[mormegil]

I've been thinking about the whole passage of time and think I found something that would have worked rather well. When Gandalf comes back and grabs Frodo from behind that should have been scratched and Frodo merely comes home to find Gandalf has arrived. He is elated to see Gandalf again and simply says something along the lines of "Gandalf, you have returned, it's been ages since I last saw you" Gandalf agrees, does the fire test and tells Frodo that he must leave to see Saruman. At their departure, they find Sam and Gandalf tells them to leave within a month or two. That one line would have shown some passage of time and as Gandalf leaves then we could see the sequence of the Nazgul leaving Mordor heading for the Shire.

I beleive most nonbook readers would be thinking "Oh crap, those guys are heading to the Shire and Gandalf is not there". Frodo quickly escapes right before they arrive a month or two later. This would also serve to show that on horseback moving quickly it takes a long time to get from Mordor to the Shire. This would also have opened up a bit of time for the conspiracy to develop and include Merry and Pippin as true friends not somebody they meet by happenstance.