On the right track though

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

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.

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

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

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?

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?

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.

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.

FWIW, "mumbles" is just the anagram indicator

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?

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

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 ....

It's less linguistic than scientific.

The symbol for Energy is E.

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.

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---

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

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.

Is the password MINOR, for minor characters?

YES! On a roll!

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.

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.

So #1 is Hama?

Oh yes - Hamas with the S cut off?

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

Is that REB as in Confederate soldier?

I don't understand the EGON element, either.

New puzzle?

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!

1 must be GALDOR (DRAG + OL spun around)

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.

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