OMG! Sooo beautiful - Plus one more that I couldn't easily arrange as I
am in mid solve
I have been lucky enough yet again to get advance access to the latest creations
from Jakub and Jaroslav's amazing
Pelikan factory. This time we have 8 incredibly beautiful challenges varying from the simple
and quirky to the unbelievably difficult. There is something for everyone
here.
Luckily for me they arrived in 2 batches. The first 6 arrived 2 weeks ago with
a warning not to write anything yet due to delays of the whole release caused
by sickness. This certainly made it a little less fraught for me and I have
solved those first ones in a leisurely fashion over that 2 weeks. Then
unexpectedly another 3 arrived with a request that Jakub would like the
solutions as soon as possible. I have been feverishly trying to solve 3 of the
hardest ones in the week. There is something for everyone here - if you like
burrs then there is something from easy to challenging but fun right up to the
OMG difficult. Packing puzzles as well with something that I managed fairly
easily to another that is fabulous but really tough.
On we go:
Imogen's Cube
Imogen's Cube by
Alfons Eyckmans Incredible design and
incredible manufacture
Imogen's cube is one of Alfons Eyckmans amazing interlocking cubic designs which
he names after significant people - this one was designed and named for the
daughter of a puzzling friend. I had already bought this one from Alfons several
years ago and have so far failed to dismantle it. I was astounded when I took
this out of the box! It is stunningly beautiful made from multiple hardwoods.
There is a frame and several interlocking sticks crossing each axis of the
puzzle with 4 crossing one direction, 3 in another and 2 the final one. There is
a lot of movement in this right from the very beginning and I have managed to
get myself lost several times during my to and fro approach to solving these. On
several occasions I have found myself with a stick a long way out and nowhere to
go but then unable to work out how to get it back in again. The solution level
is not astoundingly high but the sheer amount of movement and blind ends seems
to have made this really tough for me. In fact I have yet to solve it. For those
of you who are really keen on burrs/interlocking solids or those of you who want
something truly gorgeous for the display then this will be a must have.
Another incredible design showing the skills of Alfons. This seems to be
something new from him. I have seen him design a number of interlocking cubes
and various burrs over the years but I have not really seen him spend much time
on a rather special and enjoyable type of 6 piece burr. These have the sticks
based on a 3x3x8 voxel grid which allows the construction of the obstructing
marts to be much more intricate and more like a maze to navigate. The first one
like this was the
Dracula
from the
last release (which is still in stock). This has been beautifully crafted from Acacia
with a lovely grain. The exploration is fun and with a level 10.3.2 the
disassembly is fun without being too difficult. For those of you with some real
burr skill, I definitely recommend scrambling the pieces and after a break
attempting a reassembly. It is tough but even I managed it with only a medium
struggle.
This delightful little packing puzzle by the amazing Lucie Pauwels really packs
quite a punch. It is surprisingly heavy for its' size (85x36x46mm) which I
presume is due to the density of the Jatoba box. The pieces are made from Wenge
and there is a beautifully made pin made withMaple and Bubinga. The pieces are a
small subset of the Soma pieces with 4 of them having a hole drilled through.
The aim is to assemble the pieces inside the box leaving space for the pin to be
poked though the hole into the piece which lines up with it. There are obvious 4
different solutions depending on which piece you wish to pierce. I found this a
delightful little challenge to try in the evenings and finding the final one
took me a surprising amount of time (but then I am usually terrible at packing
puzzles). This is a lovely puzzle for beginners and experienced puzzlers alike.
Just one solution
Lucie has contacted me free I posted this to correct me and tell me the true aim:
"The goal of the Pin-Up Box is to pack everything inside and fix with the pin, in a way that nothing drops out when you hold the box upside down. Four pieces with a pin-hole, each giving a solution."
Time to try again!
Turtles
Turtles designed by our very own Jakub
This one is very cute. Jakub decided that he wanted to turn his hand to puzzle
design himself and created something delightful. Turtles reminds me of the
Bison puzzle from Xmas 2021 - it is a sequentially interlocking puzzle created from
Wenge and Acacia. The secret is to find the way to remove the first piece and
then it will serially disassemble. In the end you are left with a bunch of
rather interesting pieces and a genuine laugh out loud moment when you
suddenly realise what the guys have done. When I showed Mrs S, even she was
delighted with the end result. It is not a difficult puzzle but it is
genuinely delightful.
There seems to be no end to the design skills shown by Christoph Lohe. His
interlocking/burr puzzles are always relatively simple in basic outline shape
but the design of the solution is always a wonderful and very fun challenge.
Over the years he has produced a bunch of burrs with frames and they have all
been brilliant. I think that the Timburr (beautifully recreated here by Jakub
from Purpleheart, Padauk, Wenge and Ash) is one of his very best designs. The
solution level is a very high 31.3.1.3.3.3 which is astonishing for just
a 6 piece burr. Despite the high level and a fair number of dead ends at
first, finding the pathway is a pleasant exploration and has 2 or 3 lovely
Aha! moments in the process. It took me a couple of evenings to dismantle it.
It looks so simple!
Unfortunately for me, having balanced the pieces on my cat as I sequentially
removed them, he rolled over and they all slid off into a pile. Despite this, I
was actually able to reassemble the puzzle from scratch with only a couple of
days attempting to place the pieces the wrong way around. I found the reassembly
challenge even more fun than the initial disassembly (although I very much doubt
I could have managed it without having done that first). This puzzle is simply
fabulous - one of my favourites in this batch.
Cerberus
Cerberus by Girish Sharma
Girish is a relatively new name to me. I noticed that he suddenly appeared in
the
IPP design competition winners list
this year with what looks like either a TIC or sequentially interlocking cube
puzzle. Here we have another interlocking cube puzzle made from Wenge, Padauk,
Acacia and Maple. I have always adored these puzzles ever since I got hooked
by Richard Gain's
microcubology puzzles way back at the beginning of my puzzling career. Initially, I could
only disassemble them and over the years got better and better and even enjoy
them as assembly puzzles. One of my all time favourite interlocking puzzles is
one of Juha Levonen's designs - the Juha's 12. This puzzle has a special piece
which marches up and down through the other pieces during the solve process
and is absolutely wonderful to play with. The Cerberus by Girish left me with
a similar feeling. The pieces move all over the place and one piece in
particular marches through. Once it has been removed (after 25 moves) it takes
another 5 to remove the second and then 4 to finally separate the last 2
pieces:
Absolutely stunning design and beautifully made
This puzzle was probably my absolute favourite from this release. I am really
looking forward to any new creations from Girish in the future.
On Facebook,
Tamás has
been designing and producing some
absolutely incredible challenges
and has worked with Pelikan over the last year to bring them to reality for us
all to enjoy, however, I have not seen him design a packing puzzle before. I was
surprised and delighted to see the Umbrella amongst the latest arrivals. This
packing puzzle has something special which is just what I would expect from
Tamás - all the pieces have a unique box like design which allows them to be
changed into 2 different shapes. The workmanship required to create this puzzle
is astounding - the American Walnut L shaped pieces have a stem and a box round
that stem which slides freely into each of the two positions. All the pieces
need to be placed into the Ash box. There are quite a lot of solutions and it is
a rather delightful soothing process to try and find them. There is always a
single voxel gap inside and I have attempted to find solutions which have that
gap in various different positions. This is a lovely idea and fun for all
experience levels.
The name of this was at the suggestion of Allard who I assume must have helped
with some prototyping. This name is much better than the original and whilst
the pieces are not hollow, it is a good description of what needs to be done.
Dr Latussek was heavily influenced by the now classic puzzle by Vesa Timonen,
Lox in Box which has cylindrical wooden pieces to be packed into a tray. Volker
with his amazing 3D design skills really wanted to turn this into a more
difficult packing puzzle more than just fitting pieces into a tray. When he
knew that I was going to receive a copy he contacted me with his origin story:
“Place the eight logs into the box.” This is the simple goal of the
wonderful packing puzzle LOX IN BOX by Vesa Timonen. These round rods,
beveled on one side, are just crying out to be twisted out of the plane.
I wanted to find eight round rods that would fit into an open
cube-shaped box. And to do it in a unique arrangement. For this job, I
needed to understand the shape of these round rods. At times I was
convinced a nice mix of eight round rods would fit into the cube in a
particularly clever way, only to learn that by tilting, rotating and
swapping, other fillings could be obtained. Those round beveled rods can
hurt. In the end, a mix of round rods with only two different lengths
won out. Unfortunately, after that, I wondered why I wasn't using my
typical box. A new problem was formulated and an intensive collaboration
with Pelikan ensued.
The result is TUBE IN CUBE. For this, one round rod had to be
shortened. This is not pretty, but in return the round rods unfold their
full beauty in the restricted box, at least the part I was allowed to
discover. If you want to experience the beauty of the round beveled
rods, I highly recommend practising with two rods first and only then
successively increasing the number...and so my story ends as it began:
“Place the eight logs into the box.”
An amazing design and wonderfully brought to life
Volker was not wrong! This puzzle is a fabulous creation and is tremendously
difficult without being impossible. The shapes scream out for experimentation
in pairs and different combinations but assembly outside the box is impossible
because everything is very unstable and rolls all over the place. However,
despite this, you get enough ideas to then start assembling in the box. It is
also a dexterity puzzle - the pieces just do not want to stay in place (in
fact I have really struggled just to get the thing back to the travel
position). As you play, it becomes obvious how the short pieces can interact
and then it is a matter of working out how to get them inside. Lots of
different ideas spring to mind as you play but always the last piece cannot be
inserted - not just because the lid gets in the way, but because there is
simply no room inside for that piece. Eventually there is an incredible Aha!
moment and with a lot of fiddling about the final piece can go inside. The
precision is amazing and they only just fit inside the box. This is also my
pick from the bunch.
Yes, I am sure that this is one of the puzzles that you would expect from the
amazing design brain of Tamás Vanyó! This is the third of his castle
collaborations with Pelikan. I have to admit that I have not had much time to
try this one yet. It consists of 9 pieces to fit on a frame. Each piece has
the same basic structure with a waist that is 2x2 voxels in size which will
fit into the frame and then on either side of that waist are the wonderful
characteristic castle shapes based on a 3x3 grid. This puzzle is not quite as
straightforward as that because they have added an extra twist. There are 8
ways to place the pieces on the frame but the extra challenge is to organise
them in such a way that can walk through the entire castle from START to STOP
(i.e. create one continuous path using both sides of pieces). There is a start
mark on the frame and a small arrow which serves as a sort of "checkpoint"
telling you to flip over as it's on the opposite corner of the start and
end.
So far I have managed to assemble all the pieces on the frame which alone was
a nice fun challenge but I have certainly not gotten anywhere near creating a
path all the way around the puzzle from beginning to end. I think this might
well take me several weeks to complete. The assembled puzzle on the frame
looks like one of
MC Escher's impossible 3D
creations and even unsolved looks beautiful on display.
There are some absolutely amazing puzzles here and all have been created with the precision we have come to expect of Jakub, Jaroslav and their team. You will not be disappointed! My favourites from this batch are:
Cerberus - just for the wonderful progressive movement and because I am addicted to interlocking cubes.
Tube in Cube - Volker does it again and uses a new shape to make something incredibly clever.
Having received the new puzzles from Jakub and Jaroslav, they promptly went on
holiday and I thought I might have had plenty of time to solve and write about
all these wonderful new designs. Oh boy, I was very wrong. Even whilst on
holiday (vacation to the yanks) they still think about all their devoted puzzle
friends and sent me a message asking if I could have a review to them before
Friday 15th. OMG! The pressure is on! I really went for it. This was not made
particularly easy by the fact that there are several difficult packing puzzles
this time and I am terrible at packing puzzles. Many of you will have read my
reviews when they went up on the Pelikan store describing the puzzles - if you
have then no need to read on. I just didn't have time to publish the reviews
with decent photos here until now.
I have not managed to solve them all but I certainly have a review on them all
for you and hope that this helps when you are choosing what you should buy.
Without further ado, on to the puzzles:
I absolutely love this particular subgroup of the interlocking/caged burr
puzzle. A lot of the high piece number caged burrs can be extremely difficult
and quite a few have completely beaten me. There are a small group consisting of
a frame with just 4 burrsticks sitting inside that I really enjoy the process of
exploration and disassembly. The reassembly is a challenge but definitely
possible with such a low number of pieces.
Galaxy
Galaxy Z
Mysterious Galaxy
The master of this type is Osanori Yamamoto who
began my love of these
with the incredible Galaxy, Galaxy Z and Mysterious Galaxy puzzles. This kind
of puzzle can be expanded to make them more difficult and maybe slightly more
interesting (as Dan Fast did with the Stir the Coffee puzzle in the last
release. Osanori has designed a lovely little challenge here which Jakub and
Jaroslav have brought into the world beautifully using Jatoba and Wenge. The
fit is perfect and the exploration is great fun. There are quite a few short
blind ends and it's possible to go in a loop. I got stuck at one point and
could not find the critical move - everything is visible as you progress but
due to the ends being at 90º to each other I found my moves were easily
blocked. After a couple of evenings of play I suddenly found my hidden move
and I was able to take out the first piece.
It's a fun reassembly too
Having disassembled it, I scrambled the pieces and attempted reassembly and
really struggled. I did manage to work out what went where and in what order
but the hidden move that I had found fro the disassembly was also hidden on
the way back to the beginning. Brilliant puzzle which is just the right level
of difficulty and beautifully made.
This absolutely stunning puzzle designed by Alexander Magyarics was sent out to
me fully assembled. I suspect this was done to prevent the captive piece
rattling around in the post and getting damaged. If Pelikan does decide to send
it out assembled then I would very much suggest that you get your significant
other puzzler in your life to take it apart for you and then you treat it as an
assembly puzzle. It is truly gorgeous having been made from Zebrano and Jatoba -
the grain is just stunning! It is also a substantial puzzle in your hands being
an 8cm cube. This size is very welcome so that you can easily get your fingers
inside to manipulate the pieces. There are 3 pieces and the box which has some
pretty big holes in it. Only 2 of those pieces can be removed and the other has
to remain inside.
Insider pieces (the third is captive inside)
The disassembly is a nice little exploration and after that the captive piece
can rattle around into any orientation. This means that as a packing puzzle you
cannot create your shapes outside before working out how to put the pieces back
inside. Mrs S never agrees to play with my puzzles and I dismantled it and
scrambled all 2 of the pieces and left them for several days. As expected
(Alexander had suggested that I do this), the reassembly is a significant
challenge - I am critically dependent on creating my shapes first and working
backwards. This is not possible and I had to try and do it in my feeble mind. It
took me a couple of days before I succeeded and that was only because I
understood the disassembly. If I stared from scratch then I might still be doing
it! Beautiful AND brilliant.
This is one that I will put on display in the assembled form - just
gorgeous!
It made me stop and work out how I could get the awkward pieces inside - there
is only one assembly but there are 2 ways the pieces can be put inside. A really
difficult puzzle for me and will be beautiful on display in the puzzle room.
Lucie Pauwels is well known for designing really clever and fun challenges which
are often variations on a familiar theme which she extends or alters to make
them more interesting. Jakub must have seen how good this was and decided that
we all needed to experience it. He has created a stunner using very vibrant
Padauk and Wenge. In essence this is "just" another Soma variant - take the
simple tri-ominoes and tetrominoes and create a 3x3x3 cube! But, and it's a
really big BUT... Lucie has taken away one of the tetrominoes. Does this
make it easier? Yes, it makes it very easy to create a cube with a 4 voxel gap
in it but the she has made the puzzle MUCH more difficult by giving us a 3x3x3
box to assemble the cube in with a rather restricted opening and that 4th
tetromino is actually fixed into the roof of the box - yes, the roof of the box
is part of the shape. I find this also quite mind-boggling because I cannot
create my complete shape outside the box easily. Having taken the pieces out to
take my photo, I couldn't put any more than 4 of them in and actually needed a
rotation to do that! OMG! This was going to be really tough for a Soma idiot
like me.
"Just" a soma cube? Not for me it wasn't!
It took me several hours to solve this one and a huge sense of achievement. It
is perfect for anyone who really likes to collect all the Soma variants out
there (Haym Hirsh has created quite a few that Brian Menold has made over the
years and they are massive challenges).
This gorgeous construction is another magnificent burr design from Alfons
Eyckmans. This one made from Bubinga and Wenge looks ferociously difficult.
Anything with this number of pieces frightens me but I still cannot resist
them. My fear is always getting badly lost in the disassembly and then being
unable to return to the beginning or make progress. This puzzle is complex but
not so complex as to worry anyone about being unable to make progress. The
reason that Pelikan decided to make this is because it is effectively a 6
piece burr (albeit with stick length of 8 voxels) held within a frame made
from relatively simple burrsticks. I absolutely loved the initial exploration
of the movements as there were not too many available and certainly no chance
of me getting stuck. The first piece takes 25 reasonably logical moves to
release and thereafter the rest of the solution progressed very enjoyably. The
puzzle remained remarkably stable (if a little squishy) even after 6 pieces
had been removed and I eventually managed to remove the entire frame (which
consists of 6 identical versions of two types of piece) and was left with the
5 piece burr intact and remaining to be dismantled.
The pieces look fearsome but it was a really fun disassembly
The reassembly will
definitely require Burrtools but that is half of the fun.
This incredibly striking puzzle is yet another fabulous creation by Tamás
Vanyó. It has been made with Elm to match the pale city that was shown in
Peter Jackson's amazing Lord of the Rings films. Like the Caste builder set in
the previous release, the Minas Tirith is constructed using 2x2xN sized pieces
that fit in a frame which has restrictions in it. Unlike the castle builder
set, the frame actually forms part of the outer wall of the puzzle and greatly
restricts the ability to insert the pieces and means that the order of
insertion is crucial. I have to state that I have not had time to solve this
puzzle. The aim is to create a "city" so that none of the inner rooms are
visible externally and also there is an extra challenge which Pelikan have
added. Once the puzzle has been dismantled you will see a bunch of interior
channels cut within many of the pieces. The aim is to assemble your city so
that the supplied metal ball bearing can be inserted into the hole near the
top and then can navigate the carefully assembled maze so that it can exit the
exterior door after tilting it back and forth in the correct direction. This
will be a huge challenge for any puzzler and will leave you with a stunning
puzzle to put on display afterwards.
So which should you buy? Well all of them of course! I know that most of you cannot buy them all so will state that my favourites are Insider for the extra challenge of the captive piece, Golden Pot because it is just so beautiful and Scrooge because it is still a six piece burr but made more interesting!
Now I had better reassemble Scrooge before a certain cat runs off with a piece or Mrs S chucks them away for cluttering up her kitchen!
Not my photo - this was done for Jakub by
Ivan Danik I unpacked them in a hurry after work and Mrs S was distinctly
unimpressed with 8 puzzles arriving I moved them into my study as
quickly as possible to prevent violence occurring!
I have written this ahead of release date due to work pressures. My goodness
what a week and a bit! Having returned from a week off I have had to pay for it
dearly by working my little butt off - 2 weekends in a row and some late
finishes at work have meant that trying to solve the latest Pelikan release has
been a huge challenge. I have not managed to solve them all yet but I have
beaten 6 in a Herculean effort. Let me say, that effort has been worth it - I
think this might well be the best Pelikan release ever.
We have (from back left):
The Cup designed by Ad van der Schagt (also designed the
Fourfold puzzle)
Onto the puzzles and I will start with the centrepiece which I have not even
attempted yet - it is the pick of the bunch and deserves my full attention
and not a quick fiddle and fail.
Castle Builder Set
Castle Builder Set designed by Tamás Vanyo (made from Oak)
This incredible design and work of art created by Jakub and Jaroslav is a sort
of freeform pattern creating puzzle (I am not actually certain how it should
be
classified). I saw this design from Tamás back in January when he published it on his
FB page and it intrigued me. The beauty and intricacy of the pieces were
unusual and I was hopeful that it might be produced in large numbers for the
puzzling world to try. I was not surprised when Jakub showed it to me - he is
probably the only craftsman that I know who would take on such a huge
production challenge like this.
Even the instructions are beautiful!
The aim is to build a castle with a path from the bottom level to the
top that doesn't involve jumping. This sounds easy and just a matter of
lifting the pieces out of the frame and placing them where you want them.
BUT...whilst each of the pieces trapped in the frame seems to have a 2x2
footprint and looks like they should lift out, they won't actually come out
easily. There is a gap in a corner and they will slide around but this was not
helpful in my early casual play. I remembered the previous framed puzzles that
Pelikan had made and realised that the frame comes apart allowing the pieces
to be slid out and also shows why they are trapped:
The pieces have protruding feet!
From here, it can be seen that the pieces are based on a 3x3 footprint with the
consequence that they cannot lift vertically out of the frame and also means
that constructing your castle requires more thought than just placing the pieces
just where you want them for the stairs and paths to line up. This will need a
fair bit of space to spread out and then some considerable thought to design
your own special castle. I have not yet tried to solve it yet due to time and
space constraints but can't wait to get to it - it will be a fun new challenge
and when finished will look absolutely stunning on display! This will need to go
on the sideboard in my dining room - don't tell Mrs S!
Alexander has taken the puzzle world by storm over the last few years. He has
designed some of the most complex and yet still fun interlocking packing
puzzles I have ever seen and I just cannot resist his stuff. Luckily for us
puzzlers, Jakub also agrees that his designs need to be made available to the
world. The fun thing (just like Osanori-san) is the ability to create
something that looks simple, with only a few pieces which aren't even that
complex but requiring real thought and experimentation to solve. Sliders 2 is
simply amazing but it comes with a warning...it might frighten you too.
When it arrived, the 4 pieces were placed in the 3x3x3 box in such a way that
I seriously struggled to remove them - this was a hint of things to come.
After 5 minutes of swearing and upsetting Mrs S, I got my pieces for the photo
and realised that this was a lot different to the
previous Sliders challenge
(and, I think, better for it). The 2 sliders are identical which means that
the puzzle can be solved in any orientation and interestingly they are held in
place without intruding into the puzzle space - they purely block the entrance
and oh boy, the really block it! The aim is to create a 3x3x3 cube from the 4
pieces and place them such that they completely fill the entrance (there will
be empty cubies below that top face).
Having solved it (with a considerable struggle), I went to Burrtools and found
that there are 21 possible ways to make a 3x3x3 cube but only 9 assemblies
that have a complete face. This is going to take you quite a bit of thought
and I would not be surprised if you need a little hint (I did). Alexander
contacted me before I started to play and told me that...
This took me quite a few hours to solve and is probably my favourite of
this release - it is super difficult, super fun and frightening too. I would
very much suggest that you don't leave this in the solved position for storage
because once you have forgotten the solution the chances of dismantling it
blind without using a Burrtools file is pretty low. Well done Alexander and
Pelikan for a fabulous creation!
Alfons is one of the absolute masters of clever burr designs and he has been
adding more and more puzzles to
Goetz' Burr zoo
over the last few years. This wonderful design which looks like a 10 piece
burr (an unusual number) actually has 2 hidden pieces inside. As the name
implies the external whales and internal whales dance around each other a fair
bit before the puzzle comes apart. It has been gloriously manufactured using
bright vibrant woods (Wenge, Padauk, Purpleheart, Maple and Cherry) and the
attention to detail is stunning - the whales have eyes made with contrasting
dowels that have been shaved flush with the surface. It is this craftsmanship
that brings us back to Pelikan again and again.
The movements of the pieces are smooth with the fit being just tight enough
where needed to keep it stable and the internal whales (which you realise are
there when suddenly a beady eye is looking at you) slide freely as required
using gravity to manipulate them. The initial pathway is a lovely bit of
experimentation without too many false paths and actually seems pretty logical
for the first 15 moves or so. A few of the moves need precise placement of the
pieces first which caused me to be blocked for quite a while - I thought that
I knew what I had to do but it wouldn't work and only after an hour or so of
searching for a hidden path did I realise what I had done wrong before
continuing on my way. About 20 moves in I got stuck...the puzzle was quite
stretched out with several pieces that looked like they should be removable
soon but I just couldn't find the release mechanism. Back and forth I went
before I suddenly found a very lovely compound move involving a bunch of
pieces at once and Aha! The first piece came out. The puzzle has a perfect
challenging level of 27.6.6.2.2.1.1.2 and the removal of pieces 2 and 3
are still a tough challenge despite being only another 6 moves each - the 2nd
and 3rd pieces took me another hour to remove. The pieces remain well held in
place, if a little squishy, as they slide and partially rotate on each other.
There doesn't seem to be any rotational shortcut and even after 3 pieces have
been removed the whole thing stays together without collapsing into a heap.
This was a fabulous challenge, extremely well made and my second favourite of
the bunch.
The whales have been released
Maybe if you are a genius you can assemble it from memory or even work it out.
I will definitely be using Burrtools to put it back together.
Dr Latussek is, quite probably, one of the most clever and interesting puzzle
designers in the world just now. He creates challenges that are much more
involved and require a lot more understanding than most other designers. A
huge number of his designs are too difficult for me because I seem to have a
mental block with certain pattern type challenges and block packing puzzles
but I am aware that many other puzzlers absolutely adore his challenges. I
just wish that my brain worked like his does. It was with considerable
trepidation that I picked up the Soma Squartata from the pile sent by Jakub. I
did not understand the name and once I had removed the pieces from the box
(Volker always instructs a special delivery arrangement), I was extremely
frightened by the complexity of the pieces - this does not look like a Soma
cube! Luckily for me, Volker always sends me extra information when Jakub
sends the puzzles for me to review. This time the extra information included
an explanation of the name and the complex shape of the pieces.
This puzzle IS based on a Soma cube shapes but for each of the pieces of a
soma cube, a quarter has been removed leaving a sort of spindly more complex
shape:
Using just one piece as an example it can be seen how it has been
carved out leaving just a "quartata"
All seven quartered or squartata'd
The aim of this incredible puzzle is, as with all soma cubes, to place the
pieces into a cube formation and back into the box so that the opening is
completely covered. Initially I was very frightened of this because I thought
it might be one of those anti slide type puzzles that Volker seems to love and
my brain doesn't understand. Thankfully, that is not the case. It is "just" an
assembly puzzle with an extra constraint of requiring the top face to be
complete. To me, this was a fabulous fun challenge - it is basically an
interlocking challenge - I have ben enjoying the TICs over the last few years
and this is similar without the rotations. I did find a couple of assemblies
that did not have the completed face and this will be useful for storage. The
requirement of the completed face really adds to the challenge and allows you
to home in on the one unique solution. It took me quite a few hours to find an
assembly that would work but the fun prolonged by the need to place the pieces
in the correct order otherwise the assembly gets blocked. For once, a puzzle
from Dr Latussek that I found challenging and still very possible - a huge
amount of fun which has been beautifully made from Wenge and Acacia by Jakub
and Jaroslav.
Osanori-san designs fabulous packing puzzles which I have reviewed many times
on this blog but he also is very well known for his stunning interlocking
designs that require a very well hidden sequence of moves to dismantle (some
of my favourites have included the various Galaxy puzzles (see
here,
here and
here). This gorgeous
creation in Ash and Wenge has a beautifully edged frame and 4 pieces
interlocked inside. Obviously the aim is to take it apart and this is much
easier said than done.
It becomes clear quite quickly that the name of the puzzle comes from the fact
that the 2 pairs of identical pieces have been arranged symmetrically in
several directions (rotational in the X/Y plane and also in the X/Z plane).
There are quite a few moves possible and I found myself getting stuck several
times in a loop because the symmetry seemed to force me to do something which
the moves on the other side just reversed. After about a ½ hour of fiddling I
suddenly made a breakthrough and found a move that did not seem to force me
round in circles and from there the pieces dance around each other a bit
before finally the first piece can be removed. It is a nice clever sequence as
one would expect from Osanori.
The pieces and the frame are symmetrical too
Having taken this apart in the evening, I left it overnight and set to the
reassembly from scratch with only a very vague memory of the sequence I had
previously found. The challenge is absolutely perfect! It takes a lot of thought
and discovery (with several false starts) to reassemble the puzzle - the sense
of satisfaction for someone like me who is terrible at assembly puzzles like me
was fabulous. This one is right up there with the Galaxy puzzles in my opinion.
JB4A
JB4A by Osanori Yamamoto (made from Bubinga and Maple)
A release from Pelikan would really not be complete without one of
Osanori-san's wonderful small packing puzzles. This is one of my favourites so
far - it is made from a gorgeously coloured and grained Bubinga and is a
seriously fun challenge. As always, there is a small shape to be made (this
time a 3x3x3 cube) from some pretty complex pieces with what at first looks
like a rather large opening which you might think would make the puzzle much
easier. However, the end result has to have the pieces completely covering up
all the openings once finished and with such a big gap this really limits the
options. The large hole on the top does allow initial easy insertion but these
pieces are quite large and complex and then movement and access get blocked
pretty quickly. Looking at the shape of the small columnar hole in the box
gives an idea of what is going to be required/possible during the solve but
actually doing it is another thing entirely.
No spoiler here
These puzzles look almost trivial when first picked up (especially with the
large entry hole) but the reality is that they are a proper challenge for any
experienced puzzler. I really enjoyed it - the puzzling time for me was about 2
hours and the sense of satisfaction at the end was fabulous.
TILL
TILL by Dr Latussek (made from Garapa)
This lovely chunky puzzle design by Dr Latussek looks wonderful in the yellow
wood. It is named after Till Eugenspiel who was an early 14th century resident of Saxony and a prankster
responsible for a "chapbook" on which his name sake owl and mirror could be
found. The aim of the puzzle is to use the pieces to create mirror symmetric
shapes using 2 (easy) or 3 of the pieces (harder).
I am terrible at pattern finding and symmetry puzzles but the size and tactile
nature of this one was quite appealing. It is a nice thing to sit in an
armchair with and fiddle with 3 relatively simple shapes and put them together
to try and find mirror symmetries. I have found 3 symmetries using 2 pieces
and 2 solutions using 3 pieces. Interestingly one of the three piece
assemblies has mirror symmetries on several different faces. This is a really
nice gentle challenge that is suitable for all grades of puzzlers - I think
kids would find this fun and might help teach them about symmetry.
This last puzzle in the current release is one that I have not had time to
solve yet. It is absolutely stunning made from American Walnut and Cherry.
This will be a very tough puzzle to dismantle - I love these specially shaped
burrs but the combination of rings, boards with burrsticks through the centre
do make for a tremendously difficult challenge. It has a level of
22.6.5.2.1.2.2 to take apart and will include quite a few sideways movements
of the rings as well as the burrsticks. I always seem to struggle to find the
appropriate shifts and then get lost. I look forward to trying this new one as
I have never seen a burr from Ad before.
All these puzzles should be available from Pelikan within a week or so - whatever you buy, you will not be disappointed, they are all lovely to look at on display and really nice challenges to puzzle on. I am sure that for those of you in North America who would prefer to buy more locally then they will arrive at PuzzleMaster not long after that.
