Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask Puzzle 081: King Arthur's Sword Hints and Answer

Puzzle 081 is King Arthur's Sword, a 30-picarat Write Answer puzzle at the One-Ring Circus in Monte d'Or, at night during Chapter 5. Puck gives it to Professor Layton. A young artist wants to turn a window into a stained-glass picture of King Arthur's sword by sticking colored sheets onto it. The sword will be yellow, and no part may be the same color as a part next to it. You work out the smallest number of differently colored sheets she needs, yellow included, 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: King Arthur's Sword solved. It shows the answer, so skip it if you only want the hints.

This page covers story Puzzle 081 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 081 or Puzzle 81 from another Layton game, see Wrong Puzzle 081? below.

Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask Puzzle 081 King Arthur's Sword: on the top, a tall window of pale glass divided by black lead lines, with a yellow sword in the middle; on the left a child in a brown hat with goggles sits holding a sheet of paper, and on the right an elderly woman in a purple hat and a green dress stands with a hand to her chin; below, two empty answer boxes on a squared pad with a small box above them and an eraser button under each — Illustration of the window and the yellow sword on the top screen, and the two answer boxes on the touch screen.

What Puzzle 081 is

Puzzle 081 at a glance
Name	King Arthur's Sword (the same in the US and UK English versions)
Type	Write Answer (write a number)
Picarats	30
Location	One-Ring Circus, outside the circus tent, Monte d'Or (at night)
Chapter	Chapter 5
Given by	Puck
Solved by	Professor Layton
When it's there	From the time your objective reads "Continue the Investigation!" after the talk with Henry, at night in Chapter 5, until the end of Chapter 5, as long as it's unsolved
Required for the story?	No
Reward	None
Previous puzzle number	Puzzle 080, Sharing the Burden 2 (Dromedary Lobby)
Next puzzle number	Puzzle 082, Rainbow Repair (Dalston Mansion)

The question reads: "This artistic young girl wants to make a stained-glass picture based on the legend of King Arthur by sticking bits of colored sheets to the atrium window. The sheets used for the sword are going to be yellow, but she wants to design the rest so that none of the other parts are the same color as any adjacent part. What is the minimum number of differently colored sheets she will need, including the yellow sheet for the sword parts?" The objective bar at the top of the touch screen says "How many colored sheets?"

Reading the picture

The window. Black lead lines split the pale glass into many pieces of different shapes. Some lines curve around the top of the sword, and others fan out toward the edges.
The sword. It's already yellow, from the tip to the round pommel at the bottom. All of its parts use the yellow sheet.
"Adjacent". Pieces that share a lead line are neighbors, and neighbors can't be the same color.
What you count. The question asks for the number of differently colored sheets, and the yellow one counts.
The touch screen. There are two answer boxes, one digit per box, with an eraser button under each. Write your number, then touch Submit. The Memo Function lets you try colors on the window before you answer.

Puzzle names

Puzzle 081 names
Version	Puzzle name
North America	King Arthur's Sword
UK	King Arthur's Sword
Japanese	アーサー王の剣 (Āsā-ō no Ken, "King Arthur's sword")

The name is King Arthur's Sword in both English versions. The UK text words a few things differently: the artist is "this artistic young boy", the spelling is British ("coloured"), and Hint 2 has an extra comma after "Except". The answer is the same in the US and UK English versions.

Wrong Puzzle 081?

Daily Puzzle 081 is Police 01, from The Barking Beat set.
Puzzle 038, Pattern Pending, is Puck's earlier puzzle at the same circus, in Chapter 3. Puzzle 051, Dandy Bears, is also at the One-Ring Circus in Chapter 3.
Puzzle 81 in another Layton game is a different puzzle. If yours isn't about a stained-glass window with a yellow sword, you're in the wrong game.

Where you get it

Night falls on Monte d'Or during Chapter 5. Once your objective reads "Continue the Investigation!" after the talk with Henry, go to the One-Ring Circus. Puck is standing on the path in front of the big blue-and-white tent, by the wooden fence on the right. Talk to him. He calls out, "No one can resist a good festival! Not even you folks! COME ON!"

The One-Ring Circus at night: a big blue-and-white striped tent with a lit doorway in the middle, an arch with a glowing pink and blue neon sign in front of it, two palm trees on the left, a small lit ticket booth with a pointed roof, a smaller red-and-white tent and a wooden fence on the left, and a lit arch with a wooden fence on the right, under a dark sky with rocky cliffs behind. A gold ring with the name plate Puck, Puzzle 081 marks a spot on the path by the right-hand fence, and hint coin spots are numbered 1 on the trunk of the left palm tree, 2 at the foot of the ticket booth, 3 just under the neon sign and 4 on the post of the lit arch on the right — Illustration of the One-Ring Circus at night. The gold ring marks where Puck stands, and the numbers mark the four hint coins in the list below.

You can skip it; the story doesn't need it. Puck offers it from "Continue the Investigation!" until the end of Chapter 5, through "Follow the Officer to Carnival Square!", "Go to the Scorpion Casino!" and "Go to Pumpkin Park!", and he stays at the circus after 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.

The One-Ring Circus has four hint coins, all in the normal view.

On the trunk of the palm tree on the left.
At the foot of the ticket booth, the small lit booth with a pointed roof.
Just under the pink neon sign on the arch in front of the tent.
On the post of the lit arch on the right.

Each coin can be collected only once, so any you picked up at the circus in Chapter 3 won't be there again.

When the answer comes back wrong

"Too bad." The game's message for a wrong answer adds, "Don't be dazzled by the magnificence of that sword!"
Read the question again. Check exactly what it asks you to count, and what it does and doesn't require of the window.
Try it on the window. Open the Memo Function and color the pieces yourself, using as few colors as you can.
You can't find Puck. In Chapter 5 he's only at the circus at night, from the time your objective reads "Continue the Investigation!" after the talk with Henry.

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

Use the Memo Function to try filling in the colors yourself. Use as few colors as you can.

Hint 2

The answer is four colors!

Except that's not quite right. There's a way to go even lower than that.

Hint 3

The puzzle only said you can't have the same colors adjacent to each other.

It didn't say that you have to completely cover the window with colored sheets.

Super Hint

You can make good use of the bare glass.

By including the transparent glass as one of your colors, you can reduce the number of differently colored sheets you'll need by one.

Answer and full solution

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

Show the answer

The answer is 3. The window needs four colors so that no two neighboring pieces match, but the bare glass can be one of them. That leaves three colored sheets: the yellow one for the sword and two more.

Step by step:

Yellow is for the sword. The question keeps the yellow sheet for the sword parts, so the rest of the window gets other colors.
Two more colors aren't enough. Follow the ring of pieces that runs all the way around the sword, from piece to neighboring piece. It has an odd number of pieces, so two colors can't take turns all the way round: somewhere, two neighbors would match. A third color is needed.
Four colors in all. Yellow plus three more covers the whole window with no two neighbors the same. The game says it too: you need four colors.
Bare glass counts. The question never says every piece has to be covered. Leave some pieces bare, and the bare glass works as the fourth color.
Count the sheets. In the game's solved picture the sword is yellow, the other pieces are red or bare glass, and the one piece under the pommel is blue. That's three colored sheets: yellow, red and blue.
Write it in. Write 3 in the first answer box, then touch Submit.

Color key for the finished window: the stained-glass window with a yellow sword, red pieces and pieces of bare pale glass, and one blue piece under the pommel; beside it the heading Four colors, three sheets and a key: Yellow sheet, the sword; Red sheet, takes turns with bare glass; Blue sheet, the piece under the pommel; Bare glass, no sheet at all; then 3 colored sheets + bare glass and No two neighboring pieces match — Illustration of the finished window: three colored sheets, with the bare glass as the fourth color.

The game confirms it: "Correct!" It goes on, "While you need four colors to avoid having any parts with the same color adjacent to each other, you only need to use three differently colored sheets and have the bare parts of the window be the fourth color."

King Arthur's Sword solved: on the top screen, the window with the yellow sword, red and bare glass pieces and a blue piece at the bottom; the child now stands holding a yellow sheet with a sword shape cut out of it, the elderly woman holds red and blue sheets and a pair of scissors, and scraps of colored sheet lie on the floor; on the touch screen, 3 written in the first answer box — Illustration of the solved puzzle with 3 written in.

If your answer keeps failing:

You wrote 4. That's the number of colors the window needs, not the number of sheets. One of the four colors can be bare glass.
You wrote 2. The question counts the yellow sheet for the sword, so add it in.

Picarats, hints and hint coins

King Arthur's Sword shows 30 picarats when it starts. The puzzle can award 30, 25 or 20 picarats. Wrong answers may reduce the picarat value. If you back out of the puzzle, Puck shouts, "WHY DO YOU HATE ART?!" Talk to him again and he says, "Unlike me, you don't make a living in color, tint, and hue. You wouldn't understand..." 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. The One-Ring Circus has four coins, 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 and the same answer. The UK text words a few things differently, as described under Puzzle names.

The scene around the puzzle

Layton isn't sure about the young-looking stallholder: "Should someone your age be working without your parents present?" Puck snaps back, "Whaddya, nuts, guy?! I'm a grown man! I just look a lot younger than I am. I guess dressing like this doesn't help..." Then he gets down to business: "I own this little stall here. Need any art supplies? C'mon, pal, buy somethin'!"

Layton answers, "Not at the moment, no. But you do have an impressive display here, I must say." Puck says, "Thanks. Care to see a project that one of my customers is working on?" and shows him the window.

When it's solved, Puck says, "Good eye! I'm going to steal that answer for my customer." and then "But what am I doing monopolizing your time? Get out there and have fun!" Talk to him afterward and he sighs, "One of these days I'll get to hold a lady's hand instead of these balloons..."

FAQ

Where is the answer to Puzzle 081?

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 081 called?

King Arthur's Sword, in both the North American and UK English versions. In Japanese it's アーサー王の剣.

Where is Puzzle 081?

At the One-Ring Circus in Monte d'Or, at night in Chapter 5. Talk to Puck on the path in front of the big tent once your objective reads "Continue the Investigation!" after the talk with Henry.

Do I have to solve Puzzle 081?

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 081 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 081 the same as Puzzle 081?

No. It's a different puzzle, listed under Wrong Puzzle 081?.

More Miracle Mask puzzles

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