Okay, clearly the hints aren't forthcoming and my theme guess remains unanswered too.

Therefore, I give up on this one. Here is my final guess for second L clue: Dagorlad.

Hope it helps the rest of you somehow.

Let's try some ancient Roman families, then.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cate...n_family_trees

Yes, but how?


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Still don't have the theme

Well, there is manors = halls, and there is k= degree.

Also, give us some clues, please, pretty please......:(

If nothing else, then give us a hint of what the theme is.....

All right! Finally back to a real keyboard after 24 hours.

You're so very close. But you also need "Roman family"

1 ???W???: Bean designated tenth man, cut here
2 ???I???: Here you'll find the bewildered spokesman for the heads of failed enterprises.
3: LONELY MOUNTAIN
4 ???D???: Here they confuse Arwen with a banker
5: ESGAROTH
6 ???R???: 3 nurses donate a user interface, but it's a mess
7???L???: The manors of a Roman family in a noble degree
8: LAKETOWN
9: BEORN
10: DALE


No. 1: sporting references again. Pay attention to "designated tenth man"
No. 2: "Bewildered spokesman."
No. 4: Typical synonym-anagram clue
No. 6: Think abbreviation

Then if we remove K and halls, we're left with E L V E N I N G

Arwen as in EVENSTAR or UNDOMIEL?

Because EVENSTAR is similar to INVESTOR, which is a synonym for 'banker'.

Roman is actually an anagram of manor, but that's probably just a coincidence.

Does 1st clue have something to do with this: http://www.thetenthmanblog.net/sidney-moncrief/?

6: Tndaui biam

A nurse over here is an RGN, (registered general nurse), but I expect that's probably not the case in Canada or the USA.

Hmmm. No; I have no idea where "tenth man" came from in the context of basketball. The sport I'm thinking of is traditionally associated with nine players (although that hasn't actually been true, except in a couple of leagues, for years now). Bonus: the first part of the clue could allude to the same sport).

Here a nurse is simply a Registered Nurse (RN)... and, yes, you're on the right track.

Okay, the sports with nine players are baseball and fast pitch softball.

INVESTOR is way off-course.

_____________________________

Ask yourself, why is it called a Kelvin?

and the "designated tenth man" would be the.....

And user interface is U I


So RUNI.

I don't know. Googling 'baseball+tenth player' or 'softball fastpitch tenth player' doesn't produce an official position name either.

Like Pervinca, I am not a huge fan of sports either. :V

Designated tenth man seems to be a hitter, but I don't see how that has a Tolkien connection.

Could the tenth man be the SUB or substitute?

3 nurses ...

Does RN + RN + IORETH produce anything interesting?

(I suspect not. Not enough vowels).

https://abbreviations.yourdictionary...eviations.html

Various abbreviations for kinds of nurse.

Okay-

Traditionally baseball was played by nine men. But in 1973 the American League introduced a new position. He doesn't field; his job is to bat for the pitcher. And he is called the.....

You've overlooked "donate"

And UI as well.

The tenth position is designated hitter, as I've said. And it still has no Tolkien connection.

Also, can we get a hint for the theme.

Ah, crafty. :D Donate could have just meant donate the other elements to the answer/bank of letters.

Well, 'bean' is also, apparently, slang for hit/thump/strike/sock.

You also forgot user interface part.....

and designated hitter doesn't contain a letter w either.

I didn't say I had solved it. I am just trying to unearth any other possibilities I can, so that someone *can* solve it.

The W suggests wound, perhaps, as a synonym for 'cut.'

Withered Heath for 1 (D + HITTER (from designated hitter) + HEW + HEA (from head, as in bean head, losing last letter)

It's the best I can come up with it, and it fits with recent tradition of using the first letter of the password in the first clue to make it easier.

Kelvin comes from lord kelvin, so LORD

Caras Galadhon for 7 (LORD + CASA + GAHAN)

You got it! Except that it's straight up HEAD ((=bean, as in beanball)

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the kelvin was named for Lord Kelvin, hence it's a "noble degree". Figure out "Roman family" and you're there.

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other guesses, no. Here's a helping hand for 6: RN RN RN + GIVE + UI

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Theme: the Password makes it have a very specific application, beyond simply "places in Rhovanion"

1 WITHERED HEATH
2 ???I???: Here you'll find the bewildered spokesman for the heads of failed enterprises.
3: LONELY MOUNTAIN
4 ???D???: Here they confuse Arwen with a banker
5: ESGAROTH
6 ???R???: 3 nurses donate a user interface, but it's a mess
7???L???: The manors of a Roman family in a noble degree
8: LAKETOWN
9: BEORN
10: DALE

You haven't confirmed whether the theme is 'Places visited by Thorin and co' or not yet.

No. (Inter alia, they never went to the Withered Heath)

7 is Elvenking's halls (KELVIN + GENS + HALLS)

And places in Mirkwood/Northern Rhovanion?