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Nancy Drew 23: Shadow at the Water's Edge Hints

How do I help fix the broken portrait?

  • 1 of 6: If you check in with Rentaro on the second day, you'll find that he's trying to fix the picture that fell off the wall when you first entered the ryokan. If you offer to help, he'll happily let you.
  • 2 of 6: The object of this game is to drag the little knobs around to untangle all the little strings between them. You're trying to arrange them so that none of the strings crosses any other string, but just goes straight from one knob to another. Read to the end of this hint for a screenshot showing one way to do this.
  • 3 of 6: This may seem like an impossible task at first. No matter which knob you pull on, it seems to be connected to half of the other knobs, all twined around impossibly. But it really is possible, I promise.
  • 4 of 6: For a start, try finding the knobs with the most strings connect to them. When you find one with five or more strings on it, pull it to the outside edge and try rearranging the other knobs so they fall inside this one's strings.
  • 5 of 6: If you don't seem to have enough room for all the knobs, pull one of the ones in the middle off to one side to make more room.
  • 6 of 6: Any way you do this is the right way, but here is the way I did it: (The senior puzzle has more knobs, but it's basically the same puzzle.)