Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask Puzzle 076: Painstaking Packing Hints and Answer

Puzzle 076 is Painstaking Packing, a 35-picarat Write Answer puzzle on Oasis Street in Monte d'Or, at night during Chapter 5. Aldus gives it to Professor Layton. You have two wooden crates without lids, each 30 cm inside in every direction, and as many boxes as you like that measure 20 cm by 20 cm by 10 cm. You work out the largest number of boxes the two crates can hold at once, with nothing sticking out, and write it in the answer boxes on the touch screen. The story doesn't need it, and it doesn't give a reward.

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

This page covers story Puzzle 076 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 076 or Puzzle 76 from another Layton game, see Wrong Puzzle 076? below.

Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask Puzzle 076 Painstaking Packing: on the top, two open wooden crates without lids standing on a cobbled street with tufts of grass, and in front of them a red box with measurement lines marked 20, 20 and 10; below, three empty answer boxes on a squared pad with a small box above them and a clear button under each — Illustration of the two crates and one of the boxes on the top screen, and the three answer boxes on the touch screen.

What Puzzle 076 is

Puzzle 076 at a glance
Name	Painstaking Packing
Type	Write Answer (write a number)
Picarats	35
Location	Oasis Street, Monte d'Or (at night)
Chapter	Chapter 5
Given by	Aldus
Solved by	Professor Layton
When it's there	From the time your objective reads "Follow the Officer to Carnival Square!" until the end of Chapter 5, as long as it's unsolved
Reward	None
Previous puzzle number	Puzzle 075, Grand Horse Race (Racetrack)
Next puzzle number	Puzzle 077, Mishmash Map (Knickknack Alley)

The question reads: "You have two wooden crates without lids. All the inside dimensions of both crates (length, width, height) are 30 cm. You also have numerous boxes with a length and width of 20 cm and a height of 10 cm. You want to pack as many of these into the crates at once as possible. If you use both crates, what's the maximum number of boxes that you can fit at once? There mustn't be any part of the boxes sticking out of the crates." The objective bar at the top of the touch screen says "How many boxes will fit?"

Reading the picture

The two crates. They're the same size: 30 cm long, 30 cm wide and 30 cm high on the inside. Neither has a lid.
The red box. It shows the size of every box you can pack: 20 cm by 20 cm across the bottom and 10 cm high. Nothing in the question stops you turning a box on its side, as long as no part of it sticks out of the crates.
"At once". The question asks how many boxes the two crates can hold at the same time, not how many you could move in several trips.
The touch screen. There are three answer boxes, one digit per box, with a clear button under each. Write your number, then touch Submit.

Puzzle names

Puzzle 076 names
Version	Puzzle name
North America	Painstaking Packing
UK	Painstaking Packing
Japanese	30センチの箱 (Sanjussenchi no Hako, "the 30-centimeter box")

The name is Painstaking Packing in both English versions. The UK hints word a few things differently: Hint 1 says "straight off" where the US text says "right away", Hint 2 spells out "ten", and the Super Hint has an extra comma. The question and the answer are the same in the US and UK English versions.

Wrong Puzzle 076?

Daily Puzzle 076 is Ducks 01, from the Little Lost Ducklings set.
Puzzle 035, Guess Stars, is an earlier puzzle on the same street, in Chapter 3. If your puzzle is about bottle caps, that's the one.
Puzzle 76 in another Layton game is a different puzzle. If yours isn't about two wooden crates and a pile of boxes, you're in the wrong game.

Where you get it

Later in Chapter 5, night falls on Monte d'Or. Once your objective reads "Follow the Officer to Carnival Square!", Aldus is waiting on Oasis Street, in front of the large covered heap beside the porch of the teal house on the left. Talk to him. He greets Layton and Emmy with "Surprise, double surprise, and treble surprise! We meet again, unexpectedly. But we expected nothing less, no?"

Oasis Street at night: on the left a teal house with a lit window and a porch with a pointed roof over a wooden door with a glowing six-sided window, a wooden barrel, planks and stacked wooden crates by the porch steps; in the middle a stone wall and a large pale covered heap; on the right a yellow wall with dark trees behind it, a street lamp and a bin under a purple sky. A gold ring with the name plate Aldus, Puzzle 076 marks a spot on the pavement in front of the covered heap, and hint coin spots are numbered 1 just below the door's window, 2 at the foot of the barrel, 3 by the bin under the street lamp and 4 on the yellow wall just below the trees — Illustration of Oasis Street at night. The gold ring marks where Aldus stands (he isn't drawn here), and the numbers mark the four hint coins in the list below.

You can skip it; the story doesn't need it. Aldus offers it from "Follow the Officer to Carnival Square!" until the end of Chapter 5, through "Go to the Scorpion Casino!" and "Go to Pumpkin Park!", and he leaves once it's solved. If you leave it unsolved, it goes to Nanna Grams (known as Elizabeth in the UK version) at the start of Chapter 7, so you can still play it there.

Oasis Street has four hint coins, all in the normal view. There's no zoomed-in view here.

Just below the window in the door of the teal house, above the crates stacked in front of it.
At the foot of the wooden barrel by the house.
By the bin under the street lamp on the right.
On the yellow wall at the back, just below the trees.

Each coin can be collected only once, so any you picked up on Oasis Street in earlier chapters won't be there again.

When the answer comes back wrong

"Too bad." The game's message for a wrong answer adds, "There's a trick to this. Try to think outside the box, so to speak."
You divided the volumes. Volume only gives an upper limit. The boxes have to fit as solid blocks, and the gaps they leave count.
Something sticks out. No part of any box may stick out of the crates, so piling boxes above the rim doesn't count.
You can't find Aldus. He's only on Oasis Street at night in Chapter 5, from the time your objective reads "Follow the Officer to Carnival Square!"

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

Let's establish this right away: if you use the crates in the normal way, you can only fit five boxes in each one.

Hint 2

If you can fit five boxes in each crate, the maximum number of boxes should be 10.

There's more to it than that, however. Try to think of other ways you can use the crates. You should find a way to fit more boxes inside.

Hint 3

When you fill up one of these crates, there is always some space left over. Is there some way you could use this space effectively?

Super Hint

When filling the crates separately, you can only fit five boxes in each. However, if you put the two crates together with the open sides facing each other, there is space for an extra two boxes.

How many does that add up to?

Answer and full solution

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

Show the answer

The answer is 12. Put the two crates together with their open sides facing each other, so they make one closed space 30 cm by 30 cm by 60 cm. That space holds three layers of four boxes each.

Step by step:

One crate on its own holds five. Stand four boxes on a 10 cm edge, so each one is 20 cm tall and takes up 20 cm by 10 cm of the floor. Laid out in a pinwheel, they fill the 30 by 30 floor except for a 10 by 10 square in the middle. That leaves 10 cm above them, just enough for one more box lying flat. Two crates used normally hold 10.
The leftover space is the key. In each crate, the gap above the four standing boxes is only 10 cm high, and the square in the middle is too small for a box. Packed separately, that space is wasted.
Join the crates. Turn one crate over onto the other so the open sides face each other. Together they enclose one space, 30 cm by 30 cm and 60 cm tall, and no box can stick out because the crates close it on every side.
Fill it in layers. 60 cm is exactly three layers of 20 cm. Each layer holds the same pinwheel of four boxes standing on edge, so the total is 3 × 4 = 12. That's two more than the 10 you get from the crates used separately.
Write it in. Write 1 and 2 in the first two answer boxes, then touch Submit.

Packing diagram seen from above. Left, under the heading One crate on its own: a 30 by 30 square filled by four red boxes in a pinwheel around a small empty square, labeled 4 boxes standing on edge, and a single red square labeled plus 1 lying flat on top, with the line 4 + 1 = 5 boxes per crate, 10 for two crates used normally. Right, under the heading Crates joined, open sides together: three identical pinwheel layers labeled Layer 1, Layer 2 and Layer 3, 4 boxes each, with the line 60 cm tall: 3 layers × 4 = 12 and No box sticks out of the joined crates — Illustration of each layer seen from above. The small square in the middle of every layer stays empty.

The game confirms it: "You pack some brainpower!" It goes on, "12 boxes will fit. The trick is to put the two crates together with the open sides facing each other. Then you can carry more boxes without any of them sticking out."

Painstaking Packing solved: on the top screen, the two wooden crates lying on their sides with their open sides facing each other, with red and green boxes stacked between them; on the touch screen, 1 and 2 written in the first two answer boxes — Illustration of the solved puzzle with 12 written in.

If your answer keeps failing:

You wrote 10. That's the two crates used separately. The question lets you use both crates together.
You wrote 13 or more. Dividing the volumes suggests there might be room for 13, but the boxes leave gaps that no box can fill, and the game's answer is 12.
You stacked boxes above the rim. Nothing may stick out of the crates, which is why the second crate has to go on top as a lid.

Picarats, hints and hint coins

Painstaking Packing shows 35 picarats when it starts. The puzzle can award 35, 30 or 25 picarats. Wrong answers may reduce the picarat value. If you back out of the puzzle, Aldus says, "My apologies! You were obviously unprepared for a puzzle at this moment." and then "You shall defeat this challenge! I await your next attempt." Talk to him again and he says, "I knew in my heart that you would return to brighten my night." 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. Oasis Street's four coins are one short of that, so you'd need a coin saved from elsewhere to open every hint. Or use the free hints on this page and save your coins.

Does it unlock anything?

No. Solving it doesn't give you an item. You get the picarats, and the puzzle counts toward your total.

Versions

Nintendo 3DS family: this page covers the 3DS game. You write your answer with the stylus on the touch screen.
US and UK English versions: same name, the same question and the same answer. The UK hints word a few things differently, as described under Puzzle names.

The scene around the puzzle

Layton answers Aldus's greeting with "...Yes. Hello, Aldus." Emmy says, "Good evening." Aldus isn't so sure: "Ah, but the evening, she is not so good. Rather than good, this night has an air of... sadness. Do you not smell such air?" He cheers up at once: "But that air of tears lifts a bit now that I have run into you! The deepest part of my heart is now warm."

Layton says, "Then I'm glad we could be of help." Aldus replies, "But you must not leave without a gift from my gratitude! I worked on this puzzle for an entire year. Please take it!" It suits him: the character index says, "He loves wooden boxes and takes one with him everywhere he goes."

When it's solved, Aldus says, "This is the Layton I expect. He of the intellect that slices through a puzzle like a hot comb through a pompadour!" Layton answers, "You're too kind, Aldus." Aldus goes on, "Your humility is endearing but, with me, unnecessary. I know the skilled master that lurks beneath that top hat." and "You have brightened my evening, and I am sure you will brighten my day again!" With an "Adios!" he leaves, and Emmy asks, "Is it too late for me to say that Aldus... kind of weirds me out?"

FAQ

Where is the answer to Puzzle 076?

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 076 called?

Painstaking Packing, in both the North American and UK English versions. In Japanese it's 30センチの箱.

Where is Puzzle 076?

On Oasis Street in Monte d'Or, at night in Chapter 5. Talk to Aldus beside the porch of the teal house on the left once your objective reads "Follow the Officer to Carnival Square!"

Do I have to solve Puzzle 076?

No. The story doesn't need it. If you skip it, it goes to Nanna Grams at the start of Chapter 7. It doesn't give a reward, only its picarats.

How many picarats is Puzzle 076 worth?

It shows 35 picarats when it starts. The puzzle can award 35, 30 or 25 picarats. Wrong answers may reduce the picarat value.

Is Daily Puzzle 076 the same as Puzzle 076?

No. It's a different puzzle, listed under Wrong Puzzle 076?.

More Miracle Mask puzzles

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