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From the depths of the old lake
rose this glorious town,
with a cherished sea-remover
regaining his renown.

On its arms they put a flower,
atop a comb of gold.
You might've even sailed there
if you are really old.

Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!
Dump the water out.
Fetching folks from elsewhere,
has worked without a doubt.


The solution to this riddle is the name of a city. It is not particularly big, but it is the capital of a state-level administrative division (i.e. a state, province, regency, region, oblast or equivalent). Good luck!

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  • $\begingroup$ I'm thinking that this is not in the U.S... $\endgroup$
    – NL628
    Jan 4, 2018 at 7:00

1 Answer 1

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It might be...

Lelystad, The Netherlands.

From the depths of the old lake rose this glorious town, with a cherished sea-remover regaining his renown.

The entire province was 'created' in 1967 by draining a large amount of water from the centre of The Netherlands. The city is 3 meters below sea level. The cherished sea-remover is called Cornelis Lely, to whom they named the city after.

On its arms they put a flower,

This could refer to 'Lelie', which is dutch for a lily (lilium, flower). Or due to the fact there is a national reserve just outside of the main outgoing roads (arms) of Lelystad. There is also a lily on the coat of arms.

atop a comb of gold.

The coat of arms is mostly golden, including a crown which sort of represents a comb. Comb could also refer to the fact that there is a honeycomb pattern on the coat of arms.

You might've even sailed there if you are really old.

The Zuiderzee (the sea that was drained to create said province) was the main transport route from Amsterdam to the North Sea and the Hanseatic League cities.

Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Dump the water out.

Damn it refers to dams. Dams are used to block off the water from entire lakes or seas.

Fetching folks from elsewhere, has worked without a doubt.

Might refer to the fact that Lelystad has an airport.

Source:

A Little bit of Wikipedia, and I'm from The Netherlands myself!

P.S.

Lelystad is the capital of the province Flevoland, to answer the last bit of hint text in the question.

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  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Good job. "Arms" indeed refers to the coat of arms, and "comb" to the honeycomb on it. $\endgroup$ Jan 4, 2018 at 11:22

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