Part 14: Ramon

[Music: Puzzles]



3. Let's rethink this from the first step. Five cats can catch five mice in five minutes. So, in 10 minutes, they can catch 10 mice. In 20 minutes, they can catch 20 mice. How many cats are doing the catching?

Like many others, there's a bit of a trap in this puzzle for if you're not paying too much attention. I'm sure you spotted it quite quickly, though, as this answer is...








I'm sure if it could, it'd throw even more pieces of Gizmo at us. As it stands, that's not possible so it gives us something else instead. Still don't have even half of these yet though.



On prompting from someone being surprised by this puzzle being the same in both versions, I went and checked just to make double-sure. It is identical whether you're playing the European or US version.



I guess I never gave it much thought, but that might be because I never really found it odd or even difficult.








: I heard there's a man-eating monster in the tower, and that's why everyone stays away. I'm not silly enough to think there's actually a monster inside, but the place is dangerous. So be careful in there, mister!



This is far from immediately obvious for once, and you might think I should give it to Layton. It's actually relatively difficult to explain why this could be considered right just now so roll with it for the time being.



Ah well, at least this one's quite easy even if you can't be bothered to think it through the way you're "expected" to.



2. The rules are actually helpful hints. You have to land exactly on a goal square...
3. Find the squares that you can move form to land exactly on a goal square.

There's a few ways to get to a conclusion here, but the easiest of which is to just work backwards from the ending and see if you can actually get a finish. Looks like B's doable like that, so...






Of course, when showing the answer, the game has to pick the most convoluted route possible. A much simpler one was mentioned; go right 2 squares, go right 2 squares again, go left 3 squares, go right 2 squares and then right again twice. It's not like it's any different from how they have those two vertical lines cross the same squares, so that's not much of an excuse.



Yeah... like I said last time, when I got to this and saw the puzzle I just sat there confused by what it wanted from me.



2. How many cards do you have there? Ten, right? That's a bigger hint than you think. Look closely at which card is blank.
3. As odd as it may seem, all the knowledge you need to solve this puzzle you probably had from the day you stepped into first grade. It's safe to say that it's one of the first things you ever learned.

When you realise the pattern, it's not that tough but it's far from clear.








: If you're looking for the cafe, it's right there. But it's way past that kid's bedtime, y'know! Way past! Besides, the tower could start making noise again at any time. Trust me on this one, Professor. Get back to the inn, yeah? Yeah! Back to the inn.



As tempting as that sounds, we can't advance the plot by backtracking so no can do. We will, however, gladly take the furniture you have in your personal bag of holding any time you want.



Inside the cafe, there's a pair of incredibly easy puzzles. They're about equal in terms of difficulty...



3. You don't need to change the positions of the actual cups. You can achieve the same goal by just moving the liquid from one cup to another. If you are just moving liquid, how many cups do you need to pick up to complete the puzzle?

But I think this one might be slightly harder on account of not being a 50-50 shot if you have no idea what it's asking, somehow.








Fortunately, there's another one in this very room!



It's a complete joke, but it's here all the same.



I don't think anyone has ever even come close to getting this wrong but you might get confused and judge them on the way they look or something?








On top of the painting scrap, he gives a minor explanation of Granny Riddleton. It's like the third time we'll have seen it mentioned so I'll just skip over it. I'm sure you won't mind.



Now this is one of two that didn't get a majority, but the only one that got an even split of the votes.



Half the people who voted thought B was the liar, and it is...




Hmm, so B wasn't lying. It sounded like it could have been right when explained but no such luck.



3. Here's a big hint for you. Not one, but two uncouth individuals took part in the consumption of your fish. Think about who those two have to be. Now that you know the truth behind what happened, look at the three brothers' statements again and see whose testimony doesn't fall in line with what you know to be true. There's your answer.

C got the other half of the votes, so it seems like there is but one conclusion for this...








: And here I thought that you were just another well-dressed city slicker. Hmph, you showed me! Well, I believe one good turn deserves another, so why not let me take a look at your fortune.



Umm... thanks? Kinda creepy how you keep trying to put me off whatever I'm doing but I can kinda deal with that. I guess.



Now this one is kinda difficult.



Almost unfairly so, if you don't know where to really look.






Once you know where to look for the behemoth though,it's a lot easier.You can even quite easily see the outline of it without this diagram.



At least it gives you an immediately tangible reward when you figure it out.



This one though? Awful. So, so awful.



The best parts though? That's just quite on point enough to count. Barely.






If I was off in my outline by a few pixels more? Wouldn't have counted. There's very little leeway here, which does not help endear me to it in the slightest. Still it could be worse, right? Oh, it gets worse. It gets much, much worse.



: I'd been thinking up an answer for days now, and you just go and ruin it. Some help you are!



Gained quite a few of these recently. It's a bit odd, but I'm not gonna complain about that at least.



This one though? Way too awkward for my liking.



The one saving grace is that you can just pick them until you get it right. There's a finite number of possibilities which makes it less annoying than it might be otherwise.








That's all of them ones we had on the backlog done. Now we can finally go and make some real progress!

As for the 3 for finishing Gizmo? They're a bit more long-term; I'll keep those three open for a little while longer.

[Music: Baron Reinhold]



: What?! Who? How? I must inform my lady at once! My lady, something terrible has happened!

"Terrible" is a bit of an understand when he makes up, what seems to be, half the staff of this place...

[Music: The Plot Thickens]



: No, we can't be sure of that yet. However, time is of the essence. We must organise a search to locate him posthaste.
: Mr Layton, what's the meaning of all this? Why do you insist on whipping the village into a frenzy?
:The situation has changed recently, Inspector. We saw Ramon being kidnapped in the village.



: We must rally the people of St Mystere and organise a search.
: Mr Layton, last time I looked, this was my case, not yours. It's too late to start looking tonight. We'll organise a search first thing in the morning.
: We've no time to debate whether or not to wake a few sleepy villagers. While we sit here bickering, poor Ramon may already be...

[Music: Silence]



[Music: The Plot Thickens]

: Honestly, Matthew, can't you see that we're busy right now? What is it?



See you in another two weeks!
























: Returned?! But...

[Music: Baron Reinhold]



: Just what is going on here?
: There you have it, Layton. Now will you finally leave the detective work to the detective?
: But we saw it! We saw it happen right before our eyes! Ramon, don't you remember any of this?
: That's enough, Luke.
: But... No, he was...



: Now if you'll excuse us, it's been a very long day, and I do believe we could all use a little rest.
: Hmph. I certainly agree. The last thing I need is some drowsy scholar creating a panic in the village.
: ...Well, good night to you all then.



Before we move on and advance the plot futher we can still speak with Gordon and see what he has to say about all this.



...Not a whole lot, apparently.

: Tell me, Professor, what does an eligible bachelor like myself have to do to find a girl? I had an epiphany the other day. I think the reason I'm alone is because I can't solve this puzzle. Oh, how I've tried to solve it! But no matter how many nights I spend pondering it, the answer eludes me! Please help me, Professor. I don't want to spend the rest of my life talking to my stuffed animals.



Um, no, that's fine. I'm sure you can figure it out yourself in time. We, uh, we'll just be going now...



On the way out, we can stop and talk to Matthew if we wish but he has nothing of interest to say nor any arbitrary puzzles so we'll just skip past him.





: No, I'm certain that it was Ramon. When we saw him, there wasn't the slightest hint of life in him. He may have lost consciousness, but how odd that he should return, healthy as can be, an hour later! Stranger still is the fact that he seems to have no memory of what we saw happen to him.



: Any other village would be in a panic over something like this, but St Mystere... Well... It's peculiar, that's all. There is something very peculiar about this whole village.
: Yes, in most places no one would stand for this. But we've seen that St Mystere is anything but normal.





[Music: About Town]



: Oh, hello there. There was a phone call for you! It was from an Inspector Chel-something or other.
: From Inspector Chelmey?
: He just kept saying that it was urgent and that you should meet him at Reinhold Manor at once.
: He probably wants to talk about what happened yesterday.
: Maybe so. We won't know until we get there, though. Come, Luke.



It's a whole new day, which means more hint coins have popped up in a few places. The inn itself is no exception to this.

Though, there is something I'd like to ask Beatrice at this point. Let's see if it actually comes up or not.



: I made this darling sandwich for my special lunch box, but the silly thing is too big. Can you make it fit?



That's not quite what I was after, though I shouldn't be too surprised.



Nothing else in here right now, so let's head on out to the Reinhold's manor again.



Hey, Stachen's back. Let's see what he's up to this time. He usually has some useful advice at least.



: Believe you me, you'll be buried in all sorts of difficult puzzles before you can shout "Stachenscarfen"! (Insert yet another tutorial about Granny Riddleton here.) Now that you've got the lowdown on the village puzzles, let me throw one your way to keep you sharp.



I might be more inclined to do so if you hadn't just dropped a pointless and unnecessary tutorial on us.



I mean, yeah, I get that it's possible to skip over these if you really wanted to but there's so many of them it's kinda silly.



Can't go left from here, or through the clock tower, for the moment. Might as well see what Deke has to say since we're in the area and all.



: Oh, I've got this puzzle I just can't work out on my own here. Can you lend me your thinking cap?



Oh, if that's all there is right now there's not much point sticking around right now.





Hmm... there's something weird there on the ground. Let's take a look at what it is.



: It looks like a scrap of notepaper. What does it say, Luke?
: Well, let's see here. Ahem...



: I'm no doctor, so I can't think of any way to help her... Oh, what to do... What to do...
: Lady Viola... Oh, this entry must be talking about Baron Reinhold's first wife.
: My heart is heavy as I write these words. The loss of his wife has completely crushed the boss. If only there was something I could do to help... He walks around looking like he's had the wind knocked out of him...
: And that's the end. Gosh, whoever wrote this must have cared an awful lot for the baron and his family.
: Hm...

Well that was certainly interesting. Marco's here already, so maybe he saw who dropped it? Long shot at this point but you never know.



...Okay, I think even I saw it coming at this point.



We'll just skip over it for now, though.



There's nothing in either the shop or the screen with the boat but a new hint coin, so let's just go to the mansion. Nothing else to do at this point.



Huh, Claudia's out and about again. Gotta be something relevant there; let's see just what that is.



...You probably saw that coming already though.



And skipping over it now is purely a very minor technicality.



Since we'll be seeing just what Chelmey's after next time.






[Music: Cold Open ~ Professor Layton's Theme]



At long last, the elusive puzzle #012 makes an appearance!



1. The example shape that the puzzle shows you (Diagram 2) isn't at all indicative of the shape you're looking for. Think about a totally different shape you'd like to try.
2. The paper has a total area of 15 squares. Since you're trying to assemble the rectangle, the only dimensions possible are 3x5 squares or 5x3 squares.

A lot of people don't like these puzzles from what I can gather. I'm not wholly sure on why; I don't mind some of them but they don't come up often. This one, for example, is pretty good in my opinion.



This one? Not so much.



1. Have you thought of turning the sandwich to get a fresh perspective on the puzzle? It may sound slightly ridiculous, but if you do it right, you might be surprised at how everything comes together.
2. You won't have much success solving this puzzle if all you are doing is looking at the image provided. Try rotating the sandwich 90 degrees to the left or right.

I'm really not good at picturing these types of things in my head, so I found this one a bit more difficult than it ought to be.



This one's kinda fun though!



1. First off, pay no mind to the sample path shown on the screen. Here's an additional hint for you. Nowhere within the problem does it say the guard can only enter each room once. It's OK for your path to move back through a previously visited room.

I always like these things where you always think you have it figured out then you notice that it's not quite right and there's a slightly lower/more streamlined solution. Then you get one lower than that...



This one, on the other hand, I don't exactly like.



1. It helps to think about how a chain is formed. To make a chain, you have one ring on each end. Each ring between these two end rings will be connected to two rings. If any of the rings are connected to three or more other rings, there's no way a chain can form.
2. Two rings make up the ends of the chain. Which two rings here look like they could be ends?

I'm sure you can tell why I dislike this one so much already. I don't think it needs spelling out this time.



This one I put in the same category as #056.



1. When solving this puzzle, many people think they have the answer on their first try, only to discover otherwise. Try to walk as much of the road as possible on your way to point B.
2. The area that the boys are walking is a square that's more or less composed of long and short sections of road. After you've charted out your course and think you have the answer, take a quick look to see how much road you left untouched.

Again, I'm sure you can tell why without me repeating myself.



There might be a lot of puzzle types I either dislike or outright hate, but there's plenty I love too. This is firmly in the latter.



1. Use the results of examples 1 and 2 to simplify the relative weight of the groups of cats being weighed. Look closely to find an accurate equivalent.
2. Example 2 shows that two black cats and a white cat equals three red cats. Swap out the red cats for the black and white ones and see what you can figure out now.

What can I say? I'm a sucker for any puzzle that's similar to this. It might not be exactly difficult but it's still fun as hell even at this level.