Get quick and convenient access to just the hints you need for Nancy Drew 23: Shadow at the Water's Edge, without staying on our website. Just download a free trial
version of our UHS Reader software and
a copy of these hints. You will get the
same gradual hints you see here -- unlike ordinary cheats or a
walkthrough that can spoil your game.
You can also buy the full version of the UHS Reader
for Windows or macOS. For just $14.95, you get full access to hints for
hundreds of games and 1 year of free updates. You can also search, decode, or print an entire
game's worth of hints at once.
Ask the Author
If you have questions about a puzzle that aren't answered
anywhere in these hints,
you may contact the author.
Nancy Drew 23: Shadow at the Water's Edge Hints
How do I get out of this locked room?
1 of 14: The first time you try to get into Room 33 --
2 of 14: -- when you reach Room 35, you'll suddenly find yourself unable to get out and surrounded by spooky noises. The danger isn't readily apparent, but if you don't get out pretty soon, you'll find yourself resorting to Second Chance.
3 of 14: The door to the hall is locked, and so are the sliding doors to the side rooms. The only other way out is the balcony door.
4 of 14: But the lock on the balcony door has been deactivated, and you need to reactivate it in order to get out. Read to the end of this hint for a screenshot showing exactly how to do this.
5 of 14: Nancy says something about it being a mirror image, but that's misleading. It's actually six mirror images.
6 of 14: That is, it's like a kaleidoscope image. If you think of the round design like a pie and divide it into six pieces, you'll see that each piece of the pie is exactly like every other piece.
7 of 14: So the way to solve this puzzle is to make each piece of the pie look like the others. To do this, look at the chunks that still have color in them, and then make the same chunks in the other pieces the same color.
8 of 14: For instance, there's one red chunk at the very center of the circle. Every other piece has the same shape of chunk, so they should all be red. Click on the red button on the right, then click on each of those other chunks. The center of the circle is now red. See how this works?
9 of 14: There is at least one sample of each chunk in the puzzle that's colored in so you know what color that chunk should be, though you may have to search a bit to find it.
10 of 14: The easiest way I've found to solve this puzzle is to start from the center and move out. Once you have all the red chunks at the center in place, you can then put in the green chunks that are next to the red. Then it's real obvious where the purple chunks next to the green ones go.
11 of 14: The empty chunks look pretty confusing at first, but the more colors you put in, the easier it is to see the patterns. If you put the wrong color in a chunk, you can either change to the right color and put it on top, or you can push the black button at the bottom and click on the chunk to black it out again.
12 of 14: The puzzle is timed; you have five minutes to fill it all in, after which Nancy will meet an untimely end. It doesn't seem like a lot of time, and it may not be enough, but don't panic; just use Second Chance to start over. It's a lot easier the second time around (she said from experience).
13 of 14: If you get all the chunks filled in correctly, the lock will open automatically and Nancy can finally get out. If you have the whole puzzle filled in and the lock isn't opening, you've got at least one color wrong. One quick way to find a mistake is to look for two chunks of the same color touching. The only place that happens is in the center, so if you see two reds next to each other somewhere else, one of them is wrong.
14 of 14: In case you're still having trouble with this puzzle, here's how the circle should look when you're done:
