Part 9: The North Side of St Mystere

[Music: About Town]





Same as before, so cliffnotes version.





[Music: Puzzles]

Nothing too complex here. Almost every puzzle here had unanimous agreement in what the solution probably is (except one, with a whole one dissenting opinion... and another that I was just a typo), so I'll skip over that this time.



1. This puzzle might look like a big mess at first, but it's fairly simple when all is said and done. Take E, for example, who says everyone is lying. If she is actually telling the truth, then her statement becomes a lie, and she must be ruled out. Yep, E's a liar for sure.
2. Let's rule out another couple of suspects. If A's statement is true, then three other people should be saying the same thing as A. This is not the case, so A is a liar. If B is telling the truth, two other suspect should say the same thing as B. Once again this is not the case, so B must be lying.
3. So, to sum things up, so far we've proven that A, B, and E are lying. Let's examine the last two suspects. If three people are lying, the other two suspects should have the same statement, but everyone is saying something different. On the other hand, if four of the five suspects are lying...

The obvious thing to this one was that every statement was different, leading to the conclusion of the above. It is, of course...








: You'd do your best to use that brain of yours to find that Golden Apple everyone is abuzz about.



We'll be getting a lot of these this time. To say there's only 22 of them, they're rather front loaded... Eh, probably no real reason for that.





From what I saw, everyone already knew a way to trivialise these kinds of things. It should therefore be apparent that this answer is...






And for anyone who doesn't know the trick to these already, the game taunts you with it. I doubt that applies to anyone reading this, but if so you'll find out before too long.



: Ah, you there, boy! I just had a terrible vision of you running into trouble tonight. So be careful out there, all right?
: Well, that was a welcome piece of news. But don't worry about me, because I don't get scared easily!



I've legitimately lost track of how many of these things we have already. It's... a lot of them, I know that much off hand.





3. One horse runs two laps in one minute, one runs three laps in one minute, and one runs four laps in one minute. Where will the horses be one minute after they start running?



Well, um, embarassingly enough the first time I did this one I didn't quite come to this conclusion immediately. Unlike me, though, you got this...








: All right then, Prof, since you did such a good job, I suppose I'll let you continute your investigation.



If you're surprised by 3 of these in a row, raise your hands.

Anyone?





Thought so.





2. Think carefully. What exactly is the puzzle asking you? That's right, you need to figure out the percentage likelihood that there will be an average of 25 pieces of candy per bag. That's different from simply asking the percentage likelihood that a bag contains 25 pieces of candy, isn't it?
3. This will pretty much give the answer away, but since you paid for a hint, let's break it down, shall we? Ten jars with 50 pieces to a jar means you have 500 pieces of candy in total. If you divide those 500 pieces into 20 bags, you get 25 pieces... Now think about what exactly that number signifies.

Nothing overly complicated here. Just simple division, but it's worded in a way you might not think of that at first.






Do you know 500/20? If yes, congrats you know the answer to this puzzle already. If no, do you know 50/2? Same thing.



Okay this is just getting silly now...



As was pointed out already, this one's just a basic lateral thinking puzzle (alternatively "are you paying enough attention?").



2. Your answer should be the item that, once lit, lets you perform your other tasks. Without lighting this, you won't be able to take care of anything else.
3. This puzzle is devious in its simplicity. Just think about the situation logically and you'll have your answer.

I'm sure since you can tell from that image that, yes, this is a possibility it's a given that it is...








: I don't see anyone minding the shop at the moment. Perhaps we should leave for now.



I... I have no idea where this one comes from. At least with most of the other "random item leading to a puzzle" things there's some strain of logic to the item you may get afterwards. Here, it just sort of implies that we steal a bed from the store.



The candle too, apparently.



3. There are a total of seven sheets of film in this picture. The solution for this problem is a number smaller than seven.

Still hate this one. Don't think that'll ever change.






[Music: About Town]



: If you have time, stop by later. I'm sure to have an utterly fascinating puzzle prepared for you by then.



Let's see, we had 6 puzzles to finish up this time... and got 5 strange gizmos. Jeez, that's kinda ridiculous.

Ah well, that's all that done, so let's see what's inside the House of Puzzles!

[Music: Puzzles]



Nothing overly fancy hidden here. Ah well, let's see what the lady here has to say.



: Well then, sonny, you've come to the right place! Welcome to Granny Riddleton's Puzzle Shack!
: Granny Riddleton? Where can we find this lady?
: Isn't it obvious? She's right in front of you, boy! Tsk, no wonder you have trouble solving puzzles! Yes, you are gazing at the beautiful and clairvoyant Granny Riddleton, guide to the puzzled puzzlers!
: Beautiful and clairvotant? Professor, do you know what she's going on about?
: Fret not, Luke. Why don't you let me do the talking here. Sorry to disturb you, Ms. Riddleton, but by clairvoyant, do you mean to say that you have psychic powers? Can you do things like, say, pick a criminal out of a crowd or visualise the location of lost objects?
: Pshaw! Any fortune-teller can do that. So what if you can see a few days into the future? Big whoop!



: Surely you boys've had a few of those, eh? No need to turn red. It happens to the best of puzzlers. What I do, you see, is I take those poor, lost little puzzles and invite them to come stay with me.
: Wow! So the puzzles that we have forgotten about... Those puzzles are here now?
: Not quite, boy. I'm here to welcome puzzles that have no other place to stay in this village. Ehee hee! It looks like you've finally worked out what makes me so amazing, boy. Now go ahead and give a knock on the door of that little shack behind me. Inside you'll find rows of cute little jars, each one of them with a forgotten puzzle stuffed inside. I bet you can find those forgotten puzzles of yours somewhere in the midst of all my little pretties.

Okay, let's take a quick look. Maybe there's something I've conveniently forgot to mention we could see in here!



Okay, not quite. I'm sure it goes without saying, but this little room will forever remain empty.

[Music: About Town]

Ah well, we have two places we can search for Ramon now; the park or the tower. The park's closer so let's head that way fir-





: Graaah! Oh, I have just HAD it! Would someone PLEASE stop that awful racket?
: What's the matter, sir?
: Who are you calling "sir?!" I'm a young man! Ah, but never mind that! I'm FURIOUS! That sound! That horrible noise! I can't get a wink of sleep at night! Used to be the tower only made a noise every once in a while, but now it's been roaring non-stop!



: Please calm yourself, sir. Do you have any idea what the source of that deafening din is?
: You know, now that you mention it, I don't have the slightest clue about that.






Hmm, interesting. Well, while we're hear let's check in on Crouton before heading to the park.



: We were called to St Mystere to locate the Golden Apple. We came all the way from London! But we keep getting sidetracked by unrelated matters! We haven't made any progress in our investigation!
: Sorry to hear things aren't going smoothly. Well, you like puzzles, don't you? You'll fit right in here! I'm breaking a sweat here trying to keep things together! Would you mind helping me out with a problem? I have some milk I need to divvy up, but my measuring cup seems to have grown legs and walked away. Do you have any ideas how I might get myself out of this little pickle?



Maybe wait for it to walk back? It's an idea.



But, if we do, hypothetically, do this puzzle now and talk to Crouton again...



: Franco is a thick-skinned guy, but that bridge is his life. I've never seen him so down in the dumps.

That's all we're geting here, though, so let's head back to the park (also known as "that where we finally got Claudia"). Maybe lightning will strike twice after all.



Or, maybe not. Guess we're not getting anywhere here.

And, yeah, I've been skipping over these types of dialogue boxes since you get them whenever you examine arbitrary things, ad infinitum at that, and they'd just slow things down trying to bother with them all. The vast majority of them aren't particularly interesting, so you're not really missing anything of value if you ignore them.

Since we're not gonna get anything here, after all, we might as well head on back to Deke and see if we can get him to move.



: If you wanna pass through here, you need to have solved at least 12 puzzles first. But it looks like you've already done that! Hmm. Well, I guess I just lied to you then. If you reall want to pass through here, you're also going to have to solve one more puzzle.

I have no idea if it's even possible to get this far without doing 12. There's plenty more you can net, since we've got 36 done already, so it's not that hard to do anyway.



And, yeah, I went and did this so as to actually get some progress done in this update. Like with Agnes' puzzle before, it'll be with all the others at the end. Unlike that one, though, we won't be stopping about 5 seconds after this.



: Are you still after that scary cat?
: We are looking for one of the Reinholds' employees now.He's a man by the name of Ramon. You haven't seen him about, have you?
: Ramon, huh? Erm, yeah, I think I might have. Oh gosh, where'd I see him? Maybe you'd be better off asking someone else. Ask Lucy. She's standing under the clock tower.







: I can't wait to see what's in store for us there!



Doesn't look like much, right now does it? But at least there's some new things here we haven't seen before.

Let's start with the cat, because why not.



: Yes, it's an alley cat, and judging by the way he's bullying that poor mouse, a rather mean one at that. Ah, yes. Luke, speaking of mice, have you heard this one before?



Probably but let's do other things before worrying about a puzzle.



Like, say, let's talk to that girl on the right now. She's probably the "Lucy" that Deke mentioned after all.







: Well, I guess it doesn't matter. I'll tell you a little something anyway. If you take a right at the fork in the road up ahead, you'll run right into Ramon's friend, Jarvis. He might know where Ramon went. If you want, you can come back and try my puzzle again after that.

Now let's hit up the obvious hidden puzzle in that doorway on the left.



I'm gonna regret this in about 3 seconds from now.

[Music: Puzzles]



1. This slide puzzle only has eight movable parts, so don't be intimidated. Take your time with it. If you aren't seeing much progress, try something new with each move. Don't get stuck moving pieces in the same pattern again and again.
2. Have you noticed that a few of the pieces look very similar to some others? Focus your attention on those.
3. If you are still having trouble, start by moving the piece in the upper-left corner out of its starting location. You can't finish the puzzle without doing so.

Yeah, I'm gonna say straight up right now: you saw how bad I am at even the easiest ones of these sliding block things in the previous update.



So, to save time and effort I looked up the quickest way to solve this one.






...It still took 25 moves. Were I to actually try it myself, the video'd probably be ~3-4 minutes long(er than it is). You're welcome.

[Music: About Town]



Let's head on up now. See if we can find Jarvis to find Ramon!



Jeez, Agnes moved quite quick to beat us here. Ah well, let's talk to the man on the left first since he's also new!



: Yes, it's just as I suspected. I can tell from here, sir. You have something you want to ask me, no? Don't even try to hide it, sir. It's in your eyes. And ask you may, after you solve this puzzle for me.



Nah, that's fine. We've already got one lead to work with; if it dries up, we'll come back to see what you've got.



Oh, and we've got Agnes to speak to as well so I suppose we should do that too.



: I recommend solving my puzzle if you want to avoid this terrible, potentially gory, fate.



Oh, that's all? Eh, we'll be fine. I don't really believe in "luck" all that much anyway. It's just accuracy and evasion in a neat and tidy package, after all.



: That's very brave of you.

Well, we could head to the right here and find Jarvis immediately... or we could head to the left and see what's that way first.



Oh, by the way, there is a hidden puzzle here I didn't mark: see if you can find it!

Before that though, let's talk to the guy here to see what he has to say.



: I'd like your expert opinion on this puzzle. It won't take but a minute.



Oh, that's all? Never mind.



Okay, so that hidden puzzle?



Now, I don't know about anyone else who played but this one right here? This was the final puzzle I found my first time through. If you figured out it was there, rather than in one of the more obvious areas, without knowing about it in advance then I'm much more impressed by THAT than anything else so far.



But, y'know, we can just go right from here to see where Jarvis is meant to be. Let's do that instead.





: Case in point: I haven't seen Ramon since yesterday. Is that rascal missing or something? I dunno why people are vanishing, but recently they just vanish. You can't walk the streets alone!
: Really! Could you please elaborate a bit on what you know of these mysterious disappearances?
: Nope, can't say I know the particulars of the subject.



: I'm sorry, I...I really don't, uh, remember much about it. You'd probably have better luck talking with Zappone 'bout stuff like this. I hear he's in the know 'bout pretty much everything.
: Zappone, you say? Where might we find this person?
: What? You mean you didn't bump into him on the way here? He's the slouching man with the fancy little mustache. You'll know him when you see him!

: Wow, it really is hard to get a lead on this case.
: The day is far from over, Luke. Let's see what else we can find out by asking around.










[Music: St Mystere]



Slightly harder version of the one we were given before.



Best method takes only 9 moves; try and shoot for that if possible. If not, don't worry about it. A working method is a working method.

1. You can use the same strategy you used for the juice puzzle on this puzzle. Simply shifting some milk over to one of the smaller pitchers won't get you the five litres you need. Pay attention to what remains when you pour some milk into the smallest pitcher.



As you probably noticed already, this is the one Deke posited as a plot block. Not much else to say 'bout it really.



1. Look at the different dice shown. Now look up from your game and think for a moment. Can you think of anything in your environment that shares a strong connection to numbers? It's something just about everyone sees on a daily basis.
2. The first hint states that the dice share a connection with an item in your environment that most people see on a daily basis. However, this item has come to take a completely different shape recently. The newer version of this mystery item shares no connections with this puzzle.



I don't imagine you'll have any trouble with this one. I've been proven wrong on that before already though, so who knows!



1. You may be thinking there's going to be a lot of bothersome calculation involved in solving this puzzle, but you don't need to do anything complicated to find the answer. Read the problem over carefully.



Geez, this one took me an embarassingly long time when I first tried it...



1. Let's see if we can't pare this puzzle down a bit. When you take two years away from the brother's age and add them to the big sister's, she becomes twice his age. Additionally, when you take three years away from the brother and give them to the sister, she becomes three times older than he is.



Well, uh, according to my recording of this update I appeared to have sat there for a couple of minutes trying to solve this one again. Guess that makes it the first one I just flatout forgot.



1. You need to visit each island exactly one time, but that doesn't mean that you have to cross every bridge to do so.
2. Try setting out from the start point and just proceeding on your merry way. If you come across an island you simply can't get to, you may have just stumbled upon your answer.



Given how #1 was in the previous set and done without issue, I expect this one to be done effortlessly.



1. Each picture should be composed of lines that meet at different points. With these pictures, if you find a single line that runs out beyond the others, you know you have to start your drawing there. Try tracing the answer out yourself.
2. Some points may be the convergence point for several lines. You need to think hard about which line to take in and out of the point in order to make the sketches work. If your pen is entering a point formed by an even number of lines, you will always be able to leave the point via another line.
3. Using Hints One and Two, it's actually quite easy to draw these shapes out yourself. Make sure that you start drawing the shape from a point that touches an odd number of lines. Don't forget, one is also an odd number.



Considering this is a similar premise to one we've seen already, it shouldn't be too tough.



1. It sounds convoluted, but look again at what's been presented. "I'm as old as your age, plus half of my age." This means that if you take away half of the father's age, you'll have the age of the son. As you already know, the son is 22.



Remember: this one was the last one I found. Not really worth doing that late.



1. Take another look at the picture. When this big cube is divided, which of the small cubes do you think will have one side painted? At the very least, the corner boxes won't fall into this category. Every corner box has three painted sides.
2. As stated in the previous hint, all the corner pieces of the big cube have three painted sides. Additionally, with the exception of corner boxes, all the small cubes that touch another face of the big cube have two painted sides.