR.

Urwen gets the reference :)

And yes Iant Iaur is correct horse man Centaur, and thank you!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Weasel ?

That's the one.

Maybe the theme is bridges, but none begins with IR.

The theme isn’t bridges. I don’t want to give it away too much...
There are two passwords one at the start of the clues and one at the end. The theme is things they have in common or their races like I said I forced a theme to make the idea of two passwords work

Iant Iaur is honestly the one shoehorned in the most

Aha! Plymouth Colony was settled by the Pilgrims from the Mayflower, and a middling shade is grey. So #1 could be either GREY PILGRIM, or MITHRANDIR if you prefer the Sindarin.

For #3, a long trek may be a march. There's only a few things starting with March, and one of them is the surname MARCHBUCK, which ends with the first American currency unit available as a note.

Marchbuck is given by Tolkien as a more accurate translation of Brandagamba, the surname he translated Brandybuck in the books. I don't know what the Washington-Jefferson connection is, though.

hS

You’re close on the first. Use his most common name.

You went in deep on the March one. It does start with March. Think founding fathers.

Well, y'know... GANDALF.

The obvious one to go with Washington and Jefferson would be Adams; after that I think Franklin and Hamilton are the two listed by Wikipedia as 'key', but who are also actually prominent in pop culture.

None of which gets me anywhere, since the only March- terms I can think of would involve Founding Fathers named Warden or Maedhros.

(I would move to the universe where the latter was true like a shot.)

hS

Or Marcho and Blanco?

Marcho one of the Shire’s Founders
And yes Gandalf

Quoting to keep visible without backtracking

Gimli and Frodo?

But of course

The bridge is said to be built by dwarfs. Shire founder. Gandalf is of course connected to both. The final two clues can be connected to both. One clue more directly than the other.

It's hard to see how 5 could be anything other than IRMO.

So I'll have a shot ... his other name is LORIEN ... so is his land and a land greatly revered by GIMLI.

And FRODO needed the gardens of LORIEN in Valinor in order to fully heal?

Sure, let’s go with that. Because it’d be embarrassing if I thought he lived in Lorien meaning Lothlorien where Frodo and Gimli both traveled through.

He might. Sneaky devils, those Valar. But anyway, Gimli sailed West and near to Valinor too.

I think the final one is LANGSTRAND. Long strand with O changed to A, as per the fruity hints. Was Langstrand known for monsoons? Or just sea spray?

I guess Gimli and Frodo both crossed the Langstrand at some point?

Which two puppets make up IRMO, Morsul?