I received a nice big package from Alexander at the end of the year and
when opened I was delighted to see a whole bunch of interesting challenges in
the box - Mrs S was not quite so delighte, however.
I was intrigued to see something that is new to Alex's repertoire, a jigsaw
puzzle. As you know I have been a little fixated on Jigsaws recently having
had very mixed success at the wonderful
jigsaws in trays
designed by
Haym Hirsh.
The interesting thing here is that it is only a six piece jigsaw with no frame
and instructions to make a 3x2 array of the pieces:
Instructions that give away nothing except a very big clue...only 1
solution!
Having seen that there are only six pieces and no restriction of a frame,
I decided that this was to be my next challenge this year. After all, how hard
can it be? Have I learned nothing from these blasted puzzle designers yet?
Apparently not!
I spent a good couple of days fixated that there would be no interior gaps
(i.e. the single curved protuberances would only interact with single curved
orifices. I thought that this would significantly limit the number of possible
interactions that I needed to try and would leave me with a pure logic based
solution. Two days wasted on that - it certainly helped with the logic but, of
course, Alex would never make it quite that easy! Eventually the realisation
whacked me over the head that there were going to be gaps and irregularities
in the outline. The only stipulation in the instructions was that they should
fit together in the 3x2 grid. The shapes would restrict the way they could fit
together by preventing some fits completely but if there was a gap then that
would still be allowable. This then helped me find one piece that could ONLY
be oriented in one way on the outer edge. From this, it was possible to work
out several possible pieces that might go next but walking this pathway seemed
to end in dead ends fairly fast (I was hoping that this was the sort of
approach that Alex had intended because my head was hurting quite a lot at
this stage). I did need to keep track of 2 or three possible pathways and
eventually narrowed it down to decide on another definite external edge.
Once I had worked out this, it became a little bit more logical but still a
fair bit of trial and error as every piece had several possibilities.
Finally, after about 5 days, I had my solution. It was very satisfying. This
is a rather clever puzzle which needs thought and planning rather than trial
and error. It certainly is good for beginners to show them that simple looking
puzzles might not be as simple as they appear. Having said that, I think most
beginners would give up long before they found the solution. I very nearly
gave up myself. I think my Jigsawing period might have to stop for a little
while due to brain-ache!
Having found my assembly, I had a fun time putting this into Burrtools to
prove to myself that there was indeed only one solution and that it did not
fit together with no gaps. Thank you Alex, it was a lot of fun! Plenty more challenges left to do from your box (although Mrs S is threatening to hide the box away 😱.
The Snowman Puzzlebox by Kyle Chester-Marsden
Someone has stolen the poor snowman's nose
I hadn't managed to attend many MPP's last year and also don't really have time
to lurk in the Discord and hence missed out on a few of the beautifully made
puzzles from Kyle and from what I have heard, I have really missed something
special. In mid November he put out a little announcement on the
Mechanical Puzzle Community Facebook page that he was making some more of the Snowman boxes available again as
potential Xmas presents. He had made these as presents for Xmas 2023 but as
usual, I had not seen them and missed out. They had been
reviewed
back in February by Steve and looked fabulous. This time around I saw them
announced and contacted him immediately! Phew! For once, I had not let it get by
me. The handy thing was that he had one available at the last MPP of the year
and I picked up a nice brown box and sneaked it into the house. "She who must be
feared" saw it amongst all the other acquisitions on my return and, luckily, it
didn't register when I told her that was going to be her present to me at
Xmas.
We don't tend to do Xmas presents much because, by and large, we each buy
whatever we want throughout the year and it seems pointless to buy something
just because of the time of year. I know "she" will be buying clothing etc and
"she" knows that toys will be arriving. We just try not to complain about it
too much unless the clutter escapes into the shared areas.
Nice box with magnetic closure
Beautifully packaged
I hid the brown card box box in my study and totally forgot about it! I'm an
eejit! I blame work mostly because I ended up in the operating theatre through
most of the holiday period and just didn't seem to have much time. Finally just
in time for New Years Day, I remembered it and unpacked. Marvelling at the
packaging, I was delighted to see something just beautiful inside. We have
a small box with a disfigured Snowman on top. The top and bottom plates of the
box are made from vibrant Padauk and the main body along with snowman, made from
what looks like Maple. When turning it upside down there is an interesting
clicking noise.
Time to explore and I quickly found that the snowman could swivel on his box
but only a fraction of a turn before stopping dead. It could return but that
was all that was possible. Examining it from all angles showed me that things
moved inside and sometimes they allowed the snowman to turn further or turn
back further... and sometimes turning it didn't allow any turning. Hmmm!
This being stuck seems to be something that happens to me a lot. Mrs S says
it's because I'm an eejit and rubbish at puzzles. She is starting to insist
that I shouldn't ever get any more. Sob! I thunk for 10 days until it occurred
to me to have a proper close look at the puzzle using a magnifier app on my
phone. At this point I had an idea and tried to implement it. I was so certain
that I was right that I put the puzzle in a room with a dehumidifier and after
24 hours my suspicion was confirmed. The puzzle seemed to be rather tight and
loosened slightly with the dehumidifier. This then allowed me to carry out the
next movement and with a bit of a squeak, I was able to see the rather clever
mechanism inside. There was no nose to be seen but part of the mechanism
dropped out and looked like something that had an additional function. A few
minutes later, after nearly 2 weeks of trying, the snowman and his nose were
reunited:
Even Mrs S thought this was delightful!
Thank you Kyle, I love it. It's a clever mechanism with a nice added extra step.
My only excuse for how long it took me was being busy and the humidity in the UK
just now made it really quite tight. This will look lovely on display.
If you get a chance to try it or buy it then you will not be disappointed.
Unfortunately, I missed out on the Reluctant Drawer from Kyle which won
accolades at the End of Year Puzzle Party as well as in the Mechanical Puzzle
Discord. Hopefully I'll get to play at an MPP in the future.
Last week, when I mentioned Juno's incredible Tornado burr, I showed off
(one of my) trays of shame:
A LOT of unsolved puzzles here
After another 24 hours of playing with the Tornado burr, I finally did manage
to reassemble it and even did it again a second time. It's a bit fiddly but
certainly very approachable for a lot of you geniuses out there. Don't be put
off by the "burr" in the name. It's really not a burr in the traditional sense
- I would recategorise it as an interlocking puzzle. Juno still has a few for
sale
here
if you are interested.
The white bag at the back of the tray pictured above has been there for 18
months! I bought the incredible Euroka 10x3 puzzle from Juno in Feb 2023 and put it on
display on a windowsill for nearly six months when a moment of madness made me
disassemble it. I thought I could do it piecemeal and take sequential photos
which would help with the reassembly. I wrote about it
here.
Lovely on display
Unfortunately the puzzle doesn't really come apart sequentially. I took it
apart from the top and removed 3 layers before my Aha! moment collapsed in a
heap on me leading me to the epithet below:
You Stupid Boy!
Over the subsequent 18 months I have
repeatedly attempted reassembly only to be surrounded by pieces, a very high
blood pressure and a new-found reliance on swear words. I have access to an
unlisted video from Juno showing the assembly as well as the picture on his
info page about it. Multiple attempts have failed and after last week's success
with the Tornado burr, I was determined to assemble the bloody thing.
held by rubber band
This time I had a new advantage! I had a rubber band! These wondrous items
have never been allowed in our house due to the fascination that our cats have
had with them. They adored chewing them and once broken would swallow them. It
all sounds perfectly reasonable and slightly funny until 24 hours later they
reemerge from the cat at the opposite end. Picture the cat zooming all around the house with an
itchy bum and a rather hideous springy brown
kebab emerging from his back end. Then add to this wonderful image add a picture of me chasing him around with a piece of kitchen
paper to try and catch and extract said kebab and rubber band. Whilst this seems funny to most blokes,
it is not funny to Mrs S and as a result rubber bands are VERBOTEN!
Our last cat unfortunately left us last year and I felt brave enough to keep a band or two
in my study for emergency puzzling situations. This was just such a situation
and I put said rubber band to good use. I managed to assemble the
bottom 5 pieces and placed the band around them. I then built up the next 2
layers on top and it suddenly became stable. After this, I just had to work
out how to place subsequent middle layers and finally, after several hours of attempts, I got them all to engage with a
click.
Hooray!
I'm not taking that apart again!
Mrs S was actually impressed when I showed her that it was finally assembled
and threatened for a moment to take it apart for me. I snatched it away! I
now think I could do it again but not for a while!
My other tray of shame has been removed from the living room! The weight
of it has marked the carpet and I am told in no uncertain terms that I
must redistribute them so that there is less weight on the tray. Some of
these puzzles have been there for several years, unsolved but with a vague
hope that I might one day mange them:
Marks on the carpet? Whack! Ouch!
Some fabulous and difficult puzzles here
In particular the Popplock T13 remains unsolved as well as Brian Young's Ages sequential discovery burr (not even found the first hidden move! Sigh! I must try harder!
It has been a very long time since I bought anything from Juno. I missed out on
the fabulous Hippo puzzle due to cash flow issues and he has been quite
quiescent recently whilst carrying out house renovations. But...he has found
time to create some new unique burrs. I couldn't resist them and the flight
around the world with them on was the fastest I've ever seen! Mrs S was really
unimpressed to see 3 packages arrive in 2 days. The first was the parcel from
Juno and Yukari along with a package of a "second" quality Xmas tree from Dee
Dixon and then there was a rather large box from Alex Magyarics - I think he is
intending me to suffer a painful death from a blunt teaspoon at the hands of Mrs
S. She can scoop at parts of anatomy with the teaspoon and cause intense pain
and harm as well as death should the fancy take her. Note that we only allow
blunt teaspoons in the house as I wouldn't want the damage to be done without at
least some effort on her part so that she has to think about it before
inflicting it.
We have LOT of toys from Alex - I hope that I can solve just one or two
(if I survive) He is an evil genius wholeheartedly has been
equipped with a 3D printer and let loose on the world
The Tornado burr is not actually a new creation. The original was made by
Brian Young in 2008 before I started my puzzle madness. There is a video of Brian
making pieces on YouTube and the sheer amount of work is incredible. This does
explain why this burr is not particularly cheap. For the workmanship in it, it's
a bargain. Brian wrote this about it:
"This ingenious burr was designed by Junichi in May 2007 with “head and
hands; no computer”. Junichi had the idea for a multiple rotational
movement but did not get to finally apply it to a puzzle until he came
up with the Tornado Burr.
People often ask puzzle designers “What was going on in your head to
design this puzzle?” What was going on in Junichi’s head when he
designed the Tornado Burr? Visualising things going up and down and back
and forth at the same time is one thing, but things going up and down,
back and forth and around as well is quite another! Junichi says the
Tornado Burr “has very eccentric movements” and challenges puzzlers to
“Try your luck, and stop this fierce tornado.”
Needless to say this puzzle is not solvable in any computer program
that we know of.
This interlocking burr puzzle was recognised for its innovation, design
and the amazing puzzle solving experience it provides in the 2007 Nob
Yoshigahara Design Competition with an Honourable Mention. Until Brian
tackled his Limited Edition of this burr the puzzle had not been
commercially available and now Brian knows why. Making the jigs, the
number of and complexity of them, was more difficult than making the
puzzle itself. As well as conventional check-outs there are routed
check-outs and a further 16 sections that must be hand-turned on a
lathe."
After reading this, who could resist such a fabulous challenge? I took
my photos and put it down to explore. To be honest, I had not seen anything
like this before. It very much reminded me of the
Kamikaze burr
that I bought years ago which also cannot be solved by computer but is
coordinate motion rather than rotational.
Pushing and pulling at the sticks immediately reveals that this is not even
close to the right approach. After fiddling with it a little bit, the pieces
sort of settled into a shape that would give a hint of the approach. I
should have realised from the name - what does a Tornado do? It spins!
The pieces just settled like this A strong sense of foreboding
hit me!
Having seen this movement begin of its' own accord, I felt that it was my duty
to continue it and the whole thing very rapidly gets warped out of cubic
shape. Having moved some pieces (I was very careful to ensure all 4 moved at
the amenities time), I realised that is they were turned enough then it
would free up others to also turn. OK, challenge accepted!
OMG! I backtracked very quickly at that point as the puzzle became very
distorted and pieces started to move independently of each other. It was very
stable, there was no chance it was going to just fall apart but it became
obvious that I needed to concentrate and be aware of what I was doing. The
intrepid puzzler started again and very rapidly got himself into trouble -
somehow I had turned one of the sticks 90º independently of the others in the
same plane and then nothing else was possible. It took me a while to realise
what I had done and attempt to backtrack. The heart stopping moment where I
realised that the solo rotated piece could not be returned in synch with the
others stopped me a bit and in ever increasing panic I tried various moves to
extend the gaps that appeared to allow the piece to turn back. Only after
about an hour of swearing at myself did I manage to get it back to the start
and calm my nerves again. It's very exciting stuff this puzzling isn't it? Why
to I scare the crap out of myself so often?
After a rest for an hour or so, I started again and found a combination of
moves that seemed to open up the grooves a little bit. A little bit of
shookelling about (it's a Scottish term) and I had a wonderful Aha! moment. Oh
that moment was wonderful - I took a photo and jiggled the puzzle only to have
a slow motion moment of horror! I had a whole lot of pieces in a pile and only
a vague idea where they should be. Bugger! Having reached that point and gone
beyond the point of no return, I pushed everything together for a couple of
photos and now I am wondering what to do next.
Aargh!
Look at the workmanship in those pieces!
It's always good to see Juno's mark.
This reminds me very much of the situation from July 2023 when I thought it
was a really good idea to dismantle the Euroka puzzle (also from Juno). I
ended up with a pile of pieces and absolutely no idea how to reassemble it.
I did get sent a video of Juno showing the assembly but I cannot for the
life of me manage it and it remains in a bag as a puzzle to be attempted
soon. It is so important that it is in my current to be solved pile in the
conservatory. It really needs to go back together and displayed. Sigh, one
day maybe!
Euroka
Oops! That was stupid
I really hope that the Tornado burr doesn't end up next to the Euroka over here:
The white bag of shame!
Thank you Juno for the fabulously beautiful puzzles, for the wonderful Aha!
moment and also for showing me up yet again!
Happy New Year to you all! I have no idea what happened to 2024. Actually I
have a vague idea that I worked my way through it with not enough breaks for
enjoying what I love. I only managed to get to 2 of the MPP's of the year
which is a bad sign that I am working a lot of weekends. New Year resolution
to work less!
Welcome to my customary end of year post looking back at my puzzling highs of
2024. As always, thinking about it was triggered by Peter Hajek's request for
the top 3 acquisitions of the year. Peter wants to know the best arrivals in
the collection and I always write about my best puzzles solved which makes it
a little harder to come up with a good list. I have had a pretty good year of
puzzle purchasing much to the disgust of the current wife, but it has felt
like a bad year for me in terms of puzzle solving. Having looked back through
my year of posts, there have been some absolutely amazing creations.
Nowhere near solving!
Smack-n-Moles by Stickman - this has been sitting in my conservatory next to
me for over a year now and I picked it up regularly throughout 2024 and got
absolutely nowhere. I have made a few discoveries but nothing is useful. It
remains in my naughty pile and is not getting put away until done!
The coloured plastic version of the Crazy double circle cube was refought
towards the end of 2023 when the black version began to have issues with the
inner circles catching on me. I duly scrambled this version and whilst it has
worked flawlessly, I don't seem to be able to solve it. I get really close to
the end game and then lose it - sigh! Another one I will keep going on.
Vertigo from Dee Dixon - it looks and smells lovely! It remains in my kitchen
(much to the disgust, yet again, of Mrs S) and to my eternal shame, I have not
even managed to find the first move. The top inner disk spins freely and that is
it - Aargh!
Blinded, also by Dee Dixon. Another one in my kitchen and if this continues then
I am going to get a Whack! Ouch! very soon.
Box of Celts - this won quite a lot of votes at the last EPP and I was very
lucky to manage to get one early in 2024. I haven't even found the first step
yet. OMG! I am so bad at puzzles!
I missed out on Juno's tour de force (the Hippo) but at the beginning of the
year I did manage to acquire this gorgeous puzzle, the Dual Meanders Box.
There are a lot of moves possible with so many maze plates that can move as
well as the centre of the walls. I seem to make progress in two possible
directions but always seem to hit a dead end no matter what I try. This has
been shelved for a while due to frustration.
The Fibonacci box from Jesse Born. Having collected and solved the Pi box, I
had to have the next in that series - it is simply gorgeous and has a very
complex mechanism with some serious brass inside. I have managed to make
things slide but absolutely nothing seems to lead anywhere and I cannot find
any connection to the Fibonacci number series.
Of course, let us not forget that Shane has been quiescent for a while (note
that I did not say quiet because Shane is NEVER quiet!) He produced, in
collaboration with the Two Brass Monkeys, the Who Dares Wins lock. I am not very
good at locks but this one is kicking my butt - yet another puzzle I haven't
even found the first move for. I can see something that I'd like to try to do
but I don't have anything to do it with - sigh!
Finally managed to solve with a good bit of assistance
Orbit by Dee Dixon. This took over a year to solve and was only possible
with a decent hint at the last MPP. Maybe there is something about Dee's
puzzles? There is a massive challenge to them and I just cannot seem to
solve them easily. Very good value for money!
Almost made it
There have been so many great puzzles that I had to relegate a few - this
doesn't mean that they aren't good - they still deserve a mention and
here's a few almost there puzzles:
Mibinity designed by Michel van Ipenburg and beautifully created by Jack
Krijnen is a delightful and unusual manifestation of the N-ary puzzle group.
It's a lovely little delight, not too hard and fun to fiddle with and, of
course, beautifully made. It has reminded me that Stephan Baumegger has
created a whole bunch of new N-ary puzzles that I haven't bought yet due to
funding constraints. Sigh!
Every year I buy a whole bunch of disentanglement puzzles from Aaron Wang
and most of them bamboozle me for the whole year before I give up. This
year, Aaron helped produce some wonderful wire only puzzles which had just
the right difficulty level and some wonderful Aha! moments. I have not yet
managed the string puzzles but I'm hopeful!
Finally...On with my top ten(ish) puzzles solved in 2024:
Every top ten needs to start at least at 11 because I cannot
count! So here we go.
11) Incredible Packers
Over the last few years I have been delighted by some truly wonderful
packing puzzles with something very special about them. It may be the
wood or it may be the odd technique needed to solve them. In either
case they all share a fantastic delightful Aha! moment. Here's a few
that I had to mention:
Persistence of Memory by Alexander Magyarics Made by Brain
Menold
Nested Soma by Dr Volker Latussek with Lucie Pauwels Made
by Pelikan
Also from Mine-san:
Perfect entrance
3L x2
Sukiyaki by Frederic Boucher Made by Pelikan
10) 234 Puzzle Cube
When Mike Toulouzas designs and makes something you know that it is
going to be very special and a perfect challenge. This came out of the
blue as a gift at the beginning of 2024 and delighted me with it's sheer
beauty as well as a challenge that is just tough enough to make me feel
foolish and yet smile at the same time. Thank you Mike!
Frederic Boucher had an idea - he created a 2x2x3 box with holes in
various places and odd pieces to fit inside. Sometimes it needs odd
rotations, and sometimes there need to be odd holes to allow these
rotations. It is soooo good that he made quite a lot of them. I
haven't gotten around to solving them all yet but I am working my way
through them.
Minima Tower by Frederic
Recently Minima Smiley
Minima Domino by Frederic
Minima Texas
Minima Ludique
Minima Twig
I think the world thinks it was a good idea based on great reviews from
others and the fact that so many other people jumped on this bandwagon
to produce their own variants.
The great Laszlo Molnar designed some
Lucie Pauwels couldn't resist it
Even Dr Latussek added something special
7) Vertigo Puzzlebox
Yes, I actually solved a Vertigo puzzle (just not one from Dee
Dixon
This is the second of the puzzle boxes made from Lego that I have from
Quizbrix. Every time I see a Lego box, I am sceptical but every time I am
amazed at the incredible complexity and fun mechanisms that can be fitted
into an amazingly small volume. I adored this one and it is still
available
here.
6) Oleg's Wardrobe
Oleg's Wardrobe by Dee Dixon
I have this here because it is a fabulous puzzle and beautifully made by
Dee Dixon. The mechanism was incredible and really fun to solve. It isn't
higher up the list because I just cannot seem to reset it at all. I will
need to take it to an MPP next time and see if anyone can do it for me!
Whilst I am thinking about Dee's creations, I have to include the Uplift
puzzle here. I received it in 2023 and spent months and months spinning
the damn thing around. I then finally made progress this year and solved
it with a wonderful Aha! moment and a silly grin at the end!
Uplift
5) Twister Box
When Pelikan produce a box it's a "must have"
Jakub and Jaroslav appear more than once in my top ten(ish) of 2024
because they produce some gorgeous puzzles and work with some of the best
designers in the world! However, when they produce one of their own
designs, everyone should sit up and take notice. Also when they produce a
box, it will be something special. Their craftsmanship is second to none
and their ideas are amazing! This box made me laugh out loud! I solved it
by accident as most people will but the understanding of the mechanism is
the fun part - then you can do it easily every single time! Brilliant!
4) Free Me 9
Joe produces an amazing challenge
When Joe Turner sends out an email about yet another of his brilliant Free
Me puzzles, the puzzling world really pays attention! I said yes as soon as
the email arrived and was not disappointed. The aim wasn't just to free one
coin but 3 with a whole series of mechanisms. It really took me some time
and needed a little hint.
Three coins this time!
3) Picolock
Boaz Feldman does it yet again!
This amazing puzzle lock by Boaz Feldman won a huge number of
accolades at last year's EPP. I finally stopped buying wood for long
enough to pick one up and loved every moment of the solve. It's
classic Boaz with beautifully hidden mechanisms that are a delight to
find.
2) Matchbox playground
The Matchbox Playground by Pelikan and Peter Gal
I adore a puzzle set but I seldom actually attempt more than a few
challenges from them. This wonderful set is a fabulous collection of
matchbox challenges stunningly made by Pelikan comprising the exhaustive
analysis by Peter Gal. I keep returning to it. Even the box looks like a
matchbox. Amongst all of the beautiful puzzles that I received in 2024,
this is probably the most beautiful item on my shelves - it is simply
stunning.
So many pieces - it's a challenge to put them in the box
The simplest challenge
1) Brass Monkey Sixential Discovery puzzle
You knew it had to be this one!
This is an absolute masterpiece of puzzle design and manufacture by Big
Steve and Ali. It's a fitting end to the Brass Monkey series. I doubt it
can ever be beaten - it might be the best puzzle ever made! There are so
many beautifully made mechanisms that lead to one Aha! moment after
another. I wish I could solve it all over again. I hope the guys are
feeling the pressure because I want another tour de force like this
again.
Solved after so many steps!
All six Brass Monkeys
Do you agree with my top 10? If you have any different thoughts then please comment below or even use my Contact page to tell me how wrong I am. I look forward to your thoughts.
Happy New Year to you all!
I really hope that you all have a fabulous year in 2025 with good health, success and plenty of wonderful puzzling. I look forward to entertaining and maybe helping many of you in this year.
