Part 15: The Morning Summons

[Music: About Town]





Luke and Professor Layton are shocked to see him return to Reinhold Manor on his own.

Speaking of Reinhold Manor, that's exactly where we're headed. After wrapping up a few remaining loose ends, of course.



[Music: Puzzles]



3. Look for a piece that can help you complete a rectangle that's five squares tall. Now that you know the height of your rectangle, you should be able to narrow down your options a little.

The first time I did this puzzle, it took an embarassingly long time to finish.






I, uh, I got a lot better at these types of puzzles rather quickly though.





3. This solution is startlingly simple. Rotate the sandwich 90 degrees and cut it. The sections fit together perfectly, like puzzle pieces.

This is sort of similar, I guess, though it does require being able to mentally picture what it could look like.






I also spent quite a long time on this one originally. Yes, I adamantly refused to get hints for quite a while why do you ask?





It was worth it in the end, though. Nice to get a tangible reward for a room at the inn from the... proprietor of the... inn.

Moving on!



I had an awful lot of fun reading the posts trying to work this one out since for once it wasn't quite so clear what answer had actually won.



2. Has the layout of the rooms and the sample path shown made you feel like all your turns need to be 90 degrees? This puzzle wants you to find the solution with the fewest number of turns. This means that movement will always be in a straight line, but the angle of any given turn is up to you.
3. There's no reason the guard should have to enter the exhibit at an angle parallel to the room. Consider a path that starts with the guard entering from a 45-degree angle. Don't forget, you can move through the same room twice.

After checking, and double checking, every proposed solution 2 narrowly beat anything else (by one, even!) and it is...






Incidentally, as was pointed out if you do only turn at right angles then entering at the same angle as the arrow the example path is best solution. I think that might have been intentional, though.



: No, no, no need to thank me. Anyhoo, be seeing you 'round!





3. Two rings make up the ends of the chains. If you study the picture closely, you can see that the F ring is only connected to one other ring, the E ring. Meanwhile, the other end ring is the A ring. So, which ring should you cut?

Anyway, as for this one I usually get it wrong once because the layout for the puzzle is cluttered a bit and it's easy to overlook some things like how certain rings aren't even connected.






At least the game is kind enough to finally tell you these things. After you finally get it right. It's a retroactive kind of nice.



: Let me tell you something odd. And by odd, I really mean terrifying. The thing is that I've actually seen that old man with the big sack coming out of that tower up north. I bet you anything you like that he's the one behind all these disappearances. I wonder what he does up there. Wait, no, I don't even want to THINK about it. It's just too scary...



And this is why we also gave Luke the bookcase a while ago. They seem like they should go to Layton, but just trust me on that.



Appropriately enough, I liked reading the ideas relating to this puzzle too.



3. Starting out from point A, head as far to the left as possible. When you reach the left border, start heading south. The longest path you can draw will form an S-shaped line through the middle of the town.

From what I saw, no one particular suggestion had more votes than any others so rather than go through them all with most of them being clearly wrong let's just skip to the one that is...






I did like the use of turning the whole scenario into a math puzzle to determine the longest path. Can't say I'd ever thought of it like that before, though it worked in the end so there's that.



: Yep, you're a real piece o' work, Prof. You know that? 'Course you do. You're a scholar after all!





Lastly, we have a rather simple one to close things out but one that's quite fun to quickly work through anyway.



3. Example 1 shows you that five black cats equal the weight of four white cats. If you substitute the four white cats on the right side of the scale for black cats, you end up with six black cats. Put that together with what you learned from Hint Two, and you're very close to the answer.

I mean, yeah, you can try and somehow work it out by giving them weights in proportion to each other but that's silly when you can use the given info to turn it two things that make it quite clear.






I think it's safe to say that it's kind of impossible for something to have a negative weight value so that makes it pretty obvious.



Now with all that done, we can actually enter the manor and walk past the hallway (nothing in it but a single hint coin)...

[Music: Silence]





[Music: Baron Reinhold]

: I... I'm so sorry, sir.



: Oh, yes! But of course!

: Ah, Layton, there you are.
: You requested our presence, Inspector Chelmey?
: My sources tell me you've been out snooping about and interfernig in my case. Just what are you up to?
: It certainly wasn't my intention to interfere in your case. However, a few things don't make sense.



Just a reminder that this is originally what we were meant to be doing. And we haven't started it yet. Layton is quite bad at that not-a-detective thing.

: Don't you worry your pretty little head about it. I'll find Simon's killer, of that you can be sure.
: Hmm.
: Now, unless you have something else to say, I've got work to do here.
: Understood. Good day, sir.



: Mmm. What do you say we ask Ramon about yesterday, Luke?

That does sound like a good idea, but you know what sounds like a better one?



Turning around and going right back upstairs. There's people to talk to after all! Let's start with Gordon and just go along the line left-to-right.



: As a man of the world, you know there's nothing women find more alluring than...competence. I'm counting on you, sir! Don't doom to me to an eternal bachelorhood!



I'd say he's just being overly-melodramatic, but I legitimately wouldn't be surprised if being able to solve puzzles was the Layton-universes version of asking someone on a date. So, yeah, not helping there.



But, of course, if we were to solve it now and then talk to him again we'd get...



: I'll spend my golden years alone, with only the smell of cats and boiled sweets to keep me company. I beseech you, Professor, help me solve this puzzle.



Y'know that mental image is kinda funny, because I half-expected that to be the case already. Especially after it was pointed out what the flower on his lapel is.



Honestly, yes, because that'd be kinda hilarious.

But more important, there's actually relevant people to talk to.



: I have a puzzle here that even I was momentarily troubled by. Let's see how you fare against it.



If it's really that hard, I think I'll pass and instead see if Dahlia has something to say that's relevant.





: Please, madam, ask away. I'm happy to come to your aid in any way I can.
: Thank you, Professor. Could you solve this puzzle for me? Though I'm not feeling up to the challenge, it won't solve itself.



Oh if that's all, I think it can wait until later. I'm sure given enough time, you can solve it yourself.



Well if that's all, there's nothing much left to do but head on down to the ask Ramon about what happened before.

[Music: About Town]



Conveniently, he's in his usual area by the boat.



: FIt as a fiddle now, Professor. Perhaps even as vivacious as a violin! Ahoo hoo hoo! That awful fatigue from last week seems like it never happened. As you can see, I'm bursting with energy, and my skin is as soft as a baby's. I feel like a teenager again!
: Is that so? That's good to hear.
: He doesn't seem to remember what happened yesterday, does he?

[Music: Silence]



[Music: About Town]

: So, what's our next move?
: We shall respect the inspector's wishes and leave the murder case alone, Luke. It's as Inspector Chelmey said. Solving crime is the police's job.



: That's that intuition of yours talking again, isn't it, Professor?
: First and foremost, we need to find a clue that will bring us closer to the Golden Apple. Perhaps one of Baron Reinhold's relations or close friends can help point us in the right direction.






I think if anyone in this town knew where to even start to look for the Golden Apple they'd have found it by now. It's not exactly a large village.





[Music: Baron Reinhold (High Quality)]



This one's quite tricky, but it's also rather fun to try and work out.



1. The original cross in this problem is composed of 24 pins. The board contains a total of 49 pins. Subtract the 16 pins on the outside and the 17 on the inside and you get 16, the number of pins that will make up your cross.
2. There are only a few ways you can place a 16-pin cross on the board. When you think you're onto something but don't have quite enough space to draw your cross, you should try something a little bit different. Like maybe changing the orientation of your cross...

I think so anyway, and for the first time in a little while it's not one you're in danger of ever overthinking.



This one, on the other hand...



1. This puzzle would be a lot easier if you were allowed to use mirror versions of the shape as well. Since you can't, though, here's a hint to get you started on the right track. Don't start off by dividing the wood into two pieces straight through the middle.

This is one of the cutting style puzzles I dislike. It's not that bad, but it's quite a fair bit trickier than the previous one.



As for this one, do I "love" this one. Remember the tricky maths from way,way back at the start of the game?



1. Lets review the method for finding the area of a right-angled triangle. You simply multiply the lengths of the two sides that make the right angle, and divide by 2. You can use this to solve the puzzle.
2. The only lengths you know for the square shaped estate are 10m and 20m, so it should be easy to work things out. From the corner to the 10m point is half the length of a side of the square. By drawing extra lines from these points, you can easily find the answer.
3. It's difficult to work out the area of the triangle directly, but it's easier to find the areas of the 3 smaller triangles surrounding it. If you find those areas and subtract them form the area of the square, you'll have the area of the large triangle. Although there is an even better way...

They decided to step up their game. Overthinking these things is possible, quite easy to do and whilst it does not help, it is not the only reason they are difficult.



What doesn't help, however, is that the US puzzle is insultingly easy, and yet it's worth the exact same value.



1. Here's a little pearl of gumshoe wisdom. The best way to understand something isn't to study it intently from one perspective. Instead, try to approach the problem from a variety of angles.

I mean, come on. This is not worth anywhere near 40! Maybe you'll disagree, but I just find the juxtaposition here to be very, very silly.



At least we can relax with some more nice age-related puzzles to round out that tangentially related set.



1. You just need to find the difference between the father's age and mother's age. At what ages are the two parents separated by two times the age of the mother? There's only one point where the father's age can change from twice the mother's age to 1.5 times the mother's age after one year.