Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent/Walkthrough

= Storyline puzzles =

Cracked Crossword
This is the first puzzle in the game. With a jigsaw puzzle, you will need to move pices around - they will lock into position once they are adjacent to the correct piece. Once all pieces are assembled, you can click submit.

For this puzzle, you can use the border to identify the general location of pieces, or construct the red text directly. However, all pieces must be linked to solve the puzzle.

Directions & Detours
After arriving in Scoggins, speak with the man infront of the hotel. He will introduce himself as Bjorn, and give you the second puzzle.

In this map puzzle, you need to place two logs in the correct position. The easiest path is an N-shaped path, created by placing a log above and below the traffic lights. An S-shaped path is also possible, but requires more logs

After solving this puzzle, you need to inspect the fence, then enter the hotel.

Room Key Confusion
The room key is reported to be written in code. However, it is really the word nine with the space between the letters marked in black.

Once you complete the puzzle, continue speaking with Valda to receive a map of the area. Valda will also refer you to Sheriff Bahg at the factory. Once you complete the puzzle, you may also collect pices of gum (to provide additional hints to later puzzles.) These pieces are placed randomly, and regenerate as you complete puzzles.

Wrangling Watchmen
With the map, you can head to the factory. Exhaust all dialog with Sheriff Bahg, one of which provides a puzzle to find when something occurred.

There are four statements:
 * 1) Bernie: "Boom! One hour before the last shift started."
 * 2) Pop: "I get the shortest shift. Three hours."
 * Al: "Only Bernie put in the full eight hours."
 * 1) Iggy: "Worked from six til I was relieved."

The statement from Iggy implies (but doesn't explicitly state) that she was relieved by another guard. As such, she starts at 6AM. Pop can't be the first shift because his was too short, and not the third since Bernie's expression indicates he was on that shift instead. He is therefore from 9PM-12AM. Since Al didn't do 8 hours, he gets 12AM-6AM. This leaves Bernie at 1PM-9PM, and the explosion happening at 8 o'clock.

After completing the puzzle, you will learn a bit more about the accident at the factory. It concerns Issac Davner, who was missing after the explosion. The sheriff will ask to meet with you at Moose Ear Diner.

Find the Fuse
When you reach the Moose Ear Diner, you will need to assist the repairman with the sign.

There are four fuses, one of which is blown. These fuses follow a pattern. If you look at just the right-hand of the fuse, you should see a number inreaseing from 1 up to 4. Select the similar fuse on the bottom that looks like a three (which is the second on the left.)

Security Screw-up
When you speak with the sheriff in the diner, he shows the security photographs. However, they were mixed up.

To put them back in order, look at the footprints. The first image has the footprints stop, the second has them continue. The third has the person turning towards the car, and the fourth has footprints heading to where the car was.

After solving this problem, you are referred to the Ice Cabins (reached via Sasimy Woods) to find Mike Lobb.

Menacing Map
You found Mike Lobb, but he froze to death. He was working on finding a way through the forest before he froze to death.

To solve the map, click on grid segments to rotate them. You will need to make a path from the starting point to the cabin at the bottom-right, while making sure there is no path to any gnome on the map.

Completing this puzzle will award you with a gear.

When you reach the lake, you can speak with Mr. Scruffman. He states he has an alibi at the hotel, which you will head to in order to confirm it.

The Maw of Madness
When you enter the hotel, you need to fix a pipe. However, this pipe is stolen and taken to the back alley.

Speak with Bo, and try to fix his madness. You will need to place five arrows along the path. In order, they are right, left, left, right, left. All five cells must be filled - any blank would fail the puzzle even if it wouldn't normally be required.

After solving the puzzle, you will collect the pipe and another gear piece.

Stovepipe Stumper
You should now be able to fix the stovepipe. Rotate the pieces until there is a path to the chimney and no loose ends within that pipe. Other pipe pieces have no impact on the puzzle.

When the pipe is repaired, you will now need to return to the diner.

Changing Chairs
The diner has a new stack of chairs in the corner with spraypainting. Place the chairs on the left to produce an image.

Note that the image should be right-side up: The mouth should be on the bottom. If it is upside down, there is no credit given for the puzzle. The painting resembles whats found at the lodge.

Window Watcher
Head to the lodge and try to peek through the window. You will be presented with a puzzle to cut all barricades in a single line.

The endpoints need to be at specific positions, by how some barricades are setup. In particular, set the cut starting at the top-left, and just below the middle on the right. This will go through each bar and chain at least once.

When you try peeking, the sheriff approached from behind and escorts you back to the hotel.

Going After Glori
Upon returning to the hotel, you will spot Glori sneaking around. You will need to create a path that travels through all seven footsteps and reaches the destination.

It appears she went to the factory, leaving food outside. However, you get knocked unconscious.

Screw-up in Space
After waking up in a space ship, you need to fix the machinery.

The red wire is connected by taking the long path around the far yellow terminal. Once the connection is made, you can connect the other wire.

A Quorum of Crows
When you wake up in the lodge, you are given a set of three puzzles to solve.

The first one involves crows on a line. Starting with the blue birds at the end of the line, try to find a pattern where the photos overlap, and pack them as possible.

If done correctly, there should be a minimum of five crows.

Grickleback Baffler
The second puzzle involves determining how fish should head into the water. There needs to be exactly 16 of the 21 fish reaching the river.

The fish start at four points, and will split in half each time they reach a fork (or stop if there is an odd number of fish. Of Mifpik Marsh or Abdominal Swamp, one of the two groups swimming through that area will be eaten.

First, the set of three fish must be at the bottom-right corner. They cannot be elsewhere, since they will split.

Next, place the set of eight fish at the top-right. If they were on the left in either position, that group would send four through Abdominal swamp, and it is not posisble to have exactly one additional fish swim there.

Now, you need to get one more fish through Mifpik Marsh. To do this, place the group of four at the top-left. Finish by placing the group of six at the bottom-left. From here, there will always be 16 fish reaching the river.

Perplexed Sock Picker
There are 25 socks of five different types (5 striped, 5 plaid, 5 spotted, 5 argyle, and 5 owls.) This puzzle asks the maximum number of socks to be pulled out of the drawer to guarantee a pair.

With five socks, there is a chance of taking out one of each type. On the sixth sock, it's guaranteed to match one of the previous five. Choose answer C and submit.

With all three puzzles solved, you may start on the gear found at the table.

Tracking Trouble
After a false start on the Locksmithing Learner puzzle, you need to track down whomever stole the gear pieces.

The map is more complex, requiring you to go through all pieces and finishing at the bottom left. The solution is shown in the image tot he right.

Once complete, you will track the gear down to the Ice cabins. Head there and collect the gear.

Frantic Fish
Glora has locked you inside the cabin, forcing you to take an alternate route out. You know that the key is hidden inside one of the fish, and need to figure out which one.

There are four clues:
 * 1) Each fish was swallowed another fish, or the key. (The game doesn't mention this only applies to visible fish.)
 * 2) Including swallowed fish, the red fish is the least numerous.
 * 3) All fishes eat the next smaller fish, except for the tan fish which eats its own kind.
 * 4) The key is on the line with five fish.

For a population count, there are 10 visible fish and 9 swallowed ones. From rule #2, there are four red fish, leaving 15 among the other three (of which there are 5 each.) For a population count, there are four red fish and two visible blue fish. If all the red fish ate a blue fish, there would be a population of 6 bluefish, which would cut into the population of the other fish. Therefore, the key is located in a red fish.

With rule #4, the key is on a line with five fish. This indicates that there are two other visible fish on that line. This leaves the only option, the red fish on the upper-left line.

When you escape, you can get back to the lodge.

Locksmithing Learner
This puzzle is a point of no return. However, any undiscovered puzzles may be completed after the credits.

With the gear, you should now be able to re-assemble it. The large pieces go in the center, and the smaller ones in between the large pieces.

When you complete the puzzle, you should now head to the factory, but there are a few things first.

Snowmobile Snafu
This is a rotating piece puzzle. However, it is easier, since you can use the border to solve the outer 12 squares, and finish the inner 4 squares easily.

Master Locksmith
In this Jigsaw puzzle, get the pieces of the gear into the larger area on the right.

The yellow gear form six of the outer teeth. The larger pieces of the red and blue gears form the middle, and the smaller pieces form six additional teeth.

Barrier Blot-Out
Follow the cable holding the giant eraser. If you followed it correctly, it should be cable 8.

Fire Up the Furnace
In this jigsaw puzzle, the pieces are spread apart. However, they can still be packed.

As with the other jigsaw puzzles, they lock to other adjacent pieces.

Hydraulic Headache
Get all three platforms to the top. The platforms are blocked by obstacles and destroyed by bear traps.

Enter the route Up, Up, Right, Up, Up, Right, Up, Left, Up, Up, Up. Once all three platforms are in place, you can complete the game.

= Optional Puzzles =

Tapeworm Twister
This optional puzzle is obtained from Bo from the Hotel.

The best staring point for the puzzle is at the bottom-right, which has one corner pointing towards the center.

Gnegative Gnomes
This optional puzzle is obtained from Valda from the Hotel, by examining the Gnomes on display.

One of the gnomes appears to be missing, and the only prior material is a negative. Your task is to find the gnome in the negative that is missing from the shelf. With the negative, remember that the red and green colors are reversed, and they are flipped left-to-right.

The answer is the right gnome on upper shelf.

Arm Wrestling Redux
This optional puzzle is located in the alley behind the Hotel. It concerns an arm wresting tournament, where you need to determine the winner. The puzzle doesn't mention that it is a single-elimination tournament, which is required to solve the puzzle.

There are four statements made by the contestants:
 * 1) Outmatched by the "Grizzly Grip"!
 * 2) Pat won fair and square!
 * 3) I pinned Pearl like a new hat!
 * 4) Flo's Grizzly Grip" couldn't whip me!

The two that indicated they were defeated can be excluded, leaving contestants 3 and 4. To solve it, note that the "Grizzly Grip" was both a winning and losing tactic, indicating that it was in for two rounds, but lost on the second. This leaves contestant 4.

Rearranging Rations
Obtained from Glori from the Diner.

With this jigsaw puzzle, the pieces will join when they are adjacent to another piece. While they won't be an exact fit, they will fit onto the plate.

Diners and Dishes
There are four rules:
 * 1) Nobody ordered a meal resembling their spouse
 * 2) One lady ordered a meal resembling the fish-eating man sitting next to her.
 * 3) Only one patron resembles his or her meal.
 * 4) The ham plate should be set down next to the banana split.

Starting with rule #1 and #2, look for the lady that is next to another man other than her spouse. This would be the lady in the back. Give her onion rings, and fish to the man on the right.

Next, follow rule #3 and #4. For the purpose of this puzzle, the fish-like lady and the pig-like lady are not sitting next to each other, as there is no seating connecting them and they are across the table from each other. The Buffalo burger can't be given to the large man on the left, since that doesn't leave enough space for the two adjacent items. Also, the ham can't be placed on the right because the banana split doesn't fit. This leaves the man at the back with the banana split, and the large man with the ham.

Follow rule #1 on the final step. Since the large man on the left resembles a buffalo, his spouse cannot have the burger. Give her the chicken, and place the burger to the remaining person.

The plates from left to right: Chicken, Ham, Banana Split, Onion Rings, Fish, and Buffalo Burger.

Air-Mailing
This is obtained from Steve from the diner (at the back).

You need to determine the weight capacity of the birds - each leg supports a set number of gnomes, and each bird is at the maximum weight.

The blue bird, as shown on the clear right bag, carries 1 gnome per leg. Next, you can tell the capacity of the mallard, which should be 2.

Based on this, you can determine the result is 14.

Contraband Carriers
In this puzzle, you need to setup the loads among the various birds. This puzzle is only available after fixing the pipe in the Hotel.

Hot Hawks
In this version of the puzzle, one of the birds is unused.

Bugs in Boxes


This puzzle is obtained by Daryl and Darrel from the Diner. They are located next to the entrance.

To solve the puzzle, you need to enclose the bugs within boxes, using as few fences as possible. In this layout, the grasshoppers receie 2x3 boxes, the top receive 1x4, and the middle received 2x2.

More Bugs in Boxes
This puzzle is only available after fixing the pipe in the Hotel.

Start by giving the two bugs on the left their own column, and provide a 2x3 box for the ones in the middle. Other boxes should be obvious from here.

Super Bugs in Boxes
Start by giving the smaller bugs their own 1x2 boxes. After this, you can focus on the grasshoppers.

New Employee Error
This puzzle is obtained next to the Hotel.

The employer hired an entire football team that can't stop practicing. To help, you need to draw a path at which they may pass the ball to each other.

This path starts and finishes on the right.

Cut Your Losses
This path starts and finishes on the bottom.