Part 16: The Investigation
[Music: About Town]
Luke and Professor Layton are shocked to see him return to Reinhold Manor on his own.
However, Layton is confident that the Golden Apple and the morning's murder are linked to one another. Finally free to move about, Layton and Luke begin their search for the Golden Apple in earnest.
[Music: Puzzles]
3. The cross has to be oriented diagonally on the board. Now you just need to decide how big to make your cross. Make sure you draw it to include the right number of pins!
The one thing that I think hampers this puzzle a bit is that there's no real way to mess it up. You can submit at any time you think you've got it, sure, but when your objective is something you can easily check just by counting it's harder to get it wrong by default, surely.
Granted, I can't really think of any way to really fix that issue shy of replacing the entire thing with someone else entirely, but it's still kinda weird.
I guess this one kinda suffers from the same issue now that I think about it.
2. Have you ever seen a standard office staple? Well, that's the shape you are looking to cut out here, except it'll be a bit longer in the middle than your standard staple.
3. The board is shaped like a large H. First, cut a staple-shaped piece out of both of the vertical lines that make up the sides of the H. Then, draw a line through the middle of the horizontal line that remains to separate the last two pieces.
It really fits the running theme of all the things Gordon's had thus far at least.
Also, the shape of each of those cut outs is totally just a giant "[" even if the game calls them something else for accessibility reasons.
: I'll be bidding my loneliness goodbye before I know it. 
After seeing how well this one was handled, it makes me interested to see how well other ones would be done too.
Getting a bit ahead of myself though, since the one I'm really interested in isn't for a little while.
Personally, I think the method used in the solution screen here makes it a bit more convoluted than it needs to be. Can't say I'd have noticed that a == b without being told it already, at least.
: But don't go getting any ideas. Do the smart thing and leave the detective work to me. In the meantime, you can occupy yourself by searching for the Golden Apple.
Jeez, it's been a while since we last got one of these.
Like, it's been nothing but furniture for a while.
2. When you feel like you've seen all there is about a case, sometimes upending everything can give you a new view on matters. Have you ever considered upending your DS?
3. Hold your DS upside down and take another look at the note. Do you notice anything about the note now?
As for the actual puzzle itself? I'm sure I could've just posted the bottom screen and it would only be marginally more difficult. By the most infinitesimal of margins, but still.
It's still easy to read if you flip the note, but the "s"'s look a bit weird. I guess that's because they had to clearly be 5s when read upside down and all.
Ah well, let's finish up these few with one that's fairly easy.
2. For the father's age to change from twice the mother's age to 1.5 times the mother's age in one year, both parents would have had to be very young at the time. Very, very young.
3. When the mother was one year old...
Not much to this one, other than trying to get the handwriting to recognise a 4 is still a pain.
[Music: About Town]
With all that done, we can finally go and begin the search for the Golden Apple... is what I'd like to say, but first we have one small order of business to do. Firstly, we need to beeline right to Crouton's Cafe.
Next, we talk to Nick. And only Nick.
I'm doing this right now, because he has not one, not two, not even three but...
Four puzzles. That he gives essentially back to back. Ordinarily, this wouldn't be a big deal and I'd just post them all at once like normal but this is a special exception. Y'see, each one of them is the same concept, it just gets slightly harder as it goes along so posting them all at once would be a bit pointless in that case. As a result, I'm splitting these up so there's one in the next four updates.
[Music: Baron Reinhold]
That done, we can walk back to the manor and talk to Matthew. Let's see if we can start to piece this mystery together.
: Anything you know would be a great help. For example, did the baron say anyting before he passed away?
: I'm so sorry to disappoint you, Professor, but the master never said anything of the sort to me. I'd very much like to help you in your search, but my duties here prevent me from leaving the grounds.
: I beg your pardon, sir... Ingrid?: It's been years since she left, but Ingrid used to work as a servant in the mansion. She was Flora's nurse, and she often helped me with my wor-
: Y...yes, my lady! I'll be right here! Please excuse me, sir, the lady calls. If you're curious about Ingrid, why not pay her a visit and talk to her yourself? 
: Please do me a favour and tell her that I send my regards.: Certainly. I'll be sure to pass on your message. Thank you for all your help, Matthew.
: Isn't Ingrid that sweet old lady we passed by before?
: Off we go then! The village shop is just outside the manor, right? We'll be there in no time.[Music: About Town]
That's very true, and there's nothing even resembling a distraction on the way down here. We could go do like 10+ puzzles right now, but the plot's moving onwards quite nicely so might as well talk to Ingrid while we're here.
: The name's Layton, madam.
: That's right, Mr Layton. What can I do for you, sir?: Earlier, we were talking with the butler at Reinhold Manor, and he mentioned you used to work there. We'd very much like to hear anything you might know about the baron. : Heavens, you want to hear about the baron? I'm afraid the only stories I have are from when I worked at the manor, and that was ages ago.: That would be ideal, madam. Would you mind telling us one?
: The way Master Reinhold and his wife would carry on, they almost seemed to be like children. You'd never seen a man so in love as Master Reinhold was. When she passed away, Flora was all the baron had to remember her by. So he raised that little girl with all the love a child could want. The things he'd bring home for her! Toys from all over the world and teddy bears as big as yourself! He was in high spirits in those days. He really wanted to give her all the affection in the world.: So where has Flora gone?
: She left the mansion well after I stopped working for the Reinholds.
: After all, the baron cared about Flora so much. I can't imagine that he'd allow something like that. You know, you just reminded me.
: The baron's former wife is buried in the garden... Thank you, madam. You've been extremely helpful.: Luke, let's head back to the manor. I have a feeling that the grave might hold the clue we've been looking for.That's not a bad idea, and it is only one screen away so we might as well.
And what luck, someone here who should be able to point us in the right direction!
: Yes, we did. In fact, we were just speaking with her. I mean no disrespect, but she said the grave of the baron's former wife lies on these grounds. Do you have any knowledge of this?: Lady Viola's grave, sir? I was just about to visit it myself.: Would you mind if we came along to take a look?: Not in the slightest. Right this way.[Music: Silence]
[Music: Memories of St. Mystere]
: This is Lady Viola's grave.: Gosh...this place is really nice! It's not creepy at all.: The late baron, rest his soul, told me to keep this place in proper order, and I have tried to do so.
: Back when Flora was just a tiny little thing, Lady Viola used to take her to the park. Some of the flowers in the garden grew from the ones Flora planted here for her mother.
: My thanks, Matthew. I'll be sure to give it a once-over later. Now then, Luke, we'd best head back to Reinhold Manor.[Music: Baron Reinhold]
That sounds like a rather good idea, and we are in the area already.
For whatever reason, though, the entire mansion is spontaneously empty. I'm not going to complain since it means we can just head straight to the back room.
Nothing in here but the diary, so let's see what it has to say.
: I have to admit, he seems to know where everything in the manor is.: There's something about reading someone else's diary that just doesn't seem proper to me. However, the investigation must continue, so...[Music: ???]
: What do you suppose "it" refers to?
: Flora doesn't like the thing at all. I've seen her run away from it on multiple occasions. Recently, she spends more time playing by dear Viola's grave than anywhere else.
: I felt terrible forcing that change on Flora, but I just couldn't bear to see it like that anymore. Viola...there can never be another you. You were my first, my last, and my only.
: I collapsed some days ago and have been bedridden ever since. I feel as if I have failed Flora as a father. I can only hope that when I am gone, the people of the village look after Flora and care for her as I did... : He must've been terribly ill. : It seems I am not long for this world, and the time has come for me to say goodbye to my little Flora.
: It is my most fervent hope that the seeker of the Golden Apple finds it and grants my dearest wish.
: But, Professor, how can we possibly find that person with nothing but this diary to go on?: Ha ha! It's lke I always say, Luke. Any good investigation starts on the street. We'll just have to ask everyone in the village about the matter.: What?! I mean, of course! You're absolutely right, Professor! Let's get to it!: Of course, any good investigation also needs direction.
That's a rather good idea, and it's something we can worry about next time.
[Music: Puzzle No. 004 ~ The Plot Thickens]
For whatever reason, I know that a lot of people seem to dislike these. I'm not entirely sure why, because I absolutely love them.
1. It's not like you have to solve the puzzle in a limited number of moves, so go ahead and check out all the possibilities. Here's a tip: try arranging the pieces in a way that allows for a line of symmetry between them.
This one's incredibly simple, but it's just getting you used to the concept of them for the later ones more than anything.
But, y'know, just the one puzzle isn't very interesting is it? Let's take a look at something else.
Like before, let's head on back to the title screen and look in the bonus section.
This time, however, we're not interested in any of Layton's Challenges. Oh no, we're interested in that option in the top-left where it says Weekly Puzzle.
Ordinarily, that top option where it says "Solve Puzzles" should be grayed out and inaccessible. As you might be able to tell, the Weekly Puzzle is basically a set of bonus DLC puzzles that were released once a week for half a year. Now, thanks to the way DS DLC works all 26 of them are on the game cart already which amounts to this being possible.
Oh and whilst I said 26 above, there's a lot more than 26 in total. Europe has 27, and whilst most of them are same in both the US and European versions there's a few that are different here too.
Being DLC, they naturally don't grant any picarats at all so you have no immediate preconceptions of how hard they may or may not be. They also only have one hint each, rather than the usual three.
1. In the original layout, every match is needed to form the five squares, so the tak of forming one less square while still using all of the matches might seem challenging. However, you can make things easier by focusing on reducing the number of matches that serve as a side for multiple squares.
Though, in spite of this they're usually not too difficult.
1. Some chests may not have the same number of gems. How many gems do you count in a single chest?
1. There's no trick to this one. No, really! All you need to do is count them up.
1. The whole planet is covered with Octopleans, but adding their numbers up won't get you the answer you're after. Perhaps you jumped to conclusions when considering answers for this puzzle.