Glad to help ;). My comment about the portal is based on the fact that, in my humble opinion, a good puzzle design is one that does not allow the player to solve the puzzle by chance, without realizing it even. For this reason, I don't like the current solution of the portal, because it is enough to carry an object that is obtained without any inconvenience to open it. But, of course, that has to do with personal taste, I think.
Rather, Fred, I wanted to ask you, if you would be so kind, to answer two questions: 1) Is there a way to go through the mine passages or is it just a nod to Adventure? 2) In "Amusing things", you say that you can ask the skeleton about things, but, when I have tried, it does not give me more than a generic answer. Rather, the statue is the one who has several different answers. I am missing something?