ヒント = hint; clue
沢山 = many; a lot; lots
あった = there were; there was; had
Many/a lot を使う場合には、hint/clue に s をつけますね。例えば、many hints/a lot of clues. S があって過去形にしたら、were を使います。例えば、were hints/were clues. There were many hint か there were a lot of clue と言いません。S は大事で必要です。