Some original riddles

[Zag]

Some easy, some less so.

----------------------------- 1 solved by Jack_Ian

I have two aspects, as you will see.
My first likes to travel with brothers three.
Always in lockstep we move about,
for if we are not, one will cry out.

T'other aspect is something you do
when the task you're performing completely bores you,
or if you've been up -- too long awake.
Now guess what I am, for goodness' sake.

----------------------------- 2 solved by Jack_Ian

Start with a group, a number, a bunch
of animals who like to stand still and munch.

Instructions I'll give, a new word to create,
which sounds like the first, for that is its fate.

Just stick one more letter right in the middle.
Have you listened? I have completed my riddle.

----------------------------- 3 solved by Oscar

There's one of me for everything, though only four are we.
O'er and o'er we repeat, cycling endlessly.

But then, I am an act you'll do, when standing at the range.
One word, and yet, I've meanings two. I hope it's not too strange.

----------------------------- 4 solved by Jack_Ian

He wanders by on silent wing
at dusk and at dawn, too.

Add two to this and forth you'll bring
someone who's close to you.

------------------------------- 5 solved by Oscar

First is something in which you might ride
when it is warm and nice outside.
Reverse the first, and add a bit
and you'll see where the first might sit.

Add E to that, move front to rear,
And now a terrible noise you'll hear!
Move last back to first and add an R.
to see one who could find you, near or far.

Pluck out the letter you added back when,
a smoky projectile, you will see then.
Now drop the letter which in first was last
And you will see someone who goes very fast.

Remove the C and swap middle two
to find out what's in back of you.
Now drop the A, and give a good shake
You'll see this was all a big mistake!

------------------------------- 6 solved by Jack_Ian

What animal has the head of a dragon, the body of a mop, and the tail of a stag?

------------------------------- 7 solved by Oscar

Rebus:

uoms
tones

------------------------------- 8 solved by Dented Ford and Jack_Ian

Rebus:

[Jack_Ian]

2. he + a + rd
6. dog

[Dented Ford]

8 is a big mystery.

11. Georgia borders Alabama, and Gallium is immediately below Aluminium in the Periodic Table

[Zag]

2, 6, 11 correct. 8 is not quite what I intended.

[Jack_Ian]

1. tire
4. moth + er
8. No big mystery
10. Pool Table so in a Pool Hall I guess

[Dented Ford]

Duh, that's what I meant for 8.

[Oscar]

3. season
5. cart-track-racket-tracker-tracer-racer-rear-err
and 7 is damn close to om-in-ous overtones

[Zag]

Only #9 left, which I correctly predicted would be the toughest. It is vaguely related to #7.

[Courk]

For 9 I can't help but think something along the lines of:

au ore --> au or
ag ore --> ag or, etc.
sn ore
co ore
fsk

[Zag]

No need to invis, Courk.

[Icarus]

For #9 is it something along the lines of

putting money before safety, or choosing profit before safety ?

[Jack_Ian]

I was thinking more along the lines of [(link) FKey undermines command choice].
But I can't get it to make any sense.

[Zag]

Hint for #9: It would be the same if the choices were any one of the first four and the last one

[Zag]

Second hint for #9: You have to choose a ____ __ ___.

[ralphmerridew]

#9: Minor key?

[Zag]

That's it!

[Tony Gardner]

[Changabooniggiwan*]

Thought I'd add another, of a different colour. This is a pied-acrostic, a la Robert Graves. The two parts of each line (after the first) are mis-matched. Reassemble correctly and identify the person/thing named in each line. First letters then form an anagram of the answer.

Who am I that sails through roads of stars?
I am the Lord of Hebrews, the eater of hearts
I am the father of a king, the winged-one
I am the horse of the gods, the rainbow carrier
I am the daughter of heaven, the child of wolves
I am the rain-bringer, the holy tetragram
I am the founder of Rome, the once and future sovereign

[ralphmerridew]

Tony: "Minor key" is a term in music. It sounds like "Mine or (Francis Scott) Key".

[Zag]

I had also mentioned that #9 was related to #7. When something in a movie has ominous overtones, the background music will often be a riff in a minor key.

For Changa's:

I am the horse of the gods, the winged-one: Pegasus
I am the founder of Rome, the child of wolves: Romulus and/or Remus
I am the Lord of Hebrews, the holy tetragram: Jehovah?

I can guess how the others pair up, but I'm not positive.

[Changabooniggiwan*]

So far so good, Zag, but...

..colour me stupid, I somehow missed an entire letter/line out. There should be an 'E' in the final anagram. Serves me right for doing that whilst supposedly teaching a class.

[Icarus]

So how about:

I am the daughter of heaven, the eater of hearts? Ammut?

[Lepton*]

I am the father of a king, the once and future sovereignUranus

[Dented Ford]

I had I am the father of a king, the once and future sovereign down as Uther (Pendragon, father of King Arthur, "The Once and Future King" - T.H. White)

[Changabooniggiwan*]

Lepton and Dented Ford - it doesn't matter which of your two answers you use, both start the same way, but my intention was the one Dented Ford came up with.

[Dented Ford]

I'm pretty sure I knew the answer anyway : JUPITER

but for I am the rain-bringer, carrier of rainbows, I think it is IRIS

which leaves I am the daughter of heaven, the eater of hearts having to be T - maybe Tiamat?

[Changabooniggiwan*]

Dented Ford,
Correct total solution - well done. As for the line solutions, kind of correct - you've identified the right person for the carrier of rainbows, but not matched it with the front half correctly. It should be:

I am the daughter of heaven, carrier of rainbows = your solution
I am the rain-bringer, the eater of hearts = ?

So, any ideas for the last person/entity/thing? A fairly obscure answer, I warn in advance.

[Scurra]

I missed this one, and enjoyed piecing it together.
I would guess the last one to be TLALOC
(given the range of other mythologies you have used!)
_________________
_{still Quiz Olympiad champion. Must get a life.
New definitions: COFFEE - someone who is coughed upon}

[Changabooniggiwan*]

Scurra has it. Well done all.

[Dented Ford]

Well done! I had previously discounted Tlaloc as not being "the daughter of heaven" and not revisited the idea since the correction was made.

[Changabooniggiwan*]

Now a very silly one, schoolboy humour...

I am an old woman of Rome, with a red puckered mouth.

[Changabooniggiwan*]

ooh, hope I didn't kill the thread with that one.

Clues:

(1) this is really lowest-common denominator stuff.

(2) puns are a low form of wit, aren't they?

(3) schoolboy humour - but of a kind not likely to be seen by
most kids these days. Classical education died a long time ago.
I, however, being a product of a bygone age, do distinctly recall a
class of pupils (myself included) finding a random dictionary entry
hilarious and getting a good chastising for doing so.

[Zag]

I'm wondering if "old woman" in Latin starts with a V. Anybody?

[Oscar]

Afraid not, Zag, it's anus hence Changa's (and my) embarrassment.

[Changabooniggiwan*]

Thank goodness for Oscar. Sorry everyone.

[Zag]

When I was very young, my teacher was telling the class about compound words, words which are made up of two smaller words. After a few minutes, I piped up cheerfully that my first name was a compound word: Step + hen to make Stephen. Of course, she corrected me and I felt foolish, but ever since then I have been amused by what I call "False Compound Words."

To be a False Compound Word, a word must be able to be divided into two smaller words with no rearranging of letters, AND the two smaller words should have nothing to do with the original word. That is, they should not come from the same Latin root or anything like that. The letter arrangement must be complete coincidence.

Each of the following represents a False Compound Word. Each clue contains references to all three words -- the larger one as well as the two smaller ones (in one case, it actually contains one of the smaller words). They will not be in any particular order, and there might be a bit of each clue which is there just to make the different parts fit together.

14.1. Adult males threaten a playing card.

14.2. Pub makes a profit with smart purchases.

14.3. Distant object is just an old coin.

14.4. That girl's cleverness diminishes.

14.5. The cat was buried in his sleeping place.

14.6. To fly while pulling something behind you.

14.7. A home for bees is a good place to store part of a circle.

14.8. My mother's huge dog had some joint pain.

[Jack_Ian]

14.1 man+ace
14.2 bar+gain
14.3 far+thing
14.4 =wit+her
14.7 arc+hive

[El Camino]

14.5 tom + bed = tombed

[Tony Gardner]

14.6 drag-race?

[Oscar]

14.8 ma-stiff