After an exhausting time with level 9, I finally finished this one. For the most part I enjoyed this one. The levels were nicely designed (except for my comments below on 9), and I always had a way to go. The clues scattered about in both the overworld and in dungeons gave just enough cluing to be useful without giving too much away. I did run into a few glitches, however.

First, I will say that I got hit by the "stuck on the 4-way ladder" bug twice- both times in different rooms of dungeon 9 with moas- once in the room with two push blocks just before the 6-headed gleeok, and once in the room before the room with lots of right-to-left conveyors, 3 bubbles and a bunch of blue darknuts. Both times this happened after I had killed everything, so I couldn't get hit by something. The fact that the second time happened on the very next try after I reset from the first time made me quit for the night, as this compounded with my general criticism for level 9.
Second, when exiting the gambling cave 1 screen N of where level 7 was in quest 2, it placed me in the middle of the wooded area. Fortunately I could whistle-warp out, but that is another minor glitch.

Now for the non-bug critique:
The magic lanmolas were interesting, but since they were always the same color as the conveyors, they became very hard to see- particularly when down to 1 segment left. Was this intentional? I felt it made them very annoying, as their immunities and the terrain of battle already made them hard to fight.

Level 9 got very tedious. Almost every path (other than the one to Ganon) effectively leads you back to the beginning- and, of course, two of those paths MUST be followed, even if you already have the dungeon mapped out, as one leads to the boss key, and the other to the silver arrows (and if you want the map or the red ring, well...). Fighting the grey wizrobes over and over again was not enjoyable- particularly in rooms with many other creatures. Their incredible damage level didn't help that either.

On the plus side, Having multiple secrets (sometimes sequenced) in one room, as well as having rooms with multiple (different) staircases was a novel thing (if other contest maps do this, I haven't played them yet), and I can see a few ways this can be developed further.

As a general comment, I think that the "tail of the chicken" clue should probably have been placed in a room in dungeon 7, 8, or 9, as you don't need the item before 9, and can't even attempt to get it before 6. I had gotten that clue very early on, and completely forgot about it, since the ladder was so far later on in the game. Only the fact that I take thorough notes allowed me to realize the problem with getting various items (I was already partway through level 9 before I got it, and the items from earlier dungeons that require it.

Overall, I think that the quest was very good, but the design of level 9 was more frustrating than difficult (the bug hitting me in there didn't help much either!) Still, it does rank as one of the better quests, IMO, and earns a solid 3.86 / 5 from me.