This is a rather quick blog post. I have just spent 45 minutes on the phone
trying to provide computer support to my 86 year old Mother-in-law for her 10
year old iMac. To my utter horror, TeamViewer no longer supports her ancient
operating system and everything had to be done by her describing what she saw on
screen over the phone and me trying to give instructions. She is not very
computer savvy (unsurprising given her age) but she does try and manages reasonably well for the most part. I am not sure who was in worse
condition at the end of it all. I think she was a bit frazzled but had mostly
managed to achieve what she wanted and I had chest pain. As a result of this, plus the puzzles only arrived on Thursday, I only have two little reviews for
you.
Yes, it has been a few months and it is coming up to the IPP so it is time for
Jakub and team to release the next batch of puzzles. There are a good few,
including one of the greatly anticipated Pelikan design puzzles.
Five Helicopters
Amongst this release are a few tray packing puzzles which is one of the less
common types for Pelikan to release. Of course, they won't do one with
plastic pieces, they make theirs out of an assortment of rather lovely woods
which have been laser cut and a wooden tray as well. This one was designed
by
Tibor Mikloš
who was last featured on this blog and from Pelikan back in
December 2023
with a padlock burr that one was a very nice design and this also doesn't
disappoint.
Usually, I am terrible at this sort of puzzle - I find that I spend most of
my time performing lots of random trial and error packings and can't keep
track of what I have attempted. This means I go round and round in circles
before giving up in disgust at how rubbish I am. I have many many puzzles
from Mine that I haven't managed to solve for this reason.
In this one there's a lovely large space to fill and 5 identical helicopters
to place it it. The thing about this challenge is that the helicopters, with
their blades and tails are very spiky and take up a large space and don't
seem to interlock together in any intuitive ways. I played with the pieces
outside the tray for a while and found a nice way to put 3 together which
didn't leave a lot of space between them. Maybe there would be a fun
mathematical tiling to use? I placed them in the tray and picked up my 4th
piece only to find that if I tried to continue the logical sequence, it
wouldn't fit. I tried the same thing many times and singularly failed. maybe
it's not a mathematical solution? I then looked at the pattern on the side
of the tray to see if I could place some pieces closer to the edge and make
more space as a result. This was a key thought! Unusual for me to have
thoughts but I had better make the most of it. After another 30-40 minutes
of playing I had a major breakthrough and had my 5 helicopters in the tray
and a photo taken. Hooray! Ive solved a packing puzzle without just trying
random things! It's pretty good this one - perfect for a beginner or an
expert!
The wonderfully talented Lucie has appeared on my site many many times and I
have gushed every time about her designs. She has not disappointed here
either. The Swan cube is made using Wenge, Maple and wonderfully vibrant
Merbau. It arrived assembled as a sort of cuboid structure with gaps in it so
obviously not correctly assembled. Obviously, the aim is to dismantle it
(quite an easy feat) and then assemble it as a proper cube shape with no
gaps/holes. In the assembled shape above there is no indication of the reason for the odd name, but once the 6 pieces have been separated the reason immediately comes clear:
Six swan shapes
The pieces all have a hole in the side and a swan shaped neck and beak that clearly needs to engage with the hole. Once all beaks are in all holes then we should have a completed cube - easy? Nope! Luckily, I did have the forethought to take a photo of the assembly orientation so that I can store it in the transport configuration.
After a little more time I had a rather good idea. I worked on my idea for a while and made progress gradually until my last piece fitted perfectly into place.
Oooh clever!
This was very gratifying and a perfect logic puzzle. I dare say that it can be solved by randomly putting pieces together until you get the right assembly but this should be solved as a pure logic problem. It is very clever and looks lovely in both assembled and false assembly positions. Probably best for the more medium experienced puzzler rather than absolute beginner.
I will be working on the rest of the puzzles over the coming week or so and get my reviews out to you as soon as I can. However, my experience with providing remote computer support has given me the overwhelming urge to lie down for a while! 😱😱😱
Last week
I mentioned how I had suddenly started to make progress on Idan's amazing INML
puzzle after many weeks of attempting to do the same thing over and over again.
Having gotten started on it, at various intervals during my work, I found myself
stalled with no obvious way forward and at least once, no way back either.
At this point, I have to extoll the virtue of having a puzzle friend. Either
someone who has done it before or as I have done many times in the past,
someone (Shane) who simultaneously solves it and we help each other along. With this
puzzle, I had the company of Dominic who was the one who initially
recommended Idan's puzzles to me. The wonderful thing with solving this puzzle
with Dominic in the background was that he knew all the pitfalls and was able
to give hints that really were barely hints. Looking through the email chain,
I can actually see that he barely said anything at all. The main feature of a
good clue giver is someone who can just remind you to look where you've
already looked, he doesn't tell you to do anything just a hint to focus
somewhere. I am vey grateful for this support because I still feel like I have
actually solved the puzzle myself but not gone off on some awful tangent for
too long or done something damaging to the puzzle.
At the end of last week's post, I had found the first part of my lunch and had
gotten stuck at that point. I didn't know what I had actually done to get it
and actually wasn't sure where it had come from. More worrying, I found myself
unable to backtrack. Initially this had been a source of stress until I went
back and re-read the instructions that Idan had given me. He said that
"Resetting the puzzle is another piece in itself as part of the overall
solution of the puzzle".
This made me realise that the reset was not going to be just a matter of
reversing what I had already done. I could continue toward on it in the
knowledge I was getting myself further and further in the "proverbial sh1t"
but there would be a way to puzzle my way out of it.
I could see a potential locking mechanism but had no way to get to it. Or did
I? What if I try this??? Nope! Blocked again. What was blocking it? This
puzzle keeps you searching and thinking at every single step. So much stuff
has been crammed into one very diminutive shell. I quickly manipulated the
block and started using my tool to remove the blockage. Ooh! I needed a second
tool and then a third before using my fourth tool at the same time, I had the
next stage open.
LUNCH IS SERVED! There's no clue behind the button but the aim of the challenge can be seen.
All that effort for a beer and a sandwich!
Having whooped with delight at getting my lunch, I turned to resting the damned thing. I had upset Mrs S by using one of her Tupperware containers to hold all the parts - there were 16 separate parts plus a whole bunch of loose bits within the main body of the puzzle. It was going to be one hell of a job getting this thing back to the beginning. Especially as several of the moves didn't seem to be reversible. At one point during the solution the obvious dovetail had been slid but was now locked open. Nothing seemed to allow me to reverse what I had done so it was obviously I had to look harder. The piece that I needed was very very well hidden but once I had it, there were a number of things I could do with it. Only one of which got me anywhere. I got stuck thinking the wrong thing after that and Dominic came to my rescue yet again. No need to tell me what to do - another of his skilful hints about how to think what might be possible with my current configuration and all of a sudden I was back on the correct path.
My goodness! That first part of the reset was very clever! Idan is another genius like Derek. I am amazed yet again. After that clever move the reset is partly a matter of remembering what pieces came out of which hole and also remembering what order they had been released to me. Luckily I had taken extensive notes and I was back at the beginning in about 15 minutes.
A repeat solve showed that I did understand it and I took my photo of all the parts that could be released from the puzzle. No I am not going to publish it for general viewing.
So much packed into one small package!
Idan has an incredible puzzle brain! This is one of the best puzzles I have ever solved - it is very rare for me to write about the same puzzle twice in a row! It will be at the top (or close to it) of my top ten(ish) of 2026. I can't wait to see what he manages to produce next. If you get a chance to own or even just play with this puzzle then jump at the chance!
Thank you, Dominic, for recommending this puzzle enhancing my experience so significantly.
I don't have much to write about today but thought I would show off something
that has been keeping me busy for weeks and weeks and weeks with little success
until very recently.
A couple of years ago, a new puzzle designer from Israel, Idan Shvartz, caught
the world by storm with a new and phenomenally complex new creation called
Abraham's Whale. I really don't have time to keep up with the mechanical
puzzle discord group and heard nothing about it until it appeared in the top 3
puzzles of the year in the 2023 edition of Peter Hajek's EPP booklet. It
looked amazing in aluminium and brass but was sold out by the time I had heard
about it. I was eventually offered the opportunity to get a copy but I had
already overspent my budget by a LOT and puzzles of this quality were just not
cheap so I had to pass on it.
A few years later, Idan designed and manufactured another limited run of his
next creation, I Need My Lunch. This was initially only going to be available
to puzzlers who had already purchased the Abraham's Whale. I therefore gave up
on the idea of getting a copy and hoped to have a play eventually at an MPP
(like Allard did at the
last one). Luckily for me, I had been in touch with Idan and he still had a copy
available fro someone who had not taken him up on the offer of a second
puzzle. I jumped at the chance and sent off some PayPal and he sent off some
metal. It made it across gauntlet of HM Customs without interception and I
admired a rather diminutive (101 x 53 x 20 mm) but incredibly well made
puzzle. It was made from Aluminium, steel and assorted other bits including a
rather heavily modified padlock. It arrived in January and I set to work very
quickly to see what I could do.
The instructions are to find your food which is hidden inside and Idan says
there are 24 moves to achieve this but the reset requires a whole different
set of moves which means that there is a whole lot of puzzling to be done.
Back view
When it first arrives, there is almost nothing that is possible. The two flathead screws at each end of the puzzle can be turned with a thumbnail and a ball bearing or two visible through the bars of the cage can be rattled about. Other than that, nothing seems to move. The padlock can be wiggled about and a close look reveals that the key is captive in the body but not inn the keyway - it won't come out! There also seems to be something "wrong" with the shackle.
I got nowhere! Absolutely nowhere for weeks and weeks! There didn't seem to be anything I could do. Now as a short bloke, I have to be careful not to eat too much for fear of getting fat easily. Mrs S said that it was "for better or worse" but not for fatter! As a result of this, I tend to never eat breakfast and as a result I really "need my lunch". This kept me at it. Constantly fiddling and hoping something new would happen trying the same thing over and over again. Of course, that didn't work until suddenly it did! Aaaargh! All I needed was to think about positioning before trying something obvious. I now had a couple of objects to use as tools. But as usual, I couldn't make anything happen until I tried a combination of things.
Progress was being made for a while - I had to take notes because pieces and tools were falling thick and fast. After about 8-10 steps I got stuck and emailed my friend Dominic (he who encouraged me to get a copy if I could). Dominic was very good and gave me little hints that barely told me anything but also encouraged me when I mentioned what I had been doing.
Over the last 2 weeks he has gradually encouraged me to get further and just this morning I received the first part of my lunch - I have absolutely no idea how I did it and I cannot seem to put it back (which doesn't bode well for the reset). I am stuck again with just the first part of my lunch and starting to get hungry. I have a whole lot of pieces in a little Tupperware box which upsets Mrs S and interests the cats who keep putting paws in to pull pieces out. Hopefully I will continue to make gradual progress but I dare say that I will need more hints from Dominic.
If you get a chance to play or buy a copy of this puzzle then you MUST take it! The quality is incredible. This is along similar lines in terms of quality, puzzling and manufacturing to puzzles produced by Wil Strijbos and Jon Keegan. Amazing puzzling in a very small container.
Let me apologise to those misguided souls who visit my site every Sunday
expected another new page of drivel! Unfortunately I had to work at the
weekend and just didn't manage to have time to solve and write anything.
Luckily today is a public holiday and I'm off and can quickly write something.
Not that I'm going to show anything that I have solved - it's about something
I will have a lot of fun with over the next few weeks.
Over the years I have managed to purchase a fabulous collection of burrs and
along the way, various friends created burr sets to allow a huge assortment of
purrs to be made. I cannot resist a burr set and this new one is the 7th in my
collection:
Burr sets with closed boxes
Open Burr sets
Frans has carried out a fairly exhaustive analysis of the board burrs that began with the Zigzag, Torture and Extreme Torture and found a whole bunch more. He felt the misguided urge to create a burr set and prevailed on some friends to print the burr pieces and make a rather beautiful box from Alder. Of course, when he offered me the chance to have one, I had to say yes and it was brought back from the Netherlands by Ali after a visit to Wil. It is stunning!
My first ever board burr was the Gordian's Knot which was a renamed version of Frans' Extreme Torture so that will be one of the first that I make. I don't expect to be able to assemble many from scratch but half the fun for me is creating the Burrtools files.
Diagonal Twins by
Yasuhiro Hashimoto
produced by Mine Note that this photo only shows the pieces as
previously displayed by Mine
When the Diagonal Twins by Yasuriro-san was awarded the Puzzler's award AND a
Jury honourable mention award at the
IPP design competition
last year, many of us waited with baited breath for Mine to complete his
production run and post them out. It took him quite a while but we were all
happy to wait to get hold of something truly special. I haven't had much time to
play with it until fairly recently but have taken it to work a few times and let
some colleagues loose on it.
There must be something quite compelling about such a simple puzzle because
everyone I showed it to was unable to resist playing with it. Having 2 pairs
of identical twin pieces made from lovely wood and a simple box with a
slightly restricted opening makes it look like it should be an easy thing to
solve. I watched everyone play and fail over many many attempts and was
delighted by their frustration. Despite watching them play, I only had a
little time to try myself.
The puzzle is very reminiscent of the Pin Block Case by Hajime Katsumoto
(produced by
Eric Fuller) which I
reviewed
way back in 2018. It also has 4 pieces to be inserted into a simple cubic box
through a restricted opening and requires a very beautiful sequence of moves
to solve.
Pin Block Case by Hajime Katsumoto
Over the last week I have been working on this myself and trying my usual
attempts outside the box. The pieces fit together in only a linmtied number of
ways and so the issue is getting the conformation to go inside. This is much
easier to talk about than actually do. I tried to be systematic and find an
assembly that I would be able to disassemble through a limited opening and that
is where I got stuck. There seem to be a lot of ways it should be possible but
the curved sides of the opening prevent almost everything that i wanted to do.
Damn! I really struggled.
I even continued in desperation this morning to try and solve it. If I wasn't
successful then I would have nothing interesting to write about for the blog.
The pressure was on! Man! This one was tough. After about 1½ hours of
muttering to myself (luckily Mrs S was elsewhere) I finally had my Aha! moment
and the pieces finally slid home. I can now see why this won the prize - it is
such a simple idea and yet so tremendously beautiful in its execution. I
cannot show you the packed puzzle as it would give too much away but I have to
agree with the Jury and all the puzzlers at last years IPP - it's amazing. If
you get a chance to buy a copy or even just play with a copy then you should
definitely jump at it. I will be bringing this and the Pin Block Case to work
for a while to torture my friends with.
Jigsaw P4z by Mine Same photo as released by Mine himself so as not to give too much away
I also challenged my work colleagues with another lovely little simple design by Mine. This is a simple 4 piece jigsaw with a square framed tray to assemble them inside. It arrives with the Jigsaw already pre-assembled so what is the challenge? Take the puzzle pieces and assemble them so that all the nobbles and holes are paired but make it so that the puzzle cannot move in the tray. It's really not terribly tough but needs a little thought and leaves both beginners and experienced puzzlers with a satisfied Aha! moment when they work it out. Everyone I gave it to solved it in about 5-10 minutes and they were all very pleased with themselves.
Thank you Mine, for the opportunity to play with these. I still have a whole bunch of extras that I haven't gotten around to yet. Most are tray type packing puzzles so I expect them to take me many years!
Allard
reviewed this
last week which motivated me to get to it as well. Cutting to the end of his
review - it's great and you should buy it! The
preorder
is currently sold out but maybe Tye will have pity on you and open it up again
if more of you request it.
This is the 3rd in the Jammed series by Frederic Boucher (Jammed Gem, Jammed Gem
Again and, earlier this year,
Jammed Coin) and has been heavily influenced by the amazingly talented Josh Clouser. The
original Jammed Gem (pictured left was made by the late and dearly missed Eric
Fuller in collaboration with Frederic. I have owned this since it was released
in 2022 and have singularly failed to solve it. I have obviously completely
missed a crucial feature which was a common feature when Eric made a sequential
discovery puzzle. I have literally gotten nowhere and actually ended up putting
it away. I think I will now have to go back to it.
Frederic wanted to make a sequel and did so in 2024 where it won a
Jury Honourable Mention award
in the design competition - it was called Jammed Gem "Again" and was
beautifully made from wood. I am not sure who created that one but it was
never made generally available for purchase. Just recently, Josh recreated it
in PLA, and Tye Stahly (let's not forget Amanda Stahly) put it up for sale on his
Nothingyetdesigns store. Whilst it is not as gorgeous as the wood version (I am always biased
towards wood), it is still a very attractive puzzle and is very pleasant to
look at and hold. I did say to Tye that it doesn't feel 3D printed - it has a
lovely texture and feels much more solid than many 3D printed puzzles. There
are also quite a lot of other parts inside including magnets and various other
metal parts.
It comes with some very "helpful" instructions. Allard posted my copy to
me when I notified the MPP group that I had to work during the last puzzle
party. It consists of one of Frederic's usual Minima style boxes (2x2x3
internal dimensions with holes in the sides and some panels that won't
move at all. After I admired it, I set to work and realised immediately that
none of the interior shapes would move at all. I obviously needed to release
something first. easier said that done! Playing with it quite quickly got me a
couple of tools including a broken key chain. The first step in releasing the
interior was quite quick after this discovery except it didn't release the
interior. I had a hole I had something to put in the hole and nothing
happened. Damn! I'm not very good at puzzles.
Frederic has put some of his tricks from other puzzles into this and the
sequence of discovering new parts, new shapes and new moves is a wonderful
journey. It rapidly got so complex with a steadily enlarging pile of pieces
and potential tools that I felt the sudden urge to take notes. Gradually, I
made progress using various combinations of pieces and suddenly I found the
first gem (very nicely hidden (or even "jammed") and then I got stuck again. I
was stuck with one gem and no obvious progression for quite a while before
contacting Tye to tell him of my progress and asking whether I had missed any
pieces in my path. He acknowledged that everything had gone as planned and I
needed to look at the puzzle properly to find the next step. Hmmmm!
The reset is easier than the solve but you still need to remember what you had
done and what went where. This beautiful creation is a definite candidate for
my top ten(ish) of 2026. I intend to take this to work and show it to some of
my more mechanically minded colleagues. I am definitely going to have to go
back to my copy of Jammed Gem and also my Jammed Coin. Frederic is just a
genius!
A few weeks ago I received an email from Richard Hensel, informing me that he
was completing a batch of his latest wooden locks and suggesting that I might
like to avail myself of the opportunity to look and feel stupid (my words not
his).
Having just paid for and received, over the last month or so, quite a large
number of rather lovely puzzles (including the Stickman Midas Touch Box, the
Angel's Wheel, Idan's I Need My Lunch, the latest releases from Mine and of
course the large delivery from Jakub), I figured that discretion was probably a good
idea and I asked Dick to wait for a new month before I bought and
received yet another toy that would make "she who makes the world shake in
fear" angry. I think it worked in that when it arrived, there was just a little muttering and no noisy shouting or pain in the back of my head.
This is the fourth in the series (obvious from the name I guess) and looks fun. It shares the family resemblance with an oak lock and acrylic window on the front allowing the whole thing to be seen. But seeing is not understanding as I was about to find out. I set straight to work after I had finished work yesterday (I missed an MPP yet again). As the title of the blog post says - this puzzle gave me 5 learning/thinking points:
Always take your photo before starting to play - I couldn't resist fiddling and managed to make things happen that I couldn't get out of and then I realised that I might not be able to take my initial photo.
Look at the damn thing properly before doing anything - it might help you plan what you can do and it might help explain why certain things move/change/happen.
Don't stick your fingers inside small holes - stuff can move and then you are in real trouble!
Dick is a sneaky bastard!
Having finally gotten back to the beginning, I took my start position photo and started again. needless to say I didn't really understand what I had done. Time to start afresh.
The first thing to notice is that on the left hand side of the lock (as with several of these in the past) can slide and it moves an obvious piece inside:
One edge sides and moves "stuff" inside
Ball bearing present
Having realised the obvious, I couldn't see how that would help. The slider is all very interesting, but it doesn't seem to engage with anything and after a few seconds of opening and closing it several times in various positions, I came to the conclusion that there was more to this puzzle than that. as you can tell, my level of genius is well below that of Derek. I gradually realised that there must be something else hidden inside that I needed to find. Memory of several previous Window Locks left me the feeling that there should be a ball bearing somewhere to help use manipulate internal parts. Rotating the puzzle from side to side, I could hear something rolling about but it couldn't be seen. I turned it over to look at the back and then when I had it right side up the ball bearing was visible. I had no idea where it came from! The BB could be moved around most of the right hand side of the lock where it did absolutely nothing. At this point, I obeyed the thing I learned in point 2 above - LOOK!
It is relatively obvious what is locking the shackle in place but not what is stopping the locking mechanism from moving. I did find a channel or two for the BB and in one of them I promptly lost it. It went in and didn't want to come out again. There was a tantalising view of it peaking below part of the mechanism but it didn't want to return to the play area. Bugger! I am rubbish at puzzles! I figured that this must have been where it was when I first picked it up so I had better do the same thing again to get it out as I had initially. Except I didn't really know what it was. After 5 minutes of fiddling I eventually figured that out and I could make the ball disappear and reappear at will. Phew! I couldn't make it do anything but at least I had it where I could use it.
I used learning point 2 and 3 again to decide where I could place the BB to try and manipulate the interior. There is a rather subtle feature that is easy to miss but if you notice it and do something then there is a click and something changes. I had no idea what had changed but the click was quite obvious. To me a click was very useful - all of a sudden, I could move the BB somewhere else and all sorts of stuff inside slid around and BINGO! The lock was open:
Solved it! No spoiler here
I had it open and was able to see the mechanism that had revealed itself. Very clever! But that's not all of it. We are now onto learning point 5 - Dick IS a sneaky bastard. Whilst I understood the last part of the unlocking mechanism, it didn't mean that I understood the puzzle. I was able to return the pieces inside to the initial configuration and the shackle was closed. BUT, when I tilted the lock, it spontaneously opened again. I had missed the critical part of the mechanism. The click had changed something and I didn't know what it was. I could put everything back but it wasn't actually locked.
At this point, I decided that maybe I had a couple of pieces in the wrong order of positioning (if you have opened it, then you know what I mean). I tried to change the order and gravity wouldn't do it. Time to put one of my fingers inside through a small hole to hold things in place whilst I used gravity. Here we arrive upon learning point 4 - I managed to rotate one piece that should not have rotated and then it fell out. Aaaargh! After a short panic, I managed to put it back and then rotate it into the correct position so that it wasn't going to fall out again. At this point I heard a clatter and had a race with a cat. Yes, the ball bearing had fallen out! Luckily I intercepted the ball before it was actually swallowed. I reckon a trip to the vet might have cost me my life - "she" doesn't know about that aspect of this puzzle and I'd be grateful if none of you told her.
Allard's review said that he took a couple of days to work it out and agreed about the sneaky aspect. Everyone can agree on learning point 5 - "sneaky bastard"!
If you get a chance to play with or buy this puzzle then jump at the chance. It really is a lovely design with not quite everything on show but enough to work out what is required. My set is now up to 4 of them now and I'm already looking forward to a future one. I still have one of Dick's locks that predates the Window locks - it has been sitting on my desk for years now and I have no idea how to open it!
As a rule most of us serious puzzlers tend to look askance at jigsaw puzzles. I
have reviewed only a few of many years now but there are some that are
definitely worth playing with either for the huge challenge or, as in this case,
for the sheer beauty and soothing nature of the puzzle.
Big Steve collects pretty much everything under the sun and his wife must be
even more angry than mine! Just over a week ago there was an auction in the
Sheffield auction house and Steve saw something that he fancied adding to his
collection. He duly asked whether I would mind collecting it rather than them
posting it to him for an exorbitant price. I was only working a half day on
Monday and had some time to head into town and pick up the result of his
winning bid. I was rather surprised at the size and weight of it. I
immediately saw why he wanted it.
We have the Avocets Jigsaw puzzle made by Mike and Gill Hayduk. Apparently
this husband and wife team had been producing gorgeous wooden creations in the
1980s (their website no longer exists but was active up to at least 2021
according to the wayback machine). I guess they must have stopped producing
these works of art relatively recently. This is a shame as, had I known about
them, I might well have ordered something from them. Steve has been buying
their puzzles for years having bought directly from them and more recently
finding them in auctions. His collection is
very extensive and I have spent quite a while drooling over the gorgeous wood. This
particular puzzle is made with quite an assortment of woods: The Avocets from
Sycamore, Walnut, Zebrano and Ebony. The background from two shades of
Tulipwood and the bowl with stand from Iroko. It is truly gorgeous and rather
frightening in its complexity.
Having picked it up I was encouraged to just invert the bowl to drop out the
pieces and get playing. I was not sure that I could reassemble it if I did but
having had so many of my own puzzles
irrevocably scrambled
by Steve and Rich at MPPs, I decided that if I gave it to him in pieces then I
couldn't be held responsible. Here goes:
Oh boy! This might be impossible!
I set to work on it as and when I could find time and luckily I had taken a
picture of the fully assembled version because there is no way that I would be
able to do it without that as a hint.
I began with the birds and true to form, a certain little demon was very
interested in joining in and maybe even running off with some pieces of
birdie.
I want that piece
Watching that the birds don't fly away
I worked on this gorgeous creation for a good few hours in total and have to
admit that whilst I am not generally interested in jigsaws, I found this one
very very soothing. It is beautifully made and very tactile. The pieces fit
together like a dream.
I suspect I might be competing with Steve if any more come up for sale in the
future.
I need to post an update from the last time
I reviewed
this wonderful little puzzle chest from Pelikan. When it was first sent
out the lock and keys were too small and fragile but after both myself and
Ivan had pointed it out, they corrected it and sent out new versions. I
needed to spend more than a week working on it with the new lock and keys
before I was finally able to solve it.
This wonderful Pelikan design is still available to buy (the fancy version
with sub fossil oak has sold out). It is very worthwhile getting hold of a
copy. the mechanism is clever and very well disguised.
Jerry McFarland
never stops thinking about new ways to bamboozle us! This is great for those of
us who like new toys but not so great for the rest who are patiently on his
waiting list for one of his previous puzzles. His boredom threshold is amazing -
he starts making a batch of puzzles for people and then gets fed up and moves on
to something new. Out of the blue, he emailed me to say that he had been making
the
Burrnova 3D but has found a way to improve it (version 3.0) and also still working on
(and improving) the incredible
Burrlephant
for people but wanted to produce something for the next IPP. He has been
thinking about a classic puzzle called the Satellite burr and wanted to improve
it in the traditional McFarland magnetic way.
The original had been mentioned in the 1893 Hoffman book and has almost
certainly been recreated many times. Jerry wanted to make it slightly more
interesting with the addition of magnets and brass ball bearings. You know
Jerry by now...Of course he did! Jerry also decided to use some rather
gorgeous wood (Bloodwood and Jatoba) - I think he specifically does that to
entice me - he knows I can't resist it. When he sent me the pictures, he
seemed to think that it did not look like a classic McFarland puzzle. I had to
tell him that the curved shape of the pieces was the only thing that might
confuse people. As soon as anyone sees it, it can only be one of his creations
- there is something absolutely unmistakeable about his creations. It is the
wood used, the lacquer finish and of course as soon as it's played with, the
"clack, clack" of the magnets pulling the pieces back together.
He wanted to originally call it SatBurr but his grandson came up with the
Angel's Wheel instead.
"Inspired by the Ophanim—mysterious “wheels within wheels” described in
ancient texts—Angel’s Wheel is a satellite-style burr that moves freely in
all directions while guarding its inner secret."
The Ophanim - I find this image quite disturbing Ophanim, or "wheels," are a class of celestial beings in Judeo-Christian theology described as wheels intersecting wheels covered in eyes, symbolizing omniscience and guiding God’s chariot throne.
The second copy was made for me and after a bit of PayPal moved across the pond,
it was sent over. When it arrived, I was not disappointed with the beauty of it.
Luckily there were no eyes in it but there was a fair bit of rattling inside.
The secondary aim is to remove the brass balls from there cavity inside.
Things were moving but it didn't seem to help much. I put it back the way it
came with a very satisfying Thwack and thought a bit more. Eventually I
realised that I was overthinking it and if I move certain parts in certain
ways then it makes space for a really useful move. After that I was well on my
way and dismantled all the curved sections. I emailed Jerry in triumph and he
pointed out that it was not complete until the brass balls were removed. Doh!
I had completely forgotten about that.
I went back to it a day later and realised that an odd flaw that I had noticed
on one of the pieces was not a flaw. It had been put there deliberately by
Jerry and there were several of them. There had to be a jolly good reason for
that. A quick experiment and I had a cat playing with my brass balls! Mrs S
would have been very unhappy if one ended up inside the cat so I quickly
separated them and took a photo.
Beautifully made - complete with brass balls!
Jerry has put his usual mark inside and mine has serial number 2 which I am very proud of. This will be taking centre stage in my McFarland display - it is very different to his usual.
This puzzle is very beautiful and fun to play with having its magnetic action but it is much less difficult than Jerry's previous puzzles. Jerry plans on making a few more for sale at the upcoming IPP. If you are interested and will be there then let him know and he might be able to reserve one for you.
Last week
I reviewed the amazing Minima-Ze series about to be released by
Pelikan and saved the others for this week (yes, I didn't have time or ability to
solve them all in a single week). I managed to get to the remaining wonderful
puzzles this week and even solved some of them.
Starting with the rather unusual looking Diasafe by
Lucie Pauwels, I couldn't work out whether it was a maze puzzle or a packing puzzle and
eventually settled on the latter. We have a rather attractive set of Wenge
pieces each of which has a rather colourful jewel on the top and a box made of
Pink Oak which has an S-shaped path in the top surface. Clearly the aim is to
fit the pieces in one layer inside the box via the 3 voxel opening in one
side. The interior of the box forms a 7x7 square and the jewels are expected
to protrude into the path.
I started by just forming squares with the pieces and quickly realised that my
usual approach with packing puzzles of starting outside the box was not going
to work. I found rather a lot of square assemblies very quickly and a quick
play with Burrtools revealed that there are 2004 possible squares. Time to
make squares in the box using the pathway in the top and you will quickly
realise that there is quite a lot of thought going to be required. I started
randomly and found that it is possible to place many of the pieces somewhere
inside quite easily but the larger ones are either very rapidly blocked from
moving along the path and two of the shapes cannot physically be placed with
out rotating them at some point whilst in the box. This forces the perplexed
puzzler to think about the order of placement. These pieces that need rotation
need space to do so. Maybe they need to be placed early before the pathways
gets too blocked up?
I got stuck after 2 days of trying and was forced to go to BT to at least look
at possible final square assemblies which ended having the jewels protruding
into the pathway. Interestingly, there are only 3 possible ways to create a
square with the jewels still in the S-shaped track. Of these 3 assemblies,
just one can be physically completed. It is very clever and a fun puzzle to
think about. This is perfect for advanced puzzlers and beginners alike.
I have put the final assembly behind a spoiler button:
This doesn't really tell you how to assemble it
Thyor
Thyor by Dr Volker Latussek
This rather stunning creation made from Wenge, Padauk and Maple by Dr Latussek
is called Thyor. Was this something to do with the God of thunder? I was rather
mystified at the name until I received an explanatory email from him with an
explanation. This puzzle is a tribute to one of the original German puzzle
manufacturers: THYOR is short for "Thirty Years Of Rombol". Volker wrote this:
"The Kröger family runs a small game publishing company in Paderborn,
Germany. My friend Bernhard - whom I still addressed as Mr. Schweitzer
back then - recommended my SOMA PACK for publication there. It was my
first mechanical puzzle to go into series production at Rombol.
Recently, after the relaunch of rombol.de, I read that the Kröger
family had already begun publishing designer puzzles in small series as
early as 1996. With the company’s 30th anniversary this year and the
handover to the next generation in the family, I also wanted to
personally express my gratitude for the great collaboration. Since the
Kröger family now also distributes Pelikan puzzles here in Germany, I
asked Pelikan to publish my puzzle THYOR: Th-irty Y-ears O-f R-ombol.
For THYOR, I experimented with 1.5x1x1.5 instead of the usual 1x1x1
voxel. As always, even changing just one parameter opens a whole new
world. In THYOR, I break down a 1.5x1x52.5 rod into 18 sections for the
6 pieces that need to be packed into the box. I’m very confident that
the solution will be unique even after you’ve played THYOR; at least,
some of my fellow metagrobologists have confirmed this."
Volker always defines a specific setup position for the transport of his
puzzles and this alone can be a huge challenge. I removed just one piece
for the initial photo and stopped there. The other pieces did not seem to
want to come out terribly easily. I backed off for a while as I did not
want lots of pieces lying around with me unable to put them back into the
box again.
When I did come to trying to solve this one, I was not disappointed! I
managed to remove 3 of the 6 pieces without too much trouble but the
remaining 3 just would not come out of the box. The lip of the box stopped
them from just dropping out and it became clear that rotations were going
to be needed just to get access to the pieces. I'm slightly ashamed to
admit that it took me a good 30 minutes just to get access to the pieces
and begin trying the full assembly.
This challenge is very different to most of Volker's previous puzzles. It
does not require rotations to achieve the main aim (the rotations are only
needed to get the pieces out). This one can be solved by Burrtools and
creating the BT file after you have solved it will add to your fun. It's
not an easy one to create (at least for me) - at one point it was going to
take 860 millennia to find the solution! Maybe that will give you an idea
of how tough this challenge is?
The Secret Of Two Friends
The Secret of Two Friends by Pelikan
This stunning Puzzlebox is a new design by the Pelikan team. It has been beautifully made from a rather dark oak and a metal lock, keys, hinges and decorations. The aim is to open the chest and see what is rattling around inside.
The lock can be opened using one of the keys and the chest will still not open. Something odd is going on inside. There is no movement where you think it should be. Time to investigate further and something interesting shows up quite quickly. There is then a need to use what you have in creative ways. I did have to let the Pelikan team know that one piece is too fragile and they have assured me that they are aware and will be fixing that.
I have only found the first small part of the mechanism and have failed so far to complete the task. I have tried using all the pieces I have in ever more creative ways but cannot seem to unlock the chest. I do know how it should open but I seem to be missing a step in the solution. This is definitely a lovely puzzle for anyone's collection and as a rare Pelikan design it is worth getting hold of.
%20collection_.jpg)
