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Five - Flowers with One Missing

This puzzle is part of the "Piece de Resistance" series. Go back to Part 1 (Ace) for the story.
Ace Two Three Four Five ...

Removing the silver matter, you see this handwritten text:

To the West is of conquer, of victory,
To the North is for leather laundry.
To the East is a great river, alloy,
To the South is big and tall, ahoy!
I myself am the glorious one who brings in heat,
A four-letter word is what you need!

Hints

usefulness level 0:

This is just another Four Directions puzzle...

usefulness level 1:

All sites in a nation

usefulness level 2:

Above hint: [tag:???ost??]

usefulness level 3:

The oval is 11 meter.

usefulness level 3.5:

Above hint:

usefulness level 4:

Above hint: It's a special type of clue... Enumeration is (5).

usefulness level 5:

BIG giveaway

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  • $\begingroup$ At least I know what the third hint refers to ;) $\endgroup$
    – Mr Pie
    Commented Aug 18, 2019 at 13:07
  • $\begingroup$ Been scratching my head over this one for a while now... Thinking of a particular word in your title in the cryptic clue sense, does this have anything to do with rot13(eviref)? $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Commented Aug 18, 2019 at 21:00
  • $\begingroup$ @Stiv nice catch! and yes, just to be clear $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 19, 2019 at 2:09
  • $\begingroup$ Ok thanks - good to know I'm on the right track... $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Commented Aug 19, 2019 at 5:22

3 Answers 3

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After sussing that we were supposed to interpret the titular 'flowers' as:

A cryptic clue for 'RIVERS' (see my comment on the main question above),

I had gone on to wonder whether the area of interest was indeed:

INDIA, as confirmed by @hexomino via the printer's devilry of Hint 3 (The oval is 11 in diameter), although I had not solved that particular clue. My own flawed reasoning had been based on 'putra' in 'Brahmaputra' (a river in East India) sounding like the alloy 'pewter'.

This logic inadvertently led me to the answer for the missing 'flower' (I myself am the glorious one who brings in heat / A four-letter word is what you need!) being:

TAPI - a river of central India named after the goddess Tapati, the daughter of Surya the sun god and "mother-goddess of the south, the home of the southern sun where she brings the heat to the earth" (source: Wikipedia).

After the OP's hints and prodding (thanks!) I have now worked out that the directions might not strictly indicate the part of the country they are located in but rather their position in relation to the solution.

So WEST (To the West is of conquer, of victory,) is:

Shetrunjaya (a river west of the Tapi), whose name literally means 'victorious; one who overcomes enemies'.

NORTH (To the North is for leather laundry) is:

Chambal (a river north of the Tapi) since its ancient name was Charmanvati, meaning 'the river on whose banks leather is dried' (Source: Wikipedia).

EAST (To the East is a great river, alloy) is:

Mahanadi (a river east of the Tapi) since its name is a compound ('alloy') of two Sanskrit words: maha meaning "great", and nadi meaning "river".

SOUTH (To the South is big and tall, ahoy!) is:

Bhima (a river south of the Tapi) since its name in Sanskrit literally means 'big' or 'tall' (Source: Wikipedia).

And thus the riddle is (definitely!) complete!

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  • $\begingroup$ well... you got the middle one, but none of those on the sides... get them all and the check will be yours! $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 22, 2019 at 1:45
  • $\begingroup$ what sort of hint do you want? $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 25, 2019 at 16:03
  • $\begingroup$ @OmegaKrypton Hmmm, let's see... In each case, are the clues standard cryptic crossword style for the whole word, or only partially? $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Commented Aug 25, 2019 at 16:36
  • $\begingroup$ nope, only the title is cryptic, others work like a riddle $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 26, 2019 at 11:40
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ ok, so here's a new hint that would hopefully give you the final push needed ;) @Stiv $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 27, 2019 at 5:09
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I'm not certain about all of the flowers but I think the answer is

Ravi

To the West is of conquer, of victory,

Jhelum River known to the Greeks as Hydaspes.

To the North is for leather laundry.

Ganges River, not certain on this one but is seen as a holy river by Hindus in which they wash themselves and their cows.

To the East is a great river, alloy,

Feni River which is also an alloy

To the South is big and tall, ahoy!

Narmada River (sounds like Armada)

I myself am the glorious one who brings in heat,
A four-letter word is what you need!

Ravi River - ravi (रवि) is the Hindi word for sun.

Hint 3

This is a printer's devilry clue for INDIA.

The oval is 11 in diameter

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  • $\begingroup$ yep, for only the country but none of the clues... so eerie how the clues are so persuasive... $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 21, 2019 at 14:35
  • $\begingroup$ @OmegaKrypton Really? Not even for the alloy? $\endgroup$
    – hexomino
    Commented Aug 21, 2019 at 15:10
  • $\begingroup$ sorry but no... $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 21, 2019 at 15:11
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Partial: The second hint is for the

acrostic tag

which, when applied to hint 1 gives the word:

Asian. So the sites these describe are all in Asia.

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  • $\begingroup$ yep! all right so far $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 18, 2019 at 14:59

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