This riddle is driving me nuts...

[beskeptical]

I'm thinking water.

[Ut]

Yeah, definitely water.

[constible]

An ocean.

[beskeptical]

One's too hard, 2 too easy
Here comes 3, I hope it's pleasy :P :P :P

#3

It comes through doors yet leaves no tracks.
Can pass the sun without a shadow.
Sifts your grain, stokes your fire,
and chills you to the marrow.

[beskeptical]

Darn, too easy again, I think it's wind.

[beskeptical]

For #1 I thought Sun, but Sun crystal on google only gets a kids book and art 'Sun crystals'.

[Kizarvexis]

#1
It makes men blind
and lets them see.
It tells the time;
a crystal be.

I guessing Sand;

Glass is made of sand, and it blinds you when it gets in your eye.
I don't get the crystal line however.

Fra Mauro and Tranquility were on the right track.

Sand can make you blind. i.e. hard to see rather than clinicly(sp?) blind

Sand makes glass for glasses so you can see.

Sand in an hourglass for telling time

and Sand is a crystal.

Kizarvexis

[beskeptical]

Sand is not a 'crystal'. It may have crystals in it but it is not homogeneous.
Sand is a mixture.

[beskeptical]

To recap we have

• #1 ___________
  #2 water
  #3 wind

Moving on.

#4

Can fill a house, can fill a room;
cannot catch it in a spoon.
Used to preserve, to say hello,
yet often portends tragedy below.

[Pinemarten]

#4 Smoke?

[Tranquility]

Nitrogen :-? ?

[ToSeek]

#4 Smoke?

That sounds good to me.

[Tranquility]

Oh yeah come to think of it, it does sound like smoke, but, smoke is used to preserve stuff? ops:

[Patrator]

Oh yeah come to think of it, it does sound like smoke, but, smoke is used to preserve stuff?

You ever had an Arbroath Smokie?

[Tranquility]

Oh yeah come to think of it, it does sound like smoke, but, smoke is used to preserve stuff?

You ever had an Arbroath Smokie?

nope ops:

[ToSeek]

Oh yeah come to think of it, it does sound like smoke, but, smoke is used to preserve stuff? ops:

Yes.

[beskeptical]

Smoke it is then.

Here's #5

What has four fingers and a thumb
but neither flesh nor bone?
A digit protectorate
seldom alone.

[TimH]

A glove?

[Irishman]

Smoke preserves meat.

#5 is a glove.

[Betenoire]

Yeah, glove.

And it's only alone if you're Michael Jackson :-D

I'm a fan of sand for #1, as well (Glass is an amorphous solid)

Are we still wrong?

[beskeptical]

If the glove fits... :wink:

#6

It runs about the forest yet does not move.
Be warned: Always keep it in sight.
It casts no shadow, makes no sound,
but will lead you to the light.

[Betenoire]

Path (or trail)

[mike alexander]

Is #1 a mirror?

[Tranquility]

Is #1 a mirror?

I dont think so. How can you tell the time from a mirror?

[mike alexander]

I don't KNOW this is the answer, of course. But.

Think of the clues as metaphors. (As for me, I never metaphor I didn't like).

When you look in the mirror you see your image.
1) Lord, I'm a handsome devil
2) Mom's right, I do need braces
3) Have I gotten THAT old?
4) the mirror is the 'crystal'

[Tranquility]

oooooooh gotcha.
Never thought of it that way.
Really good interpretation. Applause =D> .

[mike alexander]

Thank You. If it IS correct, I should thank AGN and swansont. One mentioned the sun, the other an hourglass, and about an hour later, for no apparent reason, a line or two from Richard III went scooting across my mind:

Shine out, fair sun, 'till I have bought a glass
That I may see my shadow as I pass.

And since he's referring to a mirror, and he's a stuck up.... somehow it fell into place.

[beskeptical]

#6, a path, it is agreed

#7

Has fork and mouth
but cannot eat.
Forever runs
but has no feet.

Seems to be a river so I thought I'd go on to #8

Here's a riddle you should know:
What, when you take from it,
will always larger grow?

That one is a hole.

#9 and #10 were the first two so we are up to #11

#9 Thirty-two stallions on a rose-red hill.
They dance and stomp,
whistle and chomp.
Now they stand still.
Brush them so they gleam.
Rinse them in a stream.

#10
The first letter a question eternally pending.
The second forms a line never ending.
The third: What I am called, but never me.
The fourth: Upon which a ball percheth for thee.
The fifth: What heaven & hell in common hold.
But, alas, the rub: This riddling grows old.

#11

I bring great power with my little mite.
I open closed doors, but close opened ones tight.
I protect the home of my master discerned
and am protected wisely by him in return.
I guard great treasures, my poking nose to seek,
and keep secret my profile unique.

[beskeptical]

A key.

#12

For ten minutes you could not hold it,
yet it's lighter than a feather.
In the cold it is fog.
In the heat, feels like smog.
But you need it in all weather.

[SeanF]

A key.

#12

For ten minutes you could not hold it,
yet it's lighter than a feather.
In the cold it is fog.
In the heat, feels like smog.
But you need it in all weather.

Your breath.