Ah ok, that sucks.

Though having just played that part in the original version myself, the scrub that gives the hint did originally say that you need to punish his brothers in the order 2, 3, then 1 for the hint. He adds the “23 is number 1” as a way to remember it because it’s never repeated after that (unless maybe Navi repeats it if you’re stuck there for a while but I don’t think they have timed Navi hints, it just repeats whatever the latest hint was on a timer and I’m pretty sure the hint at that point is just that something needs to be done in the Deku Tree).

They should set that up as a difficulty level setting. Apprentice mode gets hand holding, adept just gets the basic instructions and periodic Navi hints, expert mode is just thrown into the game. Because I understand that getting stuck can be frustrating and for some players, that’s where they just stop playing. But it’s patronizing to the players looking for challenges and wanting to use their brain a bit.