Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask Puzzle 011: Backstage Blunder Hints and Answer

Puzzle 011 is Backstage Blunder, a 30-picarat Circle Answer puzzle that Juggles the clown gives you at the City Monument in Chapter 1. Juggles has tripped and scattered his juggling equipment. Everything he carries comes in pairs, but one item's twin has gone missing, and you circle the item that's left on its own. It stands between you and the hotel, so you can't leave it for later. The hints below open one at a time, and the answer stays hidden until you choose to show it.

Video: Backstage Blunder solved. It shows the answer, so skip it if you only want the hints.

This page covers story Puzzle 011 in Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask on Nintendo 3DS, using the North American text, with pictures rebuilt from the game's own art. The UK English version has the same name, the same picture and the same answer, with slightly different wording. If you're after Daily Puzzle 011 or Puzzle 11 from another Layton game, see Wrong Puzzle 011? below.

Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask Puzzle 011 Backstage Blunder: two mice on the backstage rafters on the top screen, and the clown beside juggling blocks, balls, rings and clubs scattered across the floor on the Touch Screen — Illustration of backstage on the top screen and the dropped juggling equipment on the Touch Screen, rebuilt from the game's art.

What Puzzle 011 is

Puzzle 011 at a glance
Name	Backstage Blunder (the same in the US and UK English versions)
Type	Circle Answer (draw a circle on the Touch Screen)
Picarats	30
Location	City Monument, Monte d'Or
Chapter	Chapter 1
When	After Madame Lapushka's, on the way to the hotel
Given by	Juggles the clown
Solved by	Professor Layton
Mandatory?	Yes: it's the only puzzle that opens the way to the hotel (see below)
Hints	Three hints and a Super Hint
Previous / next puzzle	010 The Place to Be! (Madame Lapushka's) / 012 Sharing the Burden (Dromedary Lobby)

The question says the clown is due onstage in a few minutes, but he tripped and dropped his juggling equipment. Everything he was carrying came in pairs, and an item from one of the pairs has gone missing. The objective line at the top of the Touch Screen reads "Circle the lone item!" On the floor you'll see blocks, balls, rings and clubs in several colors.

Juggles or Yukkles?

In the dialogue the clown introduces himself as Juggles, but the UK puzzle text uses the name Yukkles, so the UK question opens with "Oh no! Yukkles is supposed to be on in a few minutes" and asks which item's twin is missing. The North American text just says "this clown". The puzzle name, the picture and the answer are the same in the US and UK English versions.

Puzzle 011 names by language
Version	Puzzle name
English (North America)	Backstage Blunder
English (UK)	Backstage Blunder
Japanese	失くしたものは (Nakushita mono wa, "the thing that went missing")

Wrong Puzzle 011?

Daily Puzzle 011 in Miracle Mask is a different puzzle: Alchemy 02, from The Alchemist's Lair daily set. It has nothing to do with juggling.
Puzzle 011 in another Layton game is a different puzzle. If your Touch Screen doesn't show a clown and scattered juggling equipment, you're in the wrong game.
Puzzle 010, The Place to Be!, is the queue puzzle at Madame Lapushka's just before this one, and Puzzle 012, Sharing the Burden, is the porter puzzle in the hotel lobby just after it.

Where to find Juggles

After the scene at Madame Lapushka's, the next goal is "Head for the Hotel!" Layton says it's time to go to the hotel, and Emmy suggests heading north through the Merchant District. Keep going and you reach the City Monument, a small square with a stone monument on a patch of grass. Juggles is standing on the path to the left of the monument. Talk to him: he's a little sore that Luke announces him as just "a clown", and he offers a puzzle to make up for it.

The City Monument in Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask with Juggles the clown circled in gold on the path left of the monument, and four hint coin spots numbered 1 to 4 — Illustration of the City Monument, rebuilt from the game's art: Juggles on the path, and the four hint coins numbered as in the list below.

The City Monument has four hint coins on this visit, all in the normal view. There's no zoomed-in view here in Chapter 1; a zoom spot only appears much later in the story.

The finger-shaped sign on the left.
The top of the monument.
The door at the back on the right.
The head of the statue on the left.

There's also a collectible here, the Intricate Fishhook, at ground level near the monument. If you don't find it straight away, tap around the grass and bushes by the monument.

How to draw the circle

Draw a closed loop around one item with the stylus. If it's done correctly, a finger icon appears inside the circle, pointing at your answer. If it doesn't appear, draw the circle again. Keep the loop around a single item so the finger points where you mean it to.

Hints, one at a time

These follow the game's own hints, in the same order, with a little more explanation. Open only the next one you need. In the game, Hints 1 to 3 cost one hint coin each and the Super Hint costs two.

Hint 1: check the floor

Count the floor items by shape and color. There are four blocks, six balls, four rings and four clubs, and every one of them has a twin of the same shape and color somewhere on the floor. The game's hint says the same thing, then asks: is there something you've missed?

The juggling equipment on the floor with matching numbered badges on each pair: two pale blocks, two yellow blocks, three pairs of balls, two pairs of rings and two pairs of clubs — Illustration of the floor: nine pairs, and nothing is left over.

Hint 2: what jugglers use

Everything in the puzzle belongs to the clown's juggling act. Juggling usually means balls, but the game points out that skilled jugglers often use other objects too. So don't limit your search to the obvious props.

Hint 3: a wrong assumption

Ask yourself what you've been assuming. The game's hint is that something you keep your equipment in can count as a piece of equipment too.

Super Hint: look away from the floor

You can juggle anything, even the things you keep other things in. The clown "tripped and dropped" his equipment, but that doesn't mean he isn't still holding one piece of it. What is he holding?

Answer and full solution

The answer below names the item and explains why, with a picture of the solved puzzle. Open it when you're ready.

Show the answer

The answer is the box Juggles is holding, the white box with a club symbol on it. It's part of his juggling act too, and its twin is nowhere on the floor. Draw a circle around the box in his hands, check that the finger icon appears and points at it, and submit.

Backstage Blunder solved: an orange circle with the finger icon around the box the clown is holding, and on the top screen the missing twin box up on the rafters with the two mice inside it — Illustration of the answer: the box in his hands, circled. The top screen then shows where the twin went.

Step by step:

Pair up the floor. Two pale blocks and two yellow blocks; teal, purple and orange balls, two of each; two teal-and-yellow rings and two orange rings; two cream clubs and two pink clubs. That's 18 items in nine pairs, with nothing left over.
Read the question again. It says everything he was carrying came in pairs. It doesn't say everything is on the floor.
Look at the clown. He's still holding a white box with a club symbol, and a box can be juggling equipment too. There's no second box anywhere on the floor.
Circle the box and submit. The game answers: "Correct! The clown is only holding one box, which is part of his juggling act too. Where could the other box be...?" The top screen then shows the other box up on the rafters, with the two mice sitting in it.

If your answer keeps failing:

You circled something on the floor. Every floor item has a twin, so the game replies "Too bad. That piece of equipment must have a twin after all."
No finger icon appeared. The circle wasn't accepted. Draw a closed loop around the box in his hands, a little bigger than the box, and check that the finger points at it before you submit.

Picarats, hints and hint coins

Backstage Blunder starts at 30 picarats, and wrong answers can drop it to 23 and then 15. How many misses lead to each drop isn't clear, so it pays to check before you submit. After a wrong answer you can try again.

Hints cost hint coins, not picarats: one coin each for the first three hints and two for the Super Hint, five in total. The four coins at the City Monument cover Hints 1 to 3 but not the Super Hint, so you need one more coin from earlier or you can use the free hints on this page.

Puzzle 010, the hotel and missing it

You'll normally solve Puzzle 010 first. The puzzle itself has no requirement attached, but the scene that sends you toward the City Monument plays after you leave Madame Lapushka's, where Puzzle 010 is, so by story order 010 comes before 011.

Solving Backstage Blunder opens Dromedary Plaza, the way to the hotel, and unlocks the second side story, "Ballooning Out of Proportion". Nothing else opens Dromedary Plaza, so you have to solve this puzzle to carry on with the story. That also means you can't miss it. Juggles may stop standing by the monument once the story reaches Layton's hotel room, but by then you'll have solved his puzzle.

Versions and systems

Nintendo 3DS, 3DS XL, 2DS and New 3DS: no difference. It's a touch-screen puzzle with no motion controls.
US and UK English versions: the same name, picture and answer. The UK puzzle text calls the clown Yukkles and words some lines differently.
Miracle Mask Plus: the Japanese re-release. This puzzle appears to be unchanged.
Other systems: Miracle Mask is a 3DS game. There's no Switch, mobile or PC version as of October 2026.

The scene around the puzzle

Juggles is in the middle of wondering "But why is it always seltzer?" when Luke spots him and calls out, "Look, Professor! A clown!" Juggles finds that a bit rude: "I do have a name, you know. It's Juggles." Layton says Luke meant no disrespect, Luke apologizes, Juggles apologizes right back, and then he offers a puzzle. If you quit, he huffs, "You don't like my puzzle?! Well, I don't think my puzzle likes you, either." Talk to him again and he asks you to accept his puzzle as an apology.

When you solve it, Juggles says he last saw deductive skills like that while earning his "PhD in Clown Theory and Existential Enigma-nomics", and points you to the monument, which Layton says commemorates the founding of Monte d'Or. Layton then says they're headed to the Dromedary. Juggles reckons it's just west of here and invites them to his circus nearby. Talk to him afterwards for one more joke about a nightmare involving normal-sized shoes.

FAQ

Where is the answer to Puzzle 011?

It's in the Answer and full solution section above, hidden until you open it. If you only want a push, open the hints one at a time first.

Where is Puzzle 011?

At the City Monument in Chapter 1. Leave Madame Lapushka's, head north through the Merchant District toward the hotel and talk to Juggles the clown by the monument.

Is the clown called Juggles or Yukkles?

He introduces himself as Juggles, but the UK puzzle text uses the name Yukkles.

Do I need to solve Puzzle 010 first?

In practice, yes. Puzzle 011 has no requirement of its own, but the story only sends you toward the City Monument after Madame Lapushka's, where Puzzle 010 is.

How many picarats is Puzzle 011 worth?

It starts at 30 picarats. Wrong answers can lower that to 23 and then 15.

Is Daily Puzzle 011 the same as Puzzle 011?

No. Daily Puzzle 011 is Alchemy 02, from The Alchemist's Lair. Story Puzzle 011 is Juggles and his dropped equipment.

More Miracle Mask puzzles

For the rest of the game's puzzles, see the Miracle Mask puzzle index.