How many more N-ary puzzles do you need?

Just "N" more!

Today I want to tell you about some of my all time favourite puzzles - they combine maths, beautiful wood and puzzling. I want to start with a classic puzzle which has recently become available again and I think you should really consider picking up a copy. Following that I'll show you a few others in my collection.

Hexadecimal puzzle

Here you can see a brand new production of the Hexadecimal puzzle. The puzzle was originally made for one year only in 1986 by Binary Arts (now called Thinkfun). In that year 7500 were produced and only about 750 are estimated to still exist, most firmly in the hands of puzzle enthusiasts/collectors. They seldom come up for sale and command very silly prices. My good friend Michel has been searching for one for years and only recently managed to get hold of one. 

Presented beautifully!

He informed me that Dave Janelle of Creative Crafthouse has obtained permission to produce a limited run (max 190 copies) of this fantastic puzzle for us dedicated puzzlers. He has made them beautifully in Cherry and they are pretty much identical to the original. They are engraved, numbered and presented beautifully in a lined presentation box. The documentation includes that which came with the original puzzle. I managed to get number 6 which is the first to go to the public and can absolutely vouch for the quality and the puzzle enjoyment. They are available here for a very reasonable price.

It was designed and patented by William Keister (1907–1997) in 1986.  William was an engineer in the famous Bell Laboratories and one day he raided the Bell Labs’ stock room, gathering up pushbuttons, electronic relays, and light bulbs to build an electronic version of the Chinese Ring Puzzle.  After a few hours work, he realized he had wired it up wrong, but studying what he had done he also realized he had stumbled upon a whole series of binary code sequence puzzles, of which the famous Chinese Rings Puzzle was just one variation.  He went on to sketch out a whole series of logic puzzles and show how they could be solved mathematically with Boolean algebra, a precursor to today’s computer languages.

It consists of a sliding carriage and a stationary base.  The carriage is fitted with 8 rectangular switching bars which can pivot on their centres to angle in either of two directions.  The base, which holds the carriage during the puzzle’s operation, is fitted with an assembly containing 4 blocking keys. These keys can be present into any one of 16 positions. The object is to remove the carriage which contains the 8 switching bars.  By setting the 4 the blocking keys in various initial configurations, there are 16 puzzles to solve ranging from fairly easy (8 moves for position 1111) to extraordinarily difficult (170 moves for position 1110). It has been analysed (just like most mathematically based puzzles by Jaap here. Let me say that whilst I love Gray code puzzles and find most of them fairly easy, this is really taxing me! I have only done the first 6 so far and am very much enjoying it - you should really consider getting a copy because once this run is over, it is highly unlikely that they will ever be made again!

Here is Dave introducing this puzzle:

If you do own an original or buy one of Dave's excellent copies then it would be a great idea to enter your name onto the Hexadecimal hall of fame which is being kept for the world by Richard Whiting. See the list of owners here and toward the bottom of the page he has a link to email him to inform him of your acquisition. Richard also has an info page about these puzzles here.

Are there any other N-ary puzzles I can recommend whilst I am writing about the Hexadecimal? Indeed there are lots and many are available easily - read on:

Man Of War

Man of War

Time again to review one of my dwindling supply of puzzles from Puzzle Master - I am going to have to order some more very soon. This time it is a nice, rather complex looking, wire disentanglement from their own brand disentanglement selection. They have an enormous selection of these and it is my aim to work my way through the whole lot if possible just as I did with the set I got a few years ago from Livewire puzzles. Puzzle Master's set is rather more extensive and so this will take some time but, never fear for your intrepid blogger's sanity, that went a very long time ago and there's nothing further to be lost! So I will keep plugging away at them as a public service for you.

The Man of War puzzle was given it's name because of it's resemblance to a Jelly fish and that it is supposed to have a sting in its tail! The puzzle arrived as is usual in the standard Puzzle Master clamshell plastic packaging and the picture on the cardboard insert said simply to try and remove the string loop from the bottom of the Jellyfish (i.e. take the sting out of the tail). The loop of string has a large ball on it to stop it from being fed completely through the loops in the wire. It is rated as a 10 (Mind Boggling) on the Puzzle Master 5-10 scale. This is the hardest level and so you should be afraid (very afraid)! .....Or should you? I actually would not rate this one quite that high - I reckon it's a 9! There's no solution supplied with it but it can be downloaded from their website here. Anyone who is well practiced at this type of puzzle should not need the solution but any newbie foolish enough to try may well find themselves requiring it. As far as I can tell none of the other bloggers have reviewed it and there is only a single review on the product page giving it 5 stars and saying how challenging they found it. I also would give this a 5 star review.

Is it a "H"eavenly burr?

Improved H burr aka H Box burr from MrPuzzle

About a month ago I reviewed one of Brian Young's 2012 limited editions the L burr! I started with that one because a friend had suggested that the way it interlocks and the rotations in it are very counterintuitive and difficult to find. I am also a sucker for contrasting woods so the L burr was the start of my journey and what a way to start!

Now I'm going to write a little about the continuation of my journey - I have been pacing myself with this set because they were so much money that I really don't want to rush through the whole lot in one go! The next beauty for me to try was the Improved H burr which could also be called the H box.

Now before all of you who know me whinge to me that:

"You don't collect boxes so you shouldn't have bought this one and therefore you must give it to me!"

I must tell you all that this is a burr and NOT a box and I feel I need to own just a few boxes so I can understand other puzzlers. I am happy to get the majority of my fix on boxes at the Midlands puzzle parties but there are one or two boxes that I just have to own! Just for "completeness"!

A public service announcement

Please show some support to a good puzzling friend.

Updated 2022 - he left and is back! 

Visit his new YouTube channel

Help him out with a little coffee

Buy puzzles at your usual sites and give him a little boost (HKNowstore or Cubezz)

I have only been twisty puzzling for about a year now and am finally getting confidant enough to approach new and really tough puzzles myself without help. One of the essential sites that I visit regularly for help is owned by Rline from the Twisty Puzzles forum. Recently after a crisis of confidence, he came very close to stopping everything and removing all his invaluable information from the Internet. I am glad to say that myself and another TP member talked him out of this drastic move and have provided motivation to continue.

His site is not about speed cubing! He's a man about my age and is far too old to be memorising hundreds of algorithms and doing a cube in 15 seconds! His site and YouTube channel is about twisty puzzles in general including reviews and unboxings, horror stories of mammoth solves (you really must read it!) and, most importantly, techniques. What he really does specialise in is teaching how to solve many different puzzles from the simplest to the most difficult in the world using only a small handful of very simple techniques. Originally he used ONLY the 2 algorithms from Marshall's Ultimate Solution but latterly has expanded this just a bit which I think is a huge improvement.

So I would suggest you all:

1. visit his site, Twistypuzzling, and subscribe

Please show some him some support, we don't want to lose one of the best puzzle resources on the Internet and if you're not currently into twisties despite my beginners suggestions then maybe he can convince you!

 

Cast S & S

Cast S & S

This will be the last of my current batch of Hanayama puzzles that I got from Puzzle Master - Sigh! There have been a few new ones recently which I am definitely going to have to order because I just can't resist their shininess as well as the really really high quality puzzling they provide. This time I'm reviewing the Cast S&S, a really great puzzle designed by the amazingly prolific Nob Yoshigahara.

I had tried this at work many months ago when a friend whom I have infected with the puzzling habit showed it to me. I did manage to solve his copy eventually but didn't really understand what I had done and certainly did not spend enough time to understand its subtleties. I do remember that it was one of the most attractive I had seen and was very tactile - so of course, it had to be added to my collection! As usual, it arrived beautifully displayed in the black Hanayama box with the puzzle tied to card to stop it rattling around. After extrication you are presented with a really lovely pair of pinky copperish metal S shapes which are interlinked. One of which has the name Hanayama on it - pay attention to that because you are going to need to use the lettering to keep track of the movements. It is a level 3 out of 6 on the Hanayama scale and 7 (Challenging) on Puzzle Master's scale. I initially thought this was too high but revised that after watching a few others attempt it. The box gives a bit of blurb about originating in 19th century Britain but ultimately the important instructions are simply to take it apart and then put it back together again.

It is nicely made with no surface scratches and is smooth and cool to touch. Dimensions are 11.1 x 2.9 x 2.9 cm. It has been reviewed favourable before by Gabriel here and Brian here and on the webpage for the puzzle on the Puzzle Master site it has received pretty much universal good reports (apart from someone who thought it was too easy). No solution is provided but it can be downloaded from here.

The worst cut is the deepest

First of all let me apologise on 3 counts:

1. This post is a bit late because I attended the 11th Midlands puzzle party on my usual day of posting and seeing as each post can take many hours it was never going to be possible on that day.
2. I then could not post on the Sunday because I had to work. Dreadful, I know!! But the on-call rota needed to be written and unfortunately it's down to me!! Took 8 hours and after that and the required booze to recover, it was also never going to happen.
3. My final apology is that this post may be more than my usual amount of garbage! I was up almost all night last night on-call and my vocabulary and grammar skills are a little jaded. In fact if there's a long pause during this article it's because I have fallen asleep on my keyboardddddddddd ZZZzzzzzz!

So Cat Stevens wrote in 1965 and sang in 1967 The worst (or was it first?) cut is the deepest - followed also in 1967 by PP Arnold and then Keith Arnold in 1973 and Rod Stewart in 1977. Finally the great Sheryl Crow did it in 2003. Now what the hell is he on about? He's lost the plot! Can that really all be blamed on lack of sleep? Probably not! The combination of a great puzzle party, a night up on-call and a rather large supply of great puzzles have gone straight to my head!

Well, all of these great singers complaining about a deep cut as well as spending last night anaesthetising for an emergency Laparotomy (yes it's safe to follow that link!) brought to the front of my tiny mind that I have many puzzles which share a common theme of geometry, axis of turning and size yet their solve process seems to vary considerably and can become extremely tough with the "deepest" cuts. Now before you all run away screaming "Aaaargh! Not another twisty puzzle!", bear with me - I'm not going to get too much into how they are solved.

Corner turning cubes showing different depths of cut

In the beginning God created the heaven and the no! scratch that! He created the Rubik cube and all was good in the world at least for those who could solve it. Later on the Devil came along and invented other puzzles to entice us to the twisty side and man began to party (puzzle party)! Yes definitely not enough sleep. Having created a few variants of the cube, giving us more layers etc, some bright spark suggested having different parts that rotate. One of the most interesting groups is the corner turning cubes pictured above. They weren't developed as a progression from simplest on but for a beginner to twisties or someone wanting to move on from the basic face turning cubes then this might be a nice avenue to explore.

6 Piece burrs don't have to be boring!

Arch Burr

First of all let me make an apology in advance - a large part of this post was written at 4am on my phone - for some reason I was absolutely wide awake! Actually, when I say for some reason, it may well have something to do with Mrs S sleeping flat on her back in a star shaped configuration at about 90 decibels, leaving me a very narrow strip of bed! Plus I also had a very large clump of cats noisily purring on my chest. So lack of sleep and inability to breathe may cause more than the usual amount of nonsense today!

I have been topping up my now rather extensive collection of wire and string disentanglement puzzles recently from Puzzle Master's huge selection. But I'm aware that not all of you like to do the really complex ones and many don't really like disentanglements so now I'll review a rather unusual burr puzzle that I found in their Metal puzzle collection. I don't often review burrs because apart from the workmanship and how many moves, there is little to say about them. But here I have something rather different!

I have seen this brought along to a Midlands Puzzle Party a few times and each time I've watched a success and a rather nice grin on someone's face. I have never had a chance to try it so ordered it from Puzzle Master. It is certainly very different from most burrs you will see more commonly (even if it is "just" another 6 piece burr). It doesn't seem to be available just now on the Puzzle Master site but I'm sure you can find it online somewhere. Unfortunately because it no longer appears on their site I can't tell you how they rated its difficulty - the Puzzle Master Amazon web store says that it is an 8 on their 5-10 point scale. I would suggest that is more of a 7. I think that it is about $14 when they get it back in stock.

It was designed by the amazing Oskar van Deventer and manufactured by Bits and Pieces. I have heard a huge number of complaints about the dreadful quality of puzzles from them both in terms of the puzzle fit but also the look being very poorly finished. This image begins very early with the packaging - it is just a plain white cardboard box and the puzzle is shrink wrapped inside - not the most enticing of packages! Taking it out of the wrapping reveals a black and silver puzzle with quite a few marks on it - also disappointing. Dimensions are: 8 x 6.5 x 5.4 cm - it feels nice and solid. The object of this puzzle, once taken apart, is to assemble the silver and black arches into a complete selt-standing burr. The solution is provided as a leaflet in the box but I would hope you don't need it - it can also been downloaded from here.

Now let me say that despite all the initial negatives, this is a really great puzzle! Well worthy of Oskar's name and certainly good value for money!

It's an 'L' of a Burr

The L Burr

A few weeks ago I posted that my Christmas wish had come true and a series of really beautiful burrs had arrived Chez Sadler. This blog post is going to describe my struggles with the gorgeous 'L Burr'. Why such a delay? Well, I have been busy at work and those of you who are friends with me on Facebook will have seen from my steady stream of photos posted that I have had quite a lot of new toys delivered recently! I have been going hell for leather with the N-ary puzzles and was pleased to read Allard's recent post about them and hopefully between the 2 of us we can get you hooked on them too. So it took me a little while to get around to writing about this one!

Recent deliveries have included:

Some N-ary and sequential movement puzzles

My puzzle pusher managed to get these for me. Here we have the amazing Kugellager 7 (a 7-ary version requiring 4082 moves to open and again to close - or even more after you get lost half-way through!) The 250 move N-ary lock by Jean-Claude Constantin and a small lock puzzle. The bottom puzzle is the IPP31 "Lager" but not as in beer! I haven't managed to come even close to solving that yet! All great fun!

Master Curvy Copter

HELLLP!!

This is a 4x4 version of the Curvy copter. The curvy copter was one of the first twisties I reviewed on this blog and it managed to get me completely hooked on twisty puzzles (in fact on my recommendation it has gotten quite a lot of people hooked on twisties). As I have gotten better at twisties, I have started to lust after the more complex challenges. This was designed by the amazing Eitan Cher and is available from his Shapeways shop. A discussion on the Twisty puzzle forum revealed that a friend, Burgo, who is a puzzle solving wizard considers it one of the hardest puzzles he has ever solved! This sort of tells me that I might have met my match!!! Gulp!

Oh Eric! What have you done to me!!!

After finally bribing HMRC to return these to me, I have taken delivery of a few more from Eric Fuller. Here we have 4 constrained burrs, a very nice copy of Kevin's burr - yes, named after me and designed by the amazing Jose W Diaz. Plus.... yes, more N-ary puzzles - by another fabulous designer, Goh Pit Khiam, we have the Tern key II and Binary key.

Houston, I think I have a problem!!!!!

So with the new deliveries and quite a lot going on at work recently, I have actually managed to control my urge to dive into doing Brian's masterpieces all at once! One of the puzzles I was really pleased to receive was the L Burr. It was originally designed by Junichi Yananose (one of the most prolific puzzle designers ever).

Infinity

Infinity

No, I am not getting all philosophical on you! This puzzle is the Infinity because of its shape. It is part of Puzzle Master's series of wire and string disentanglement puzzles. You know I can't resist them! They are pretty cheap, they're shiny, very portable and perfect for torturing friends without worrying too much about damage - well as long as the string isn't too long! In my last order from Puzzle Master I deliberately chose some of the more difficult ones and also ventured into the string series which really frighten me.

Oddly, this one is a level 9 (Gruelling) in Puzzle Master's scale going from 5 to 10 and it got me wondering how such a complex contraption including string wasn't a level 10, hence it ended up in my delivery and on my "puzzles to do" shelf. I have been spending like there's no tomorrow (much to the disgust of the present Mrs S!) and my puzzles to do shelf is bursting with even more toys in the mail to me as we speak!!! Don't tell her please? Pretty please! Ouch!!!!

It arrives in the usual plastic clamshell package which for me at least goes straight in the bin - I don't have the space to keep any packaging and I believe all puzzles should be played with and not just kept for show. It is a pretty large puzzle at 8.4 x 9.5 cm and very nicely made. It is very good value at $12. The instructions are simply to remove the string loop which has been doubly wound though the loop of the infinity symbol. This is a level 9 puzzle and so you might well need a solution for it - It isn't supplied with it but can be downloaded from here.

Something old, something new....

Something borrowed, something blue!

No! I have not taken leave of my senses and no! I am not getting married again! I don't think the present Mrs S will let me! I just decided that this might be a nice title to get your attention! I have had rather a lot of puzzle deliveries recently and some are rather special so I thought I would bring a few together into one post.

Hectix revisited

First we start with something old. It's old because I have had it quite some time and because it is based on a very old design.