Thanks for the praise, Gwel!

It was actually 4 different anagrams that made up one sentence, so it was even harder to come up with. 2 hours was the time I took for the outline of the riddle, yes, but the addition or removal of words to fit the structure of the iambic pentameter, and the research into the historical side of it took a fair bit longer.

No, the anagrams were not accidents, but I did employ them help of a powerful anagram creator to give me some ideas I could link into the story. As for the 'genus Cedrus' one, I started off with an anagram of the answer and went from there.

All of the sundries were really for my own satisfaction and (hopefully) the satisfaction of the people guessing the riddle. You're right, though, that some points which were much less complex in meaning were those that gave fairly direct clues as to the answer. Indeed, the notion of astronomy as 'gazing at stars' or 'seeing the stars' gave a more direct translation of what Vivi wants to do at the beginning, but oddly no-one gave that translation of that bit

I guess it's a testament to how hidden a character Layderce is that you didn't notice his name even by looking at all the Ticketmaster's speech

Anyway, glad you liked it and hope you'll print it out, frame it and show it to your grandchildren one day when they are clamouring for some classic retro-gaming action