Picture Puzzle
The 44-letter mansion-wide cipher: "Eight dates crack eight safes."
Read solutionA New Clue — Book Cipher, Sundial & Microchip Walkthrough
A New Clue is one of the longest puzzle chains in Blue Prince and the gateway to the Satellite Dish — a permanent estate upgrade that unblocks the Laboratory terminal's experimental data and inbound communications. The puzzle starts when you buy a book called "A New Clue" from the Bookshop and ends when you slot three microchips into a sundial in the Apple Orchard. This page is the full walkthrough: the cipher math, every book's page/word index, and where each microchip is hidden.
Quick reference: Bookshop → buy A New Clue (50 gold) → follow the sign-route to derive 8, 7, 3, 10, 1, 13 → look up four book words → message is TURN SCORCHED SUNDIAL BASE → use Burning Glass on Apple Orchard sundial → insert 3 microchips → Satellite Dish rises.
Setup: Draft Library and Bookshop
A New Clue requires:
- The Library drafted — provides several of the books you'll need to look up later.
- The Bookshop drafted — connect a Library to a Bookshop so they share a hallway. The Bookshop sells A New Clue for 50 Gold.
- A Burning Glass (Workshop combine: Metal Detector + Magnifying Glass) or a Self Igniting Torch — needed later at the sundial.
You don't need all three on the same day. The book itself persists in your inventory across runs.
The Cipher: X > Y > Z > A > B > C
Inside the book, page 19 shows four colored books labeled Red, Green, Violet, Blue. Next to each color is a note like "Page _, Word _" — but the underscores are filled with letters, not numbers. In the margin of the same spread you'll find the order: X > Y > Z > A > B > C.
The conversion is hidden inside the book's "signs" — small literal signs (one-way arrows, dead-ends, station markers) printed in the page art. Following the signs in order spells out a Metro route with six stops. The numbers on those stops decode the letters:
| Letter | Metro number |
|---|---|
| X | 8 (Royal Station) |
| Y | 7 |
| Z | 3 |
| A | 10 |
| B | 1 |
| C | 13 |
So the page/word lookups become real numbers.
The Four Word Lookups
Each colored book in A New Clue is itself an anagram of a real book on the estate. The blue book "Draft the Sixes" rearranges to The Fixed Stars (found in Library/Observatory). The same trick gives:
| Color | In-book title | Real book | Page | Word |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red | Tender Cipher | The Red Prince | 10 (= A) | 8 (= X) |
| Green | Lunar Renamed | Realm and Rune | 13 (= C) | 7 (= Y) |
| Violet | Uncle Awe | A New Clue itself | 1 (= B) | 7 (= Y) |
| Blue | Draft the Sixes | The Fixed Stars | 3 (= Z) | 8 (= X) |
Counting note: The blue notation in the book says "Assume page count starts on title pages." Don't skip cover/intro pages when counting — that off-by-one mistake is the most common reason solvers get gibberish.
The Final Message
Read in order, the four words spell:
TURN SCORCHED SUNDIAL BASE
The only sundial in the estate is in the Apple Orchard. The rest of the puzzle is physical.
Step-by-Step: The Apple Orchard Sundial
- Walk to the Apple Orchard. The sundial sits in the center of the grove.
- Equip a Burning Glass or Self Igniting Torch. Burning Glass is the easier route — combine Metal Detector + Magnifying Glass in the Workshop.
- Scorch the sundial base. The exact spot doesn't matter; you just need to mark the base with flame. The base now rotates freely.
- Rotate two of the three rings. Each ring has a face with a small extra line segment. Line the segments on all three faces in the same direction.
- The face rises. Three microchip slots are revealed.
Where the 3 Microchips Are
| # | Location | How to get it |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Blackbridge Grotto | Sits on the pedestal as you enter the grotto. Open pick-up. |
| 2 | Entrance Hall vase | Smash the vases in the Entrance Hall with a Sledgehammer. One vase has the chip; the rest just break for coin. |
| 3 | West Bridge dig spot | Find the "Corner Cases" note that arranges the four colors in order. The decoded message reads "Buried beside west bridge." Use a Shovel to dig at the bridge's east-facing footing. |
The Reward: Satellite Dish
Inserting all three chips raises the Satellite Dish from behind the hills north of the Orchard. The Dish is a permanent estate upgrade with two effects:
- Unblocks inbound communications on every terminal in the estate (Office, Security Room, etc.) — new letters and dispatches appear.
- Uploads experimental data packets to the Laboratory terminal. These unlock late-game lab-only events.
A New Clue FAQ
I bought the book but can't find page 19 — why?
Page numbering counts title pages. If you can't reach page 19, you're probably skipping the unnumbered intro spread.
Can I scorch the sundial without scorching it specifically?
No — the base only rotates after the flame mark. The Igniting Torch and Burning Glass both work; nothing else does.
Do the microchips persist if I bed before inserting them?
Yes. Once collected, they stay in inventory across runs. Insert at your leisure.
Is the Satellite Dish required for any ending?
It's not required for Room 46 (Standard Ending). It does feed late-game terminals that lead toward the True Ending route.
Related Guides
Mora Jai Boxes
All 8 Sanctum solutions and tile-color rules.
Read solutionTomb — 7 Statues
The Chapel stained-glass interaction order.
Read solutionFinal Exam
The 9-Classroom 46-question test and Diploma Trophy.
Read solution