Pelikan Puzzling Continued

Cabinet - a Pelikan design

Yes, it's time to continue the reviews of the upcoming Pelikan release. I have been playing all week and have just finished them this morning. 

Cabinet

Every now and then Jakub releases a Pelikan in-house design. They are usually boxes with clever mechanisms and you really won't be disappointed by this. At yesterday's MPP, one of the topics of comnsversation that I had was about the Karakuri puzzle boxes and how beautiful they are with simple(ish) short but very elegant solutions. I lamented that I didn't dare get into Karakuri collecting as it would be the death of my marriage and my bank balance but I agreed with the elegance and simplicity. I have to say that the Cabinet puzzle by the Pelikan team is worthy of this same admiration.

It is beautifully made - and wonderfully tactile. There are 2 drawers and one knob. As it arrives, there is a good bit of rattling from inside. The challenge is to open the drawers of the cabinet and find the gold bars and the jewel inside (plus an extra treat). Nothing moves at all at first but it won't take very many of you long to get the first drawer open to find a treat inside. After that a little exploration will reveal the first of the prizes. Aha! Real care and attention in every part. At this point you have what looks like it can be used as a tool...you will have done it countless times before on other puzzles and been able to manipulate the mechanism. I tried this repeatedly and had no luck. I began to think that maybe the mechanism was stuck. I tried variants of my manipulation many many times with alterations in the orientation of the puzzle and got absolutely nowhere. I tried this again and again and again. Nope! Nuffink! I then had another thought and tried that but still no luck. I tried for a whole week. Eventually, I contacted Ivan Danik to ask for a hint. He didn't say much but did manage to tell me that my original thought which I had been trying for a whole week had been wrong. Grrrr! I am not very bright. Having abandoned that completely I had a little feel about and had a wonderful Aha! moment. I had actually used the correct move but needed to do it properly. After another try my treasure was all available. 

The Cabinet is just like a Karakuri - it is beautifully made with perfect tolerances and a simple but very elegant mechanism. All of you collectors out there will need this.

Teapot

Teapot by Lucie Pauwels

Another tray packing puzzle by the incredible Lucie Pauwels! There is no limit to Lucie's skills! I reviewed an interlocking puzzle coming from her and Pelikan last week which was fascinating and here she turns her hand to a rather lovely and clever tray puzzle. This is very ingenious and a good bit harder than it looks. What goes in a teapot ? Tea of course! What goes in tea? Sugar lumps! Here we have a pot and 8 different varieties of tea (T) made from Pink Oak to be placed inside the pot. Two other variants will be on sale: Wenge/Maple and Purpleheart/Ash. There are 4 single voxel holes left after all the teas are inside and these can be filled by sugar made from Maple. Normally you'd put your sugar in your cup but here it gets added to the pot.

This is a deceptive puzzle - it really doesn't look that tough but the lengths of the stems of the T's make it difficult to pack the cavity efficiently leaving only small few gaps. I worked for a long time (hours) to find the solution and it was very gratifying to eventually manage it. I dare say it can be solved by brute force but the best approach is to experiment with how the T crosses and stems can interact with each other and then plan what you need to do to keep the gaps to a minimum. There is only one solution to this and it might take you quite some time to find it. Perfect for all levels of puzzler.

Olympic Rings

Olympic Rings by Lucie Pauwels

Yes, another tray packing puzzle by Lucie. This follows a totally different premise than the Teapot puzzle. Instead of having to fill a cavity with shapes that get in each other's way, the aim is to fill a pathway with relatively simple pieces but a very limited length to the paths. The complexity and the logic comes from the constraint formed by the intersection of the paths. This one has pieces made from Pink Oak but it will also be available in Merbau.

I started placing the larger pieces in the lengths of the paths and then trying to fill the smaller gaps that were left after that.This seemed like a really good idea but it did not lead me even close to a solution. My next approach was to take the  3 more complex pieces and place those at the path intersections and then work from there. This definitely improved the situation but did not get me all the way. I ended up resorting to Burrtools and just peeking at the position of those complex pieces. Once I had them placed properly, I was able to progress quite logically with the rest of the puzzle. If I had not been time constrained then I might have managed this without cheating. It is a very challenging but logical puzzle which should only need a little trial and error. It is very attractive when complete and looks great on display.

Fantino

Fatino by Dr Volker Latussek

Another masterpiece from the master of the packing puzzle! Dr Latussek has been challenging us with restricted entry packing puzzles for years now and every time a new one is released, I think that he cannot have found something new but he has. This one has been beautifully made with a Mahogany box and Wenge pieces.

This time it looks like the puzzle should be possible without rotations because the limited entry hole is still a whole number of voxels in each dimension. BUT don't let that fool you. The pieces are all pentominoes and hence quite long. Any of them that have to go sideways perpendicular to the hole will need rotating into place once inside or tilting slightly through the gap. The hole to be filled is a 4x4x2 space and we have a total of 30 leaving 2 gaps to be hidden somewhere inside. This is going to be fun and VERY difficult!

Volker said this about the development of the puzzle:

In the past, I’ve combined some of the 12 flat pentacubes with other polycubes to design packing problems. In addition to the well-known pieces of the SOMA CUBE, I’ve also used spatial pentacubes - which are described by a 3x2x2 envelope - in a rather unobtrusive way. There are 15 different shapes of these, based on a rather casual remark by George Miller I’ll call them Fats. The Fats possess a harmony that is indescribable to me when they are combined. I will present my special discoveries to you at Pelikan. 

I’ll start with FATINO, six Fats in the box so familiar to me with a centered slit opening. In fact, I already had this CASINO-like box and, with FATINO, the name of the puzzle for the first time before I began finding the six matching Fats that describe a unique solution. The Fats are really bulky, as if they didn’t want to fit into the box. Ultimately, however, six of them took pity on me and gave me a truly beautiful solution. I really hope you enjoy the game of the Fats so much that you look forward to the discoveries to come.

I had to use Burrtools to find me some assemblies and then experiment with them to try and get one of them inside the box. Even using BT this way, isn't a panacea as each shape that is found (there are 6 of them) will have 8 possible orientations to try and of course, then you will need to see whether the disassembly is possible through the slot in the top of the box. Once I found a possible assembly it was a lovely dexterity and sliding problem to get the solution.

Damn! That is tough!

This is a stupendously good challenge. It is definitely possible by normal human beings (many of you might need BT to systematically find the possible assemblies and try them) but after that the puzzling is wonderful.

Yasya-Flop

Yasya-Flop by Dr Volker Latussek

Another puzzle in the "Flop" series is one that is not to be missed. There have been quite a few so far and this one is by far the most difficult. Jakub and team have made this from a wonderful Saman wood (aka Monkeypod) and Purpleheart. It arrives with all but one of the pieces packed in the box and took me quite a bit of fiddling to actually remove the pieces. This bodes for a very difficult solution to get all of them back inside.

The box has a 3x3x3 cavity and a 1½ voxel wide slot in the top through which all the pieces of a standard Soma cube need to be placed. I have mentioned many times that I am terrible at assembly puzzles. My appreciation of this occurred many years ago when I bought my first Soma cube. So here, I need to find one particular assembly of the Soma cube and then work out which orientation to try and then how to get the damn thing into a box through a small hole using rotational moves! Does this sound like fun to you? Yes, it does to me too.

Volker wrote this about it:

Fritz Pingl (FRITZ-FLOP) and Dick Fosbury (DICK-FLOP) are the namesakes of my FLOP SERIES. The rotation of individual pieces in these unique packing puzzles is reminiscent of their high jump techniques.

While I was recently playing with my STEFKA-FLOP, named after Stefka Kostadinova, I unexpectedly found a new solution. This is, of course, terrible, since every FLOP is supposed to have exactly one solution. But this new solution is so beautiful - not least because, just like with the FRITZ-FLOP, the opening can be compressed to exactly half of one of the square sides - that I don’t want to keep this experience from you. A production by Pelikan was a must. 

While searching for a suitable name, I learned that Stefka Kostadinova’s long-standing world record in the high jump from 1987 was surpassed in 2024 by Yaroslava Mahuchikh with a jump of 2.10 meters. So I dedicate my YASYA-FLOP to this exceptional Ukrainian athlete, who is affectionately called Yasya by her friends.  While solving the YASYA-FLOP won’t let you set a new world record, I hope you understand why this solution has remained undiscovered until now.

There is an immediate way to cut down the possible assemblies as the final pieces to be placed have to be able to drop straight in through the opening as there will be no room for rotations at that stage. This helps considerably but if I was you, I'd have a BT set of Soma solutions available to search through.

Not for the faint-hearted!

In the end, due to time constraints, I had to get the solution from Pelikan to give me the intended assembly and orientation and then work out how to get it inside the box. The movements are very complex and require considerable dexterity as well as judicious use of gravity to place pieces. Make sure that you know what you have done as taking the pieces out will be almost impossible. This is an amazing challenge but definitely only for the most expert of puzzlers.

Less is More

Less is more by Dr Volker Latussek

This gorgeous puzzle from Volker has been beautifully made from Wenge and American Cherry. It is stunning to look at and beautifully made. I thought that it had been sent out in the solved position but reviewing the instructions revealed that there is much more to this puzzle than meets the eye. Yes, it is a tray packing puzzle with a 7x7 tray and there are quite a few assemblies in the tray.

Having taken the pieces out for the photo, I found even packing them back in the tray very difficult. Finding the one that left me that nice square gap was almost impossible for me. But, for all of you who want something more interesting than a simple square tray packer, there is a LOT more to do - this is also an anti-slide puzzle. In fact, it is a multi level anti-slide puzzle. This will keep you challenged for a VERY long time.

Volker said this about it:

Nine pentominoes in a square grid (7x7). So what. The idea behind this particular anti-slide puzzle - simple in concept - kept me occupied for several years, and its implementation proved too challenging for me. I had to seek advice from Andreas Roever and Peter Müller, an algebra professor at my university in Würzburg. In the end, Peter Müller calculated the solution sequences. Unfortunately, my knowledge of Fortran wasn’t sufficient. But now, after an initial prototype with 6 pentominoes instead of nine for the Nob-Yoshigahara Design Competition 2025, Pelikan can release a small series for enthusiasts of such puzzles, and I’ve met a mathematics professor whom I can now call Peter. Peter, thank you so much for your great support, which allowed LESS IS MORE to come to life. 

LESS IS MORE contains various challenges, but in particular sequences of stable arrangements: Pack the nine pentominoes into the frame so that they do not slide. Remove one piece - the remaining eight pieces still cannot slide. Repeat this step until there are only three pieces left that cannot slide. 

When I play LESS IS MORE today, I am still amazed by the interplay of the pentominoes in the sequence from nine to three pieces, which still surprises me with its length.

Another goal of LESS IS MORE: Select three or more pieces so that they do not slip, and no further piece can be added without slipping, and no piece can be removed without the remaining pieces slipping.

I preferred to do the puzzle in the reverse order to the suggested one by Volker. Take 3 pieces and create an anti-slide placement with them (that isn't terribly difficult to do). Then add another piece from the unpaved ones and just add it to the shape already made in such a way that the new shape also cannot slide (this took me a little while). You will probably need to experiment with a whole bunch of 3-piece placements before you find one that works when adding a fourth piece. It was quite gratifying to find a four piece anti-slide assembly. Next, try to add another piece in and still have it not slide. keep doing this until all 9 pieces are placed. This will be a huge challenge! I am not entirely sure that a human can achieve this. I did manage to create a 5 piece non-sliding assembly but that is as far as I got. The computer programmers amongst you might manage to create a program to do this. If anyone is actually able to do it all without computer assistance then I would love for you to tell me.

If you manage the primary puzzle then there is a secondary challenge: Find 3 pieces to create an anti-slide assembly but in such a way that it is not possible to add any more pieces that are anti-slide. This is not terribly tough but having done that, do it again with 4 pieces - none of the 4 can slide but it's impossible to add a 5th piece that doesn't slide. Keep doing this up to 9. So many challenges in one beautiful tray puzzle.

All of these are amazing puzzles! They should hopefully be going on sale later this week. My picks from them are Cabinet (who can resist a Pelikan design puzzle and this has a very ingenious mechanism), Swan cube (it's just beautiful logic) and Fantino for the elegance. But you cannot go wrong with any of them. 

Let The Pelikan Puzzling Begin

Five Helicopters by Tibor Mikloš

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!

Swan Cube

Swan Cube by Lucie Pauwels

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.

I began looking to see how the walls, holes and beaks would interact and quickly made some good progress...until I had a piece where the beak wouldn't reach the hole. Damn! I knew it had been going too well. Starting afresh with a different set of beaks and holes and I had something that really looked promising as it would make a nice half cube around one corner. The problem here was that whilst the three pieces should interact nicely, it would require a coordinate motion to achieve it and that wasn't possible with these shapes. Sigh! After yet more failure, I realised that two of the pieces had an extra cubic on them. That was getting in the way of what I wanted to do. Time to think©.

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! 😱😱😱

Having A Puzzle Friend Is Essential

I Need My Lunch By Idan Shvartz

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 was presented with a pair of large holes and a new tool. A quick think© again and I was on my way. More pieces were coming out and more places to stick things. Looking at the puzzle, I knew with certainty what I needed to eventually do but I was a long way from being able to achieve it. I got stuck again and after another chat with Dominic, I was encouraged to look at a part of the puzzle that I had so far more or less ignored. I had noticed something odd about it way back at the beginning of the odyssey but there was nothing I could do with it. Now, though, I had a new tool and a new set of possibilities. This time I had to think about several tools at once and a little dexterity had me the very thing I was hoping for. Time to push it into the puzzle to get my reward... NOOOOO! It wouldn't do what I wanted. Aargh! There was a teeny tiny bit of movement but something was locking it up. Think© again you eeejit!

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 Need My Lunch - Or At Least Some Breakfast!

I Need My Lunch by Idan Shvartz

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.

I Am Not Bored Of Boards

Separated Board Burr Set by Frans de Vreugt

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.

Wish me luck!

Think Diagonally and Other Directions

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.

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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!

Jammed Again - It's a Gem!

Jammed Gem Again 3D

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. 

I got stuck at this point for a day or so. There were a number of interesting features where magnets attached to metal but this didn't seem to do anything. Eventually I decided to use a torch (flashlight for the Yanks) and suddenly something was visible (had it always ben there? I had no idea but it wouldn't go away until a bit later it was missing. WTF! At this point I had a little thought© and noticed something special. Oooh, that's very clever! I was now able to do other stuff. 

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!

I looked and looked to no avail until I looked in the right place. There was something very interesting inside but my goodness it was a long way out of reach. Time to think© again and create the biggest tool I had ever seen in an SD puzzle! Suddenly I had what was needed to complete the challenge. I had the inspiration, the second gem and my number (mine said "Test" rather than a number. Absolutely BRILLIANT! There are a LOT of parts in this - I laid them out for a photo and counted 16 pieces that had been removed from the box plus 3 that are captive inside it. It had taken me a  few days to complete. If you haven't pre-ordered it from Tye then you should have. Badger him to see whether there is any chance of extras.

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!

Jammed Coin (wood version)

Dick Gives Me Think 5 Things To Think About

Window Lock 4 by Dick Hensel

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Think© - stuff happens or doesn't happen for a reason!
4. Don't stick your fingers inside small holes - stuff can move and then you are in real trouble!
5. 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.

Well, that wasn't terribly bright!

Having returned all of the innards to the lock, I was completely stumped. I could open and close the lock so that it looked like I had solved and reset it but I could not re-lock it. I was obviously misunderstanding a fundamental feature of the mechanism. Taking time to think© again. I tried to work out why the locked position wasn't holding properly and I had my lovely little Aha! moment. I could see part of what was happening and if I tried a specific manoeuvre then maybe...click! Oh yes! That click is absolutely crucial. Once I finally realised what the click had been, I was able to lock and unlock the puzzle at will. Fabulous!

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!

A Jigsaw So Good That It Soothes The Soul

Avocets by Mike & Gill Hayduk

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.

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The Secret of Two Friends

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.

I found the first small part of the mechanism after a little exploration and got stuck there. I would like to say that it was the faulty lock and keys that were the reason but that would not be right. Even with the new version I struggled to find the next step. I shone a torch all over and could not see anywhere I could use the tools I had been given. The disguise of the next step is just superb! I tried using all the pieces I had in ever more creative ways but could not seem to unlock the chest. I had worked out how it should open but I kept missing the crucial step in the solution. After a weekend of failure, I forced myself to think© and tried something completely new. The Aha! moment is wonderful. Inside there is a whole lot of treasure – keep it away from any small children or pets or it’s going to be swallowed! This is definitely a lovely puzzle for anyone’s collection and as a rare Pelikan design it is well worth getting hold of.

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.