This is a static copy of In the Rose Garden, which existed as the center of the western Utena fandom for years. Enjoy. :)
Poison Ivy
Hail, enigmatists, and welcome to the first of my riddles! I went and assembled this devious word menagerie for you, but I was worried it wasn't hard enough, so I invited Poison Ivy over to play with my clues. Good luck countering the effects of her toxin. Her touch may make plants grow, but it makes human beings and animals wither away!
1. Fuse metals with an iron
2. Prone to use force
3. Thing to launder, besides laundry
4. It might be hard, heavy, or holy
5. Not poetry
6. Redden awkwardly
7. Place to press Q or E in an FPS
8. One who puts a sword away
9. Fabric for retro jackets
10. Fighters at Notre Dame
11. Get off ___-free
12. Ostentatiously gay
13. Gazing, as at the sun
14. Workplace of Gertrude Stein or José Eber
15. Clutches or understands
16. Electrolyte component
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1) solders (the tool used is a soldering iron)
3) money
4) water
11) probably scot (as in scot-free, but there's 5 letter boxes in the puzzle. Probably an error on The Riddler's part. If so, it casts doubt on the quality or accuracy of the others as well. I'm calling you out, Riddler. Your riddle is bad and you should feel bad.)
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Ha! I don't make mistakes, Phoenix Down! It is you who have failed to comprehend the brilliance of my riddle! Your answers to 3 and 4 don't fit the boxes either. Clearly you're on the wrong track. Maybe you should give up now!
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Reveal yourself so I can punch you in the nose.
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satyreyes wrote:
I have no idea, but if he says we're on the wrong track, maybe we're on the right track...?
Stuff like this is why I have no patience whatsoever for riddle-spewing ninnies who caper and prance about wearing their cleverness as if it were a fashionable cape. "La di dah look at me everyone, I am so clever!"
*spit*
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11. Scott
15. Grasp
Also, it's not like you to let someone else tamper with your work. If you want it to be your crime, you should try restoring the original puzzle.
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Nothing like a riddle to draw me back from my summer lurking.
I can't say that I have a certain answer to any of the words yet, but I have some thoughts that might lead people with greater vocabulary than mine to the right track.
1. "Fusing" metals with iron is a tough one. What immediately comes to mind is a soldering iron, but the number of letters does not match. Another idea that I could come up with would be the creation of alloys, probably specific types, but my knowledge of metallurgy would fit in a thimble, so I can't say whether there's a word devoted to the process.
2. "Batman", ofcourse. Or "police". Although I suppose that the answer could also be an adjective, in the vein of "violent" or "aggressive", but with six letters.
3. Neither "money" nor "currency" fit, so I'm stumped. "Dollar" sounds pretty far-fetched.
5. If not poetry, than prose or play, mayhaps? Only "play" fits of the wo.
6. Any synonyms for blushing, people?
7. "Leaning". Not exactly a place, but "corner" doesn't fit.
8. Some sort of peacemaker? Again, synonyms.
9. "Wool".
14. One an art collector, another a hairstylist of all things. Both have written books, the latter has directer some videos. "Studio" would be the best bet, I suppose.
15. "Salt" or "acid".
The others have already been answered correctly to my knowledge, or I have nothing to contribute.
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1. Welding (works/fits, but I like Nova's better)
7. Usekeys (best I got, there are plenty of good places in an fps to use a usekey XD)
15. Grasp
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Is ostentatiously gay fabulous?
The Riddler is quite fabulous.
Also I feel there is something off about the board. What is the point of a crossword with no crosses? That and Riddler doesn't do simple questions, he specializes in brain teasers. That comment of his on Poison's Ivy's toxin is no doubt littered with clues to some twist. Mayhaps she added a word, one that fits into the 16 letter slot going across. Is there any word that describes a toxin or chemical that helps plants grow but is poisonous or deadly to humans and animals?
EDIT: Or, judging by his response to Nova (wrong track, right track, left and right), Posion's Ivy has flipped the numbers. As in, the answer to 1 should be placed on 16 on the board, 2 on 15 and so on. Does anything fit when it's looked at that way?
Last edited by OnlyInThisLight (08-11-2012 05:04:26 PM)
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OnlyInThisLight wrote:
Also I feel there is something off about the board. What is the point of a crossword with no crosses? That and Riddler doesn't do simple questions, he specializes in brain teasers. That comment of his on Poison's Ivy's toxin is no doubt littered with clues to some twist. Mayhaps she added a word, one that fits into the 16 letter slot going across. Is there any word that describes a toxin or chemical that helps plants grow but is poisonous or deadly to humans and animals?
EDIT: Or, judging by his response to Nova (wrong track, right track, left and right), Posion's Ivy has flipped the numbers. As in, the answer to 1 should be placed on 16 on the board, 2 on 15 and so on. Does anything fit when it's looked at that way?
The Riddler wrote:
Hail, enigmatists, and welcome to the first of my riddles! I went and assembled this devious word menagerie for you, but I was worried it wasn't hard enough, so I invited Poison Ivy over to play with my clues. Good luck countering the effects of her toxin. Her touch may make plants grow, but it makes human beings and animals wither away!
Agreed, something's wrong. Too many words have clear answers that don't fit the number of spaces. My guess is that plant-related words have an extra box, and human or animal-related words are short a box. If that's the case, another question would be whether that's a binary distinction, or whether some answers are unchanged.
Last edited by Dallbun (08-11-2012 05:13:45 PM)
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I considered that as well, but without clear answers to each question it's difficult to figure out which numbers would be plant or human/animal related, but without knowing which numbers are plant or human/animal related, it's difficult to figure out clear answers.
Also a synonym for blush is to bloom, for what that's worth.
Last edited by OnlyInThisLight (08-11-2012 05:29:39 PM)
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Also, 3 could possibly be credit.
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So... maybe we find the spaces where the answers would fit? I noticed there is exactly one line that goes straight through the middle, that has to be the solved clue... or not. So maybe the answer to number 1 actually goes for box number 3
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Hard, heavy or holy could be spirit. Alcoholic or 'hard' spirits, a heavy spirit or the holy spirit.
Notre Dame is a university with a football team known as the Fighting Irish. Team?
Jesus is known for having told Peter to put his sword away. Someone who puts away a sword may also be a victor or murderer of some sort, since the defeated may not be able to sheath their weapons, since dey is dead.
Last edited by OnlyInThisLight (08-11-2012 06:12:46 PM)
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Nova wrote:
Stuff like this is why I have no patience whatsoever for riddle-spewing ninnies who caper and prance about wearing their cleverness as if it were a fashionable cape. "La di dah look at me everyone, I am so clever!"
*spit*
I'll choose to overlook the substance of that comment, seeing as we are still so early in the game. But I can't tell you how much I agree about people with capes. Blithering idiots, the lot of them.
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The Riddler wrote:
But I can't tell you how much I agree about people with capes. Blithering idiots, the lot of them.
You won't win my sympathy so easily.
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I think Dallbun might be right in that the number of spaces are wrong. What if we just ignore, for now, the spaces on the chart and find the most likely answer to each clue? We're sure to get some of them right, and from that we may be able to determine a pattern.
1.
2.
3.money
4.
5.prose
6.blush
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.scot
12.
13.
14.
15.grasps
16.
I am teh suck at riddles, but I think we can agree on these as being most likely, and all of them are plus or minus one space.
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3. Tenner
7. Weapons?
I'm so not a gamer. :-/
11. Fancy
Or maybe I'm the only one that uses the term 'get off fancy-free'
16. NaCl
Last edited by Iris (08-11-2012 10:51:00 PM)
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Crap! I'm utterly useless with riddles! Can't I just blow up Gotham city?
I think for 7 that's when you strafe from side to side?
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Puzzles! Always compelling, where's the walkthrough?
1. solders* Original: 7 letters Suggested answer: 7 letters (= )
2. violent Original: 6 letters Suggested answer: 7 letters (+1)
3. money* Original: 6 letters Suggested answer: 5 letters (-1)
4. water* Original: 6 letters Suggested answer: 5 letters (-1)
5. prose Original: 4 letters Suggested answer: 5 letters (+1)
6. blush* Original: 4 letters Suggested answer: 5 letters (+1)
7. strafe, execute, activate Original: 7 letters Suggested answer: 6,7,8 letters (-1,=,+1)
8. victor, winner, sheath Original: 7 letters Suggested answer: 6 letters (-1)
9. wool, lame` Original: 4 letters Suggested answer: 4 letters (= )
10. Irish* Original: 4 letters Suggested answer: 5 letters (+1)
11. scot* Original: 5 letters Suggested answer: 4 letters (-1)
12. fabulous Original: 8 letters Suggested answer: 8 letters (= )
13. staring Original: 8 letters Suggested answer: 7 letters (-1)
14. women Original: 6 letters Suggested answer: 5 letters (-1)
15. grasp* Original: 5 letters Suggested answer: 5 letters (= )
16. ions Original: 4 letters Suggested answer: 4 letters (= )
*words I assume are as right as one can possibly assume without knowing much
Taking some guesses the across word/phrase could be…
I.V._.E.R.L.?.?.(C,O,E`).S.C.(A,S,_).G.N.A.S.
….which does not seem helpful.
But note, if “money” was inserted into 3 down, using a blank space at the start of the word – the first three letters of the ACROSS word would read “IVY”…assuming “violent” is correct for 2 down?!?
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"crosspollination" fits in the across space and is plant related.
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Sheath can be replaced by "scabbard," that's the wikipedia redirect.
"Crosspollination" also fits the theme, Ivy's interfering with a fellow villain's plan.
Last edited by Overlord Morgus (08-12-2012 09:43:44 AM)
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Frosty, holy cow
That is a pretty compelling list. The only thing is that there are a couple entries that don't seem to fit the Riddler's... uh, we could say OCD, but let's be nice and call it precision. Like, look at #16. The clue is "electrolyte component," which is singular. The answer isn't going to be "ions," unless the Riddler is making mistakes after all. But it might be "ion," which would be -1. I have the same objection to #1 and #15.
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