Password

[Huinesoron]

For the Scottish one, I really want to go Loch > Lock, but the only word that jumps to mind is "Lockbearer", and Gimli doesn't exactly fit the theme.

I suppose 'circle' could mean we're looking at any of the 'Ring of X/X's Ring' possibilities? Which just means we need a person or attribute that sounds Scottish.

[Goes to look up Finwe's weird uncle Okai Dhenu]

hS

[Pervinca Took]

JEWELLED HILT: Belongs to a thing sounding like a seabird’s carpus. (On Orcrist)
2. Whatever the danger, one man desired this.
3. It sounds like a Scottish circle.
BERYL: Note and depend in confusion, for a thing allowed to fall. (Glorfindel dropped one)
LESSER RINGS: Aragorn calls for them, we hear, without direction. (Essays in the craft)
ISILDUR'S BANE: A Numenorean’s centaur? (The One Ring)
NAUGLAMIR: In the present, Macbeth, one might say, changes direction for it. (The famous necklace)
GARNETS: An Anglo-Saxon spear driven into lacework will produce these. (In Turgon's crown)

Copying it over for the new page.

You are right about RING for circle.

The Scottish element isn't a person or an attribute, though. Or a stereotypical catchphrase.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

I suppose 'circle' could mean we're looking at any of the 'Ring of X/X's Ring' possibilities? Which just means we need a person or attribute that sounds Scottish.

Piggybacking off this and Pervinca's geographical clue, Ring of Air? For Ayr?

[Pervinca Took]

JEWELLED HILT: Belongs to a thing sounding like a seabird’s carpus. (On Orcrist)
2. Whatever the danger, one man desired this.
RING OF AIR: It sounds like a Scottish circle. (Vilya/Ayr)
BERYL: Note and depend in confusion, for a thing allowed to fall. (Glorfindel dropped one)
LESSER RINGS: Aragorn calls for them, we hear, without direction. (Essays in the craft)
ISILDUR'S BANE: A Numenorean’s centaur? (The One Ring)
NAUGLAMIR: In the present, Macbeth, one might say, changes direction for it. (The famous necklace)
GARNETS: An Anglo-Saxon spear driven into lacework will produce these. (In Turgon's crown)

[Urwen]

Jirbling?

[Galadriel55]

Or perhaps Jar Bling, in which case the last one might be Arkenstone (though nothing to explain the cryptic).

[Pervinca Took]

No.

Wait for it ...

You will find the final answer in a SONG.

[Urwen]

Then what's the password? We've exhausted all known words that begin with J and end with RBLING.

[Galadriel55]

There is EMERALD, in the Earendil song, which I discarded because it made no sense with the clues, and JERBLING makes no more sense than JIRBLING or JARBLING.


Oh, hang on - it's JRR BLING!

[Galadriel55]

For the remaining clue:

We know it also goes by another name, that is perhaps more popular, but not used more often by JRRT.
The answer could have been "beryl" (is it because it could fill the R in the password, or because it actually answers the clue?).
It's in a song.
Yes, I am working with JRR BLING as the password because it makes more sense than anything you get with a vowel in that place.

I am finding myself quite short on ideas. Can it be another Ring of X? I cannot see how you can solve this clue cryptically. Literally, most Rings were desired by more than one person. RING OF BARAHIR, which was only really desired by Beren when he stole it back from the orcs? But what's the other common name for it? And what song is it in?

Or something like RUBY, to match the beryl and garnets.

I don't know.

[Pervinca Took]

JEWELLED HILT: Belongs to a thing sounding like a seabird’s carpus. (On Orcrist)
RUBY: Whatever the danger, one man desired this. (The Man In The Moon)
RING OF AIR: It sounds like a Scottish circle. (Vilya/Ayr)

BERYL: Note and depend in confusion, for a thing allowed to fall. (Glorfindel dropped one)
LESSER RINGS: Aragorn calls for them, we hear, without direction. (Essays in the craft)
ISILDUR'S BANE: A Numenorean’s centaur? (The One Ring)
NAUGLAMIR: In the present, Macbeth, one might say, changes direction for it. (The famous necklace)
GARNETS: An Anglo-Saxon spear driven into lacework will produce these. (In Turgon's crown)



It did start as just BLING. But bling is about excess, and I thought we needed more. And I wanted to get more jewels in.

Like I said, look for the last one in a SONG! You'll find it very close to BERYL. The man referred to in the clue desired both.

Regarding your previous guess, G55, how would you fit the Arkenstone in a JAR?

Oh! You have the last answer, too. Hang on; I'll fetch you the song.

And over to Galadriel55!

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Pervinca Took

Regarding your previous guess, G55, how would you fit the Arkenstone in a JAR?

It would be a very big jar. After all, it also has to accommodate a jeweled hilt. Besides, it's more probable than, say, Aglarond, which I considered for the circle clue.

And you do, absolutely, get the prize for late password topple! I wonder what the record is, in terms of the number of clues solved and number of clues remaining before password is done. Actually, I wonder if in the time the trend was to hide passwords backwards, diagonally, zigzagging, etc, there were cases of completely solved clues before the password emerged. But this definitely has to be a record for highlighted letter passwords!

[Pervinca Took]

Here it is. I'll highlight the significant line(s).

The Man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon

From ‘The Adventures of Tom Bombadil’

The Man in the Moon had silver shoon,
and his beard was of silver thread;
With opals crowned and pearls all bound
about his girdlestead,
In his mantle grey he walked one day
across a shining floor,
And with crystal key in secrecy
he opened an ivory door.

On a filigree stair of glimmering hair
then lightly down he went,
And merry was he at last to be free
on a mad adventure bent.
In diamonds white he had lost delight;
he was tired of his minaret
Of tall moonstone that towered alone
on a lunar mountain set.

He would dare any peril for ruby and beryl
to broider his pale attire,
For new diadems of lustrous gems,
emerald and sapphire.
He was lonely too with nothing to do
but stare at the world of gold
And heark to the hum that would distantly come
as gaily round it rolled.

At plenilune in his argent moon
in his heart he longed for Fire:
Not the limpid lights of wan selenites;
for red was his desire,
For crimson and rose and ember-glows,
for flame with burning tongue,
For the scarlet skies in a swift sunrise
when a stormy day is young.

He’d have seas of blues, and the living hues
of forest green and fen;
And he yearned for the mirth of the populous earth
and the sanguine blood of men.
He coveted song, and laughter long,
and viands hot, and wine,
Eating pearly cakes of light snowflakes
and drinking thin moonshine.

He twinkled his feet, as he thought of the meat,
of pepper, and punch galore;
And he tripped unaware on his slanting stair,
and like a meteor,
A star in flight, ere Yule one night
flickering down he fell
From his laddery path to a foaming bath
in the windy Bay of Bel.

He began to think, lest he melt and sink,
what in the moon to do,
When a fisherman’s boat found him far afloat
to the amazement of the crew,
Caught in their net all shimmering wet
in a phosphorescent sheen
Of bluey whites and opal lights
and delicate liquid green.

Against his wish with the morning fish
they packed him back to land:
‘You had best get a bed in an inn,’ they said;
‘the town is near at hand’.
Only the knell of one slow bell
high in the Seaward Tower
Announced the news of his moonsick cruise
at that unseemly hour.

Not a hearth was laid, not a breakfast made,
and dawn was cold and damp.
There were ashes for fire, and for grass the mire,
for the sun a smoking lamp
In a dim back-street. Not a man did he meet,
no voice was raised in song;
There were snores instead, for all folk were abed
and still would slumber long.

He knocked as he passed on doors locked fast,
and called and cried in vain,
Till he came to an inn that had light within,
and he tapped at a window-pane.
A drowsy cook gave a surly look,
and ‘What do you want?’ said he.
‘I want fire and gold and songs of old
and red wine flowing free!’

‘You won’t get them here,’ said the cook with a leer,
‘but you may come inside.
Silver I lack and silk to my back –
maybe I’ll let you bide.’
A silver gift the latch to lift,
a pearl to pass the door;
For a seat by the cook in the ingle-nook
it cost him twenty more.

For hunger or drouth naught passed his mouth
till he gave both crown and cloak;
And all that he got, in an earthen pot
broken and black with smoke,
Was porridge cold and two days old
to eat with a wooden spoon.
For puddings of Yule with plums, poor fool,
he arrived so much too soon:
An unwary guest on a lunatic quest
from the Mountains of the Moon.

...

He longs for other red things too, as you can see. And in a different version, in Lost Tales, he longs for a red terrestrial pyre.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Pervinca Took

Here it is. I'll highlight the significant line(s).

The Man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon

From ‘The Adventures of Tom Bombadil’

I figured it's one of those songs, because of your INSISTENCE , and that none of the LOTR ones I could remember had a line like that in them with reference to bling.

Once again, cheers for the most-clues-to-password password!

Unlike you, I do not make these in advance though. Something coming up soon.

[Pervinca Took]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

For the remaining clue:

We know it also goes by another name, that is perhaps more popular, but not used more often

No, I was talking about the last-but-one clue - RING OF AIR - because most people would probably think VILYA first. But I think both terms are literally used ONCE, and in the same sentence, in the final chapter of LOTR.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Pervinca Took

No, I was talking about yhe last-but-one clue - Ring of Air - because most people would probably think VILYA first. But I think both terms are literally used ONCE, and in the same sentence, in the final chapter of LOTR.

Ah. That makes much more sense.

[Pervinca Took]

Actually, I wonder if in the time the trend was to hide passwords backwards, diagonally, zigzagging, etc, there were cases of completely solved clues before the password emerged. But this definitely has to be a record for highlighted letter passwords

Long ago, I read through the earliest pages of this thread, and there was indeed one like that. The password was ANGAINOR, or is it sometimes called UNGAINOR?

I think I maybe hold the record for a 'first letter' one, though, as you said.

I'm sorry about the multiple posts. I think there's a quick way of getting lots of quotes in one post - Huey does it all the time - but I don't know how.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Pervinca Took

Long ago, I read through the earliest pages of this thread, and there was indeed one like that. The password was ANGAINOR, or is it sometimes called UNGAINOR?

I don't recall ever seeing Ungainor. Is that from the early drafts or something? Published Sil only has Angainor.

Originally Posted by Pervinca

I think there's a quick way of getting lots of quotes in one post - Huey does it all the time - but I don't know how.

You just use the same "code" that clicking the "quote post" button does automatically for you. You can add them by clicking the button at the top of your post (where you see options to bold, italicize, etc - it's the third from the right). Or you can type it in by hand: [quote] text [/qoute] (deliberately misspelled so it won't work and you'll see the text of the code). To add the poster's name, you put it in the first bracket that opens the quote: [qoute=Author].

Viola:

Originally Posted by Big Authority on Quotations

Quotes are an excellent way to refer to other people's posts on a forum!

[Pervinca Took]

I'm a big fan of Viola, and her twin, Sebastian.

Seriously, thanks.

I think my mind was just conflating the word 'ungainly' (which a ruddy great chain would be - ask Jacob Marley's ghost) with Melkor's chain.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Pervinca Took

I'm a big fan of Viola, and her twin, Sebastian.

I am a little embarrassed that I had to look this up. But yes, Viola and Sebastian shall henceforth announce quotations!

[Urwen]

Jrr Bling isn't a word either.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Urwen

Jrr Bling isn't a word either.

But it's guessable (with enough letters) and makes sense. The theme was Tolkien's bling. *shrug*

[Pervinca Took]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

But it's guessable (with enough letters) and makes sense. The theme was Tolkien's bling. *shrug*

Besides, if you read my post from yesterday, I looked up both spellings of 'jewel(l)ing,' and amended it and apologised, having discovered that both were actually slang terms. And said that I had learned a lot that day.

I am not, however, apologising for the fact that they weren't the answer to the password.

[Urwen]

Since when is 'JRR BLING' a widely used slang term? Give me any website that lists it as slang term and I will concede the point.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Urwen

Since when is 'JRR BLING' a widely used slang term? Give me any website that lists it as slang term and I will concede the point.

Sure! That website is The Barrow Downs, where the name John Ronald Reuel is most often shortened to JRR.

[Urwen]

I meant a lingual website. The one that lists real life slang terms.

[Kath]

JRR BLING is brilliant. At one point I'd considered it might be a name, say of the person who made the jewelry for the LOTR films, but hadn't thought of initials!

[Pervinca Took]

Bling:

https://www.google.com/search?client...ile-gws-wiz-hp

'Bring me my Foster's guide of gold
Bring me the works of JRR.'

(From 'Earusalem,' by someone in the Tolkien Society).

Bling invented or used by JRR.

I did really hunt for a jewel or ornament beginning with T, to make it JRRT Bling, but no-one really has a tiara and it just sounded wrong to pretend they did.

And then I thought J R R BLING had a nicer ring to it anyway. A bit like MIM'S TATERS. (Similarly, Pervinca's bling is much more catchy than Pervinca Took's bling).

Simples, really.

[Urwen]

No, I understand that BLING is a slang, but 'JRR BLING' as a phrase is not. Show me otherwise.

[Pervinca Took]

No. Number one, I don't take orders from you, and number two, I don't have to. We are not robots. We are intelligent people engaging in wordplay, and going for something new, catchy or challenging because we have been playing the game so long. Where there is wordplay, there is poetic licence and thinking outside the box.

Wake up and smell the coffee. There really are worse things happening out there than not managing to guess the right password. And more important things to do than trying to prove that you did.

[Urwen]

Originally Posted by Pervinca Took

No. Number one, I don't take orders from you, and number two, I don't have to. We are not robots. We are intelligent people engaging in wordplay, and going for something new, catchy or challenging because we have been playing the game so long. Where there is wordplay, there is poetic licence and thinking outside the box.

Wake up and smell the coffee. There really are worse things happening out there than not managing to guess the right password. And more important things to do than trying to prove that you did.

This is not about whether I guessed a password, it's about you intentionally misleading us. I mean, you yourself said that the whole password is a slang. The whole one, not just a part of it.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Urwen

This is not about whether I guessed a password, it's about you intentionally misleading us. I mean, you yourself said that the whole password is a slang. The whole one, not just a part of it.

Urwen, will you drop it? Pervinca didn't mislead me, or Huey, or Kath. The reason you feel she mislead you is that you mislead yourself. Note that no one else has a problem with this password. Maybe it's a good idea to solve things with your head rather than a search engine, then you won't be surprised that word combinatins can exist outside of what the engine spits out. Stop taking it out on other people every time something doesn't go the way you were expecting. I was patient with your previous private outburst to me, but I only have so much patience. The rest of us aren't here to please your desires, and the only one not observing the code of conduct is yourself.



New password to come in a day or so.

[Urwen]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Urwen, will you drop it? Pervinca didn't mislead me, or Huey, or Kath. The reason you feel she mislead you is that you mislead yourself. Note that no one else has a problem with this password. Maybe it's a good idea to solve things with your head rather than a search engine, then you won't be surprised that word combinatins can exist outside of what the engine spits out. Stop taking it out on other people every time something doesn't go the way you were expecting. I was patient with your previous private outburst to me, but I only have so much patience. The rest of us aren't here to please your desires, and the only one not observing the code of conduct is yourself.



New password to come in a day or so.

Great, so one person can declare a random phrase as a slang term and everyone else would treat it as such?

So I hereby declare that 'baobab pudding' is a slang term, and you have to treat it as slang term from now on.


(Also, you're also breaking the code of conduct. You're implying that I should bend over backwards and indulge your strange need to stare at the Barrow Downs forum index for some reason while you're unwilling indulge me in turn. Know that I won't indulge anyone unwilling to do the same for me. As such, I will revert to extremely vague clues next time I write a puzzle and refuse to give you extra in any way, shape or form even if you ask for them. Not willing to help me when I am confused? Fine, then I won't help you when you are and don't go asking me for help and expecting me to comply. Not until you get off your high horses and return the favor. I practically served all of the answers of my Notion Club password to you on a silver platter. And what did I get in return? No help at all. Not one iota of it, despite asking for it repeatedly. If that's how you're gonna play it, then I will too. Don't ask me for help with the clues in the future, cos you ain't getting any.)

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Kath

JRR BLING is brilliant. At one point I'd considered it might be a name, say of the person who made the jewelry for the LOTR films, but hadn't thought of initials!

Concur - this was a great password! I was wracking my brains just like Urwen to try and find a word that fitted; it's much more fun that the ones where the password falls one clue in and people stop guessing because they know they're not going to get to make one.

Originally Posted by Pervinca Took

I'm sorry about the multiple posts. I think there's a quick way of getting lots of quotes in one post - Huey does it all the time - but I don't know how.

Kind of two answers here, one or the other of which you probably know:

1. The multi-quote button under each post saves that post as a quote. If you click it for multiple posts, then hit the main Post Reply button at the end of the page, it sticks all of them into your post to work with.

2. If you're working in code-viewing mode (does the Downs even have a WYSIWYG mode?), each quote looks like this, only with square brackets rather than pointy:

<QUOTE=Pervinca Took;722647>I'm sorry about the multiple posts. I think there's a quick way of getting lots of quotes in one post - Huey does it all the time - but I don't know how.</QUOTE>

To split it up and reply to just parts, all I do is copy that opening <quote> and add in some more </quote>s:

<QUOTE=Pervinca Took;722647>I'm sorry about the multiple posts. I think there's a quick way of getting lots of quotes in one post</quote>

<QUOTE=Pervinca Took;722647>Huey does it all the time - but I don't know how.</QUOTE>

Et voila!

Originally Posted by Urwen

So I hereby declare that 'baobab pudding' is a slang term, and you have to treat it as slang term from now on.

That sounds like a great password! If you can find a way to link it to a series of Tolkien clues, go for it! (Though probably not this one, because you've just given it away...)

Originally Posted by Urwen

As such, I will revert to extremely vague clues next time I write a puzzle and refuse to give you extra in any way, shape or form even if you ask for them.

Please don't. Deliberately tying up the game just spoils the fun for everyone, yourself included.

hS

[Urwen]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

Please don't. Deliberately tying up the game just spoils the fun for everyone, yourself included.
hS

To take a quote from Galadriel's book, I don't care. I'll continue doing what I want. I don't have the obligation to make the game easier for anyone. I have no obligation to do anything for you or anyone else, common courtesy be damned.

[Pervinca Took]

Mislead you? I actually told you exactly how to get the password!

I gave a HUGE clue on how to find RUBY. I said it was in a song, and BERYL was there as well.

If you had done that, instead of posting moody faces at me and trying to browbeat me into actually telling you the password, you would have had the last clue AND the password, as the last red letter would have appeared!

THAT was how I was nudging you towards the password.

And baobab pudding *can* be a term, if you choose to make it one! It now exists on an internet forum, along with J R R Bling and Mim's Taters! Language isn't a static thing.

[Urwen]

If you guys could be sadistic assholes who are willing to get someone else's hopes up by logging on and then doing nothing or putting your own needs and desires above someone else's, then I could be too. Ner ner ner ner.

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Urwen

If you guys could be sadistic assholes who are willing to get someone else's hopes up by logging on and then doing nothing or putting your own needs and desires above someone else's, then I could be too. Ner ner ner ner.

Okay, so I need to address this one, because I think you're misunderstanding. Both my computers and my phone are permanently logged into the Downs, so yes, when I visit it's going to show up. I'm not going to start logging out - that just leads to lost passwords and frustration. (I don't think I know my password right now, actually.) Staying logged in is a really standard feature on the modern Web.

That visit is usually to check if any thing's happened - in one of the top two forums, in Fanfic or the birthday or party threads, or right here in the games. That's doing something. If something new is up, I read it; that's doing something too. If nothing new is up, then depending on mood and time, I might look at the Password to see if I've had any new ideas; that's doing something too.

But if I'm stumped, then I'm stumped, and will usually stay silent rather than saying anything. Sometimes I'll post thoughts just to try and get other people inspired, but usually I don't have thoughts. I'm not going to post just to say that, and I don't think you would either?

My view - not based on any rules, just my view - is that leaving people time to think or contribute is absolutely fine, even if iit means a day - even two! - of silence in a game. After that point, the password (/riddle/puzzle/whatever) creator should probably provide some sort of helping hand, because it's clear they've already beaten everyone who's playing. Not saying they have to! But in the interests of keeping the game going, it's probably a good idea.

My point is, nobody is reading the Downs just to get at you. We're really not!

hS

[Huinesoron]

To bring us back to a less fraught tangent: I think baobob puddi g now means 'a word or phrase someone is insisting is common use when you don't believe it is'. As in, "JRR bling, a slang term? That's just baobab pudding!"

Interestingly, apparently baobab fruit has a pleasant citrussy flavour. It's harvested as a powder, and seems to be used in drinks. A pudding is not out of the question!

But is it found in Middle-earth? There's always a chance baobab made it by name into one of the old RP supplements, and even if not, I'd be stunned if they hadn't added Fantasy India. So King Elessar may have dined on baobab pudding!

hS

[Urwen]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

Okay, so I need to address this one, because I think you're misunderstanding. Both my computers and my phone are permanently logged into the Downs, so yes, when I visit it's going to show up. I'm not going to start logging out - that just leads to lost passwords and frustration. (I don't think I know my password right now, actually.) Staying logged in is a really standard feature on the modern Web.

That visit is usually to check if any thing's happened - in one of the top two forums, in Fanfic or the birthday or party threads, or right here in the games. That's doing something. If something new is up, I read it; that's doing something too. If nothing new is up, then depending on mood and time, I might look at the Password to see if I've had any new ideas; that's doing something too.

But if I'm stumped, then I'm stumped, and will usually stay silent rather than saying anything. Sometimes I'll post thoughts just to try and get other people inspired, but usually I don't have thoughts. I'm not going to post just to say that, and I don't think you would either?

My view - not based on any rules, just my view - is that leaving people time to think or contribute is absolutely fine, even if iit means a day - even two! - of silence in a game. After that point, the password (/riddle/puzzle/whatever) creator should probably provide some sort of helping hand, because it's clear they've already beaten everyone who's playing. Not saying they have to! But in the interests of keeping the game going, it's probably a good idea.

My point is, nobody is reading the Downs just to get at you. We're really not!

hS

A day or two is fine, but 7-8 days or more is not. For instance, the Riddle thread is stagnant because no new clue has been posted yet.

P.S: Sorry about these. I was a bad mood because of certain issues, and you only worsened my bad mood. It's fine now.