Problem: So obviously these puzzles require some trial and error. In my case at least, they take a LOT of trial and error. (I can't tell you how many times I got killed by that damned patrolling boat in Chapter 3.) With gold being limited (there's only so much in the level for you to find), the player is sooner or later going to run out of Ankhs. With the levels being as long as they are, it doesn't make much sense to keep starting the level over, so the player in this position resorts to saving and loading, which eats up a lot of time... time in which the player is not actually playing your game. This is most frustrating on the timing-based encounters, where the player could potentially be sit at the loading screen for 45 seconds (or more), play for 15 seconds, die and have to load all over again.
Suggestion: Remove the stack count for Ankhs. (In other words, give the player an unlimited number of them.) The player already effectively has unlimited "lives" since they can save/load as often as they want, and making this change takes out the loadscreen delay.
Just a thought.