The vowel sound in 'lie' is the same as that used by Legolas in Moria: 'Ai! Ai!' So...

That.

(Phonetically, it's 'You lie really!', cut short. The meaning isn't entirely clear, but given that it's a Quenya name for the Nazgul, I figured 'insult' was a safe bet.)

1. S hadow - The darkness a pig had within.
2. A mon Lanc - How can it be both bald and straight of hair? A nigh-insurmountable problem.
3. U lairi - You speak not truth, in truth! An elvish insult cut short.
4. R ing - Binding the triple element within.
5. O rc - The slave tumbles, black-winged but doubly deprived.
6. N umenor - ... or old women, it falls.

[Theme: Things associated with Sauron.]

I'm genuinely impressed by how fast the clues fell once people found a way in. Good job, all! And over to Nerwen for getting the password.

hS

Here you go! Just a little one, this time.

1. Not a chance? Without doubt? That's the spirit! Though a little messed up (like the theme).
2. Fellow of dubious parentage sounds fishy and androgynous. No wonder he took a fall!
3. Despite family woes, she becomes sunny after an internal shakeup.
4. Confused requirement for a Northern deity results in early victim of internet-induced madness.

4. DENETHOR. Confused need + Thor. Is the internet madness because they had only just managed to produce CGI fire? But that's film/special effects, not internet, so ....

Oh, hang on ... Palantir for an early form of internet, and it's a significant part of what drives him to madness.

#2 - GIL-GALAD has gills like a fish and is a gal-lad. But he's obviously the son of... er... Maglor, right? :D

hS

'Dead' for password and 'Eol' for the fishy clue? :D

Even though it's pronounced Ayol, not Eel.

Edit: gal/lad is indeed more androgenous-sounding.

Plus Eol was technically pushed/thrown.

3. Maybe ARIEN? In some versions she is Urwen ... the other Urwen's family had woes. Or the Valar/Maiar 'family' had woes or an internal shake-up before she was chosen to guide the sun.

GIL-GALAD and DENETHOR are correct, and for the reasons given.

ARIEN is not... quite, though she is involved in the clue. You also have the correct family.

1. Not a chance? Without doubt? That's the spirit! Though a little messed up (like the theme).
GIL-GALAD Fellow of dubious parentage sounds fishy and androgynous. No wonder he took a fall!
3. Despite family woes, she becomes sunny after an internal shakeup.
DENETHOR Confused requirement for a Northern deity results in early victim of internet-induced madness.

Edit: DEAD is not the password but does have some relevance to the theme. The password does not consist of initial letters- should have mentioned that to begin with. The letters do connect, though.

If not Arien, could it be Laurelin, from which came the sun in the form of the last fruit it produced? I don't know if the Two Trees had genders, but ....

Oddly enough, they did, and Laurelin was a "she"... but not the right one. When I said you had the correct family, I didn't mean Arien's. You sort of have to work backwards from Arien to get the answer, though.

The Hurin family, then. I thought you might mean that.

There are several women of that family whose names can be rearranged to form Arien, but not without leaving extra letters. Which to choose?

RIAN only leaves a spare E.

For the spirit clue ... and I'm assuming the answer is a spirit (one of the Ainur), the nearest I can get at the moment is EONWE, because it sort of has 'no way' in it (the 'no' running backwards and the 'way' being sounded), but I can't work the 'no doubt' bit in.

You have missed someone. IIRC she only appears in the "Extended Edition" of the story.

A good try, but no. And "spirit" is the straight part, as you've guessed- but does not refer to an Ainu.

Ah, of course. AERIN. Kin to Turin. I can't remember the exact family relationship. (For the 'sunny' clue).

I had thought of spirit in other senses, but can't make any of them work.

Could the password, reading diagonally, be FIRE?

And, hang on, is FEANOR an anagram of 'no fear?'

Yes to all!:smokin:

F ËANOR Not a chance? Without doubt? That's the spirit! Though a little messed up (like the theme).
G I L-GALAD Fellow of dubious parentage sounds fishy and androgynous. No wonder he took a fall!
AE R IN Despite family woes, she becomes sunny after an internal shakeup.
DEN E THOR Confused requirement for a Northern deity results in early victim of internet-induced madness.

Theme: fiery death. Told you it was messed up!

Great password, Nerwen! :) Aerin set fire to the hall and I guess it is assumed that she perished that night one way or another?

New password coming up shortly. For Huinesoron, though, these were my two previous 'square' passwords (both with two passwords - first and last columns reading downwards) and the latest one, that you knew about already:

BARD: Shakespearean harlot runs backwards for him.
ROSA: Flower rearranged for a Baggins.
EORL: Complex role for this warrior.
ESTE: Hope lost direction for her.

YRCH: ‘Oo, those awful ...!’ Quite translated.
AIN U: Ancient people of divine spirit?
LALA: Two notes assemble to laugh.
ELEN: Finesse changes note for a resplendent thing.

DIOR: Scent loses pilgrim for him.
ULMO: Muppet initially changed for him.
DAIS: The high table at Rivendell was on one of these!
OSSE: Wilful vassal of reformed Muppet.

OK, this password has no straight clues, because if I provided straight clues it would be too easy.

However, the password is the straight clue to *all* the answers, and is also the theme. And once you get the first clue (by which I do not necessarily mean clue one), the rest should, if not topple, fall into place quite quickly. At least, I think so. Let's see how it goes, anyway:

1. Riddle, note, loses identity in the confusion.
2. Something Peter Pan does, we hear and see!
3. Literary uncle needs liquid.
4. Approximately two pints, note! Shake it up! Start early!
5. Killed chaotically around the fricative.

Definitely a little messed up. Good one!


2. A long stretch with FILI: mix of fli=fly and i=eye=sees?

No, but a nice idea!

TIP: Solve clue 3. Then the rest of the puzzle should be pretty easy.

Right now the only two literary uncles that come to mind are Uncle Tom and Uncle Remus. Oh, and Bilbo, I guess. None of which gets me anywhere.

Think more theatrically. ;)

Claudius?

Think *play titles*.

I'm not in a play; I'm in Terry Pratchett, and I'm thinking of the gloomy trousers of Uncle Vanya ("He never vore them.")... which I believe are based on a similarly gloomy play. So is it VANYA or VANYAR (if the 'needs liquid' somehow pointed to an R)?

#4... a litre is about two pints, but I can't get any further than that. I keep getting hung up on abbreviations - 'Ca. L, n.b.', but all that spells is 'blanc'. (Or 'Clan B', I guess.)

(The square riddles are excellent! I'm amazed you managed to get them to work.)

hS

Why, thank you!

1. Riddle, note, loses identity in the confusion.
2. Something Peter Pan does, we hear and see!
VANYAR: Literary uncle needs liquid.
4. Approximately two pints, note! Shake it up! Start early!
5. Killed chaotically around the fricative.

Edit: R, like L, is classed as a liquid, because it rolls off the tongue (just as P and B are plosives).

'Uncle Vanya' is a play by Chekhov.

Litre is correct for nearly two pints, but the note is rather more musical. ;) [This was edited in before I saw Hs's next post].

#4: TELERI, with a mixed up litre and the musical note E. 'Start early', so the password uses E. Password is ELVES?

hS

Told you it was easy! ;)
 

But well done anyway!

E: Riddle, note, loses identity in the confusion.
L: Something Peter Pan does, we hear and see!
VANYAR: Literary uncle needs liquid.
TELERI: Approximately two pints, note! Shake it up! Start early!
S: Killed chaotically around the fricative.

Which Pratchett novel are Uncle Vanya's trousers in, Hs? (Chuckling at 'He never vore them.')

(I find Ibsen much cheerier than Chekhov. :D)

Great! I'm going to guess #5 is SILVAN, which is 'slain' around V, which... I guess is a fricative?

Sam Vimes ends up wearing the gloomy trousers of Uncle Vanya in The Fifth Elephant. He acquires them from three sisters who live a gloomy life in a gloomy house with a cherry orchard. They're pretty much the only thing I remember from the audiobook version, which I think was done by Tony Robinson.

hS

1. Eldar. Riddle - ID + A.

... oh, stars, and #2 is LAIQUENDI, because Peter Pan does, indeed, like Wendy.

That is both a terrible and an amazing clue.

hS

All do e!
 

Oi! That was my favourite clue! :D

And it's worth it, if Hs can never again read about the Laiquendi without hearing the expression 'Ha-haaarrrrgggghhhhh!!' :p

ELDAR: Riddle, note, loses identity in the confusion.
LAIQUENDI: Something Peter Pan does, we hear and see!
VANYAR: Literary uncle needs liquid.
TELERI: Approximately two pints, note! Shake it up! Start early!
SILVAN: Killed chaotically around the fricative.

Answers and reasons all correct! Well done.

Over to Hs!

P.S. Damn phone ... that was supposed to read 'All done,' and I can't edit it.

I cannot call it my favourite because it was too evil. ;)

But if you're allowed to get away with that, then I guess I can throw this one in...

1. - A large bird in Tumladen.
2. - He left them! What kind of deal is that?
3. - The blackness around Maeglin (but not on his face).
4. - Ah, no, 'e's a cat swung by a king.

Password hint: From one bay to the other, a flying orc's sparkling song.

No theme.

^_^

hS

2. I can't think of anyone who abandons anyone, although some characters leave people for noble reasons.

DEAGOL has deal plus go (for left?), and left involuntarily, but that is a very flimsy guess.

Maybe 'left' could just be a directional L.

Not Deagol.

All four clues include both straight and cryptic components, though they don't necessarily divide neatly into one or the other.

hS

The only thing I can find *in* Tumladen is Gondolin (or characters who lived in/visited Gondolin). *

(And I can't find anything at all in the Third Age Tumladen).

* Except for the Ostrich that befriended Tuor and is doubtless the answer.

No - hang on - it's the EMU of Tumladen, isn't it? The three letters are cunningly concealed within the valley's name!

:D Well, you have the right Tumladen, at least... it's not an emu (clever, though!), and there is a physical object or being located in Tumladen which is the answer.

hS

There is Dimbar nearby, (has bird in it but is bigger than the word bird), but that's not an object or person and is not actually in the valley.

It's not Dimbar. And a specific bird (or species of bird) is required to get the answer.

hS

It is 1st Age Tumladen, isn't it? Not a condor in Gondor?

It is the First Age Tumladen. And the bird in the clue is bigger than a condor.

hS