I Am Not Bored Of Boards

Separated Board Burr Set by Frans de Vreugt

Let me apologise to those misguided souls who visit my site every Sunday expecting another new page of drivel. Unfortunately, I had to work at the weekend and just didn't manage to have time to solve and write anything. Luckily, today is a public holiday, I'm off, and can quickly write something. Not that I'm going to show anything that I have solved - it's about something I will have a lot of fun with over the next few weeks.

Over the years I have managed to purchase a fabulous collection of burrs and along the way, various friends created burr sets to allow a huge assortment of purrs to be made. I cannot resist a burr set and this new one is the 7th in my collection:

Burr sets with closed boxes

Open Burr sets

Frans has carried out a fairly exhaustive analysis of the board burrs that began with the Zigzag, Torture and Extreme Torture and found a whole bunch more. He felt the misguided urge to create a burr set and prevailed on some friends to print the burr pieces and make a rather beautiful box from Alder. Of course, when he offered me the chance to have one, I had to say yes and it was brought back from the Netherlands by Ali after a visit to Wil. It is stunning!

My first ever board burr was the Gordian's Knot which was a renamed version of Frans' Extreme Torture so that will be one of the first that I make. I don't expect to be able to assemble many from scratch but half the fun for me is creating the Burrtools files.

Wish me luck!

PuzzleMaster Kickstarter Part 2

Trick Bolt #4

Continuing the theme from last week, the PuzzleMaster Kickstarter campaign continues until end of December. Last week I described the 3 new puzzles that are the main feature but there are also 3 add-on puzzles that can be added to any order on the Kickstarter for a fraction of the cost on the PuzzleMaster site.

Starting with the Trick Bolt number 4 which is available as an add-on for just $8CAD compared with the $14.99 on their site. The aim is to remove the middle nut from the bolt. This is a lovely little challenge that is fun for any experienced puzzler as well as great for a beginner and children - it is rated as Tricky or level 6 on their 5 to 10 scale of difficulty. There are a couple of lovely little Aha! moments in it. This could probably be considered a rather basic sequential discovery puzzle. For $8 you really cannot go wrong. I will be taking this to work with me to encourage my colleagues to take up puzzling.

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Celestial Cipher

From the easy Trick Bolt 4 we move up a notch in difficulty. In fact we move right up to the top! The Celestial Cipher is an anodised metal 8 piece board burr. It is rather attractive in silver and gold. rather fiddly to play with due to the diminutive size - 4.5 x 2.9 x 4.7cm. PuzzleMaster rate this as a level 9 (Gruelling) on their odd scale and I personally would make it a level 10. The normal price for this one is $21.75CAD but as an add-on to the Kickstarter it is reduced to $16 - that is a steal!

The movement of the pieces is nice and smooth and you can see all the gaps and paths which should make it easier to dismantle but despite this, it is really quite a huge challenge with a good few blind alleys to go down. This one took me quite a few weeks to take apart - not for the fainthearted and only the very best burr-puzzler will manage to reassemble it without Burrtools. I needed BT and discovered that there are 12 possible assemblies raging from an "easy" level 19 (4.2.3.3.2.3.2) up to the hardest level 27 (10.5.3.3.2.3) which is the one that it arrived in. This potentially gives you a bunch of challenges if you can find someone to assemble it each time for you in a new challenge. Unfortunately Mrs S won't do that for me!

As a quick word of warning, don't let you cat lick this puzzle! Yes, I know that is an odd thing to write but my two kittens have a weird fascination with cold metal objects. They lick them all. taps/faucets, metal trivets and metal puzzles! Nothing I do will stop them licking everything which can give aa nasty surprise when you pick up something that is unexpectedly wet and sticky. 😱 The Celestial Cipher became a bit sticky to move and then the surface corroded. I have no idea what is in a cat's saliva that does that but don't let them do that to yours!

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Houdini's Torture Cell - PuzzleMaster version

If you don't have the Houdini's Torture Cell yet then this is a very good reason to join the Kickstarter and buy it for a very reasonable price of $36CAD (reduced from the usual $44.99). If you don't want the Kickstarter puzzles then you should buy this anyway - many of us would consider this an essential puzzle for anyone's collection. I did not get sent a copy of this because they know that I have an original version from Brian Young.

Brian collaborated with PuzzleMaster to recreate this amazing puzzle in metal and the result is stunning. I have payed with it at an MPP and it is good and solid with an amazing heft to it. The puzzling is identical to the wooden version and with a curved acrylic cage it shouldn't suffer from the same micro cracks that plagued the original. The puzzle was good enough to win the Jury first prize in the 2012 IPP design competition. That alone should tell you it is worth getting hold of. 

The mechanism is all on show and beautiful to work out (unlike the complete bugger of an identical blind challenge in the last lock of The Opening Bat. This reminds me that I should fetch out my copy to take to work again and bamboozle a whole new bunch of trainees, surgeons, ODPs and nurses. This is a simply wonderful puzzle!

You have just 16 days from the publication of this article to join the Kickstarter campaign. There are a bunch of great puzzles available and here I have shown that the add-ons are also worth considering.

PuzzleMaster Has An Opportunity For You

Crazy Lock designed by Christoph Lohe

I was contacted a few months ago by Leon Stein, one of the co-owners of PuzzleMaster, to ask whether I would be interested in looking at their upcoming Kickstarter campaign puzzles and would I show them off to the world? Well, I have some experience of the PuzzleMaster Kickstarter puzzles and have heartily recommended them each time. Of course, I agreed. I would be foolish to pass up the new creations and I thought that you, my readers, would want to see my opinion. The Kickstarter is now up and running with a close date of 31st December so if any of these interest you then get over there and place an order. They have reached the minimum to actually go ahead and so this will definitely be happening, with the aim of shipping puzzles to backers in June/July 2026.

This time there are 3 main puzzles in the campaign plus there are 3 add-on puzzles (ones already on the PuzzleMaster store) which can be added to your pledge to get a bit of a discount.

The first one I tried was the Crazy Lock. It's a burr in the shape of a lock - I can't resist burrs, I have a passing fondness for locks and a burr lock is irresistible to me - in fact I have quite a lot of them now. I wasn't disappointed and neither will you be - it is great.

The box states that it is level 8 on the PM 5 to 10 scale and I actually think it should be rated a bit higher at 9. I significantly struggled to dismantle it. The design was made by the late Christoph Lohe and was originally published as Burlock E. 

I have actually solved Burrlock E many many years ago when I bought it from Eric Fuller (he also adored Christoph's designs and always produced great challenges). Way back then I described it as a serious challenge for mere mortal puzzlers like me and it is still that. With a level of 26.2.3.2.2, this has a really significant difficulty to it. It took me about a week to dismantle it and then I was unable to assemble again without Burrtools. Creating the file was a bit of a challenge but at least I was finally able to put it back together again. For those of you who are burr assembly experts, there is an alternative assembly (level 26.3.3.2.2 which has the key hosizontally in the lock at the end. Double the challenge for one puzzle.

Burrlock E from Cubic Dissection (2017)

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Fortress of Shadows by Christoph Lohe

The next puzzle for me to play with was the Fortress of Shadows burr (also by Christoph) it is quite diminutive (1.75 x 1.25 x 1.25") but beautifully made with gold coloured burr pieces trapped inside a black anodised castle with 4 turrets. These turrets very much limited the movements of the pieces. I spent another 2 weeks working on this one. You can see everything that is going on inside but it is still a hugely difficult challenge with level 30.1.2 as the pieces move back and forth progressively making space to allow the first piece out. It looked familiar to me but I couldn't place it properly. I did go back and check my photo database and realised that Pelikan had produced a different version of the puzzle 5 years ago (called Castle) which I had reviewed here - that one had not been terribly difficult but this version is a significant advance in difficulty. 

I would be very impressed by anyone who could assemble it from scratch but I definitely needed a Burrtools file and this was a fun one to make and follow in reverse to fully assembled.

The original Castle by Christoph - similar but different to the Fortress of Shadows

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Twisted Logic by Yavuz Demirrhan

This rather beautiful 4 piece anodised burr looked very familiar to me and, as with all the other puzzles in my collection, I had a vague memory of owning it and solving it once but the process was a mystery to me. Looking back I realised that the original version was a puzzle I had actually solved twice. Chiasma was a design by the amazing Yavuz Demirrhan that PuzzleMaster had made before in a very limited run that I had reviewed back in 2020 and had compared the metal version with the original wooden one from Pelikan. In fact the handmade metal version is still available on the PuzzleMaster site but is not cheap. The newer one will be mass produced for a fraction of that cost.

I recalled that this one had been incredibly difficult. There are 4 identical board burrs that gradually extend apart and then sequentially line up the exit points to allow removal of pieces. I found it very confusing to work on and this is not made easier by the need to prevent the pieces rotating. I don't think there are any rotational shortcuts but it needs you to keep the pieces aligned to move them around safely. It's quite fun to explore but I would suggest that you use a back and forth approach to make sure that you know what you have done as it's easy to get lost. At one point I had the pieces quite extended apart from each other and in a dead end and struggled to return to the beginning. The rather low solution level of 16.4.6 would sort of imply that it shouldn't be too hard but don't be fooled - it is a huge challenge to move around, control the pieces and keep track. The solution is really not obvious. 

Chiasma - Pelikan version

Chiasma - original PM version

I will return next week with a review of the add-on puzzles from the Kickstarter campaign - this is definitely well worth inverting in. They are great challenges, beautifully made and an amazing price.

Is There No End To His Talents?

Dovetail Bar by Richard Williams

The various members of the MPP brigade seem to have a variety of skillz which we have revealed to the puzzling world either deliberately or inadvertently over the last 14 odd years - at the last MPP Ali was reminiscing about how long ago the whole thing was started and who was there. I think I joined at MPP 4 or 5.

I, of course, have revealed to the world that I like to write drivel and unfortunately have also shown the world that I am rubbish at puzzles in the process of writing said drivel. Louis has shown us all that he is a puzzle solving machine and that there seems to be nothing that he cannot figure out (although I've never seen him do a twisty). Allard has revealed that he has impeccable taste in puzzles but needs the assistance of Louis to actually solve the bloody things. Big Steve brings chaos and destruction wherever he goes and usually leaves a trail of puzzles in pieces or incorrectly assembled with other pieces hidden inside (I'm never bringing my happiness cubes anywhere near him ever again!) and his partner in crime/puzzles, Ali seems to be able to solve pretty much anything put in front of him. There puzzle design creativity has a whole store now and has received me of a decent amount of cash. Of course, we cannot forget Shane as you can hear him several miles before you can see him - his skill with locks is amazing! 

Over the last few years, Richard Williams has joined the group and we all seem to know him as an incredible burr talent. He seems to be able to do the impossible by assembling burrs from just a pile of pieces (only the late and dearly missed Laurie had anywhere near that talent). Since his purchase of a 3D printer he has begun to design puzzles at an alarming rate. Today I am going to focus on 3 that I obtained at the last MPP (number LCIIIIX - looking that Roman numeral up in Google reveals it to be a nonsense number so I must have imagined the gathering.

The Dovetail Bar was one that I purchased knowing almost nothing about it apart from the fact that Ali was sitting next to me with a few pieces of it in his hands and marvelling at the mechanism. If Ali is enthusiastic then that's enough for me! A few of the UK's finest plastic banknotes were exchanged and I received the Dovetail Bar as well as the Basket burr (see later in the post).

I didn't attempt the puzzle until a day or so after I got back from the party. I had to hide most of my acquisitions from the present Mrs S for fear of reprisals (Whack! Ouch! sorry dear). 

This delightful challenge consists of a small red plastic rectangle 60 x 40 x 15mm in size which is split into a top ¼ and a bottom ¾ held together by a dovetail joint and with a black bolt screwed into the larger part. It rattles enticingly and the top part wiggles a couple of mm each way but no further - this is the case no matter which way the puzzle is held. After trying this there is not much else to do other than unscrew the bolts. As each one is unscrewed there is a little catching of something inside but nothing new is possible and once that catch is overcome, there is a little noise as something moves. Removing first one bolt doesn't let the dovetail slide and then unscrewing the other one similarly makes noises but doesn't help with movement either. At this point, with not many options, the bolts go back in and are made to achieve something inside. This was not entirely unexpected as I had already begun to create an internal image of what was in there. Once a couple of internal interactions had been achieved, the dovetail was able to slide partially open and revealed what I had been expecting inside.

A small Aha! but not going any further than that

Having made the puzzle slide this far open, I had a few ideas as to what might be needed next. Now I am sure that almost all of you are screaming at me through your screens that I needed to spin it to align the interior pins properly. That approach has been tried before by very famous puzzle designers but remember the instructions above

"No tapping, no banging, no spinning"

My ideas, at this point,  ran out! I removed the bolts and another tool that I had and slid it back together but at no point would the doevetail ever slide any further than that. depending on the orientation it would move either a few mm or about 15mm (but only inn one direction). Time for a little think©ing. Oddly, the two bolts are slightly different lengths and maybe that is important?

Ali had really been enthusiastic about the mechanism so there must be something quite special inside. I put it back together and left it for the evening and came back to it the following evening after a day's work and thinking. There seemed to be nothing for it other than do do something dangerous and hope it didn't backfire on me. I tried that and that didn't help  but there were other alternatives which needed a little more thought to make possible. After another few minutes of fiddling I separated the two pieces and could see the locking mechanism.

Solved! No spoilers here.

What I couldn't tell was how the damned thing worked! I had a few pieces now and the reason why it would wiggle a bit and then move 15mm only was obvious and ingenious but it was not clear what I had done to actually make it slide apart this time. With the innards visible, it was possible to play with the various pieces to see what was going on inside and the mechanism is really quite clever. I don't think I've seen it done before.

Resetting it takes a bit more thought and it is still a bit of a challenge to open again. We all think of Rich as a "burr meister" but here he has revealed that he is that and a whole lot more! If you get a chance to buy a copy or even just play with it for half an hour then you should definitely go for it. It's not too difficult but the Aha! moment is wonderful - I now understand Ali's delight.

The Tetrahedral burr

This made an appearance at the previous MPP and I had a little fiddle then but did not dismantle it. The copy above is the original which Rich gave to me because he had made another copy with some improvements that were able to get rid of the slight gaps visible above. It looks like an assembly puzzle with shapes that need to be stacked onto each other to make a multi-coloured tetrahedron. It certainly could be an assembly puzzle but its classification is actually different. It is, in reality, a "standard" 6-piece burr!

Its "just" a Ghost 4x4
A standard cube made much more confusing

Yes, Rich has taken a standard burr (I don't actually know whether it is one of the well known ones) and used the 3D printing software to add extensions to the burr sticks so that they form a different end shape. The process has been made even more challenging by reading the extensions in such a way that the orientation of the interior burr is now off centre. This process is well known in the twisty puzzle world as "ghosting" - it takes a standard shape, rotates layers and then adds pieces to make the rotated puzzle back into the cube shape.

So we have a shape with odd pieces that do move linearly but not along any of the axes of the tetrahedron and they interact with each other just as many burr puzzles do but in a much more confusing manner! Because it's a 6-piece burr, there aren't actually many false passages but I found it very hard to keep track of what was moving where and did very much need to rely on my back and forth approach. At some point it splits apart and I decided that I would make a video for myself and a sequence of still photos to ensure that I didn't get stuck with a pile of pieces. Having done that, I carried on and disassembled the 2 halves and took my photo:

OMG it looks so innocuous 
You can see the burr shape inside

I scrambled the pieces and left them for a while. I don't think that this can be modelled in Burrtools as a tetrahedron - of course, the internal burr can but that won't help me solve the puzzle. The reassembly took me over an hour! Had I not known the rough arrangements of the two halves, there would be no way that I could solve it but with the little knowledge I had and a very slight recollection of the moves needed, I could reassemble. The process is huge fun! Another one for all of you to try - even those of you who aren't in to burrs will find this one different enough to interest you.

Basket burr

Another of Rich's designs which was shown off at two successive MPPs. The basket burr is reminiscent of the Akaki's Basket packing puzzles (I only have the wooden ones from Cubic Dissection but wish I had the whole set). This is another "standard" 6-piece burr in a frame which forms the bottom part of a basket. I have adored, framed or caged burrs for many years and have so many that I can't even estimate how many. Some of the 12 piece caged burrs are incredibly difficult and §i haven't solved them all but the 6 piece ones are fascinating and usually more achievable. To my shame, I have never managed to disassemble the Congestion burr. 

Rich's Basket burr is very achievable as a disassembly puzzle being level 21 (12.1.1.1.4.2) and the assembly would be impossible for me without having some idea of the process of disassembly first. Of course, Burrtools is a help and an essential part of any burr for me and I was very surprised to find that there were 64 different solutions but the colour scheme chosen by Rich ensures that the most difficult one is the one to aim for. I now need to work on finding some other assemblies - this could take me quite some time!

Very clever discovery by Rich

There seems to be absolutely no end to his talents! I cannot wait to see what he comes up with next. Thanks mate, for a really fun week of puzzling!

A Huge Selection Of Pelikans!

Upcoming release from Pelikan

Couldn't fit into the grid 

A rather large box arrived earlier this week and an annoyed Mrs S muttered "not again" to me. I gritted my teeth, kept my head down and promised not to leave them lying around once I had solved them (there is a rather embarrassing number of puzzles just strewn all over the house just now and I need to put some away before there's a bloodbath in PuzzleMad HQ.

This time there is a huge selection of puzzles from your favourite designers and a variety of different types of puzzle with varying difficulty levels to suit everyone. 

From top left above:

Zack Die Krone by Stephan Baumegger (2 versions available)

The Horns of Booth by Dr Volker Latussek

PSI by Girish Sharma

5 Balls by Frederic Boucher

One Match Left by Jorgos Anastasou

Serial Square NTC by Lucie Pauwels

LOL by Frederic Boucher

Sam Duo by Frederic Boucher

Heavy Lifter by Girish Sharma

Yes U Can by Frederic Boucher pictured separately

Jakub has asked for me to give some reviews as quickly as possible and so I will be spreading them over two weekends of blogs. Expect them to go on sale quite soon.

Zack Die Krone

There will be 2 versions of Zack Die Krone by Stephan Baumegger, both are absolutely beautiful. This fabulous puzzle is not for the faint-hearted. When I first picked it up, I thought it was a 6 piece burr in a frame and expected a huge struggle as a result. When I had a closer look I was relieved to see that it is "just" a mere 3 piece burr within a cage that has a big hole in the top. How hard could it be? OMG, it is a serious challenge!

There are a few possible moves at first but after that the possibilities open up quite a bit as there is plenty of space to look at what is happening and also plenty of space to move the pieces around each other an around the frame. Initially the frame really gets in the way of what you want to do but after a bit of fiddling a way method of getting around it can be found. Once this has been done, you will need to carefully control the pieces as they appear to become quite unstable. Rotations won't happen easily but are possible and you will need to prevent that. I managed to unlink one side of a piece from the others and then got very badly stuck being completely unable to progress and needed to backtrack to the beginning again. Luckily, I found that it's usually pretty easy to backtrack if you paid attention but I dare say some of you might get lost at some point.

I remained stuck at the same position for a whole evening before I managed to find a possible move. It's a huge advantage being able to see more or less everything that is going on and sort of planning what you can do. With great satisfaction I found a path to release a piece from both the others and then a simple matter of releasing it from the frame. I had my 4 pieces and could take a photo. At level 21.8.3 for the complete disassembly, this is a huge challenge for anyone and only the very best of you will be able to reassemble it without Burrtools (I certainly needed it)

An incredible challenge The magnets hold it stable when assembled

One Match Left 

Looks just like a matchbox

As expected - one match inside

A new designer I've not heard of before, Jorgos Anastasou seems to have been designing for a few years but this is the first of his that has been mass produced. This beautiful cute little puzzle is made to look like a matchbox (very reminiscent of the matchbox playground from last year). It's made of Jatoba, Wenge, Maple & Cherry. Only two of the woods are visible from the outside of the box. There appear to be two but pieces inside the box which can slide and reveal a lovely little single match left in the box (hence the name). 

After six moves the match can come out but the tray formed by the two but pieces still won't slide out. A further 7 moves leads to one more part removal and a further 2 to complete disassembly. It's not terribly difficult but it's lovely and really quite cute. I suggest that you leave the pieces for a couple of days before attempting the reassembly. It will keep you nicely for a little while. Not hard but just right for a little light puzzling.  Indeed, Jorgos wrote about it:

"Sometimes the simple things can be the most enjoyable! The "One Match Left" is a moderately difficult level 6.7.2 disassembly challenge with a unique solution reassembly. It's fun to determine the position of the small match piece trapped inside the seven unit burr pieces and frame. Τhanks to Pelican for making my design a reality with their high quality construction and materials! Have fun!"

He's right, it is a simple thing compared to may others that have been made but it is a delight and very beautiful.

Leave it for a few days and assemble from scratch

Heavy Lifter

Arrives incorrectly assembled

5 pieces

This wonderful interlocking 4x4x4 cube puzzle is by the amazing Girish Sharma. It has been stunningly produced in some lovely woods - Zebrano, Acacia, Wenge, Maple and Massaranduba. It has been incorrectly assembled for transport and quickly comes apart into 4 rather complex shapes and an L. I did not receive any instructions and from the start assumed that it was a TIC. As a result, I set to work looking for the position of all the pieces and then rotational moves to get them interlocked. The process took me about an hour whilst watching TV with Mrs S. It was really very satisfying to work it out and seat the pieces into place. I was so delighted that I did it repeatedly that evening. 

The following day I got my instructions from Jakub and was stunned to realise that it was not meant as a TIC...he wrote:

"Over the last few months, I have been tinkering with the idea of high level 4x4x4 IC which form a full visible cube. So far, I've known the highest level to be 11 by a few designers. The challenge I took on myself was to design something with a higher level. This is first of the many designs that I have coming up in future. 

Heavy Lifter is a level 12.2.2.2 IC with 5 pieces. The puzzle comes disassembled and the goal is to assemble the pieces into a 4x4x4 cube. Once you have assembled the cube, you might realise the importance of the name of the puzzle."

Amazingly, it was actually an interlocking cube very similar to many of the wonderful Microcubology puzzles I bought way back at the beginning of my puzzling odyssey but MUCH MUCH tougher. The following evening, I just had to try again and do it without the rotations. This was a huge challenge as the TIC part had given me some preconceived ideas that I needed to get rid of. Girish has created an absolute monster of an interlocking cube which is absolutely wonderful to work on. The "proper solution" took me well over an hour and was joyous - this might well be my absolute favourite of the bunch.

This was an absolute joy to solve

LOL

Laugh out loud?

This made me laugh when I managed it

How can anyone resist a new puzzle designed by Frederic Boucher. I certainly can't and if it's called LOL then there is guaranteed to be something sprecial about it. This puzzle is very reminiscent of the Galette by Osanori Yanamoto in that there is a small flat box with a limited entry and a set of pieces to insert inside. There's no window in the front so it will all need to be done with dexterity and gravity along with quite a lot of thought. The puzzle is beautifully made from Jatoba and Cherry with the puzzle name on the surface which I think might be Marquetry (it's something I've never seen from Jakub before). 

The 5 simple pieces are to be put inside to make a 4x5 voxel rectangle. It's made more complex by the fact that the largest piece can't even fit through the 2 voxel opening - it requires a rotation to get inside and maybe there will be rotations needed inside the box without easy access?

There seem to be only a limited number of ways to create the rectangle and some of them are quite obviously impossible. I found a couple that potentially might be possible but finding a way to get them in the box is a huge challenge. The pieces block each other from getting into position and manipulating them through the tiny entrance hole is a frustratingly difficult experience. At one point I had a really good idea and it worked. But then the next step wouldn't work at all and I had a mini heart attack trying to undo the first supposedly good idea. It took me a good 30 minutes to get the pieces all out again and calm myself down.  There had been quite a lot of swearing during that process and Mrs S kept glaring at me! Having retrieved all the pieces I had a little think© and found myself trying to do the same thing over and over again. At one point, a little experiment with the pieces revealed a very subtle design element and yes, thank you Frederic, I did laugh out loud. A few minutes later I had my assembled puzzle:

Phew! That took a while.

Subsequently I received the instructions and found there was another challenge to be had:

Frederic wrote about it:

"LOL is an assembly puzzle with a very simple goal: Assemble the five pieces to make the acronym LOL, respecting the following rule: the 3 characters must have the same size (height and width). Will you discover the trick and succeed in the challenge? Exclusively for the PELIKAN version, a box is included. As a second challenge you must pack the pieces completely into the box. I hope this puzzle will make you laugh out loud!"

It appeared that I had only done the secondary challenge. The primary challenge still awaited me. This took me another hour or so yesterday and the important thing is to assemble the letters standing up on a flat surface. There is a very special trick that has had be done during the manufacture of the pieces to make it work. Another laugh out loud moment!

Sierpinski's Burr

Sierpinski's Burr by Tyler Hudson

Finally for today, I have a wonderful caged 6 piece burr from Tyler. He has been quite prolific over the last few years and has designed several different kinds of puzzle. This is a caged 6 piece burr which has had 2 opposite corners chopped off to allow quite a lot more freedom of movement for the burr sticks. It really adds to the challenge and allows it to reach quite a high level. I loved it but it might be too difficult for many of you if you are nor big burr fans. It has been beautifully made by Jakub and Jaroslav in Mahogany and Acacia. The angles of all those cuts must have made manufacture a bit of a nightmare to produce but the effort was well worth it. Obviously, it needs disassembly and then reassembly.

Tyler wrote about it:

"Sierpinski's Burr is a variation on the traditional framed 6 piece burr, in which 2 opposing corners have been removed. The resulting shape is one I hope you find quite interesting! It adds a few extra moves to the puzzle, and also provides small windows through which possible moves can be deduced. At level 40, it may sound a bit daunting, but keeping track of the solve is manageable, without too many dead ends. I don't think this one will be the hardest burr out there, but it should be a lot of fun to work out. Of course, the puzzle is named after the Sierpiński Triangle, which the triangular faces of the burr resemble. Pelikan's build of my design adds a lovely tactile feel, as well as being a beautiful wood combination. I hope people enjoy it! :)"

He is absolutely right! This is a huge challenge but is definitely manageable.there is a particular sequence that recurs several times and each time it is done it allows further progression before being undone and moving other pieces. The entire disassembly is level 40.6.3.1.2.2 so once the first piece is out then the rest will follow quite easily by looking inside and working out what is possible. 

A fabulous burr

Having taken my photo there was absolutely no way I could reassemble it myself and off to Burrtools I went. So much fun in one small cube! 

I have only had 5 days with the puzzles so far and managed to solve 5 of them in that time. I plan to work on the rest for next Sunday - come back for them.

My pick from this bunch is the Heavy Lifter and the LOL puzzle but all are absolutely fantastic!

Oops! I Did It Again!

Happy New Year Everyone 

Tornado Burr from Juno

It has been a very long time since I bought anything from Juno. I missed out on the fabulous Hippo puzzle due to cash flow issues and he has been quite quiescent recently whilst carrying out house renovations. But...he has found time to create some new unique burrs. I couldn't resist them and the flight around the world with them on was the fastest I've ever seen! Mrs S was really unimpressed to see 3 packages arrive in 2 days. The first was the parcel from Juno and Yukari along with a package of a "second" quality Xmas tree from Dee Dixon and then there was a rather large box from Alex Magyarics - I think he is intending me to suffer a painful death from a blunt teaspoon at the hands of Mrs S. She can scoop at parts of anatomy with the teaspoon and cause intense pain and harm as well as death should the fancy take her. Note that we only allow blunt teaspoons in the house as I wouldn't want the damage to be done without at least some effort on her part so that she has to think about it before inflicting it.

We have LOT of toys from Alex - I hope that I can solve just one or two (if I survive)
He is an evil genius wholeheartedly has been equipped with a 3D printer and let loose on the world 

The Tornado burr is not actually a new creation. The original was made by Brian Young in 2008 before I started my puzzle madness. There is a video of Brian making pieces on YouTube and the sheer amount of work is incredible. This does explain why this burr is not particularly cheap. For the workmanship in it, it's a bargain. Brian wrote this about it:

"This ingenious burr was designed by Junichi in May 2007 with “head and hands; no computer”. Junichi had the idea for a multiple rotational movement but did not get to finally apply it to a puzzle until he came up with the Tornado Burr.

People often ask puzzle designers “What was going on in your head to design this puzzle?” What was going on in Junichi’s head when he designed the Tornado Burr? Visualising things going up and down and back and forth at the same time is one thing, but things going up and down, back and forth and around as well is quite another! Junichi says the Tornado Burr “has very eccentric movements” and challenges puzzlers to “Try your luck, and stop this fierce tornado.”

Needless to say this puzzle is not solvable in any computer program that we know of.

This interlocking burr puzzle was recognised for its innovation, design and the amazing puzzle solving experience it provides in the 2007 Nob Yoshigahara Design Competition with an Honourable Mention. Until Brian tackled his Limited Edition of this burr the puzzle had not been commercially available and now Brian knows why. Making the jigs, the number of and complexity of them, was more difficult than making the puzzle itself. As well as conventional check-outs there are routed check-outs and a further 16 sections that must be hand-turned on a lathe."

After reading this, who could resist such a fabulous challenge? I took my photos and put it down to explore. To be honest, I had not seen anything like this before. It very much reminded me of the Kamikaze burr that I bought years ago which also cannot be solved by computer but is coordinate motion rather than rotational.

Pushing and pulling at the sticks immediately reveals that this is not even close to the right approach. After fiddling with it a little bit, the pieces sort of settled into a shape that would give a hint of the approach. I should have realised from the name - what does a Tornado do? It spins!

The pieces just settled like this
A strong sense of foreboding hit me!

Having seen this movement begin of its' own accord, I felt that it was my duty to continue it and the whole thing very rapidly gets warped out of cubic shape. Having moved some pieces (I was very careful to ensure all 4 moved at the amenities time),  I realised that is they were turned enough then it would free up others to also turn. OK, challenge accepted! 

OMG! I backtracked very quickly at that point as the puzzle became very distorted and pieces started to move independently of each other. It was very stable, there was no chance it was going to just fall apart but it became obvious that I needed to concentrate and be aware of what I was doing. The intrepid puzzler started again and very rapidly got himself into trouble - somehow I had turned one of the sticks 90º independently of the others in the same plane and then nothing else was possible. It took me a while to realise what I had done and attempt to backtrack. The heart stopping moment where I realised that the solo rotated piece could not be returned in synch with the others stopped me a bit and in ever increasing panic I tried various moves to extend the gaps that appeared to allow the piece to turn back. Only after about an hour of swearing at myself did I manage to get it back to the start and calm my nerves again. It's very exciting stuff this puzzling isn't it? Why to I scare the crap out of myself so often?

After a rest for an hour or so, I started again and found a combination of moves that seemed to open up the grooves a little bit. A little bit of shookelling about (it's a Scottish term) and I had a wonderful Aha! moment. Oh that moment was wonderful - I took a photo and jiggled the puzzle only to have a slow motion moment of horror! I had a whole lot of pieces in a pile and only a vague idea where they should be. Bugger! Having reached that point and gone beyond the point of no return, I pushed everything together for a couple of photos and now I am wondering what to do next.

Aargh!

Look at the workmanship in those pieces!

It's always good to see Juno's mark.

This reminds me very much of the situation from July 2023 when I thought it was a really good idea to dismantle the Euroka puzzle (also from Juno). I ended up with a pile of pieces and absolutely no idea how to reassemble it. I did get sent a video of Juno showing the assembly but I cannot for the life of me manage it and it remains in a bag as a puzzle to be attempted soon. It is so important that it is in my current to be solved pile in the conservatory. It really needs to go back together and displayed. Sigh, one day maybe!

Euroka

Oops! That was stupid

I really hope that the Tornado burr doesn't end up next to the Euroka over here:

The white bag of shame!

Thank you Juno for the fabulously beautiful puzzles, for the wonderful Aha! moment and also for showing me up yet again!