Joan knew where her next friend worked and exactly where she’d be at this time. She had a great job considering how much she spent on shoes! You decide to head for the courtyard and upon entering the area, you see a giant spider scolding a young child, "You spend too much time on the web." It was her friend Shelob.

"Hi Shelob! How many kids are you looking after now? Hope you’re not too tired after you’re done working here. I’m having a Death Day party tonight!"

Note: This is a long puzzle and might be a great time to order some food/drinks from Courthaus Social. They have huge tables which are perfect for this puzzle.

Click to reveal Hint #1

While it's easy to get distracted and lost in Shelob's web, remember that the goal of this puzzle is to get the nine keywords. Any area that doesn't directly lead to a keyword can be skipped.

Click to reveal Hint #2

Say INSIDER to the staffer to learn the identity of two words connected to words that you already have. You may not request one of the nine keywords. You may also have one word confirmed by the staffer.

Click to reveal Hint #3

At any point you may confirm that you have a keyword by entering into BooKeeper the three blue words followed by the nine-letter keyword (all as one entry). Spaces are not required.

Click to reveal Hint #4

Say ROUGH RIDER to the staffer to learn the identity of two words connected to words that you already have. You may not request one of the nine keywords. You may also have one word confirmed by the staffer.

Your answer will be a nine-letter phrase.

Click to reveal Hint #5

Say HADRON COLLIDER to the staffer to learn the identity of two words connected to words that you already have. You may not request one of the nine keywords. You may also have one word confirmed by the staffer.

To get your final answer, you'll be taking one letter from each keyword, but not all the first letters.

Click to reveal Hint #6

Say ROB SCHNEIDER to the staffer to learn the identity of two words connected to words that you already have. You may not request one of the nine keywords. You may also have one word confirmed by the staffer.

Click to reveal Hint #7

Say HEALTHCARE PROVIDER to the staffer to learn the identity of two words connected to words that you already have. You may not request one of the nine keywords. You may also have one word confirmed by the staffer.

To read your final answer, take the diagonal of your nine keywords. So first letter of first word, second letter of second word, etc.

Click to reveal Hint #8

This is the final hint. Show this hint to the staffer to get any additional help you may need with this puzzle.

Click to reveal the solution to this puzzle

shied away

Joan Marrow laughed out loud as one of the children bumped into her funny bone on its way to hide in the bushes. “Ha ha ha, she’s really got her legs full with all those little ones. I guess she can't come since they keep running off and hiding.”

She left Shelob to tend to the ankle-biters and went in search of her next friend.