Clock Puzzle



The Clock Puzzle is the first puzzle of Silent Hill 2 located in the Wood Side Apartments. It must be solved in order for the player to access Room 209.

Clues


Before even attempting the puzzle, James Sunderland can find a memo that can help him in his quest to move the clock. It is located by the phone near the corpse in the room.

The memo changes depending on the game's difficulty level.

Easy:

"Three different sizes, time on the run. Three young men circlin' round the sun. Henry is short and very, very slow, Scott can't stop, he's always on the go."

Normal/Hard/Extra:

"Three needles stand of three different heights. The fat, the tall and the thin. From slow to fast they move to the right. Scott rests not on three, but fifteen."

In front of the clock are three scratches in the wall, next to each are names: Henry, Mildred and Scott, from top to bottom. On the side of the clock there is writing, which reads as follows:  The scars from the past shall remove the nail that stops Time.

Solution


Each hand of the clock has its own name, as indicated in the memo on the Easy difficulty. The memo uses the names as the hands of the clock. However, only Scott is mentioned on the Normal/Hard/Extra difficulties. Scott is never movable and should be ignored.


 * Henry - Hours
 * Mildred - Minutes
 * Scott - Seconds

Henry would be the hour hand on the clock since he is "short and very, very slow", and Scott is obviously the second hand as "he's always on the go".

On Normal, Hard and Extra, the "three needles" are simply the hands on the clock. "The fat, the tall and the thin": hour, minute and second hands. "From slow to fast they move to the right" describes the order of the hands: Hour, Minute, Second.

The arrows for each name are as follows:


 * Henry: 9 (9 hours) - hour hand
 * Mildred: 2 (10 minutes) - minute hand
 * Scott: 3 (15 seconds) - second hand

So that leaves James with 9 hours, 10 minutes and 15 seconds.

Alternately, the player may note that the scratches in the wall are actually arrows, which makes it obvious which scratch corresponds to which hand. The identity of the arrows can also be deciphered by their initials: "Henry" starts with an "h", like "hour", "Mildred" starts with an "m", like "minute", and "Scott" starts with an "s", like "second".

Once the player turns the clock hands to 9:10, a clank should be heard. That would be the unlocking of the "nail that stops Time", from the writing on the clock. James can now push the clock and move on.

The answer to this puzzle is always 9:10.