The Desktop Explorer Hourglass puzzle password is 67. You get there by matching four symbols from a poem to four different clock times, then multiplying each hour by a number the color lens shows you. Here’s the full breakdown, including the clue that trips almost everyone up.
What we cover:
Unlock the Hourglass Folder
You’ll only reach this puzzle after unlocking the Hall of Mirrors code (5267) on the Thoth path, one of three paths inside the Temple’s Desktop Explorer puzzle walkthrough. Inside the Hourglass folder sits hourglass.img, sandfalls.stp, archeologist Notes.npg, and a locked Blue_lockbox. Open sandfalls.stp first, then read the notes.
Read the Poem First
archeologist Notes.npg has a short poem and four phrases in it are bolded: blue moon, red eye, blood stained feathers, and sapphire scepters. Those four are your targets. Everything else in the poem is flavor text except for one line near the bottom, which matters more than it looks like it does.
Use the Lens, Then Change the Clock
Open hourglass.img and run the Colorlens Blue filter on it. A symbol appears at the base of the hourglass along with a number. Now open the Clock app in the bottom-right corner and start changing the hour. Every time you move the clock, the symbol on the hourglass changes too, and so does the number next to it.
Set the clock until the symbol matches each of the four poem phrases, and write down both the hour and the number for each one. I went through this slowly and confirmed each pairing against the screen instead of trusting a guide’s numbers blind, since a few walkthroughs list these in a different order and it’s easy to mismatch a symbol.
| Symbol | Clock Hour | Lens Number |
|---|---|---|
| Blue moon | 4:00 AM | 1 |
| Red eye | 9:00 PM | 2 |
| Blood stained feathers | 7:00 PM | 5 |
| Sapphire scepters | 2:00 AM | 5 |
The 4 images below show exactly the solution for each symbol. Click on each one to see full size with details:
Do the Math
Multiply the hour by the lens number for each symbol, then add the four results together.
(4×1) + (9×2) + (7×5) + (2×5) = 4 + 18 + 35 + 10 = 67
Type 67 into Blue_lockbox and it opens up, dropping raw_ore.img inside.
The “Red Face = 48” Line Is a Trap
Near the bottom of the poem, there’s a line that says red face equals 48. It’s tempting to treat that as one of your four values, or to assume everything needs to be multiplied by 12 to match it. Don’t. The red face only shows up when the clock hits 12, and its lens number is 4, so 12 times 4 gets you 48. That’s just the game demonstrating the math you’re supposed to use, not a fifth symbol to add in. I wasted ten minutes of my time trying to force 48 into the final sum before I realized it wasn’t part of the four phrases at all.
Method B: The Pairing Trick
Some players on the Steam forums found a second way to reach the same password without doing any multiplication. Pair the blue moon’s lens number (1) with the red eye’s lens number (2), and you get 12. Pair the feathers’ number (5) with the scepters’ number (5), and you get 55. Add those together and you land on 67 again.
It works here, but I wouldn’t lean on it as the real method. The poem itself says the sum matters more than the value of its individual parts, which only makes sense if you’re multiplying hour by lens number first. Treat this trick as a curiosity.
After the Password Works
Blue_lockbox opens into raw_ore.img, though that’s not the finished item you need for the Scarab Podium yet. Open the NextOS date and time settings and push the year forward by at least ten years. The ore turns into Sapphire once you do. Grab sapphire.img and head back to the Podium Chamber, you’ve still got one more path to finish there.
