Nancy Drew 24: The Captive Curse Hints

What should I do with the cuckoo clock?

  • 1 of 13: After you get into the security booth --
  • 2 of 13: -- and get the cameras working again --
  • 3 of 13: -- you'll see Renate doing something with one of the cuckoo clocks. What was she doing? We better go look.
  • 4 of 13: A trip to the gift shop reveals nothing special about any of the clocks, but there is something on the counter below them that wasn't there before.
  • 5 of 13: It's a blue page labeled "Else Castle Finster," and it has a bunch of holes in it with dots next to them. Have you seen something like it in other Nancy Drew games?
  • 6 of 13: It reminds me of an ancient computer punch card, but it's not; it's one of those code pages that you place over a page in a book, and the holes give you a message. You just have to figure out which book.
  • 7 of 13: There's no point in asking Renate about it; she just gets stubborn and refuses to admit she was even in the gift shop. But we don't need her anyway. Does the font on the label look familiar at all?
  • 8 of 13: It's the same font on the book outside Karl's office, the one titled, "A Brief History of Castle Finster." Let's try that one.
  • 9 of 13: Using the blue page on that book gives us the message, "Third clock from left nineteen twenty one." What does that mean?
  • 10 of 13: "Third clock from left" is obvious; it's the cuckoo clock you saw Renate fiddling with. And in that context, "nineteen twenty one" is clearly a time -- 19:21 in military time is 7:21 to us civilians.
  • 11 of 13: So clearly, we need to change the time on that middle clock to 7:21 and see what happens. First, though, you need to get Anja out of the gift shop.
  • 12 of 13: Next, you'll need a special tool to change the time on the clock. In real life, of course, you don't, but in this game, you do. You'll find the tool you need in the locked drawer in the gift shop.
  • 13 of 13: Once you have the key, use it on the middle clock to change the time to 7:21. Voila!