maybe I'm misreading something, but the timer was unaffected by me reading the field guide for as long as I pleased. however, I didn't mind that because the timer is so short already I couldn't imagine it being even shorter.
I will say I did have some fun, but it did just turn into trial and error most rounds because of duplicate properties on the atoms. there's definitely some good potential here (loved the artstyle!) but might benefit from some tweaking to get that gameplay loop just right.