Children's/Family Software Review:

This walkthrough/cheat sheet will help you get through the game. Of course, for maximum enjoyment of the game, try not to refer to this walkthrough.

Italics refer to optional steps

1.                    OPENING NARRATIVE/CINEMATIC. Radio announcer establishes that it’s 1930 and sets the stage. ND has been invited to Lilac Inn by Emily Crandall (EC), a casual friend who lost her mom (Gloria Crandall) the previous month to illness. CROSSFADE TO ND turns onto drive to Inn in roadster, passes car parked at side of drive, pulls up in front of Inn.

2.                    P sees coin phone on porch and calls father, who asks her to pick something up for him from the telegraph office when she has a chance.

3.                    P talks to Jane Willoughby (JW) at desk area just outside kitchen/dining area. JW is EC’s legal guardian according to the wishes of EC’s mom, one of Jane’s oldest and dearest friends. JW is worried about EC’s mental condition.

4.                    P meets EC in her room. She seems nervous, distracted, a bit paranoid. She and mom ran the Inn; now it’s just EC and Jane (who, compared to her mom, knows very little), and it’s been hard. Without going into detail as to why, she retrieves the jewels she inherited from her mother and presents them to P, saying she wants ND to take them home and put them in Carson’s safe.

5.                    Suddenly there’s an explosion. From the other room we hear footsteps, and JW yelling “Fire!” EC reacts and we CROSSFADE TO:

6.                    Aftermath of explosion. P talks to JW; we learn that fire department just left. Stove exploded. Looks like someone (EC maybe) left the gas on. Much damage to kitchen. Line to phone on desk was destroyed. EC is in room, understandably upset. JW goes to answer the pay phone which is ringing. P hears an O.S. scream from EC and we cut to EC’s room.

7.                    P reacts as EC says her jewels are gone! Someone must’ve stolen them in all the excitement. Now EC and the Inn are really in trouble. P asks whether jewels were insured; EC says their banker, Jim Archer (JA) would know for sure. If only Josiah Crowley, an eccentric old man who died six months ago, had left money for EC and her mom like he always said he would  (“Time will tell,” he’d always say). Instead, he left them nothing. Everything went to Richard Topham (RT) instead.

8.                    P may play Emily’s phonograph on the phonograph player in her room.

9.                    P walks over to see RT, who lives in the nearby house that used to be Josiah’s and runs a school for the development of paranormal powers.

10.                 On the way to RT’s P catches the receipt for the appraisal of a key that someone has dropped on the path back to the Inn (don’t catch it when on the bridge).

11.                 At RT’s house, his cat won’t stop meowing until P finds the cat’s favorite toy and gives it to him (it’s under the table to the left of the front door when facing the fireplace).

12.                 Topham refuses to waste his time talking to P unless she can “prove” herself worthy.

13.                 P solves the logic test he gives her.  Answers:  1.)  All Wet  2.)  Doll Up  3.)  Double Cross  4.)  Dry Up  5.)  Big Cheese

14.                 P is given permission to poke around Josiah’s stuff. RT hasn’t thrown anything out so the small rooms are very cluttered with mementos (i.e. interesting junk).

15.                 P will need to ask RT’s permission to look around whenever she enters his house

16.                 P sees a picture of Josiah in costume on stage; call out reveals that Josiah loved theatre.

17.                 P finds old clock, learns that collecting and giving away clocks was one of Josiah’s hobbies.

18.                 P solves clock puzzle (matching tiles) and finds a mirror inside it, which she takes.

19.                 P finds Josiah’s “Lest I forget…” pad (in the elephant compartment on the secretary next to the robot) which includes four questions in with verbal reference to carriage house (What are you when you win Bard Bounce?  What poet is the cat’s meow?  What will par on my miniature golf course get you?  What’s Gloria’s middle name?)  It also refers to the “tick tock on top,” with four names Flute, Thisby, Pyramus, and Bottom.  Stuffed into the “Lest I Forget…” is a carbon copy of a letter with the name smudged out.

20.                 P exits and locates the carriage house out back and sees that it is locked with four four-letter word spin locks (hence the four questions) (to the right before the bridge when exiting RT’s house).

21.                 P discovers Josiah’s private mini-golf course on path back to Inn (on the left just after the bridge when exiting RT’s house).

22.                 P rents a golf ball, putter, and score card.

23.                 P plays golf and pars all six holes ( tricks for the golf holes – 3^rd hole “Hole Lot of Lava” -  to the right is a small hole in the volcano that is a shortcut for the ball – 4^th hole “Sky Rail Inc.” – get it into the middle hole for a shortcut - ).

24.                 P is rewarded with a small, cheaply made toy pony, dispensed by a crudely made machine.

25.                 P notices a mini-game/puzzle on one of the holes.

26.                 P solves the puzzle (The answer is random.  And we have only one difficulty.  And the different colors can only be used once) and a poem is revealed.

27.                 P goes back to the Inn, discovers a “Bard Bounce” machine in parlor.

28.                 P solves Bard Bounce, a sign reveals the word “keen.”

29.                 P discovers an old clock in the parlor.

30.                 P solves puzzle in old clock – get the cuckoo bird to the other side of the clock by moving the obstacles (move the big gear that is right in front of the pendulum to the left and then up, move the bottom two rows of gears/clock parts to the left, and move the pendulum down) - and, as a result, gets another mirror.

31.                 P asks JW for Gloria’s middle name; she can’t remember.

32.                 P asks EC for her mom’s middle name and is told that it was “Lois.”

33.                 P sees The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam on a shelf, inscribed by Josiah; inscription reveals that Omar was Josiah’s favorite poet.

34.                 P returns to the carriage house and enters KEEN, OMAR, PONY, and LOIS into lock, which opens.

35.                 P enters the old carriage house.

36.                 P finds another old clock.

37.                 P solves puzzle in the clock (using the poem from the golf course), as a result gets another mirror. (1, 2, 4, 2, 8, 2, 7)

38.                 P needs to release the stairs  to the attic is by solving a lock that requires four mirrors to open.

39.                 In a MONTAGE/CINEMATIC, P drives roadster to bank, notes that parked car is gone from driveway of Inn.

40.                 At any time in the driving puzzle, P may get a flat tire which she will have to change (jack up the car, remove lugnuts, remove flat, replace with spare, replace lugnuts, unjack the car).

41.                 At any time in the driving puzzle, P may have to fill up gas.

42.                 At any time in the driving puzzle, if P runs out of gas or goes for too long on her spare tire and she does not have enough money to pay for a tow – then she will have to do a sorting game for the gas station.

43.                 P meets JA, who is married with children and is in danger of losing the bank. JA reveals that EC’s jewels are no longer insured; either EC or JW let the policy lapse; has already heard that they were stolen; mentions that Josiah had safe deposit box in bank which can’t be opened without Josiah’s key, wherever that is; P starts to ask a question but the phone rings; he answers, talks briefly (is dressmaker saying she’s not going to finish dress unless she pays him).

44.                 P sees photo of  family by car, which is identical to the one P saw parked by Inn.

45.                 P asks about car; JA says many people have cars identical to his – P can then go back to the Lilac Inn, call her father, and ask him to get information on JA.

46.                 P sees autographed photo of “Clara Pickford” on wall; in call-out JA says she’s a lonely old local lady who used to come in a lot to rummage through her safe deposit box; hasn’t seen her in a while.

47.                 P finds another old clock, notes that it is missing a key, which JA says he misplaced long before.

48.                 P notices an old out of order typewriter that belonged to JC at the Bank as well, she looks at the typewriter ribbon and notices the letter from JC to a Mrs. Sheldon about lending her his trivet (same letter as was found in JC’s Lest I Forget book).

49.                 P goes to see the jeweler (at Waddell Jewelry) whose name was on the receipt she found and finds out JA asked to have a key appraised but never came back for the key once he found out it was worthless.  P must pay the appraisal fee before he’ll give it to her.

50.                 P drives to the telegraph office for Carson, picks up his package, and is told she can earn extra money by delivering telegrams in her car for them.

51.                 P delivers enough telegrams to pay the appraisal fee.

52.                 P goes to the jewelers and gets the key.

53.                 P returns to the bank, uses the key to open the clock, has to place all the gears in the correct order within the clock (the registration marks will all match up), and finds another mirror inside, which she takes.

54.                 P drives back to the Inn and parks.

55.                 P walks to RT’s and asks to look around Josiah’s stuff some more.

56.                 P finds info concerning a Crookes’ Radiometer.

57.                 P walks to the carriage house and enters.

58.                 P solves the domino puzzle on the wall, which opens a high window, which lets in light. (Domino order: 5-2; 2-6; 6-3; 3-1; 1-8; 8-4; 4-9; 9-7)

59.                 P then realizes that the light can be reflected off mirrors.

60.                 P places the mirrors into the mirror stands

61.                 P solves the mirror puzzle by reflecting the light from the window onto the radiometer ( the mirror in the center of the southern wall is stationary and cannot be moved, reflect the light from the northeastern mirror onto the southeastern mirror, which should then reflect to the northwestern mirror, which should reflect onto the southwestern mirror – move the beam of light until it hits the radiometer).

62.                 In the attic P discovers a ham radio set.

63.                 P also sees a very large grandfather clock.

64.                 P realizes that the quartz crystal is missing and that Josiah had ordered quartz  (from which the jeweler must cut a blank) just before he passed away.

65.                 P walks to RT’s and asks whether the crystal was ever delivered and is told that it was.

66.                 P asks RT for the crystal, but he demands that she help him in a telepathy test involving Zener cards first.

67.                 P solves the Zener card puzzle and is awarded the piece of quartz %%% junior level needs to be updated

68.                 P takes it to the jeweler so he can cut a blank and is told she’ll have to pay for it.

69.                 P delivers enough telegrams to pay for the quartz blank.

70.                 P drives back to the Lilac Inn.

71.                 P walks to carriage house and puts the blank in radio.

72.                 P figures out how to turn radio on and how to adjust the frequency.

73.                 P dials up random strangers and chats with them over the radio.

74.                 P finds a note that Josiah wrote to himself attached to the old grandfather clock in the attic that says, “Forgot where you put LWAT? Marcel’s band, you old coot!” (In VO P wonders whether LWAT stands for “Last Will and Testament”).

75.                 P walks to RT’s, asks him who Marcel was; RT says Marcel was what Josiah called his favorite hat.

76.                 P asks where it is; RT says he gave it to Gloria Crandall.

77.                 P walks to Inn; Jane greets her and says there’s been another “incident.” She fears the stove explosion weakened EC’s mental condition even more; suggests that P see for herself.

78.                 P talks to EC, who admits that she saw a picture move, has been seeing and hearing strange things like that for weeks, feels like she’s losing her mind; P reassures her that she’ll investigate.

79.                 P can straighten the picture out.

80.                 P asks EC if she knows where Josiah’s hat might be; EC points toward a heretofore inaccessible drawer.

81.                 P pulls ‘Marcel’ out of drawer, examines band, finds a small safe deposit box key tucked in it.

82.                 P goes to the parlor (around the corner from Jane) and looks around.

83.                 P sees a curtain stuck under the couch – when she pulls it out, a mechanism resets, P pulls the lever, which opens the couch, under which she discovers the entrance to a narrow tunnel

84.                 P discovers that the floor of the compartment has fallen away, revealing a narrow tunnel.

85.                 P enters the tiny tunnel (the sofa cushion ceiling latches behind her).

86.                 P continues to explore the tunnel.

87.                 P finds a very old, broken piggy bank with $1.00 in it.

88.                 There is a jumbled picture on the wall.

89.                 P solves the picture puzzle and a small door swings open revealing a phonograph record for “Creepy’s Corner.”

90.                 P continues to explore the tunnel, which ends in another staircase.

91.                 P goes up this staircase which also ends at a door. On the other side of the door (which is not discernibly locked) we can hear very loud meowing and Topham’s voice.

92.                 P heads back to the entrance to the tunnel, exits the tunnel and finds herself in the parlor once again.

93.                 P drives to bank, tells JA she thinks she found Josiah’s safe deposit box key. JA informs her that she’ll need two keys to open the box -- Josiah’s key and one that JA has. JA says if P will finish the dress he was giving his wife for a present, he’ll open the box for her.

94.                 P drives back to the Inn and parks.

95.                 P sees sewing machine in EC’s room; EC relates that her mom and Jane used to be in business together as dressmakers; her mom was always too busy with the Inn to teach EC how to sew.

96.                 P asks Jane if she could please sew something for her; oddly, Jane refuses, saying she hasn’t sewed anything in years and would probably ruin it.

97.                 P asks EC that since Jane won’t sew the dress, could P please try; EC gives her permission.

98.                 P discovers that the needle on the machine is missing; EC says Jane probably has it.

99.                 P asks Jane for the needle; Jane says she’ll look for it if P will do her a favor and sort the pies that are waiting on the porch to be picked up and delivered (JW gives P a list for the pie task)

100.              P solves the task. 

101.              P can then look around at Jane’s podium, P finds a Civil War era photo of two brothers in the secret passageway in front of a secret door.

102.              P adds the photo to her inventory.

103.              P takes the needle from Jane when she returns.

104.              P goes to EC’s room, figures out how to use the machine and sews all the seams of the dress, make sure to follow the chalk line and move the fabric not the needle.

105.              P drives to the bank and hands the finished dress over to JA, who (through CROSSFADE) uses his key to open Josiah’s safe deposit box

106.              P discovers that the only thing in the box is a journal with some kind of lock on the front.

107.              P remembers seeing something about the journal in JC’s Lest I Forget book regarding a trivet and realizes that JC’s trivet has been lent to someone, but the name is smudged out – P needs to find the typewriter that typed the letter.  P remembers looking at the typewriter ribbon in the bank.

108.              P drives to Mrs. Sheldon’s house (Twin Elms) and talks to Mrs. Sheldon who says that she would return the trivet if P can get her bridge cards back from Miss Jakowski, the town’s telephone operator.

109.              P drives to the Titusville Telco and talks to Miss Jakowski who needs P to pick up the tickets to the orphanage charity dinner she was going to sell from Mrs. O’Shea.

110.              P drives to Turner’s Home for Orphans, Mrs. O’Shea asks P to find some toys for her orphans.

111.              P can either play enough rounds of mini golf (for $0.10 a round) to get enough ponies for the children or she can drive to the General Store and buy toys from the vending machine (for $0.25 per toy.)

112.              P returns with the toys, but Mrs. O’Shea realized that Mr. Phelps had not yet printed the tickets.

113.              P goes to see Mr. Phelps at the fishing hole and he states that he has to catch a bigger largemouth bass than his friend and until he can do that he can’t print the tickets.

114.              P goes fishing to find a bigger largemouth bass (answer – they hang around in the grassbeds, use the minnow bait).

115.              P succeeds in catching a sufficiently large largemouth bass and retrieves the trivet.

116.              P notices that the trivet has an interesting symbol on it (the same symbol that was on the Creepy’s Corner poster puzzle in the hidden passageways, and on the record).

117.              P drives back to the Lilac Inn asks EC to use her phonograph.

118.              EC grants P permission.

119.              P decodes the radio program by listening to the sound effects from the Creepy’s Corner phonograph record and matching them to the corresponding letters on the trivet.  It spells GOODFELLOW.

120.              P enters this into the journal, which contains notes about Josiah’s ham radio pals -- their names and frequencies and hints as to what he has told them concerning LWAT.

121.              In reading the journal, P realizes that she needs JC’s favorite copy of his favorite play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which she remembers seeing on a shelf behind RT.

122.              P walks to RT’s and asks if she can see the play.

123.              RT denies her request saying that the book might fall apart.

124.              P walks to the Inn, enters the parlor, and accesses the tunnel via the sofa.

125.              P follows the tunnel to the door at the end where she can hear the cat.

126.              P enters RT/Josiah’s house through what looks like a trap door in the floor, can hear RT and his “pupil” behind the door to an adjacent room.

127.              P must find the cat’s favorite toy and give it to him before his loud meows cause RT to come out of the room to investigate (it is near the table with the scientific book on it – under one of the chairs).

128.              P snoops through the items that have been blocked by RT’s fidget, finds and reads JC’s marked up copy of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and gets the phrases she needs to correspond with the Radio Buddies.

129.              P knocks a vase over while snooping behind RT’s desk; manages to catch it before it hits the floor; as she puts it back, sees RT’s calendar which references a meeting RT had with JA earlier today, worded in such a way that it suggests a payoff.  If P does not catch the vase she is busted.

130.              P returns to tunnel just as RT finishes his reading and starts to come out of room.

131.              P uses the photo that she found near Jane’s fidget to open the secret door near the entrance to the tunnel (first lantern to the right as P enters the tunnel from the Inn).

132.              P moves through a very narrow tunnel, finds herself behind the wall to EC’s room (P can hear EC’s Phonograph playing).

133.              P returns to the main tunnel exits through the parlor sofa.

134.              P confronts Jane, surmising that because Jane had easy access to the photo and to the secret tunnel, she could very well be behind the strange things that EC has been seeing and hearing; Jane denies, says anyone entering or leaving could’ve hidden the key there; P says she intends to tell EC; Jane says that EC is out running errands.

135.              P goes to EC’s room, checks out the drawer the hat was in; finds a note from Josiah to Gloria which contains a clue that will be needed to open the grandfather clock.

136.              P also finds a typed letter to Gloria from Jane talking about how some of the women in the boarding house where she lives, especially a woman named Marion Aborn, are borderline crooks.

137.              P walks to the carriage house, enters, and goes up to the attic.

138.              P uses radio to call Flute, says the correct passage from A Midsummer Night’s Dream and gets a clue to the large grandfather clock, P has to decode it using the Hobo symbols article in the newspaper in the Lilac Inn. “Shall we their fond pageant see? Lord, what fools these mortals be!”

(Flute’s answer:  Hit the road; The owner is in; There are thieves about)

139.              P uses radio to call Pyramus, says the correct passage from A Midsummer Night’s Dream and gets a clue to the large grandfather clock, P has to decode it using the Hobo symbols article in the newspaper in the Lilac Inn.   “Thou speak'st aright; I am that merry wanderer of the night...”                                                                                                             (Pyramus’ answer:  Barking dog here; Keep quiet; Dangerous Neighborhood )

140.              P uses radio to call Thisby, says the correct passage from A Midsummer Night’s Dream and gets a clue to the large grandfather clock, P has to decode it using the Hobo symbols article in the newspaper in the Lilac Inn.    “If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumber'd here While these visions did appear.”  

(Thisby’s answer:  Authorities here are alert; Bad water; There’s no use going this way)

141.              P enters the clues, but finds that she needs to enter Bottom’s sequence, which she knows is in the letter to Gloria according to the Lest I Forget book.

142.              P uses the clues she got from Josiah’s three radio pals, and the clue that was in the note to Gloria from Josiah and succeeds in opening the grandfather clock.  (Bottom:  Kind woman lives here; Fresh water; The sky’s the limit)

143.              P then finds a board game inside that she must play – she has to use the limited number of cards to beat the game.  (4,8,10,6,1,9,7,3,2 or 9,6,2,10,8,7,5,4,3,1)

144.              P wins game.

145.              P is rewarded a special golf ball; on it is a picture and note related to one of the mini-golf holes.

146.              P walks out to the mini-golf course and uses the ball to finally hit a hole-in-one (on the hole indicated on the special ball) (the final hole “Tiny Town” hit the ball towards the miniature bank building).

147.              P is rewarded when a fake rock on the course lifts up and another safe deposit box key appears.

148.              P adds this second safe deposit box key to inventory.

149.              P walks back to the Inn to get into car, but hears loud, distraught voices coming from Emily’s room in the Inn. P investigates with a VO.

150.              P walks into Inn, finds Jane very upset at the counter; she urges P go see Emily.

151.              P goes to Emily’s room, finds her very distraught. She was tired after running errands that she lay down to take a nap, and when she woke up -- this was in her hand; she shows P one of the necklaces we recognize as belonging to her mother, one that supposedly had been stolen. Emily fears she’s losing her mind. She tells P to leave; she can’t take any more; she’s selling the Inn, etc. She refuses to listen when P tries to tell her what she’s discovered; P leaves, promising that when she comes back, all Emily’s problems may have been solved.

152.              P drives to bank; JA immediately apologizes for lying to her before; he confesses that he really was at RT’s that day; he went to beg Topham for money; he’s ashamed.

153.              P shows him the safe deposit key she found that obviously belonged to Josiah; JA is puzzled, because as far as he knows, Josiah only had the one deposit box. When P mentions that she got the key by getting a hole-in one, JA remembers that the lonely old lady that always came in, Clara Pickford, always used to say he was her “ace-in-the-hole,” at which point it dawns on JA and P that Clara Pickford was really Josiah Crowley in disguise.

154.              CROSSFADE as the safe deposit box belonging to Clara Pickford is opened and P finds both Josiah’s real Last Will and Testament, as well as a bunch of photos, one of which is captioned, “Gloria Miller (now Crandall) and Jane Willoughby.” The latter looks NOTHING like the Jane Willoughby P has come to know.

155.              P drives back to the Inn.

156.              CINEMATIC confrontation between P and Jane who is hurriedly getting into her car. It’s obvious that she’s trying to make her getaway. After an exchange of words, she peels away.

157.              P solves the car chase puzzle – keep Jane in sight, and then get to the state line before Jane does (listen to the cues).

158.              CINEMATIC Just as P catches up to Jane’s car, she crashes, and the jewels she stole from Emily tumble out of her suitcase.

159.              CLOSING NARRATIVE/MONTAGE Explain how Marion Aborn (the fake Jane) intercepted a letter from Emily to the real Jane Willoughby telling Jane that her mom had died and did she plan to keep the promise she’d made years and years before to become her guardian? By assuming Jane’s identity, Marion intended to milk the situation for every penny (and diamond) she could. Josiah’s real will left practically everything to Gloria (and consequently to Emily), so that she can keep Lilac Inn going forever. Josiah also left money to “Clara’s favorite banker,.” Jim Archer. Richard Topham was arrested for forging the will that left all of Josiah’s possessions to him.

Cast of Characters:

Emily Crandall: Nancy Drew is on her way to the Lilac Inn, where 17-year-old Emily Crandall is trying to manage the Inn she inherited from her late mother.  A mutual friend has asked Nancy to look in on Emily who is straining to keep up with the management and financial demands of the Inn and do so just one month after the loss of her mom. 

The Setting:

Like previous titles in the series, there is a junior and senior detective mode and a "second chance" feature.

Our Rating:

A

more information:

For more information, user reviews, or to buy: Nancy Drew: Secret Of the Old Clock

Reviewed: August 2005

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