doctor who logo(Dr. Who is a british sci-fi series. See the newsgroup rec.arts.drwho and the official BBC site) I discovered the Doctor in the Summer of ‘94, and have now seen every episode from ‘Pirate Planet’ to ‘Survival’.

The ‘Key to Time’ fascinated me - not so much the episodes but the Key itself. Although Romana says that the Key is ‘hardly complex enough to be called a puzzle’, I personaly think it makes quite a hard puzzle.

I spent a day in front of the VRC, looking very hard at the few minutes where you can actually see the key, and began working: I used a potato model of each segment first, then made a drawing, then an exact construction and at last a paper model.

The result was very encouraging - it took me some time to solve the puzzle. So I decided to share it with the people on the Net (that’s you !). It took me an evening to learn enough Postscript, and another day to write it, but here it is at last:

The Key To Time (PDF, 12KB)
The Key To Time (PS, 12KB)
If you know some postscript, look inside: turtlegraphics in postscript

You can print it with Adobes Acroreader and similar programs. Its formated for A4. Now all you need is scissors and glue. To make the easy version of the puzzle, use the side with the print on it as the outside. It’s harder to solve if you build it with the printed side inside.

Share and enjoy !

page created (before) august 1994, no major improvements since then ;-)