It did help. I actually went there fairy early, after "use chalk" and "draw circle" and the like had no result. Midway through the game I figured out what sorts of commands the game actually wants of me and progress was a little easier to make from there on.
Gotcha. The intro section is definitely a bit unusual as Inform 7 goes, and I didn't want people to get stuck there. I wonder if I should make it even more explicit.
