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In Harry Potter and the Cursed Child there is a riddle. While I can get a lot of it (indeed, a fair amount of it is explained by the characters themselves), I'm less confident about other bits, particularly the last third of the riddle. So, does anybody have a complete breakdown of the riddle?

The first is the fourth, a disappointing mark
You'll find it in parked but not in park.

The second is the less fair of those that walk on two legs.
Grubby, hairy a disease of the egg.
And the third is both a mountain to climb and a route to take.

A turn in the city, a glide through a lake.

(Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - pp.89-90 - Little, Brown - Act One, Scene Nineteen)

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    Actually the easiest way to do it it to use the break command <br> like this. – Valorum Aug 15 '16 at 18:14
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    Yep, 2 spaces at the end of a line to create a line break. (By the way, really good CC questions you've been asking lately!) – Rand al'Thor♦ Aug 15 '16 at 18:14
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    VTC; migrate to Puzzling ;) – Adamant Aug 15 '16 at 19:21
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    For me the bigger riddle is why Hermione left the most dangerous artifact in the whole world protected by riddles that a child could answer. – Valorum Aug 15 '16 at 19:33
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    @TenthJustice - The riddles were only one part. Credit to Dumbledore, he did have stronger protections. – Adamant Aug 15 '16 at 21:19
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De

  • The first is the fourth [letter of the alphabet], a disappointing mark [D for Dreadful]

  • You'll find it in parked but not in park = [Self-explanatory. The letters D and E are not found in the word park]

Men

  • The second is the less fair of those that walk on two legs = Women are known as the fair sex. Men are, by intimation the less fair.

  • Grubby, hairy, a disease of the egg = [Hermione is suggesting that the eggs which result in male births are diseased].

Tors

  • And the third is both a mountain to climb [Another word for a mountain is a 'tor]' and a route to take [as in 'guided tours'].

  • A turn in the city, a glide through a lake = [These just seem to be examples of places on which you could be taken for a guided tour].

DELPHI/HERMIONE (effusively): Men! De-men . . . tors. We need to find a book on dementors. (The bookcase pulls her in.) Albus!

ALBUS/RON: Delphi! What is going on?

SCORPIUS/HARRY: Concentrate, Albus. Do what she said. Find a book on dementors and be very careful.

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    Wow, very clever! I just stared at it. :) – Slytherincess Aug 16 '16 at 3:34
  • @Slytherincess - The final line still eludes me. – Valorum Aug 16 '16 at 6:50
  • @Valorum - Isn't the final line just more on 'tours'? Visit a city or travel across a lake? – ThruGog Aug 16 '16 at 14:29
  • @thrugog - Very possibly. Each of the stanzas were in two-line couplets. I've edited your suggestion in, but I'm not 100% convinced. – Valorum Aug 16 '16 at 14:37
  • Just wow, Richards... – S S Mar 2 '17 at 18:05

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