Koichi-san Bamboozles Some Operating Theatre Staff

Latest arrivals from Mineyuki Uyematsu

Mine has been very very busy this year. Life got in the way for him and the proposed puzzle manufacture took much longer than he had hoped but everyone was patient and understood that sometimes puzzles have to wait. I had requested this set (there could have been a whole lot more but I was frightened of the Whack! Ouch!) and they arrived during the week - in fact I was sitting at home in a MS Teams meeting when the delivery man arrived and I had to sneak out of the meeting to answer the door. One colleague in the meeting let out a big smile when he saw me arrive back on screen carrying a nice big box from "the foreign" - he knew about my habit/hobby/obsession. Actually, everyone I have Teams meetings with knows about my hobby because I have set my background as the first few puzzle shelves of my study. I have been asked by quite a lot of people what they are. After the meeting I eagerly unpacked and found these Japanese beauties inside - I couldn't even remember what I had ordered.

I set to work that evening on a couple of them which I will present now. The first one I tried was the rather fascinating looking Perfect Entrance by Koichi Miura (all of them have been made by Mine). I am very careful with puzzles from Mine not to show off any more details of a puzzle than he shows off on his Facebook page. 

Perfect Entrance - 2 pairs of pieces

More interesting than a knee replacement!

This wonderful 4 piece packing puzzle made from acrylic is truly beautiful. It also was an entry in the 2024 IPP design competition and won a "Top 10 vote getter prize". When I showed off my latest arrivals on Facebook, the genius did tell me that he thought that it was a brilliant puzzle and he really should know! To me, it has just the right difficulty level for any puzzler of any experience and will keep you working for just the right amount of time until you triumph having had 2 or 3 simply lovely Aha! moments.

 The 2 pairs of C-shaped pieces have interesting diagonal ends to them which must be significant. They all have the same outer dimensions which perfectly fits through the rectangular hole in the top of the case. It is very easy to fit 2 in side by side and then a third on the top layer but still within the case but after that, the 4th piece cannot fit under the lip of the top. Hmm! Maybe rotations inside are needed and off you go to try that for a bit. 

Having had no rotational luck, it is time to think like a burr and maybe the pieces move around each other inside the box to make space for the final piece to go in (this is very reminiscent of the challenges from Osanori-san and Alexander-san. Whilst attempting these moves you might find a little Aha! moment when the odd shapes suddenly make sense. Even having found the first of the Aha! moments, you will still be unable to proceed until you have been forced to think©! When I finally packed them all in, I had a huge grin on my face - I can visualise the puzzlers in the competition room with the same grin - no wonder it got so many votes! Of course I am not going to show you the solved puzzle!

The 2 miscreants in the photo above spent a good hour trying and in the end gave up and asked me to show them the solution - they too had big grins when the saw how clever it was. I gave this to several of the other operating theatre staff and they also failed but loved being shown how it was solved. It is truly wonderful!

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3Lx2 as it arrived

Having had lots of fun with that one from Koichi-san, I couldn't resist the 3Lx2 also designed by him. It consists of another 2 layer box but with a lid that slides from side to side. The aim, as you'd expect from the name is to pack the 6 pieces (3 of each different type of L shape) into the box. When it arrived, it was difficult to see how it was special because one of the pieces is protruding into a third layer and obstructing the movement of the lid. Once you have turned out the pieces (not easy without a few rotations and perfect alignment) then you get to see why the puzzle is so-named:

2 different sets of L's

I had not solved it but took it to work with me in the hope that I might have a little downtime to play. I felt brave and handed it to the 2 miscreants above to play with before I had even tried. They spent an hour on it intermittently whilst also helping me with a revision knee replacement and they were forced to give in. They handed it to me during the case and wanted to watch my approach to it. The pressure was on as they didn't want to see me fail and I did still had to concentrate on the case. 

Obviously, it is necessary to explore how the pieces can move inside the case. There are 2 layers for the pieces under the lid and yet again, once a few pieces are inside, it is difficult to get any more in. It is vital to move them around inside and make space for the appropriate diagonal insertions. I had a pretty good idea of how it was necessary to proceed and created a few possible assemblies outside the box (just as the boys had done) but then I did something they had not thought to do. I mimicked a disassembly from the shape I had created to see whether it might be possible to insert the pieces that way and also what order was required. This was new to them. I did work out that there was going to have to be a few nice sliding and rotational moves to make it happen and in just 10 minutes I packed them in:

No spoilers here!

Needless to say, they were all very impressed with my prowess. If only I could say that the present wife was quite so impressed with my prowess! Alas, that will probably never happen.

Thank you Koichi-san and Mine-san - fantastic puzzles.

Think Where You Want To Be...

A Lesson For Life As Well As Puzzling

Python designed by DDK

It's been a tough week with long working days and yet another Saturday working too (rota writing this time). I sometimes think I am getting too old for all this. I had saved the Python puzzle bought from Aaron Wang until fairly late. I had heard that it was relatively easy to solve despite the level 10 assigned to it. I figured that when I reach a time where I have only a few hours to play, solve and write about something then I will be able to use this one.

I was sort of correct but also did not figure in a bit of a hiccough in the path. This puzzle teaches a good lesson to plan ahead and think about the direction you want to travel in. My! That's very deep for me...I am usually a pretty shallow person.

The first thing that threw me when I picked this puzzle up was that my copy had been sent to me with an incorrect start position. Compare the picture at the top with the diagram to the left. The shuttle is in the wrong place. Will this make it easier or harder?

I suspected that the puzzle had not been solved all the way back to the start position and that it would have a lower number of steps to separate the shuttle than it should. An alternative horrible thought did occur to me that to save time the maker had assembled the shuttle from open wire into the start position and had done it in the wrong place. If this was the case, had he placed it in an unsolvable position? Only time would tell. I set to work this morning.

This is clearly going to be an N-ary type puzzle but made interesting by the maze pathway to be navigated. This requires the choices of direction for the shuttle to be placed through the rings to be chosen carefully. At each point the ring can be fed through from either direction and only one is the correct one. Needless to say, I got lost a few times and ended up having to backtrack to where I made the mistake. After doing this a few times, I realised that trial and error was time consuming and less than fun. Time to think© yet again. I fed through a few times and watched the response as it moved and finally managed to see how the shuttle and ring interacted in a predictable way. At last I could choose my path deliberately and know where I was going. All I needed to do was decide which way through the maze. After about 20 minutes I had the shuttle:

First part of the solve

Having taken my photo, it was time to reassemble it and to aim for the correct start position. Easier said than done. I had no idea how that final stage of the reassembly was done because I had never navigated it. I would have to work out where I wanted to be and work out a way through the last part of the maze. It looks like a simple maze but is quite well blocked by this 3 rings on the left hand side. I managed to get almost there quite easily:

Close, but no cigar!

Getting that last step proved quite a challenge. I tried something and found myself inadvertently heading back to the beginning and then had to backtrack and think© yet again. Twice in one day for me gives me a bit of a headache! Eventually I managed it and we have a correctly assembled puzzle.

Got there in the end

This is a really delightful puzzle, it is N-ary but unlike the simple Chinese ring style, there are numerous decisions to make and positive choices are essential to simultaneously navigate the maze to where you need to be. My personal journey was actually made better by having to solve it differently as an assembly than as a disassembly. I would suggest that something like this might be a good step up after a beginner has solved the Chinese ring puzzle. If you live in North America then you should have a look at Aaron's other challenges currently available in PuzzleMaster. They may end up stocking some of these in the future as well.

Thank you Aaron and DDK.

Minima Tower

Toweringly Clever...Definitely Not Minima-lly Challenging

Minima Tower by Frederic Boucher - still available from Pelikan

Last week I reviewed the latest puzzles from Jakub and Jaroslav's Pelikan puzzles site. They went on sale on Thursday and a few very quickly sold out. What really surprised me was that the Minima Tower did not sell at all well and I sort of blame myself a little. I had 7 puzzles to review in just under 2 weeks and all I could do in my review was describe it and tell how great Frederic is. I should have done better and I apologise for that. My only excuse is that I seem to have been working 6 days a week for over a month.

Minima Tower is a packing puzzle from an amazing designer with an incredible track record of fabulous designs. I missed out on getting hold of the complete Minima series from Tye Stahly's Nothing Yet Designs store and am still kicking myself about it ever since it sold out. I was so glad to receive one of the newer designs in the series and really think that you all owe it to yourselves to get a copy as well.

Visitor Q	Jammed Gem (remains unsolved)
Other incredible designs by Frederic

I have taken this one to work with me since Monday and played in evenings as well. Believe me, it is a huge challenge despite having only 4 triominoes to pack inside a 2x2x3 space within a 2x2x4 box. Ultimately, Frederic intended it that the packed pieces form a solid shape at the bottom of the tower almost like a lift in lift-shaft (elevator to the Americans). These would not be any fun if the assembly wasn't restricted by being forced to place the pieces through a 1x2 voxel hole in the top of the lift-shaft. This puzzle is a LOT of fun!

As usual, start outside the box and play with lots of random assembling of pieces. Of course, with such a simple set of pieces, there are a lot of ways to assemble a 2x2x3 shape. Many of the shapes are just very minor alterations of previous ones due to the ability to flip pieces and reassemble with 180º symmetry. Whilst making my shapes, I initially was a little disheartened at the sheer number of shapes to attempt to get inside the box. This was me being silly...Frederic would never leave a puzzle solution mostly down to random trial and error. There would always be a good amount of think©ing involved and this puzzle is no exception. Using this thing called thought© it is possible to completely discount a significant number of assemblies and then home in on what is possible. This finally requires to thinking inside the box and getting fiddly with it.

The box has 5 strategically placed square holes in the side which must be there for a reason. The reason may be either that a piece needs to be protruded through to allow others to move or that the hole facilitates a rotation of a triomino within the tower. The dimensions of the box are tight enough that the required rotations are completely impossible without utilising at least one hole in the cage wall. There are luckily a finger holes in every other position to allow you to manipulate the pieces inside. It is still a bit fiddly. Interestingly, some (in fact almost all) of the rotations that look inviting are impossible to achieve despite the holes. This means that the orientation of the cage when you begin the process is also critical and gives you 4 possible ways to try what you want to do. I had to take some notes to keep track of what I had done.

After 3 days, I had hit a brick wall and wondered whether I was ever going to solve it and then I noticed something very clever. The placement of the holes allows a very interesting move to be carried out and suddenly a whole new area of the assembly was available to me. Oh boy! That Mr Boucher is an evil genius! I can formally pronounce that he joins Derek in the hall of geniuses. I am rather ashamed to say that solving this puzzle took me a whole week of attempts and a fair bit of swearing under my breath. The solution is nothing short of beautiful. Even the great Dr Latussek has agreed that utilising holes in the side of the box for fun puzzle assembly adds an interesting dimension to solving a puzzle and if he says so then everyone should agree.

Finally I can show off the completed puzzle:

Solved at last. No real spoilers here.

This puzzle is absolutely fabulous! If you didn't buy it because I hadn't managed to review it properly then I apologise. Go back to the Pelikan site and add it to your collection. 

Now, I really must get hold of a few more of the Minima series - Frederic has said that he is designing a whole bunch more.

Pelikan's Post IPP Release

Wow! Just Wow!

Soon to be released by Jakub and team!

I seem to have received a delivery at the beginning of last week and the race was on. I had 7 fabulous creations to work on in just under 2 weeks. The upcoming puzzles from Pelikan are expected to be released later this week - probably 31/7.

From Back left we have:

Cabrio by Dr Volker Latussek

Cubi 8 Plus Alpha by Frederic Boucher

Camel by Theo Geerinck

Hitch by Émil Áskerli

Minima Tower by Frederic Boucher

Unlawful Assembly by Pit Khiam Goh

Curly Burr N8 by Frans de Vreugt

This is an amazing set of puzzle designs and beautifully created by the Pelikan team - there will definitely be something for everyone here.

Unlawful Assembly

Unlawful assembly by Pit Khiam Goh

I started with this delightful puzzle by the master of sliding move puzzles. I already own this one made from acrylic but the wooden one looks much more lovely. Pelikan have constructed this one from Garapa, Bubinga and Oak with wonderfully contrasting colours and a stunningly finished tray to pack the pieces into. There are 4 identical stepped pieces and a cross to fit inside the tray with the challenge being made by the fact that there is a considerable lip covering the tray making insertion of more than 3 pieces quite challenging. It is fairly easy to work out several possible square(ish) assemblies that might fit when playing outside the tray but getting them into the tray quickly gets quite confusing. The temptation is to try and squeeze one of the pieces diagonally under the lip of the tray but don't bother - that requires force and is the wrong way to do it.

The first time I worked on it, the solution took me a good hour or so to solve and that was only because I was familiar with the type of challenge. I gave this to a couple of my assistants/ODPs at work and watched them spend a couple of hours failing to solve it. Eventually I came back to the pieces all packed inside and I happily told them they had cheated! The pieces were in the conformation that can only be done by force. At this point they couldn't remove the pieces and a joint broke forcing it out. This is a great puzzle for beginners but don't let them attempt it unsupervised.

This puzzle should be in everyone's collection!

Curly Burr N8

Curly Burr N8 by Frans de Vreugt

This has been beautifully made with Maple and Merbau. Frans is an interesting designer - he is not prolific but everything he designs has something very different from the usual run of the mill burr designs. There are either interesting shapes or, more usually, interesting ways that the pieces interact and move. The Curly Burr N8 is definitely designed along those lines...it looks like a standard 6 piece and, indeed, there are 6 pieces, but they form frames that interlock inside each other along the same axis as well as interlocking along perpendicular axis. The upshot of this is that the pieces need to move apart from each other before any axial movements can occur. This makes it much more fun and much more mind-bending to solve. There are a few blind ends but not along long pathways and then the first piece comes apart after just 8 very odd moves. After this the remainder dismantles sequentially. The moves are so unusual that despite paying proper attention to what I had done, I could not reassemble it without Burrtools.

6 pieces that look like standard burr sticks

I think that even the burr aficionados amongst you will find the reassembly from scratch a real challenge  due to the unusual way the burr pieces move.

Camel

Front side

Back side

Yes!!!! I adore the animal themed puzzles that Jakub and Jaroslav produce. I know they are often very difficult to design and manufacture but they are just so lovely and give me an excuse to keep another one on display in my living room. Mrs S was away when this batch came in and when I showed her the photo of the delivery even she admitted the camel was very cute and really realistic. It has been crafted from American Cherry which gives it a rich brown "camel" colour. This is a collaboration with a master designer and craftsman, Theo Geerinck which means that the solution will be interesting as well as good looking.  

When first playing with it, only 3 pieces move and I comically pushed and pulled them and then tried to rip the legs or head off it. Of course, that doesn't work. I don't think any self-respecting camel will let you tear a leg or head off without complaining vigorously at you. I was stumped at this point for a rather long time. The fun thing with these sorts of layered constructions is that you cannot tell by looking at them which parts are supposed to be mobile and which are glued together. This leaves you pushing and pulling pretty much everything that you can get a grip on. After a whole day of getting nowhere, I tried a new technique and there was a "click". Aha! Then another click and another before I was able to remove a piece of camel anatomy. Before long I had the poor animal in pieces on my table and was able to see the ingenious locking mechanism which included a couple of pieces that are hidden inside. I scrambled the pieces and left it for a couple of hours and attempted the reassembly. Whilst not impossibly difficult, even that was a fun challenge as I had lost my orientation of several pieces.

This is wonderful and perfect to display as part of a puzzle menagerie.

Hitch

Hitch by Émil Áskerli

Émil is another very interesting designer producing burrs and interlocking puzzles with pieces that have clever ways of interacting. His Puzzlewillbeplayed page is absolutely fascinating. I initially thought that Hitch puzzle (made from Purpleheart and Zebrano) was a straightforward burr but I have ended up reclassifying it in my database as an "Interlocking puzzle". It looks like an 8 piece burr and is indeed made from 8 sticks but the interaction is interesting and requires a series of moves that lead logically one into the next until it is disassembled. Does this sound too easy? Fear not, the moves are very nicely hidden. Initially there are a few pieces that can move and the whole puzzle can form several different shapes at first. I went round and round in circles from shape to shape and looking to see whether it freed anything up. It requires careful inspection of all the pieces that you have in each conformation until you suddenly notice that a new move might be possible. Pelikan have constructed this nice and tight so that nothing moves without a deliberate attempt meaning you need to actually work out what to try rather than random pushing and pulling of the pieces.

Not really classical burr sticks

Only 7 moves are required to remove the first piece and 13 for complete disassembly but the discovery aspect is joyous. Even more fun (and definitely possible because I did it) is to reassemble it from scratch with scrambled pieces. A few of you may be able to do it without memory of the disassembly, but most experienced puzzlers should be able to work out the assembly with a little work. It's brilliant!

Cabrio

Cabrio by Volker Latussek
Doesn't look like much but it is absolutely brilliant!

No Pelikan release is complete without a design from Dr Latussek! When opening the package, it looks very understated. All you can see is a very nicely crafted box made from American Walnut which Pelikan have failed to close properly. Pulling off the lid reveals some rather lovely Zebrano pieces inside forming an apparent 3x3x3 cube. No wonder the lid couldn't close properly - it needs to be slid on from the side and the pieces are in the way.

Looks like a cube

5 pieces to be packed

The upshot of the sliding mechanism of the lid is that this is effectively a 7 piece puzzle with the pieces needing to interact with the base and the lid to get the cube inserted inside and the puzzle closed. It is very reminiscent of the fantastic Slide Packing puzzle by Hajime Katsumoto that won the Puzzlers award in 2016. This time instead of just 4 pieces to insert, there are 5 and 3 of them are non-planar shapes which makes the solution really quite counterintuitive.


I found quite a few 3x3x3 cube shapes that were possible but of course they all blocked the assembly of the lid and needed to start with a completely fresh way of thinking about this. Like many of Volker's puzzles, you need to think about the last piece to be inserted and how you might get access to that and then try and work with the remaining pieces and the lid to make that final assembly possible. There are 2 obvious possibilities for the final piece but then you will realise that you also need a proper plan for the penultimate piece and it is not as straightforward as you might anticipate. I worked on this for several days before I had a glorious Aha! moment and managed to put the lid on properly. This is a work of genius, just like the predecessor.

Are the pieces inside? Take my word for it - after a several day struggle, they are!

Cubi 8 Plus Alpha

Cubi 8 Plus Alpha by Frederic Boucher

This startlingly gorgeous creation by Frederic Boucher is one of the picks of the bunch this release. Not only is it stunning, it is also a very very challenging fun design. Frederic has an amazing and rather warped mind. He has collaborated with several of the very best craftsmen in the world to get his designs to the masses as well as makes some limited runs of his puzzles himself. I am delighted that he was able to find someone willing to make such a complex puzzle available. This beautiful creation has been produced by Pelikan from Wenge, Pink Oak, Purpleheart and acrylic. 

Some very interesting shapes here

There are 8 cubes with sticks of 2 different lengths which, when assembled together, form a 2x2 cube.  I have to admit that just making the cube (albeit with some holes) is a massive undertaking and really quite fun - its a sort of 3D jigsaw that has to slide together in order. However, the real challenge is to pack that cube inside the box so that no holes are visible from outside (unique solution). through a 1 cubie sized hole in the box. Frederic wrote that the pieces interract together like a train on its tracks during solving.

This puzzle is amazing and very very difficult! I might have needed some help with this one! 😱

Minima Tower

Minima Tower by Frederic Boucher

Allard has shown off a whole series of the amazing Minima puzzles created by Frederic and there are a good few more to come. Eric Fuller even converted one into a sequential discovery puzzle. Here we have one of the designs beautifully made by Pelikan from Mahogany and Ash. It doesn't look like much with a 2x2x4 box (upright it will be a tower, hence the name) and 4 simple L-shaped triominoes to be placed inside so that the 5 square holes are each covered by a piece of Ash. There is a single 1x2 voxel entryway. The box has lots and lots of finger holes for you to manipulate the pieces as there will be rotations required. I have only been working on this one for a day and so far not got even close to a solution. These puzzles are a delight and a real challenge but still very approachable by both beginners and advanced puzzlers alike. This will also be an essential purchase for many of you.

This is an absolutely amazing batch of puzzles to be released this time. There is definitely something that you will enjoy. My favourites are the Camel, the Cabrio and Minima Tower. 

Two Guys and a Gal...

Guess Which Was the Toughest?

Free Me 9 aka Two Guys and a Gal (named after the heads of the coins)

Update from last week - my solution for the Rippl puzzle turned out to be completely correct! After checking with Aaron, the critical move that I felt was too tight turned out to be the correct move - my copy of the puzzle was just a bit tighter than it should be. I persisted in doing the tight move because I felt that I had completely exhausted all other options for that section of the puzzle. The rest was an absolute delight and a bit mind boggling. Phew! I'm not as thick as I thought.

I can almost hear your sigh of relief! He finally managed it! Yes it took a hint and partial collaboration with Dominic to get there and it has taken me more than six weeks to get there but, Oh boy, was the journey worth it.

I have only been collecting the puzzles by Joe Turner for a few years and they have never failed to delight me. They are always beautifully made and a combination of wood and metal combined into a very non-intuitive sequential discovery puzzle. Usually there is just a single coin to work out how to release by activating the most ingenious mechanism his diabolical brain can come up with. The mechanisms have been so interesting that the amazing Jon Keegan even collaborated to reproduce the iconic Free Me 5 in metal - I did not have the cash to buy one at the time but they looked amazing and Allard loved it.

For this year's outing Joe upped the ante and gave us 3 coins to release - it has two JFK half dollars (guys) and a Statue of Liberty (gal) one dollar coin - I had no idea there was any such thing as a Dollar coin! This puzzle was Joe's entry in the IPP design competition but amazingly did not win anything due to the incredible list of amazing puzzles entered this year. It will certainly be on my list for top ten of the year.

As usual the coins are held in the block with a dovetail cap at each end. Starting out, progress begins reasonably quickly which gives you some (misplaced) confidence. There is a pretty classic move that Joe has used before that starts the first dovetail sliding. The interesting thing is that this confidence dissolves very fast when that first move stops dead after a mere 3mm of movement. Whatismore, not only does the slide stop dead, it also won't go back! OMG! A bit of frantic fiddling with the puzzle gets it to go back and then there's obviously something else needed. There are not a lot of clues but eventually another aha! moment happens and progress is made with the reward of the first guy. It's nice and shiny and I also receive a couple of tools. These have been causing the locking up and a quick inspection reveals the ingenious way that Joe has made it happen.

After the first coin removal, and the use of the light on my phone to peer inside, I realised that the next coin had to come out the other end. The tools were going to be useful at this point, I was sure of it. There's an obvious place for them to go except sometimes they won't fit and sometimes they will - you need to work out what to make it happen and once you do... nothing gets released! Of course, he's not going to make it easy!

Ok, let's try that classic move again at the same time as using the tools elsewhere. Hahaha! You all know that he's not going to use the same trick twice! Well I didn't know that and spent a very long time trying to make it happen. Yes, the Einsteinian method fails again. There is a tantalising little click and a few mm of play in the second dovetail but it goes nowhere. I have lost count of the sheer number of times I tried the same thing or variants of it in different orientations or with spinning and very nearly submerged in gin. I was stuck.

I was stuck for weeks! This is where Dominic came to my rescue with an itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka dot bikini clue. All he said, basically was to use ALL the tools given. Not much of a clue was it? Of course, I am very stupid and started looking at the coin for removable bits (similar to a classic by Boaz Feldman) but that was not it. I had misinterpreted what was meant as a tool. after another day, I had my Homer Simpson "Doh" moment and realised what tool Dominic was referring to and I heard a satisfying click inside and praise be, there was some movement. Finally! 

I have to sheepishly admit that this had taken me so long because I had gotten completely fixated on one or two mechanisms and been unable to break out of that mindset without a nudge. I dare say, Joe knew that many of us would fall into the same trap. Or maybe it was just me?

After a little more fiddling with other mechanisms I had my second dovetail end removed and my second guy out. Phew! I was on a roll! Except I wasn't. Stuck again...the gal had to come out and the only way out was through one of the existing holes but she was blocked. Looking inside, the basic approach to the removal seemed obvious and I had my tools. But again, it wasn't working. I tried the gin trick (drinking it rather than submerging the puzzle) and that helped me realise something else that was possible but I was stuck again. My goodness! This is a stupendous challenge.

I kept think©ing and kept failing. I even received the solution from Joe (he sent it out to all recipients last weekend) but I was very careful not to look at it. I HAD to solve this thing myself even if it was going to kill me - with all the swearing I was doing, Mrs S might have killed me! Then, after lots and lots of thoughts© I was hit by Mrs S a bolt from the blue and I tried something extra. Wow! That is really clever! I had my gal and a huge sigh of relief!

OMG! Brilliant!
Only took me 6 weeks

Having taken my photos and worked out the reset mechanism, I can now solve the puzzle in one swift fun sequence. It is a work of puzzling art which everyone should try - this is a simply beautiful challenge. Tanks to Dominic for the tiny clue and a special thank you to Joe for the opportunity, I cannot wait to see what you produce next year.

I Think I Cheated...

Did I?

Rippl by DDK

I had hoped to be able to review a different type of puzzle for you today but despite weeks and weeks of trying, I have still not managed to finish the Free Me 9 puzzle from Joe Turner. I had been stuck on the second coin up until early in the week when a good puzzle friend and I started a combined attempt at solving it. Dominic gave me a little teeny hint and I suddenly found what I needed to free the second coin and now the two of us are stuck on the third - we are both noticing the same things, trying the same things and despite two of us doing the same thing over and over and over again, nothing seems to be changing for us...sigh!

In desperation and in the many many moments when I put down the Free me in disgust, I started playing with the Rippl puzzle from Aaron and managed to get very confused very quickly. The rings are threaded such that they straddle two "lanes" of the spirals and the shuttle is through all 8 of them. I thought that this would be a simple N-ary puzzle and with "only" 8 rings should not be too arduous. After all, it's ONLY a level 9 puzzle which must make it relatively simple?

Oh boy! I got a shock! Yet again! I explored this over the last week or so every time I put down the Free me puzzle. Mrs S was most displeased with me because this one really jingles a lot.

The shuttle comes off the first ring and the second very easily but then the third ring is completely blocked. I figured it was N-ary and went back to the first ring and replaced it hoping to get access where I needed it. Nope! That didn't work. I am sure that you noticed that the shuttle can be threaded through the rings both forward and reversed and after an embarrassingly long time, I also noticed that and after trying it with both the first and second rings, I found the one that worked. I had my access to the third ring and the shuttle was off of that one. 

And here I remained for over a week! I tried every combination of forward and back with the shuttle, through the rings forwards, through them in reverse and every single time I was blocked from releasing the shuttle from the fourth ring. What on earth was going on? I just could not get any further! What sort of puzzle blogger am I? A bloody useless one, I think - I should be ashamed of myself! There was a significant chance that there would be no blog post for you today! I have only ever missed one due to illness or death and really didn't want to do it again with no adequate excuse. Is being rubbish at puzzles an excuse?

Finally after 5 or 6 days I found a move. It had the desired effect of getting me access to the next ring but I wasn't happy with it. I kept putting the puzzle back to the beginning because that move I found did not seem right. It required me to slightly flex the spiral to allow the shuttle to be pulled through, I don't think any of DDK or Aaron's puzzles have ever needed even that tiny amount of force. So I kept returning to the beginning and trying afresh. Finally, this morning I bit the bullet and continued with that move and it opened up a whole new section of the puzzle which got very interesting very quickly. It also got really quite confusing but I was determined and carried on. Finally, just minutes before starting this post, I had a solved puzzle:

I have taken it apart but...
have I actually solved it?

Once I had taken my picture, I felt that I had better put it back together and check with Aaron whether I had cheated (I am pretty sure that I did on that one step). 

Erm...putting it back together was a whole extra challenge! I had, as usual, not really paid enough attention to how it came out and then got mightily confused when it would not go back in and when I did get it started on the return journey, I found that I could not seem to get the second ring on the shuttle. Wow! Despite being "only" a level 9, this was a really really tough challenge. Eventually I got to the mid point and tried the final moves to return to the start. Unfortunately one of the rings had unwound itself and was only held on one of the arms of the spiral and I hadn't noticed it. Another 30 minutes of swearing at it when I couldn't get it back to the start and then another 30 minutes swearing at my own stupidity when I noticed the problem. Finally it is back at the beginning and I am hoping to find out whether I had done something wrong at that crucial early step.

Yet again, an absolutely amazing and incredibly difficult puzzle from Aaron and DDK. It shows that disentanglement puzzles with wire only really can be incredibly tough and confusing - it has N-ary elements to it but only a couple of parts are - the challenge is navigating between them. Great value and a hugely bamboozling challenge. My head hurts now and I think I need to lie down for a while.

I Thought That I was On a Roll

But then...

Xmas Tree gift from Aaron

Every time I order a little batch of puzzles from Aaron, he includes a little (or even not so small in this case) extra puzzle in the package. This time it was this adorable little Xmas tree with a couple of baubles on it (attached in different ways to interfere with the slider movement and, of course, the obligatory piece to be removed. This puzzle has been absolutely beautifully made and almost reminds me of something that would have been produced by the wonderful and sadly missed LiveWire puzzles guys.

Having been successful last week with the Ball and chain puzzle that isn't, I couldn't resist playing with this one for a little light relief. Any of you who are better than an absolute beginner at disentanglement puzzles can look at this and immediately see where the exit point is but will also see how it is blocked by the baubles. The challenge here is to get past that part of the blocked path. I am absolutely delighted that with my huge experience of wire puzzles and (BLUSH!) embarassingly enormous collection (I have 6 plastic cases of them in my garage), I managed to solve this clever little challenge in about 10 minutes:

Delightful and not too tough

The sequence is absolutely delightful and fun to do repeatedly. It does show that a puzzle doesn't need to be impossibly difficult to still be fun. This is a nice one that I will be taking in to work with me as we approach the holiday season to bamboozle and hopefully delight my colleagues. I am due to work on Xmas day this year and it will be taken in with me.

Pipe

Pipe by the incredibly talented DDK was next on my list to try mostly because it looks quite a lot less fearsome than most of the others I received. This was partially true.

It is obvious where the name comes from and the aim is also obviously to remove the long shuttle. 

I always take a photo of the instruction sheet giving the setup position to aid my memory and also because it has the "idealised" position of the various components (the picture I took does look slightly different to the printed sheet). 

Having been encouraged with my early success with Pocket watch and Xmas tree, I immediately thought that this would actually be a nice (maybe arduous) N-ary puzzle and would be fun but easy. I genuinely thought I was being very clever doing this puzzle next and that there would be an easy blog post for me. I was wrong about the easy bit - maybe I should have paid attention to the Level 10+?

Initially, I thought that the left side of the puzzle (bowl of the pipe) must be the exit and started moving the shuttle through the centre of the puzzle towards it. I quickly found that this led to a dead end - I could work my way out that end but immediately any further moves are blocked by the rings. Like an eejit, I tried this same thing multiple times before coming to the correct conclusion and abandoning that approach. I went back to the picture and with the idealised positioning, I think that most of you should be able to see what looks like an obvious exit point for the shuttle. This should lead to you being able to formulate an initial plan to begin manoeuvring towards that exit. Unfortunately, within a few minutes I made the horrible realisation that the shuttle is actually inside the centre of this new exit point and it was definitely not going to be an easy task to get there. I was stuck for a while. As the week went by, I got a bit desperate and even brought it into the living room during our evening TV watching. Mrs S gave me a telling off again but she must be mellowing a bit because she did it with a smile. Not even a mention of a Whack! Ouch!

I was stuck at this point for a couple of days as I struggled to see how I could aim for that exit point without the shuttle being caught in the middle of it. It is important to notice that several of the rings are large and several are too small to pass the shuttle through. his is an important feature which helps but also confuses. I tried something completely new and suddenly I had made progress - I was not sure whether it was correct but I carried on. At one point I performed multiple moves and.... I was back at the beginning! How the?? I had no idea how I managed to undo things without realising it and took a deep breath before starting again and this time I got a bit further (I thought so, but it is quite difficult to remember every position that you have been in). I continued along what seemed like a promising path and occasionally reached a blockage which needed a little thought©. After a few days, the shuttle came out with me having only a slight idea of how I had achieved it:

That was fun and much tougher than expected

I left it like this for a day or so and then bit the bullet and started the reassembly. Oh boy! This really made it clear that I had not fully understood my sequence. I was able to get the process started but, as I progressed, my hopes kept getting dashed when suddenly and unexpectedly, the shuttle came back out again. This happened several times! Time to think© properly!

Here I realised that I needed to look at the diagram and work out a specific approach to traveling a particularly problematic ring which kept turning me around back to the exit. Having thunk© and arranged my puzzle like the picture, I tried again and finally after a whole week of play on this one I had my success.

The Pipe is a genius design which looks much easier than it actually is. It has some N-ary portions to the sequence but is not truly an N-ary puzzle. I would liken it more to the tree puzzle that I reviewed at the early on in this PuzzleMad odyssey but a lot more confusing.

Thank you DDK, for the challenge and thank you Aaron, for the opportunity.

It's Not What It Seems To Be...

But It's Still Really Good

Pocket Watch
Designed by Shaui Chi and made by Mr Gao

Having had a really good time with one of Aaron's gift puzzles whilst on my holibobs, but still hadn't managed to solve a puzzle, I was determined to do better with the new batch that arrived whilst I was away.

Telescope (level 7)

The Pocket watch puzzle is "only" a level 8 on Aaron's scale. I really don't know what to make of his scale because I have never seen anything less than a 7 on it and almost all of the puzzles he releases are 10 or 10+. The odd thing is that the single level 7 puzzle that I bought from him remains unsolved and I have not come even close to working it out.

I had high hopes for the Pocket watch puzzle because it immediately screams out to most experienced puzzlers as very similar to the classic Ball and ring puzzle described in van Delft & Botermans' Creative puzzles of the world and, from it,  a whole bunch of variants which add degrees of difficulty and which I have struggled with multiple times over the years. My late mentor Tsy Hung Chein (aka Felix) got me entangled in their delights and made me a large number of them. There have been reviews of them here, here and here.

Classic Ball and chain (Livewire version)

The Pocket watch looks so like a variant of the Ball and ring puzzles except...the ring is not on the string in this one. This should start the alarm bells ringing...why not? My initial thought was that I had to move the ring onto that string and then solve it the usual way. The only problem with that is that I could not find any way to achieve that aim. Luckily the puzzle comes with a nice lobster-claw release mechanism for if you have made a knot and I deliberately reorganised it to have the ring where I desired and started trying to do the classic move (you have to be careful with that classic move because if you get it even slightly misaligned then you end up with a loop around the wire and can then get it more and more looped as you try to backtrack. Being very careful (and practicing with one of my old standard versions) I attempted the solve in the "new" start position. Here again I should have listened to the alarm bells in my head (especially as my head is usually pretty empty most of the time). The classic challenge requires that the ring get passed around the circumference of the puzzle and this is completely impossible with the Pocket watch due to the invagination that is closed off by another ring the same size as the movable one. 

It would appear that my whole rationale for starting the new batch of Aaron's torture devices with this one was based on a false premise. This puzzle is NOT a Ball and Ring puzzle even if it looks like one. It was time to put it back to the start and look for the correct way to solve it. The odd thing is that the moves of the ring are so constrained that it is initially quite hard to get tangled up doing what you feel is the right thing. Now one bonus with these is that it is possible to dismantle it and start with a solved puzzle and work your way back i.e. an entanglement challenge. I took the ring off and started here and tried to get to the beginning with minimal success until I had a huge (yes, HUGE) realisation. The movement of the ring to solve this one is really REALLY easy.

I set the start position the way I wanted it and within a couple of seconds had the ring where it needed to be. My new target was to see how to arrange the string into that require position without using the lobster-claw. It took me a few fairly tangled knots which needed undoing before I had a truly delicious Aha! moment as I worked out a sequence to move my string back and forth from the puzzle start to the solvable position. Once this was easily possible, it is just a matter of repeating that simple 2 second move with the ring and the puzzle is solved.

Solved (without the quick release)

Yes, it is "just" a level 8 puzzle but don't let that put you off. It is absolutely terrific and has a couple of delightful Aha! moments in it.

Hopefully I will have similar success with the rest of the puzzles in the recent delivery. Some look very tough with enormous lengths of string in them!

Some great challenges here!