Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask Puzzle 070: A Perilous Adventure Hints and Answer

Puzzle 070 is A Perilous Adventure, a 30-picarat Circle Answer puzzle at Ledore Mansion Gate in Monte d'Or, during Chapter 5. Esther, who has known Professor Layton since he was a boy, gives it to him. A little purple ant wants to cross a heap of green pencils to reach its red friend, but it can only walk along the tops of the pencils and can't climb from one pencil onto another. Moving just one colored pencil will get it there, and you circle the pencil you'd move. Solving it gives you a new play for your rabbit.

Video: A Perilous Adventure solved. It shows the answer, so skip it if you only want the hints.

This page covers story Puzzle 070 in Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask on Nintendo 3DS (US and UK English), using the North American text. If you're after Daily Puzzle 070 or Puzzle 70 from another Layton game, see Wrong Puzzle 070? below.

Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask Puzzle 070 A Perilous Adventure: on the top, four faces peer down at the viewer, a boy in a brimmed hat with goggles, a girl with red hair and a red bow, a brown-haired child in a white cap and a man with glasses, with small round purple and red ant figures in the corners; below, a heap of green pencils on a sandy background with nine colored pencils among them, a purple ant at a blue arrow on the top left and a red ant beside a red arrow on the right near the bottom — Illustration of the children and the man on the top screen, and the sea of pencils on the touch screen.

What Puzzle 070 is

Puzzle 070 at a glance
Name	A Perilous Adventure
Type	Circle Answer (circle one pencil on the touch screen)
Picarats	30
Location	Ledore Mansion Gate, Monte d'Or
Chapter	Chapter 5
Given by	Esther (Gloria in the UK version)
Solved by	Professor Layton
When it's there	From the start of Chapter 5, when your objective reads "Continue the Investigation!", through "Head to City Hall!", "Go to the Racetrack!", "Speak to the Manager!" and "Ask about the Cart!"; Esther's puzzle is gone once it reads "Go to Meet Henry!"
Reward	A new play for your rabbit: The Naughty Wolf
Previous puzzle number	Puzzle 069, Toppings Up! 2 (Montsarton Gallery)
Next puzzle number	Puzzle 071, Evenly Matched 2 (Reception)

The question reads: "This little purple ant wants to cross a sea of pencils to join its red friend. It always walks on top of the pencils and can only go along each pencil once. It's too small to climb up from one pencil onto another. As the situation is now, the ant will not be able to get from its starting point to its goal at the red arrow. However, by moving just one colored pencil, you can help it reach the goal. Which colored pencil should you move? Circle your answer." The objective bar at the top of the touch screen says "Circle one colored pencil!"

The Puzzle 070 touch screen with labels: Start beside the purple ant and the blue arrow on the top left, and Goal near the red ant and the red arrow on the right near the bottom. Green pencils cross each other all over the board, with light blue, yellow, purple, light orange, blue, black, red and orange pencils among them — Illustration of where the ant starts and where it has to go.

The green pencils are plain pencils and stay where they are. Only the colored pencils count as moves, and you only get to move one of them. The ant can't step up onto a pencil lying on top of the one it's on, so look at which pencils cross over which.

Puzzle names

Puzzle 070 names
Version	Puzzle name
North America	A Perilous Adventure
UK	A Perilous Adventure
Japanese	落ちた鉛筆 (Ochita Enpitsu, "the fallen pencils")

The UK version uses the same name. Its question says the ant can't get to its goal "from its starting point at the blue arrow" and spells it "coloured pencil". A wrong answer in the UK version gets "Well, that was an anty climax." The pencils and the answer are the same in the US and UK English versions.

Wrong Puzzle 070?

Daily Puzzle 070 is Streetlights 07, from the Bewitching Night set.
Puzzle 70 in another Layton game is a different puzzle. If yours isn't about an ant crossing a heap of pencils, you're in the wrong game.

Where you get it

Puzzle 070 comes at the start of Chapter 5. Once your objective reads "Continue the Investigation!", Esther is at Ledore Mansion Gate, on the pavement to the left of the iron gate, below the ivy on the yellow wall. She greets the Professor with "Hershel, my lad! Did you hear the police made an arrest?! They really did it!" When Layton tells her they arrested Alphonse Dalston, she won't have it: "What? Absurd! I've known that boy all his life! That boy can't keep his mouth shut! If he were behind this, we'd all know it!" Then she sighs, "What is happening to this town? All of the chaos, Alphonse arrested, and this puzzle..." and the puzzle starts.

Ledore Mansion Gate in Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask by day: a yellow wall with an iron gate in the middle, ivy on the wall left of the gate, trees behind the wall, a street lamp on the right and a wooden flower planter on the left, with town houses and a tall yellow tower in the distance on the left. A gold ring with the name plate Esther, Puzzle 070 marks a spot on the pavement left of the gate, and four hint coin spots are numbered 1 at the flower planter, 2 at the ivy, 3 at the tree on the far right and 4 at the base of the street lamp — Illustration of Ledore Mansion Gate. The gold ring marks where Esther stands (she isn't drawn here), and the numbers mark the four hint coins in the list below.

Esther stays at Ledore Mansion Gate while your objective reads "Continue the Investigation!", "Head to City Hall!", "Go to the Racetrack!", "Speak to the Manager!" and "Ask about the Cart!", and her puzzle is gone once you're told to "Go to Meet Henry!". The story doesn't need it. If you miss it, it goes to Nanna Grams (known as Elizabeth in the UK version) at the start of Chapter 7.

Ledore Mansion Gate has four hint coins.

The wooden flower planter on the left.
The ivy on the wall left of the gate.
The trees behind the wall on the right.
The base of the street lamp.

Each coin can be collected only once. These are the same four coins as on your Chapter 3 visit for Puzzle 035, so if you tapped them then, there's nothing left to pick up here.

Hints, one at a time

These are the game's own hints, word for word from the North American version and in the same order. 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: Which pencil, and where?

The layout of the pencils is complicated, to say the least.

Don't just think about which colored pencil you could move. Also consider where you would move it to.

Hint 2: What you can move

You can't move any of the plain pencils that make up the sea of green, but you are allowed to move any of the colored pencils.

Look very carefully, and consider your options.

Hint 3: No rules against it

You can pick any colored pencil at all and move it wherever you like. No one can raise any objections, because the puzzle doesn't specify any colored pencils you can't move or any places you can't put them.

Super Hint: Put it together

If you can move whichever colored pencil you like, then you should be able to move the one with the ant on top straight into the bottom-right corner. The ant can then just saunter along to the goal without any hassle.

Which colored pencil should you move if you want to carry the ant along with it?

Answer and full solution

The answer below covers every step, with a picture of where to circle and a picture of the solved puzzle. Open it when you're ready.

Show the answer

Answer: circle the pink pencil the ant is standing on. It's the pencil at the top left, right next to the blue start arrow. Draw a small loop around it on the touch screen, then submit.

Read the rules closely. You can't move the green pencils, but the puzzle never says which colored pencil you may move or where you may put it.
Look at where the ant is, not just the heap. The pencils cross over and under each other everywhere, and the ant can't climb. Instead of hunting for a bridge through the middle, think about the pencil the ant is already on.
Move the ant with the pencil. The ant is standing on the pink pencil. Pick that pencil up and the ant goes with it.
Put it down by the goal. Lay the pink pencil in the bottom-right corner, next to the red arrow, and the ant can walk straight to its friend.
Circle the pink pencil. That's the one you move, so that's your answer.

The Puzzle 070 touch screen with a white loop drawn around the pink pencil at the top left, with the purple ant on it beside the blue arrow, and a dashed gold arrow running from the loop down across the pencils to the bottom-right corner near the red ant — Illustration of where to circle, and where the pencil goes.

The game confirms it: "You're sharp! It's the pink pencil the ant is standing on. If you move it to the bottom-right corner, the ant can walk straight to the goal and be reunited with its friend. So much for that sea of pencils!"

A Perilous Adventure solved: on the top screen, the man in glasses holds up a pink pencil with the purple ant on it while the girl with the red bow, the boy in goggles and the brown-haired child watch, with purple and red ant figures in the corners; on the touch screen, a white loop circles the pink pencil at the top left — Illustration of the top screen after a correct answer, with the pink pencil circled below.

If your answer keeps failing:

You circled a pencil in the middle of the heap. The game wants the pencil the ant is already standing on, the one you can carry it on.
You circled a green pencil. The plain green pencils can't be moved. The wrong-answer text says so too.
You circled the ant or the blue arrow. The answer is a pencil. Draw the loop around the pink pencil itself.

Picarats, hints and hint coins

A Perilous Adventure shows 30 picarats when it starts. The puzzle can award 30, 25 or 20 picarats. Wrong answers may reduce the picarat value. A wrong answer gets "Well, that was anty-climactic... Are you wondering if you can move the ordinary pencils as well? Sadly, you can't!" If you leave the puzzle without solving it, Esther says, "Abandoning a puzzle? I know your parents raised you better than that!" Talk to her again and she says, "The Dalstons did not raise a criminal! They raised a businessman!" before the puzzle starts again.

Hints cost hint coins, not picarats. Hints 1 to 3 cost one hint coin each and the Super Hint costs two, five in total. Ledore Mansion Gate's four coins cover Hints 1 to 3 but not the Super Hint, and only if you didn't already collect them in Chapter 3. Or use the free hints on this page and save your coins.

What it unlocks

Solving it gives you a new play for your rabbit, The Naughty Wolf. The game announces, "You got a new play for your rabbit: "The Naughty Wolf"!" Its description says, "Bunny teaches a naughty wolf an important lesson."

Versions

Nintendo 3DS family: this page covers the 3DS game. You draw the loop around your pencil on the touch screen with the stylus.
US and UK English versions: same name, the same pencils and the same answer in the US and UK English versions. The UK text spells it "coloured" and words a few lines differently, as described under Puzzle names.

The scene around the puzzle

Once the puzzle is solved, Esther still can't believe the news: "I can't imagine Dalston being under suspicion for any of this!" Layton answers, "Some evidence at the scene appears to point to Alphonse. But he isn't the criminal. I'm certain of it." She tells him, "You're such a sensible boy, Hershel," and adds, "Well, if the police won't do their job, we'll have to do it for them! I'll watch out for the real criminal!"

Before the puzzle, Layton is careful: "I agree...essentially. Unfortunately, the police seem quite convinced otherwise." He tells her, "We are currently gathering evidence that will clear Alphonse."

Talk to her again and she says, "That Alphonse has been misunderstood his entire life. Such a pity."

FAQ

Where is the answer to Puzzle 070?

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.

What is Puzzle 070 called?

A Perilous Adventure, in both the North American and UK English versions. In Japanese it's 落ちた鉛筆.

Where is Puzzle 070?

At Ledore Mansion Gate in Monte d'Or, in Chapter 5. Talk to Esther on the pavement to the left of the gate.

Why can't I find Esther's puzzle?

She's there from the start of Chapter 5 until your objective becomes "Go to Meet Henry!". If you've gone past that, the puzzle goes to Nanna Grams at the start of Chapter 7.

Do I have to solve Puzzle 070?

No. The story doesn't need it. Solving it does give you a new rabbit play, The Naughty Wolf.

Are there hint coins at Ledore Mansion Gate?

Four: in the flower planter, on the ivy, in the trees behind the wall on the right and at the base of the street lamp. They're the same coins as in Chapter 3, so they're gone if you collected them then.

How many picarats is Puzzle 070 worth?

It shows 30 picarats when it starts. The puzzle can award 30, 25 or 20 picarats. Wrong answers may reduce the picarat value.

Is Daily Puzzle 070 the same as Puzzle 070?

No. It's a different puzzle, listed under Wrong Puzzle 070?. Story Puzzle 070 is Esther's ant and pencils puzzle.

More Miracle Mask puzzles

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