Well, I completed that section but I think it was out of sheer dumb luck if I'm honest, haha! I also only received one hint while I was wandering about, but I wonder if they're triggered by resets (back to the first area) rather than time taken?
Well that works I guess :P But yes it is by number of resets, not time taken. I feel like that's a more accurate measure of how much someone is actually struggling with the puzzle.