I hope that nobody who figures it out will publicize the solution.
In case anyone hasn’t seen it, I wrote about my experience with this game on IFDB.
Assuming you mean ‘yes’ to the latter question, can I get a hint as to how to obtain that thing? None of the combining or manipulating verbs I’m thinking of are doing anything. I think I’ve got everything dismantled, except that I’ve put together the rickety stool.
There are two items whose descriptions hint fairly strongly that you can put them together (with ATTACH).If you don’t see them, then you probably need to dismantle some more.
tove, I found this mostly by looking at bobbates’s inventory listing in the third (or so) post in this thread.
The specific thing that I had trouble figuring out that I needed to
dismantle
was (fairly big spoiler)
the pulley that I got by dismantling the door.
Aha, I’d already tried the right nouns, but Doug Orleans provided the crucial verb.
…not that that got me too terribly much closer to the solution. 
I think I mentioned a prize for the first person to solve Hard Puzzle. And…drum roll…that person is CMG!
CMG wins the prize of much kudos!
Congratulations!
However, don’t despair. If you do complete HP, email me the transcript, and you will go into the Hall of Fame. Immortalized forever on IFDB.
McT
Has anyone else got “illegal object number” for every single item? I had to restart a few times in order to get it to display properly. No object names were listed, they were all “illegal object number etcetcetc”, and the game didn’t even tell me that there was a box of parts and some shelves in the room. I thought this was part of the puzzle until I restarted a couple of times.
Check the screenie to see what I mean. Disregard the superimposed text, that’s the bug I took the screenie off to report as an iFrotz issue, but notice the “room name”.
Hey, thanks a bunch! I can’t reproduce it anymore, but there’s enough info in that bug report for me to report it myself! Cheers!
So I’ve been taking another crack at this now that it’s a XYZZY finalist, and I thought I’d throw out a few yes/no questions that Ade or the solvers might choose to answer to mercifully help get me unstuck…
The floor: DIG FLOOR indicates that I can’t with bare hands. Is there a way to make a tool that can dig the floor or am I on the wrong track?
The paddles: Is the fact that the paddle “plays” and the second paddle “splays” significant, or a typo?
Measurements: Are any of the item measurements important? The various different units (metres, feet, inches, hands…) makes me think it’s just meant to be humor. The numbers don’t seem to be indicating anything useful, either as a code or as an actual spatial visualization aid. Or should I think about this some more?
The tape: Is there any way to tape two things together? Or do anything other than simply ATTACH the tape to exactly one thing?
Attaching: Is there anything else that can be ATTACHed besides the tape and the frame/rod lever?
Meta: Does the solution require exploiting any of the “ridiculous” un-beta-tested behavior (like putting a garage door into a small hole), or does it all make physical sense in the given virtual world?
Easter egg: The frame is M shaped, the staples are C shaped, the crossbar is T shaped… That spells McT. Coincidence?
By the way, I’m playing Release 1 / Serial number 151117. Was there ever a later release?
FYI, I have now finished the game thanks to some hints from the author in private conversation. I think I shall not say more…
EDIT: and no, there is no newer release.