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Satanic and ridiculous this riddle may seem,
Unify the beginnings to find out its theme.
Repress a disaster; don't look everywhere,
Right words exhibit a trait that they share.
Only these dodgy tertiary ones count,
Unveil the relevant parts you've now found.
Now a chihuahua will show you the way,
Dogs are deceptive, but this one's OK.
Eliminate the arbitrary and useless kind,
Demonic, but elegant, the solution you'll find.

Hint:

As some of the answers below have already correctly pointed out, only some of the words in the riddle are actually important. The theme tells you something about the trait they share...

Hint 2:

Only one of the answers below has the correct "tertiary" words. Look for the trait there.

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    $\begingroup$ Well I'm going to be Captain Obvious and say the first letters say 'SURROUNDED' $\endgroup$
    – Beastly Gerbil
    Feb 21, 2017 at 7:20
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    $\begingroup$ @Levieux - Can you add what is the question here? Is it Who am I? or something else? $\endgroup$
    – Techidiot
    Feb 21, 2017 at 10:10
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    $\begingroup$ @Techidiot: I could, but it wouldn't at all be helpful in finding the answer. Once you have the answer, you're gonna know it, so it doesn't matter then either. But if I would add it, it would be "What am I?" $\endgroup$
    – Levieux
    Feb 21, 2017 at 14:55
  • $\begingroup$ I do not support satanism... but I love this riddle! DVL2 $\color{darkorange}{\bigstar}$ :D $\endgroup$
    – Mr Pie
    Aug 29, 2018 at 21:54

4 Answers 4

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The answer seems to be

DIABOLICAL

as the hint suggests, Beastly Gerbil had the correct tertiary words. They are

Every third word - 'ridiculous, beginnings, disaster, exhibit, dodgy, relevant, chihuahua, deceptive, arbitrary, elegant'

Now we use the theme, "surrounded"

To find letters that are surrounded by others in these words. (For example, in ridiculous, the letter d is surrounded by two i's.) The surrounding letters spell out INSIDEHERE and the surrounded letters spell out DIABOLICAL

This was a previous attempt but not correct

Right words exhibit a trait that they share.

We are looking for words that rhyme, like the furthest right words

Only these dodgy tertiary ones count,

Not sure what this means, but the rhyming words I found are: Satanic, Demonic; Repress, Useless; Trait, Eliminate; Arbitrary, Tertiary; Relevant, Elegant (not including end-rhyme)

Unveil the relevant parts you've now found.

The parts that rhyme? The phonetics "nic", "ess", "ate", "ary" and "ant" don't come together in any immediate way.

Another train of thought:

Three syllable words? This would explain the inclusion of "Chihuahua". They are, in order: satanic, unify, beginnings, disaster, everywhere, exhibit, tertiary, relevant, chihuahua, deceptive, demonic, elegant, solution

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Satanic and ridiculous this riddle may seem, Unify the beginnings to find out its theme.

SURROUNDED

Repress a disaster; don't look everywhere, Right words exhibit a trait that they share. Only these dodgy tertiary ones count, Now a chihuahua will show you the way,

chihuahua has the trait you should search for in other words

chihuahua

chihuahua has 3 syllables

Only these dodgy tertiary ones count,

Only words with three syllables count, as mattshin pointed out: satanic, unify, beginnings, disaster, everywhere, exhibit, tertiary, relevant, chihuahua, deceptive, demonic, elegant, solution

Now a chihuahua will show you the way,

chihuahua gives the first character to the solution

Dogs are deceptive, but this one's OK. Eliminate the arbitrary and useless kind, Demonic, but elegant, the solution you'll find.

The overall theme of the riddle is related to dogs, and satanic underworld stuff. Also three may play a role

Unveil the relevant parts you've now found.

Look what sourrounds the three syllable words

With the help of the overall setting plus the theme: SURROUNDED I found the word

CERBERUS: Satanic, Unify, beginnings, disaster; everywhere, exhibit, relevant, chihuahua, deceptive, Demonic, elegant, solution As Marius pointed out, Cerberus is the three headed dog that guards the gates of the underworld (Greek mytholoty)

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My pale attempt

Hell in different mythologies (underworld)

Satanic and ridiculous this riddle may seem,

"satanic" as in you know who's the boss there (Christian mythology)

Unify the beginnings to find out its theme.

the first letter of each row form SURROUNDED as in "you cannot get out" (all of them probably)

Repress a disaster; don't look everywhere,

Maybe a reference to Dante's 9 rings of hell. Each person in there belongs to one of the circles and only one. Also, you say surrounded you hear circle. (Italian literature and later influenced the way that Christianity sees Hell)

Right words exhibit a trait that they share.

I have no idea here. (in all mythologies)

Only these dodgy tertiary ones count,

Cerberus the three headed dog that guards the gates of the underworld (Greek mytholoty)

Unveil the relevant parts you've now found.

I did that. That's what I found so far.

Now a chihuahua will show you the way,

Maybe reference again to Cerberus although he was not exactly a chihuahua (Greek mythology)

Dogs are deceptive, but this one's OK.

Again Cerberus. He's OK because he keeps sinners inside the underworld so he's the good guy.

Eliminate the arbitrary and useless kind,

"arbitrary" as in "liberum arbitrium" which is "free will" in Latin. Word by word translation "free referee". These words are heard often when philosophy and religion collide.

Demonic, but elegant, the solution you'll find.

If I'm right (and maybe even if I'm not) this is a pretty elegant way of combining the gruesomeness from different mythologies.

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  • $\begingroup$ But, there is a steganography tag right? $\endgroup$
    – Techidiot
    Feb 21, 2017 at 16:50
  • $\begingroup$ In my defense I did say "my pale attempt". I'm almost sure that this is not it, but I had to write it because it looked elegant to me. (as stated in the last line) Feel free to take "destructive" measures without leaving a comment if you feel something is wrong. I won't mind. $\endgroup$
    – Marius
    Feb 21, 2017 at 16:51
  • $\begingroup$ :) Yes. Dante's circle of hell sounds nice on ears. Hence +1 $\endgroup$
    – Techidiot
    Feb 21, 2017 at 16:52
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Very partial answer:

Satanic and ridiculous this riddle may seem,

Not sure if this clues anything or is just a filler line

Unify the beginnings to find out its theme.

First letters of each line say 'SURROUNDED' which must be the theme

Repress a disaster; don't look everywhere,

Not sure

Right words exhibit a trait that they share.

Right words could mean the words furtherest right, so the last words in each line. They are

'seem, theme, everywhere, share, count, found, way, OK, kind, find'

Only these dodgy tertiary ones count,

This could be clueing every third word. The third words in each line are

'ridiculous, beginnings, disaster, exhibit, dodgy, relevant, chihuahua, deceptive, arbitrary, elegant'

This collection does seem a bit odd.

Unveil the relevant parts you've now found.

Not sure what to do with the words, but think this will be the next step

Now a chihuahua will show you the way,

Not sure

Dogs are deceptive, but this one's OK.

Not sure

Eliminate the arbitrary and useless kind,

Not sure

Demonic, but elegant, the solution you'll find.

Not sure

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  • $\begingroup$ Why does the string 'arbitrary, kangaroo' appear in your answer when the third word of the last line is 'elegant', not 'kangaroo'? $\endgroup$
    – TheGreatEscaper
    Feb 21, 2017 at 8:14
  • $\begingroup$ @TheGreatEscaper uh oops :P $\endgroup$
    – Beastly Gerbil
    Feb 21, 2017 at 8:18
  • $\begingroup$ Well if we're talking about steganography, and if not for a red herring, what the hell is a chihuahua doing here ? :) Must be here for a reason, well, maybe. I'd try to look for patterns in letters, rather in words. Maybe. $\endgroup$
    – Lilian Delaveau
    Feb 21, 2017 at 8:38
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    $\begingroup$ @BeastlyGerbil you're not sure about a lot of things today. Are you questioning human existence? $\endgroup$
    – Marius
    Feb 21, 2017 at 8:43
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    $\begingroup$ @Marius I'm not sure, am I? :P $\endgroup$
    – Beastly Gerbil
    Feb 21, 2017 at 9:09

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