THE HINTS- VITAL TO SUCCESS

[timebandit]

Fundy, back on topic...hints...You posted back on post #15:
Just basing it on logic. We have to take into account what f tells us what a clue does for a searcher and what a hint does for us. They are different. A clue gets one closer to the tc. A hint helps with the clues. I paraphrased that as I don't readily know where f's quote of those descriptions are.

And then we recently had f's lost words on what the first clue is...wwwh. Lastly, the clues are consecutive. Use logic and you see what I said. A hint in ttotc can't get you closer to the tc than the first clue (wwwh). ***If a hint did get one closer, then by f's definition it can't be a hint...it's a clue***. Same thing if there's a hint in the poem like the first stanza. The first stanza literally has the word "hint" in it. "Begin" in the second stanza has been proven by f to mean begin.

In short, if we know where the first clue is and the clues are consecutive then any hint can't help after clue 1. Hints have to help before then.

It took me a minute to realize you were basically referring to hints in the poem with your last statements...Since hints are supposed to help with the clues, I understand that to indicate that the hints can help understand what the clues might mean...I see it as hints could be anywhere and help with deciphering what any clue might mean...

Maybe, maybe not, but here's an example I've run across in TFTW which to me sounds reasonable in understanding what some words in the poem COULD mean...F did say there were a couple of clues/hints in his new book as well...Not the unintended clue about Canada, but others...It's from the Preface to TFTW, and one discussed by searchers but in a different context than what is discussed normally...

To start; the very title of f's book is borrowed...Too Far To Walk is a novel by John Hersey published in the 1960's(1962 I think) and about a sluggish college student who wonders if going to his classes is just too far to walk, is it worth it or should he just stay where he is and not bother going...

Many searchers think the hint in f's book is about the distance of 10 miles he floated and waded on a 3 day trip fishing and enjoying the solitude...This 10 miles has been latched onto and used as the distance from WWWH to hoB, etc...What if the distance of 10 miles is not the hint?...What if the hint is the context in which the words 'too far to walk' are used by f? That it's a trip he just won't take now, he just won't go.
From TFTW: "...and I promised myself that someday I would make the trip again. That day never came for me, and my disappointment still casts a lonesome shadow across the Madison River. For me now, it's just too far to walk."

Is this the hint to understanding the words in the poem? Both the context of the words in Hersey's novel and f's book are basically the same - not going to go. It seems reasonable to think that "too far to walk" really has nothing to do with a distance of 10 miles but indicate that one is just not going anywhere, but staying where they are.

Helping decide what a clue might mean using context of two different authors and not a stated distance of "about ten miles" which may just be incidental to a three day float trip down the Madison to Baker's hole...

Is this the type of hint stuff you're interested in?