It wasn't so bad since most of them were totally irrelevant but I must admit I hadn't thought of initials and was struggling because both plants and diseases tend to have classical names which are not very Tolkieny. Part of me was expecting to find a shrub called Morgocatalepthys!
And having first encountered it in Australia, I tend to think of wattle first. Or the drink!
The obscure names are usually Gilgalad though....
and only because there does have to be a challenge and if the clues are just and the words familiar anyone with enough knowledge of Tolkien and cryptic conventions can rattle through them. So either need the word to be odder or the clue twistier. Of course one person's obscure is hopelessly obvious to another. I really didn't realise Yale was obscure but I couldn't resist the elegance of using Ivy league Boffins even if it was solved in a second.