Does Being Married Decrease Your Solving Ability?

Tortoise Protocol from Juno

Well! That was an inflammatory thing to write as a title! It might earn me a Whack! Ouch! but probably not as she never looks at my site. If one of you rats me out then I'll be very upset with you.

The reason for the title is that I have nothing solved to write about due to a combination of work (catching up after some annual leave has left me little time) and having a better half who insists on decorating the house periodically seems to get in the way of puzzling. Yes, she doesn't make me actually do the decorating but its the moving everything around from room to room and forcing me to tidy up my piles (yes, multiple) of puzzles to be solved gets in the way.

Then, it just happened to be our 31st wedding anniversary yesterday and that involved something really special and really time consuming - kittens! I married a crazy cat lady and we got our first cats 28 years ago in an attempt to prevent the further multiplication of cat pictures, porcelain cats, stone cats etc. It didn't really work very well as they still proliferated but at a slightly slower rate. Our last feline friend died last year and after a little break to get over it she decided (and yes, I did not disagree) that more were required. So, when the most international MPP of the year went ahead, I drove with a happy Mrs S to pick up Amenadiel and Mazikeen (I am sure you can work out where those names came from). I cannot leave much lying around for fear of it being chewed or batted around the kitchen floor and also have been "forced" to spend some time in the company of the crazy cat lady and her cats. It has been quite refreshing.

I have attempted some puzzling and made some progress but not much. My copy of Tortoise Protocol from Juno arrived and I have been working on it. Just as with the Hippo, you have to do some truly awful things to the poor tortoise but progress was being made...until it wasn't. I have found lots of pieces and things that happen but I've been stuck at a critical point for a week. Sigh!

The Clutch lock from Andrew Coles has been in my pile for weeks and weeks - I have made some real progress in that the lock is open - I am not entirely sure why but now it will not lock properly. Actually it will lock but I cannot remove the damn key. He's a devious bugger that Mr Coles as I have mentioned before. Allard has discussed this lock recently and loved it - I am not very bright and hopefully will love it in a year or 3 when I understand it. You should love it soon when he puts them up for sale.

How does being married interfere with this? She got very upset with the constant muttering and the loud click, clunk noises I was making as I repeatedly opened and closed the bloody thing.

The day before our wedding anniversary, a nice compact box arrived from China. It had some puzzles in it that I was hesitant to tell "her" about until she was in a very good mood. My latest batch from Aaron Wang arrived and, GULP, they are noisy jingly things! I'm hoping the cats love the sound and that will give me an excuse to play without being shouted at.

Trumpet

Double-Barre

These two named after musical instruments are "just" level 8 out of 10. I have started with Trumpet yesterday and today and after an hour, I wonder whether Aaron is a superhuman being. These are the easy ones and I still can't do them!

Luckily for me the cats are fascinated by the jingling!

Circuit Board I

Circuit Board II

These two are level 10 and look ferocious. I wasn't going to buy them but Aaron insisted that the solutions were truly something special and I would love them. I am sure he is right but I do not know if I will ever find the solution!

Grenade V

Grenade VI

I have no idea why I bought these! I guess it was to complete the set. I do own the Grenade I - IV as well and as far as I remember have only saved one of them! They are impossibly tough but they really are wonderful to look at. I did have a forlorn hope that maybe without string they might be less impossible? Doh!

French Horn

Galaxy I

Another music themed one but this time level 10 and something that looks like it will be in a knot in no time and with no quick release mechanism that may stay that way. Aargh!

Concertina Wire

Sweet Hug

I absolutely adore these wire puzzles with a base. They tend to be very N-ary but the complexity of the interlocking rings can make these incredibly difficult to follow the solution and I often find myself either hopelessly lost or back at the beginning. Some have some very complex movements which I am never able to find. These looked like the two most straightforward ones from the current batch - I have hope even if it's just a faint one!

Summer in the Xiaoshang Bridge

This is one of a series of four designed by Aaron himself. Looking at the picture, maybe I stand a small chance at solving it despite the level 10!

If you want some of these wire puzzles then some may still be available - contact Aaron via FB or via me.

Hopefully I will have a bit more time and success this week.