# Loomw,ym,ad.Nbr. Can someone identify this poem? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 4, 2019, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loomw-ym-ad-nbr-can-someone-identify-this-poem/827213 "2019-01-04T20:36:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loomw-ym-ad-nbr-can-someone-identify-this-poem/827213/21 "2019-01-06T01:57:55Z")
Thank you for letting us know. So did the password work when you left out the extra “o”? I’m sorry it was under such sad circumstances, but I’m glad I was able to help. I admit it was pretty thrilling to realize that I had the answer. This community has been very important to me, and I’m glad I could give something back. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loomw-ym-ad-nbr-can-someone-identify-this-poem/827213/22 "2019-01-06T02:02:20Z")
Amazing! ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loomw-ym-ad-nbr-can-someone-identify-this-poem/827213/23 "2019-01-06T02:16:43Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > As an aside, since we’re in CS now and all, Asimov used something very much like this as the plot of one of his Black Widowers mysteries. It was very important for the guest to figure out the password of a fellow who was now dead, but various clues indicated that the password consisted of 14 letters, from which Henry guessed that it was the initial letters of the lines of a sonnet, and then it was just a matter of guessing what the dead guy’s favorite sonnet was from various other clues. Are you sure that it was letters and not 14 k of g? ---
**Author:** ![Borborygmi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/borborygmi/32/217_2.png) [@Borborygmi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Borborygmi)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loomw-ym-ad-nbr-can-someone-identify-this-poem/827213/24 "2019-01-06T02:36:30Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Are you sure that it was letters and not 14 k of g? Sounds like it was 14 keystrokes of guesswork in a favorite poem design. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loomw-ym-ad-nbr-can-someone-identify-this-poem/827213/25 "2019-01-06T02:45:03Z")
Big deal, **SpoilerVirgin**. See if you can solve this one (hint: it’s a line from a song by the Baha Men): W.L.TheD.O. Now we’ll see if you really got skillz. mmm ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loomw-ym-ad-nbr-can-someone-identify-this-poem/827213/26 "2019-01-06T02:59:07Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Big deal, **SpoilerVirgin**. See if you can solve this one (hint: it’s a line from a song by the Baha Men): > > W.L.TheD.O. > > Now we’ll see if you really got skillz. > mmm Who let you out? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loomw-ym-ad-nbr-can-someone-identify-this-poem/827213/27 "2019-01-06T03:49:18Z")
Why lick the damaged orange? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loomw-ym-ad-nbr-can-someone-identify-this-poem/827213/28 "2019-01-06T04:19:32Z")
If you really want to impress us: [14 k of g in a f p d](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=398132) ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loomw-ym-ad-nbr-can-someone-identify-this-poem/827213/29 "2019-01-06T04:40:30Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > If you really want to impress us: > [14 k of g in a f p d](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=398132) I’m 99% sure we found the answer to this one – after the thread had been closed! Now if I can just remember the thread where we put the answer… IIRC it was a thread devoted to some of the “highlights” of SDMB over several years worth of flashbacks – a fun thread in and of itself. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loomw-ym-ad-nbr-can-someone-identify-this-poem/827213/30 "2019-01-06T05:00:28Z")
This is an incredibly brilliant solution to that puzzle. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loomw-ym-ad-nbr-can-someone-identify-this-poem/827213/31 "2019-01-06T05:02:14Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > I’m 99% sure we found the answer to this one – after the thread had been closed! > > Now if I can just remember the thread where we put the answer… > IIRC it was a thread devoted to some of the “highlights” of SDMB over several years worth of flashbacks – a fun thread in and of itself. This may be the one: [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16890106&postcount=149](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16890106&postcount=149) ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loomw-ym-ad-nbr-can-someone-identify-this-poem/827213/32 "2019-01-06T05:27:55Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > This may be the one: > > [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16890106&postcount=149](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16890106&postcount=149) The key to the post(s) is: To lay this puzzle to rest, it’s **14 karats of gold in a Florentine pietra dura** (an art piece made of highly polished and inlaid colored stones). ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loomw-ym-ad-nbr-can-someone-identify-this-poem/827213/33 "2019-01-06T06:47:41Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > But that said nothing to me, so then I tried > > L— o— o— m— w—, y— m—, a— d— > N— b— r— > > After I considered and rejected some Shakespeare lines about love, “Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair,” just popped out at me. I looked up Ozymandias (which I spelled wrong in my post), and saw that it had to be right. > > No real trick, but I do like puzzles (and poetry), so the question fit the way my mind works. Brilliant! ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loomw-ym-ad-nbr-can-someone-identify-this-poem/827213/34 "2019-01-06T07:14:12Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > The key to the post(s) is: > > To lay this puzzle to rest, it’s **14 karats of gold in a Florentine pietra dura** (an art piece made of highly polished and inlaid colored stones). I see that **Chessic Sense** supplied the answer, but didn’t give any evidence. I’m curious how he (she?) worked it out. (Some of those art pieces are pretty spectacular, too, ranging from rings to coffee tables to altars to entire walls.) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loomw-ym-ad-nbr-can-someone-identify-this-poem/827213/35 "2019-01-06T07:53:57Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > I see that **Chessic Sense** supplied the answer, but didn’t give any evidence. I’m curious how he (she?) worked it out. > > (Some of those art pieces are pretty spectacular, too, ranging from rings to coffee tables to altars to entire walls.) But more to the point: some of them contain no gold at all, right? I mean, granted, there _could_ be 14 karats of gold in one or another; but it seems like this should be more along the lines of how 14 karats of gold _always_ refers to 14 karats of gold in a fineness purity determination, or something. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loomw-ym-ad-nbr-can-someone-identify-this-poem/827213/36 "2019-01-06T13:50:13Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > Who let you out? 😉 Ouch, that stang. mmm ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loomw-ym-ad-nbr-can-someone-identify-this-poem/827213/37 "2019-01-06T13:59:41Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > I see that **Chessic Sense** supplied the answer, but didn’t give any evidence. I’m curious how he (she?) worked it out. > > (Some of those art pieces are pretty spectacular, too, ranging from rings to coffee tables to altars to entire walls.) That was obviously not the intended answer of the original puzzle. Yes, it fits the format but those things are something that most people should know. Like 100 y in a ff would be 100 yards in a football field. Very clearly there was a typo in the original question or maybe it was something that would have been known to the original group. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loomw-ym-ad-nbr-can-someone-identify-this-poem/827213/38 "2019-01-06T16:04:45Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > Thank you for letting us know. So did the password work when you left out the extra “o”? > > I’m sorry it was under such sad circumstances, but I’m glad I was able to help. I admit it was pretty thrilling to realize that I had the answer. > > This community has been very important to me, and I’m glad I could give something back. It was indeed the extra “o”. And thank you so much. You’re a doper god ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loomw-ym-ad-nbr-can-someone-identify-this-poem/827213/39 "2019-01-06T16:56:29Z")
> [@Zyada](#): > > It was indeed the extra “o”. And thank you so much. You’re very welcome. > [@](#): > > You’re a doper god Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loomw-ym-ad-nbr-can-someone-identify-this-poem/827213/40 "2019-01-06T18:53:24Z")
I’m so glad I didn’t see this thread until it was solved because I wouldn’t have cracked it even given ten years. Well done, **SpoilerVirgin**. Brilliant. And my condolences, **Zyada.** > [@Zeldar](#): > > The key to the post(s) is: > > To lay this puzzle to rest, it’s **14 karats of gold in a Florentine pietra dura** (an art piece made of highly polished and inlaid colored stones). Ah, such a tease. Does it really put it to rest for you, **Zeldar**? For me, it makes as much sense as _fourteen kilos of grass in a Ford parked downtown_. In other words, none at all. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loomw-ym-ad-nbr-can-someone-identify-this-poem/827213.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loomw-ym-ad-nbr-can-someone-identify-this-poem/827213.md?page=3)