The Criosphinx's Riddles

[Arakial]

@Most Fiendish Riddle: The 'night sky'?

[Thought]

While our mind mull over the Fiendish Riddle, perhaps an easier one might serve as a welcome distraction? I promise I wont shamelessly steal from the Exeter Book this time:

I have many keys but no chords.
I have many bars but no sense of time.
I make notes although I carry no tune.
I sing at the end so you will begin again.
What am I?

[Arakial]

While our mind mull over the Fiendish Riddle, perhaps an easier one might serve as a welcome distraction? I promise I wont shamelessly steal from the Exeter Book this time:

I have many keys but no chords.
I have many bars but no sense of time.
I make notes although I carry no tune.
I sing at the end so you will begin again.
What am I?

A typewriter?

[Radical_Dreamer]

Radical_Dreamer: Wow. I asked my friend if that was correct, and it is. I have been stumped on that one for so long!

That is a very, very old riddle. It's just rephrased, but the core logic is the same.

[GenesisOne]

@Kodokami: You're right.  Only 12 people have been to the moon.  As a reward, here's a little test of wits to see if you can read a question differently that it should be read:

1. With which hand do you stir your hot cocoa?

2. In Iran, you can't take a picture of a man with a turban. How come?

3. Two of every seven people in town have an unlisted telephone number. If there are 14,000 names in
 the phone book, how many of them have unlisted numbers?

4.A plane flies from Dallas, TX to Miami, FL on a clear, still day.  Halfway there, it drops a 100 lb. sack of mail and a 100 lb. steel rod.  Which item hits the ground first?

Best of luck.

[rushingwind]

1. With which hand do you stir your hot cocoa?

2. In Iran, you can't take a picture of a man with a turban. How come?

3. Two of every seven people in town have an unlisted telephone number. If there are 14,000 names in
 the phone book, how many of them have unlisted numbers?

4.A plane flies from Dallas, TX to Miami, FL on a clear, still day.  Halfway there, it drops a 100 lb. sack of mail and a 100 lb. steel rod.  Which item hits the ground first?

I have no idea about the first two (it's too late at night, my brain isn't quite working well).

3 - If a phone number is unlisted, then it won't be in the phone book. So none of them?

4 - Not too sure about this one, but off of the top of my head, flying between Dallas and Miami would involve flying over the Gulf of Mexico, so they wouldn't hit the ground, but the water. But if they're both 100 lbs, they'd hit the water at about the same time, right?


This is more of my late night logic for you.

And Lord J Esq, I think your riddle might have eaten my brain. I'm going to be obsessed with it until I figure out the answer.



EDIT: Okay, so I should probably drop off one of my own (since this is fun ). I'm not the best riddle-maker (and it doesn't help that I cooked this up in less than five minutes), and I'm sure this is painfully easy, but here we go:

My legend is clear for all to see
Yet my lines are difficult for many to read
I'll guide you forth, or lead you back
I'll fulfill my purpose, you'll find your path.
What am I?

[Lord J Esq]

My legend is clear for all to see
Yet my lines are difficult for many to read
I'll guide you forth, or lead you back
I'll fulfill my purpose, you'll find your path.
What am I?

I'm thinking...a map!

And Lord J Esq, I think your riddle might have eaten my brain. I'm going to be obsessed with it until I figure out the answer.

I also hate it when a tasty riddle goes unanswered. So: One last clue--this time a Big Clue--and then I'll do the Big Reveal tomorrow night if it still goes unsolved. The Big Clue is that this riddle is specifically tailored for the kinds of people who would visit the Compendium!

[alfadorredux]

@Kodokami: You're right.  Only 12 people have been to the moon.  As a reward, here's a little test of wits to see if you can read a question differently that it should be read:

1. With which hand do you stir your hot cocoa?

2. In Iran, you can't take a picture of a man with a turban. How come?

Here, Kodokami, let me help you out a bit.

1. Most people stir their cocoa with a spoon--helps avoid burns. ;P

2. Not all that familiar with Iran, but my guess, based on how these kind of questions normally work, is that men in Iran don't normally wear turbans, and therefore you would have a hard time finding such a person to photograph.

[Thought]

@ Arakial, yup. I cheated a little, too, by making it outdated technology

@ Josh: If the riddle is Chrono related, then The Moon(s) seem like the proper answer. If we weren't limited to two words, then Notre Dame de Paris would have be a possible answer as well (I've been racking my brain for freeways and engineering projects that might strike your fancy enough to inspire a riddle, that was the only one I could think of that might fit).


Anywho, since we seem to be low on riddles, here is another one:

Take twenty-three of me and then add that many more,
We'll make just one, you know; our math is really poor.
I only have a few letters, don't you see?
But I'm a book that tells you all that will be.
What am I?

[Lord J Esq]

 Nah, somebody already guessed the moon(s). Besides, that doesn't really fit with all the parts of the riddle.

[Thought]

Ah yes, I had forgotten.

Edit: Though depending on one's perspective, it does fill all the requirements. They're old, red is a bold color, and there being two of them does indeed catch your eye. Being hunks of rock, they are solid, Harle (the second moon) seems stolid, there are two of them for which clove could be a poetic reference to, and of course they're in the sky.

[Lord J Esq]

That's quite a stretch. A good riddle wouldn't rely on such a stretchy answer, because it would amount to little more than a cheat. You could conceivably fit all kinds of answers to my Most Fiendish Riddle, but the real answer is pretty unambiguous. Also, "the moon(s)" doesn't really fit in with the clues that I've given, other than being two words.

I said I wouldn't give any more clues before the Big Reveal late tonight, but I'll offer two more clues anyway, since I had already considered offering them previously:

1. Each line of the riddle pertains to a separate word.
2. Our British friends would probably have an edge at deciphering it.

That's in addition to the two clues I've already given:

3. It's two words.
4. It's tailored to people who would visit the Compendium.

Good luck! I am glad my Most Fiendish Riddle has lived up to its reputation thus far. I think you'll all be tickled with the answer.

[MsBlack]

Thought: Chromosomes?

J: What is this sense of 'clove' you're using? I can only think of the sense as with a clove of garlic. Is there another?

Edit: J: Telephone/Police box? Double-decker bus? A Victorian house?

[Lord J Esq]

J: What is this sense of 'clove' you're using?

That's part of the riddle, of course!

Your answers are all-wrong, though.

[MsBlack]

Oh sheeeeeeii—...Is it The clock on the Big Ben tower and the tower? If not, I'm guessing it's some kind of clock or timekeeper. A grandfather clock? A pocket watch? I'm onto you!