I so enjoy these. I milk it slowly. Study the picture (for a bit) . Then decode the first hint. Next evening - study picture some more and decode the second hint - general that shows if I am on the right path. But I had THIS one “at the picture”!! BUT, I followed my process. Loads of fun😊🤗

Oh, absolutely (although whether you use “Antiseptic” or “Antiseptic Iodine Solution”, the 10th letter remains ‘c’, but not so for Aluminum Foil/Foil). I just found this one particularly interesting in that there were *so many* misleading rabbit holes to go down and pitfalls to avoid when the answer was actually very simple.

I have a few thoughts on this...

With regards to #1: I think the 2-columns of M's text is just an alternate format that's used for longer texts that go along with the Theorem. I wouldn't look into this too much. It's used a few times through out the book.

With regards to #2, 3, and 6: Remember M once said, take everything he says with a grain of salt. Sometimes things are helpful, sometimes they're not. If you look too hard into anything, you'll find a way to think it should be related even when it's just coincidence. I would try not to get too tripped up by things like this. The rule of thumb I use is, if I find myself Googling something only a PhD would know, I'm probably going down the wrong path. M will have you google some stuff occasionally, but it'd crazy if he required you to teach yourself about the number of electrons in different electron orbitals.

With regards to #4: I agree it's not made too clear in the hints or solution, but I think the intention here is that you're supposed to use the element that's actually written on each item, and not guess. For example, the table salt has the word "sodium" explicitly written on it, just like the others have the element of interest written on them.

With regards to #5: Again you're right this isn't made too clear in the hints or solution, but I think the intention is that the item names you are supposed to use are the uppercased words on each item. That's why you only use "foil" instead of "aluminum foil", or "antiseptic" instead of "antiseptic iodine solution".

This is a curious puzzle on several fronts. Consider 1. that the text has been split into columns for the first time in the book, yet the solution has nothing to do with the columns of a periodic table, 2. that the first two numbers along the right are 2 and 8, which are the first two numbers of electrons held in an electron shell, yet the solution has nothing to do with atomic shells, 3. that the introductory text refers to sorting the atoms by type and "blocks", yet the solution has nothing to do with identifying and/or sorting by atomic groups, class, or blocks, 4. that "table salt" is commonly known to be Sodium Chloride (NaCl), yet the solution requires you to identify it as "Sodium" only, 5. that "aluminum foil" is the common nomenclature for the metal sheet wrapping, yet the solution requires you to identify it as "foil" only, 6. that the index goes up to 11 - the same as the number of rows in a periodic table - yet the solution has nothing to do with rows, and 7. that while this is an "intermediate" puzzle, all that is actually required is a simple sort of elements by atomic number and a cross reference of their corresponding product name to the index provided.

The true challenge of this puzzle is avoiding all of the pitfalls above.

Go ahead and decode Hint #3 and you'll see how they are used.

After solving this puzzle, I have a question: Why is the text split into 2 columns?

I don't understand how the white numbers & lines on the right of the machine correspond to the items.

I suspect that if I was told the correspondence I would find it unsatisfying.

MATBACK HD may be a good name for this invention - but there is more ordering to do so you can use those numbers on the right!