Virtual Pyramid 51 Solved
Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2010 12:33 amWell at long last I've solved one. 
I was beginning to think that the password checker didn't work.
Just a reminder of the clue:
If you're as old as I am there is no need to Google the first part of the riddle "will you still need me, will you still feed me" - they are the lyrics of a particularly awful Beatles song called "When I'm Sixty-Four". Realising this and seeing the word 'Liverpool' near the pyramid it is tempting to think that it has something to do with the Beatles e.g. a song that made number 7 in the English charts, but having made little progress on this idea I decided that it was probably only the number '64' that was important.
As with a lot of cryptic clues the punctuation and grammar is not quite correct. The theme is actually based on a 13/14th. century English chronicler and Benedictine monk named Ranulf Higdon. (
No I'd never heard of him either). He took the monastic vow at the monastery of St. Werburgh in Chester in 1299, and it is said that he lived at the monastery for sixty four years. Hence the meaning of 64, and the pyramid is actually positioned on Chester. The image file associated with the clue contains Higdon's initials RH.
So what is this strange image ? Well believe it or not it is a medieval European map of the world known as a mappa mundi. The red semi-circular blob at bottom left is actually England and you can read Northampton as one of the towns. I think the other red shape that looks like an arm with an open hand is supposed to be the Red Sea. Obviously not a navigational map, more of a political map. The significance of this particular mappa mundi is that it appears in Ranulf Higdon's most important work, a chronicle of historical events called the Polychronicon. A potential password in its own right, but not correct.
Polychronicon was originally written as seven volumes as a sort of homage to the seven days of creation according to the book of Genesis. The text 'number 7' in the riddle identifies this.
The next block of the riddle should be read as 'in English who was responsible'. Higdon wrote in Latin, so this part of the clue is hinting at the person who was first to translate the Polychronicon into English. This was a Cornishman by the name of John of Trevisa.
So this only leaves the final and most important part of the riddle 'where was the canon ?' Well obviously not the weapon due to the spelling. The canon is actually John of Trevisa who in 1390 gained a Canonry at Westbury on Trym, now part of Bristol.
So not a long fancy word like Polychronicon, the solution was in fact the three words that were most appropriate: Westbury on Trym.
I think maybe this could explain why it's taken so long for a pyramid to be solved. If you're anything like me you've been focussing on long unusual single words as has been the case with solutions seen so far, rather than what best suits the riddle.
I would have preferred to have solved a real pyramid and used the key, so I will be buying another ISIS to get on track for gold coin number two.
If you are interested these two Wiki references cover the main points of the riddle and contain a link to the full image of the Mappa Mundi.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranulf_Higdon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Trevisa
Thank you very much Sonic Warp
I was beginning to think that the password checker didn't work. Just a reminder of the clue:
If you're as old as I am there is no need to Google the first part of the riddle "will you still need me, will you still feed me" - they are the lyrics of a particularly awful Beatles song called "When I'm Sixty-Four". Realising this and seeing the word 'Liverpool' near the pyramid it is tempting to think that it has something to do with the Beatles e.g. a song that made number 7 in the English charts, but having made little progress on this idea I decided that it was probably only the number '64' that was important.
As with a lot of cryptic clues the punctuation and grammar is not quite correct. The theme is actually based on a 13/14th. century English chronicler and Benedictine monk named Ranulf Higdon. (
No I'd never heard of him either). He took the monastic vow at the monastery of St. Werburgh in Chester in 1299, and it is said that he lived at the monastery for sixty four years. Hence the meaning of 64, and the pyramid is actually positioned on Chester. The image file associated with the clue contains Higdon's initials RH.So what is this strange image ? Well believe it or not it is a medieval European map of the world known as a mappa mundi. The red semi-circular blob at bottom left is actually England and you can read Northampton as one of the towns. I think the other red shape that looks like an arm with an open hand is supposed to be the Red Sea. Obviously not a navigational map, more of a political map. The significance of this particular mappa mundi is that it appears in Ranulf Higdon's most important work, a chronicle of historical events called the Polychronicon. A potential password in its own right, but not correct.
Polychronicon was originally written as seven volumes as a sort of homage to the seven days of creation according to the book of Genesis. The text 'number 7' in the riddle identifies this.
The next block of the riddle should be read as 'in English who was responsible'. Higdon wrote in Latin, so this part of the clue is hinting at the person who was first to translate the Polychronicon into English. This was a Cornishman by the name of John of Trevisa.
So this only leaves the final and most important part of the riddle 'where was the canon ?' Well obviously not the weapon due to the spelling. The canon is actually John of Trevisa who in 1390 gained a Canonry at Westbury on Trym, now part of Bristol.
So not a long fancy word like Polychronicon, the solution was in fact the three words that were most appropriate: Westbury on Trym.
I think maybe this could explain why it's taken so long for a pyramid to be solved. If you're anything like me you've been focussing on long unusual single words as has been the case with solutions seen so far, rather than what best suits the riddle.
I would have preferred to have solved a real pyramid and used the key, so I will be buying another ISIS to get on track for gold coin number two.
If you are interested these two Wiki references cover the main points of the riddle and contain a link to the full image of the Mappa Mundi.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranulf_Higdon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Trevisa
Thank you very much Sonic Warp
and wow that was a tough one! 
