Pelikan Summer Release Part II

Continuing what I started last week. Jakub sent me the latest offerings which I suspect will be released later this week. I showed them off at the MPP yesterday and a several people were completely bamboozled by them. 

Minima For Frederic

Minima for Frederic by Dr Volker Latussek

Oh, Yesssss! More Minima puzzles! By now, you will all have realised that I absolutely adore the Minima series and all its variants. Initially they were designed by Frederic Boucher 2 have a box with a 2x2x3 cavity and varying numbers of oddly shaped but small pieces to be fitted inside the box. Usually the aim was to make sure all the holes were occluded and at times the solution required interesting rotations of the pieces. Some of the puzzles had clever slots in the box to facilitate the rotations which did sometimes make the puzzle very confusing. One or two of them had extra "bits" attached to the pieces. Other designers jumped on the bandwagon with all sorts of interesting shapes and challenges. I have loved every single one of them so far. I have been waiting with bated breath for a special Minima designed by Volker. There is something very special about his brain - he sees shapes and movements that almost no-one else can see and produces challenges that are incredibly difficult and interesting to explore. 

Here we have, not only another fun Minima designed by Volker (Minima-Flop was amazing), but also a Minima which he felt was good enough to be named as a tribute to the originator of this series. Jakub and team have manufactured it from a very beautifully grained Oak and Wenge. Volker wrote this about the puzzle:

"A few years ago, Frederic Boucher wrote to me and invited me to contribute to his MINIMA series. To make my decision easier, he suggested that I didn’t have to fill the box’s internal volume strictly as 3x2x2, but could also consider using half-cubes and thus interpret the box as 6x4x4. I still remember well how I expressed my confusion to him about this; from my point of view, this offer – though certainly well-intentioned – contradicted the originally intended minimalist design concept of a 3x2x2 box, given the generous interpretation of the strict guidelines.

Now we all know what outstanding ideas Frederic was able to realise in his MINIMA series. Nevertheless, I wanted to resist this temptation and only agreed to the project under the strict conditions. I’m still pleased with the result today: MINIMA-FLOP, especially as I was able to completely fill the 3x2x2 box with four identical Tricubes and incorporate the FLOP moves – which were so important to me – into the solution. In fact, I was very satisfied with the result, and I think Frederic was too.

However, when I was recently playing with one of my 14-piece complete sets of building blocks of the same size, I checked whether six of these building blocks – each consisting of one cube and two half-cubes – could be used to fill a 6x4x4 box in an appealing way. I was pleased to find that, out of the 924 possible arrangements, only 13 filled a 6x4x4 volume in 50 different ways. For whatever reason, I then looked for suitable 3x2 openings – which I’m familiar with from my FLOPs – in order to offer a challenging and unique solution. I was so impressed by the result that, despite my initial reluctance, I asked Frederic if he would sponsor it. To my great delight, he agreed immediately, and so Pelikan is now able to release this puzzle under the name MINIMA FOR FREDERIC. I’m very pleased about this, and I think Frederic is too."

As you can see above, the puzzle arrives in a special transport configuration which took me quite a long time to actually unravel from the box. It is so nice to have this extra challenge. It reveals the rather unusual pieces to be packed inside:

Six interesting pieces to be packed.

Having managed to unpack the pieces, I realised that the assembly was going to be a huge challenge. Especially when you remember the rest of Volker's incredible rotational packing puzzles. I actually struggled to make the 4x4x6 cuboid for a while and when I did construct one, I placed it alongside the box and looked for ways the shape could possibly be taken apart through the holes. The cuboid could be arranged in 8 ways to try and interestingly, only 3 of them had even a single removable piece which was very helpful but to my horror, none of those positions would allow a second piece removal (even with interesting rotations). The constraints of the box just wouldn't let another piece out. At this point I was worried that there might be dozens of assemblies of the pieces to then try and find a way to get them inside the box. Because of my time-constraints, I went to Burrtools to look for cuboid assemblies. There are just 2 and I had found the wrong one first. 

I used BT and constructed the correct assembly and looked again to see how it could be disassembled using the various holes in the walls. 

The first piece obviously has to just lift out the top hole but after that there is a sequence of clever rotations using the holes until there are just 2 pieces remaining. Those two pieces did look impossible to place inside but obviously that was going to be the main challenge that Volker had intended. Time to set to proper work...

At this point, I had my assembly order positions and then "just" had to work out how to get the first two pieces into position. I tried for days to get them inside and in position for the third piece to be placed but I just couldn't get them into place. I went back to the cuboid several times to see whether I had missed an alternative assembly or orientation but it was correct. There is plenty of room in the box but those two pieces need a very clever and very specific set of moves around each other to get them into place. After 3 days of trying, I finally packed them into place and after that the rest rotated into the correct placements fairly easily.

My Goodness! It's absolutely brilliant!

If you like Minima puzzles then you must buy this. If you like Latussek puzzles then you must by this. Hell! If you Like puzzles then you must buy this! It is up there with the best Minima puzzle designs by Frederic - it is a very suitable tribute.

Fatomino

Fatomino by Dr Volker Latussek

This gorgeous creation has been made by Pelikan using American Walnut and a rather fabulous Zebrano. As soon as I saw it I was immediately taken back to one a fabulous packing puzzle by Hajime Katsumoto in 2016, Penta in a box. 

The cavity of the box is a 3x3x3 cube and there were 5 planar pentominoes to be fitted inside and then to have the lid close over them. It looks pretty easy but there is a catch - the lid cannot close over any piece in the top row at the front and any piece in the lid cannot close over an adjacent piece that would end up behind it. This simple looking packing puzzle required quite a lot of thought. So what could Volker possibly do to improve on such a simple but fun design? Volker wrote his thoughts about it:

"It’s already been 10 years since Hajime Katsumoto caused a stir with his PENTA IN A BOX – a brilliant idea to pack five of the twelve flat Pentacubes into a 3x3x3 box with a clamshell lid. As I don’t collect puzzles myself, it wasn’t until years later, during a joint visit, that I was able to play with Götz Schwandtner’s copy at Bernhard Schweitzer’s house. The interplay between the Pentacubes and the clamshell lid feels really good. And the chosen mix of the five Pentacubes is truly something special. 

I’ve been experimenting for some time now with the FATs – the 15 Pentacubes, each of which is described by a 3x2x2 envelope. In doing so, I naturally also recalled PENTA IN A BOX; interestingly, I hastily dismissed it again because I concluded that there couldn’t be five FATs that could fit into a 3x3x3 box with a clamshell lid. Something very fundamental went wrong with this thought experiment. How foolish of me, considering that there are 262,344 cuboid arrangements. An obvious mistake. 

For with FATOMINO and its one of potentially 303 combinations of five FATs, it is even possible to achieve a filling with a unique solution. What’s more, I maintain that there is no other combination with a unique solution. In this sense, FATOMINO, modelled on PENTA IN A BOX, is unique. In fact, I would very much like it to stay that way."

I did ask Volker why he called the pieces "FATs" and apparently it originated from George Miller who described the pieces as being able to fit in a FAT cigar box. It is just a way to refer to the NON-planar pentominoes. The pieces are very interesting and very satisfying to play with:

A beautiful hinged box and 5 non-planar pentominoes

Recalling the problems that I had with the original puzzle, I knew what sort of arrangements I had to attempt to create:

Not going to work

The aim was to make 2 separate packings that can be folded onto each other with a hinged edge. This sounds very simple but it took me quite a while to realise that the intersection of the leading edges as the hinge closed was really causing a problem. I had to hunt for a very particular arrangement. It would be tempting to brute force this with Burrtools but it shouldn't be necessary. After a few failures, you should be able to think of the type of organisation that you need and then hunting for it is tough but fun.

Yet again, Volker produces a variation on an award winning puzzle and manages to make it even better than everything that has gone before. This is a MUST have puzzle as well! It is simply superb. If you enjoyed Penta in a box then you will adore this one.

Flummox

Flummox by Benjamin Heidt

This is the second burr in this summer release by Pelikan. Both of them have been sent out in an unsolved position and the aim is to created the solved shape before then completely disassembling it. This one is a caged 6 piece burr with "extra constraining pieces" made from a very striking combination of Zebrano, Purpleheart and Maple. When it arrives, one of the burr sticks is protruding up out of the box and will not simply push back into place.

It took me a good ½ hour of fiddling about (there are quite a lot of possible moves of the other 5 pieces) before you can make enough space to sink the protruding stick back to flush with the cage.

After this, obviously, the challenge is to disassemble the burr completely into 6 sticks and a frame. This is not for a beginner to burrs. It really is a very complex disassembly and there are a LOT of well disguised moves including lateral as well as forward and backward moves. The disassembly level is 30.1.2.3.2.2. Whilst that doesn't look to bad and I would usually say that is an optimal number of moves for a satisfying burr but in this case, with a frame, and being very difficult to see inside, this is VERY difficult. It's very rewarding when the pieces start to come out but even after the removal of one or two of them, the remainder remain very difficult. This will be impossible for most puzzlers to reassemble without resorting to Burrtools but creating that file will be an extra challenge for you.

That was a massive challenge!

Fudou

Fudou by Frederic Boucher

Yes, another incredibly tough challenge by Frederic Boucher. I had to ask Jakub what the aim was. The Bubinga pieces arrived all nicely packed in the tray and I wondered whether we had to create some sort of structure that would stand up. I should have realised that this had a much simpler premise - the aim is to pack all the pieces into the tray in such a way that none of them are able to slide around. The notices cut into most of them will allow them into interlock at 45º angles and will ensure that they can be placed against the wall of the tray to prevent sliding.

I am terrible at anti-slide puzzles. I have managed to find a few very interesting ways the pieces can interact. The aim seems to be to find which pieces will fit together so that their corners reach the sides of the tray and then won't move if others are matched up to do the same. There must be a logical way of thinking about these but I have no skills in this sort of puzzle. It is a fun thing to play with but for me, I have made almost no progress in the 2 weeks that I have been playing.

For you try puzzle enthusiasts this should be a massive challenge. Anything from Frederic is going to be very clever.

Pelikan Waits For No Man!

Having returned from the IPP, sneaked my new puzzles in (in their rucksack) and secreted them around my study, I started to work my way through them. I thought I was doing pretty well and felt I might just manage to get a few blog posts in before anything else arrived (I might have a couple on the way). Just when I thought I was safe, Jakub contacted me to say that he was ready with the next batch of Pelikan wonder. My first thought was: "Hooray! More gorgeous beauty and fabulous, difficult challenges" This thought was rapidly followed by another: "She's going to kill me!" Luckily, this time, the box arrived, and it was smaller than the previous ones. She who must be feared thought there were fewer puzzles in there, but don't tell her...they have just been packed tighter. Gulp.

Matruschka

Matruschka by Benjamin Heidt

3 tiny pieces make a stand

There have been quite a few creations on this blog from Benjamin. He designs interlocking puzzles and burrs that are just the right difficulty level for most puzzlers, with some very interesting design features and a lovely sequence to explore. Many burrs are much too complex for most due to multiple long blind dead ends, or alternatively have too simple a sequence and no challenge. Benjamin always gets it right, and Matruschka is a beautiful example. This chunky puzzle is made from Wenge, Cherry and Acacia with a diminutive stand made from Merbau. Looking at it, I was slightly confused as there only appears to be Wenge and Cherry visible, but after a couple of moves, the reason for the name and the extra wood type becomes apparent. A matryoshka doll is the name for the Russian nested dolls, but here Benjamin and the Pelikan team have taken the idea and altered it a little bit to make a nested burr.

The initial exploration reveals quite a few possible moves, and I was worried about having lots of long blind ends to explore, memorise and discount on my way to the correct solution. You can be reassured that, as usual, Benjamin has got it just right. There are quite a few possible ways to start, but the sequences are short before they stop, and you are forced to look elsewhere. The tolerances of the burr manufacture are superb, with everything sliding beautifully. The correct sequence is very well hidden, but once found, you are quickly on your way to the disassembly, and more and more pieces can be removed after you look for the unlocking sequence. The burr within a burr is revealed nicely:

Acacia burr nested within the final 3 large burr sticks

Once the inner burr is released, it can also be disassembled into 6 very beautiful sticks and then the whole lot displayed. 

 

That's a LOT of burr sticks!

The reassembly would actually have been possible for me without the use of burrtools, as I had sequentially removed pieces and placed them in their correct order and orientation on a table. I think most puzzlers should also manage the reassembly if they are careful to do this. Unfortunately, a cat decided to run across my carefully arranged table and scatter the sticks widely. A few unsafe for blogging words were uttered, and Burrtools was going to be my next step.

Once you have done the reassembly that you found then it is time to do it all over again! The 3-piece stand that is interestingly burr shaped can actually be reassembled inside the 6 piece burr so we end up with a burr in a burr in a burr! This is simply amazing!!!

This is a wonderful challenge for all burr aficionados, just the right difficulty level! With an extra twist at the end.

Surround Wil

Surround Wil by Frederic Boucher

There seems to be no end to the puzzle design skills of Frederic Boucher - there are several of his designs in this upcoming Pelikan release. This delightful packing puzzle is fun and should be perfect for all puzzlers of all levels. The puzzle is made from Acacia and a very vibrant Purpleheart. It is quite reminiscent of some of the packing puzzles by Yuu Asaka. There are 4 longer pieces with curved ends, and half-circles cut out, plus 5 disks, all to be fitted into a tray that is too small to take the long pieces side-by-side. If you look at my photo, the top-most large piece is tilted as it doesn't fit in.

This inability to fit the pieces side by side is a big clue that you need to get inventive with how the big pieces can be organised. I found a lovely way to get them all in the tray, but then the half-circle cutouts had been filled, with no space left for the disks. Time to think© and get creative. There is a lovely Aha! moment in this one, and it is very satisfying to pack them all in. This will be coming to work with me to challenge my colleagues - it's perfect for casual puzzling..

T Time!

T Time! by Frederic Boucher

This wonderfully clever packing puzzle by Frederic had me fooled for most of the week. It looks like a simple tray packing puzzle, but there is MUCH more to it. There is a 5x5 space inside the tray and 5 T-shaped pieces to be fitted inside alongside a 2x2 smiley disc. That doesn't look too difficult until you realise that the tray is covered by an acrylic cover with a T-shaped hole in it, in one corner. This explains the nicely curved corners on the pieces - they need to be inserted and manipulated using the holes in the bottom of the tray, plus some use of gravity, until they are in position. There will obviously need to be some rotational moves as they cannot possibly be arranged in the same orientation as the hole in the lid. It doesn't take long to find at least one (if not a few) possible arrangements of the pieces in that 5x5 space, but then the fiddly task of actually getting them into place begins, and, OMG, it's difficult! I spent several days trying everything I could to pack them all in. Nothing would work, and I had to stop for a bit and think© again. 

Finally, after several days of work, I had a special thought (unusual for me!) and realised that there was something very unusual about the design. My jaw dropped when I finally succeeded - Frederic is a genius!

Convolution Cube

Convolution Cube by Stewart Coffin

Convolution ball

Over the 15 years of this website, I have reviewed several versions of the Convolution puzzle by the amazing Stewart Coffin. This incredible interlocking design is not solvable by Burrtools due to the requirement for a rotational move with one of the pieces (does that make it a TIC?). I have a version from Brian Menold and a fabulous spherical version from Pelikan.

I personally would say that a Convolution (as well as its associated cousins, Involute and Involution) should be part of every serious puzzler's collection. All 3 are essential. If you don't have this, then you owe it to yourself to buy a copy. The Pelikan team have done a wonderful job creating this out of multiple different beautifully vibrant woods and the fit is just perfect!

Only 7 pieces but great fun!

The next bunch of puzzles will be reviewed next week - they include more from Dr Volker Latussek, another from Benjamin Heidt and then yet another unusual puzzle from Frederic Boucher. Wish me luck solving them!

Guy and Dan Are Sneaky B@$^@rds!

AKA Don't Believe What You Are Presented With!

Bed Pack Designed by David Goodman and Guy Loel

At the IPP in Italy, I spent quite a while at the main party looking for toys that caught my fancy. There was a huge amount there, and I came home with a rucksack full of new toys (I haven't actually let Mrs S know that yet). Whilst wandering, I was met by a very enthusiastic Guy Loel, who confessed to reading my blog (which proves he is not very discerning) and then showed off his exchange puzzle. I had been tempted to buy it because there is something so compulsive about the apparent simplicity of the challenge. When I mentioned getting hold of a copy, he put it into my hands and said it was mine for nothing. I just love puzzle people - they are always so pleased to show off their ideas.

Once I took it home and took my photo, I could see that it consisted of a nicely 3D printed box with a sliding lid and a bunch of single beds plus one double bed. In terms of voxels, the double is 1x2x2, and the singles are 1x1x2, giving a total of 12 voxels to be packed. Interestingly, the space in the box is 3x3x1.5 voxels, giving a space to pack into of 13.5 voxels - i.e. plenty of space!

Assisi, there seems to be a problem!

Believe me - it IS packed in there.

The premise is great! This is perfect to hand to anyone. Experienced and newbie puzzlers will quickly see that there is a problem. I managed to pack either 3 or 4 beds inside before always running into a problem. That ½ voxel depth is a killer. Time to try various jaunty angles, and nope, that won't work either. After about 10 minutes, I had completely run out of options. It's so damned easy to look at and try, but there is something not quite right. I put it down for a day and went back to it the following day.  

During that time, I thought about the playful character I had met at the IPP and wondered what he would do to make a puzzle fun and clever. I played with the impossible and wondered how Guy would make it possible. After a bit more fiddling, I had a wonderful Aha! moment and gasped, allowed. "Damn! He's a sneaky B@$^@rd! I quickly managed to pack all of the beds and closed the box with a huge grin on my face. That was wonderful! It looks easy, then impossible, and then fabulously solvable. This will be coming to work with me for a few weeks to torture my colleagues. Hopefully, they will also smile for a while as I did.

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All Bar Nun from Dan Shane

Another exchange puzzle gifted to me by a very generous puzzler. I loved it that Dan and Amy dressed as Nuns to exchange this, and the box has a very saucy nun winking at the intrepid puzzler on the box. It was with some trepidation that I started to work on this one. My last puzzle from Dan was the One Piece Un-packing Puzzle, which remains fully packed in my study after months of work. I can separate the pieces using a forceful move, but that is not the correct approach. I was rather anxious that Dan's new exchange would be just as impossible for me

2 fixed cubies in the nunnery

It consists of a nunnery and 5 pentominoes with nuns on a face, plus a metal bar. There are 4 identical L shapes and one sort of cross shape. The aim is to pack the nuns in the nunnery along with the bar. The 5 pentominoes make up 25 voxels in total, which, when added to the 2 fixed in the box, make a completely full box with no gaps. The bar has to be inserted through holes conveniently piercing various parts of the pentominoes (but not the fixed pieces). So this should be a relatively straightforward packing puzzle, and knowing Dan, there would be a twist of either a rotational move or the extra challenge to get the holes lined up.

First challenge then was to make a cube shape with the 5 pieces, but outside the box. Interestingly, making a cube shape with that particular set of pieces is not that simple. I found one after about 15 minutes, but the gaps were in the wrong place. It took me another 30 minutes to find a cube with the correct gaps. Now it's time to insert that shape in the nunnery. Except...it won't go! Rotations, sliding moves, alternative assemblies? Nope! I couldn't get the damn nuns inside.

Cube shape that matched the fixed voxels.
How do I get that inside?

I spent a day or so stumped with Dan's name being uttered like a swear word every 20 minutes or so. Eventually, I stopped and thunk© for a bit. What would Dan do to make this fun and clever? Aha! I had a great idea, and suddenly I had packed all the pieces inside - he's a sneaky B@$^@rd! I was feeling very clever until I looked down and saw the bar... I hadn't solved it yet. I needed to redo the assembly to line up the holes and allow the bar to be inside the nunnery, too. I found only one assembly which had the 3 holes in the pieces lined up, but then the pieces couldn't be placed back in the box. Huh?! That's very odd. I was sure that I had worked it out, but that final packing seemed impossible.

With all the muttered swearing at Dan, I had to put it down before Mrs S killed me. The following evening, I went back to it and explored all possible ideas. My fancy Aha! A moment from the previous day led me to another wonderful discovery, and then the time I had spent on day one paid off. This time the second Aha! moment was absolutely stunning! I managed to pack all the nuns back in the nunnery and added the bar. I didn't think nuns were allowed to drink, but obviously, they do have a bar in their nunnery, and it must be OK.

If you have this or get it, do NOT be tempted to use Burrtools. It is not really helpful and might even spoil things for you. If I can solve it with my little brain, then you should be able to as well.

I had a fabulous time with both of these puzzles. Dan and Guy are very sneaky B@$^@rds. They created puzzles that look straightforward but in reality have very clever twists which require careful thought and discovery. Simply brilliant - thank you, guys!

Have I Been Scroo'd?

Even Ice Cream Doesn't Help!

Cooby Scroo from Andreas Roever

My car when I got out of work!

Most of you are aware that there's been a bit of a heatwave in Europe recently! It started whilst I was in Italy for the IPP and then hit with a vengeance when I returned home. The UK is uniquely unprepared for high temperatures despite the fact that we have had them for the last few years. Our houses retain heat (they are built for cold winters) and it feels like hell inside (most of my house was 29-33ºC for the last week and my back garden, being south-facing reached 48ºC for long periods of time). During all of this I have been sick with the lurgy that I caught on the plane and feeling like death warmed-up! The only thing that could possibly make it worse would be to share that hellish space with a "woman of a certain age". As a result of the conditions at home, both physical and psychological, and despite being sick as a dog, I was grateful to go and work in an operating theatre with air-con bringing the temp down to 18ºC. I went from boiling sweaty hot to freezing my nuts off back to boiling again.

As a result of this my puzzling skills were even more sub-par than usual!

Nicely presented with a bag and a card

The Cooby Scroo puzzle had been Andreas Roever's exchange puzzle last year in Tokyo. It was brought to my attention at an MPP afterwards when a couple of people were showing it off and extolling the virtues of such a simple idea, so beautifully created. I even had a play with it and marvelled at the incredibly confusing movement and how it came apart easily but was impossible for me to put back together. This was going to be brilliant - tempted...

When a few people placed it in their top 3 puzzles of the year at Peter Hajek's end of year puzzle party, I broke and contacted Andreas for a copy and arranged to pick it up in Italy.

I got a choice of colours when I picked it up and chose a lovely blue, grey, black and white combo.

When I got home and having taken some photos to show off how it moves, I shied away from actually dismantling it for fear of failure yet again.

One pair moved

Second move possible and it gets scary

I showed it off at work and after getting an appropriate "Oh my God!" response. I stopped playing and put it away again. I did the two beautiful moves again and again at home, trying to make myself familiar and comfortable with the conformational changes and eventually I was holding it slightly wrong and it fell apart on me....Aargh! I should have known that would happen eventually.

This might be how it remains!

I recalled how impossible it had been for me at the MPP and I quailed at the thought of getting it back together. It is relatively easy to make pairs or even a trio of pieces:

This should do it - he hopes

This looks great but isn't helpful!

Over the last few days, in the blistering heat with an angry hot woman in the background, whilst feeling like death, I have repeatedly attempted to reassemble this bloody thing! It shouldn't be this difficult! It's only 4 pieces and has only 2 main moves but you mustn't forget how bad I am at puzzles. Yesterday evening whilst muttering to myself and considering femicide as a way to get a little relief, I suddenly managed to get it together. OMG! The relief! Did I dare take it apart again? Not straight away... I needed to relax a little and then try and redo it slowly.

Today, I can now disassemble and reassemble it to order. I can see why so many people loved it. This puzzle is an absolute masterpiece of good design. All we need is for someone to make it in wood (I guess that might be nearly impossible) or possibly make it in brass. Steve or Ali - what do you think? Maybe a collaboration with Andreas might be in order?

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Gelateria from Alexander Magyarics

Gelateria - Alexander Magyarics' exchange puzzle in Italy

During a heatwave, there is nothing better than a fabulous refreshing cool Gelato. I thought that attempting the Gelateria puzzle might be refreshing for me. Yes, I was wrong!

Alexander was a "greenhorn" at this IPP and previously they have not been allowed to exchange. This year the committee made a change to the rules and newbies were allowed to do so if they created their own design. Alexander has quite rightfully earned his place attending an IPP due to the HUGE number of amazing puzzle designs he has created over the last few years. You can tell that they are really really good when craftsmen like Brian Menold and Jakub Dvorak use the designs to produce gorgeous wood creations. I have reviewed quite a lot of his designs over the last few years and it was simply amazing to meet him in the flesh after such a long time. Unfortunately, we were both so busy that we didn't really have much time to chat and properly catch up. Whilst I was assisting Jerry Loo in his exchange, I saw Alexander's puzzle and decided that it looked a lot of fun and determined to obtain a copy at the main puzzle party the following day. 

Just a few challenges!

Alexander is a "completionist" - he finds a simple design, modifies it to add extra complexity and then looks for as many associated challenges as possible. I have quite a lot of these in my collection and I am absolutely terrible at solving them. Maybe this would be better? It is at its heart a tetromino tray packing puzzle. We have all played with these as kids - I know I used to play with one belonging to my older cousin when I was about 8 - I loved it. The 5x8 voxel tray can be fitted with 10 tetrominoes in many ways - that is easy. Alexander has created a LOT of challenges (the sheet has 48!) to decrease the options and make it MUCH tougher. The tray has holes in it and you re provided with a set of black blockers that can be inserted into it. The tetrominoes are now restricted where they can be placed because they must straddle the blocker. To get you used to it, he gives a couple of challenges with 8 solutions, 3 with 4, 1 with 3 and 9 with 2. All the rest have just 1 possible solution. 

8 possible solutions - easy?

Hell, NO!

I also took this to work and during a rather long boring orthopaedic operation (after 4 hours and no end in sight, I needed something else to think about), Colin and I set to work on one of the 8 solution challenges. 

This is really REALLY difficult! Neither of us were able to solve it in about an hour of attempts. I have been trying at home in the heat and still cannot get it. I need a way to think about these challenges. There must be a logical way to work it out but I am seriously struggling to get my little bwain around it. 

I appear to have Scroo'd by Alexander as well! Maybe I need another hobby? Whack! Ouch!

If you get a chance to buy a copy then you should absolutely do so. There are so many challenges and they are so approachable even if they are impossible. Alexander's puzzles are sold by PuzzleMaster, by Tye Stahly and possibly by Alexander himself via Facebook or Instagram. Drop him a line. He is delightful to chat to and his puzzles are amazing. 

I have not yet tried the One Way or Another puzzle which won a Jury honourable mention prize in the IPP design competition. That is quite a feat!

This Minima Is NOT Minimal

Minima Tokyo aka Jammed Coin - Tom and Team are BACK!

Minima Tokyo aka Jammed Coin from Frederic Boucher and Ars Aenigma

I'm back from the IPP recently held in Assisi, Italy and, as expected, promptly caught the lurgy in the airport and have been sneezing and spluttering for a few days. I'm rather sleep-deprived because Mrs S says it's like sleeping next to a swamp monster and she keeps punching me in the ribs to stop the awful gurgling and swallowing noises. Now, there's an image you didn't need! I had an incredible time catching up with old and new friends. Some of them I have communicated with for ages but never actually met. I did manage to buy one or two new toys and was delighted to be given a few as gifts as well. Mrs S asked whether I had many to bring back and I admitted to a few but didn't tell her how many for fear of murder. It is customary to take a photo of your haul before travelling home, and I managed to take this pic (only to realise that there are one or two more that were not included)

Don't tell her about this lot!

Today is a review of the Jammed Coin/Minima Tokyo that won a "top ten vote getter" award at the IPP.

When Tye offered Frederic Boucher's latest sequential discovery Minima puzzle up for sale last year (he had taken it to the Tokyo IPP), I jumped at the chance and received it in November. I hadn't actually realised that this had been produced by Tom Messina and his team at Ars Aenigma (they have begun producing again after their incredible mentor, Eric Fuller, died). I had actually been expecting this to be one of Tye's incredible creations like the Jammed Gem Again, but when it arrived I saw that it had been created from beautiful wood and was blown away by the quality. I still have Eric's Jammed Gem in my pile of puzzles to solve as I have not managed to even find the first move! All of these designs by Frederic are incredible challenges.

The Minima Tokyo/Jammed coin is a typical Minima puzzle having a 2x2x3 box with various openings and several pieces inside. But, different to usual, the aim is not to pack it, the aim is to remove the coin from where it is held captive, sandwiched inside a single cubie. Having admired it for a while, I set to trying to solve it before Xmas last year and delightedly performed the obvious first steps - unscrew the bold in one face which allows a domino piece to be removed. From this, a rod can be removed, and the remaining pieces now slide around inside the box.

First piece out and coin revealed

At this point you can properly admire the beautiful workmanship from Tom. The box is absolutely perfect, made from Walnut and Maple, and the internal pieces are a very vibrant Padauk. There remains three pieces captive inside, and they are able to slide about. One can even rotate. 

Here I got stuck! Just 3 moves in and I could get no further. I read Allard's review repeatedly in the hope that he might have given something away, but there's not even a vague clue there. After 5 months of attempting nothing new, I spoke to Allard about it at the last MPP and all he would say was that Tom was carrying on Eric's amazing tricks. Well that was singularly unhelpful. Every week or so I would pick it up from my desk and have another look. Nothing ever changed. I do know a few of Eric's tricks and tried to find something familiar inside the box, but nope, nothing, nada, nyet.

This puzzle was actually entered in the IPP design competition this year and was available for everyone to play with. The solution was there as well, but I was very careful not to look at it or to watch others solve it. At one point I did look up and saw someone with a LOT of pieces. This renewed my determination to solve the damned thing! It's such a shame that I'm rubbish at puzzles!

A few days ago, I restarted and did my usual few moves. At this point I got my torch and magnifying glass out and had a look at what I had. I did notice one anomaly that gave me a small clue of what might be needed. After a bit of fiddling in a way that I hadn't done before, I suddenly made a huge discovery. Another piece or two came out with a rather fancy move. YESSSSS! Except I was stuck again. But now I knew the kind of things that might be needed. The next move occurred in an unexpected direction to reveal the true woodworking mastery of Tom and team. Amazing! 

After those first well-hidden moves, the sequence continued with a series of tools and working out how to use them. The discoveries come quickly, and each step leads to another after a bit of thought. The Aha! moments are wonderful before the final tool is found to release the coin from its prison. Amazing!

Coin is now un-jammed.

I doubt whether these will be released again, so you should keep an eye on the various auction sites. Frederic has done it again, designing an incredible puzzle, and teaming up with Ars Aenigma is absolutely perfect - it's only fitting that Eric's protégés continue his legacy. Thank you, Tye for the opportunity. I hope that you enjoyed the gift puzzles that I sent back from IPP for you. 

IPP Madness! How To Upset The Wife!

There’s not going to be a review today. I’m in Italy at the international Puzzle Party. I’ve had a fabulous time meeting friends, playing with toys, eating and drinking. We started the trip with a visit to a castle in Panicale owned by Roxanne and George and now named the World Puzzle Centre. 110,000 puzzles is an overwhelmingly huge collection that even I wouldn’t want!

I did upset the present wife by sending her photos of a couple of bedrooms in the WPC and suggesting to her that we need to repeat this in our home. Needless to say, the expletives came thick and fast!

Normal service will be resumed next week….. if I’m still alive after she sees the puzzle haul!

String Or Wire? Or Both?

Should They Go On Display?

 

Concertina Wire by DDK made by Mr Gao - bought from Aaron Wang

A wonderful gift from Dale

Due to having a horrendously busy week with operations that went on and on (and on) beyond the normal working day, I haven't had much time to play. It was Mrs S' birthday on Friday and I felt that puzzling probably ought to take a second place that day. As a result. this article is a real short one and more philosophical than many of my posts.

At the MPP last weekend, I had a really nice chat with Dale (who gave me a copy of one of his old exchange puzzles from IPP 25 in 2005). Dale is one of the few puzzlers I personally know (apart from Dick Hess) who really appreciates disentanglement puzzles. Over the years od attending the MPPs I have worked many times on these fabulous challenges with him as we both seem to get stuck on the same types of thing. 

Lots of puzzlers seem to be attracted to the simple (and occasionally not so simple) interlocked nail puzzles but very few seem to really collect or solve the more complex wire puzzles and even fewer of the group love the puzzles that include string in them. Dale and I discussed why that might be as well as whether they should be displayed or even look good on display.

Whilst we worked together on a puzzle that he had been stuck on (it was a wood and string version of the classic ball and chain puzzle made with extremely tight tolerances), I had to admit that I did not display any of my disentanglement puzzles at all. It is difficult to be sure but I think I must have about 400-500 disentanglement puzzles and almost all of them are stored in Ikea storage baskets. The ones that I have solved are kept in the garage (I have a catalogue reminding me which ones are in which box) and a whole bunch of unsolved ones are in a wardrobe in the house. Only the one at the top of the post is currently on display and that is not because of the look... even though it is quite attractive, it is only on display because I am still working on it. I have been trying to solve this masterpiece by DDK and made by Mr Gao which was sold to me as part of the 2025 releases by Aaron Wang.

I don't find the diagrams help me much!

Dale and I were interested in finding out why so few puzzlers are really into disentanglement puzzles and those that are tend to be less appreciative of the ones involving string. I don't think we were able to come to any real conclusions. I personally have been moving away from the puzzles that involve string (unless they are Chinese ring variants) because I find many of them impossibly difficult to solve and in many of them the solving process can end in a dead puzzle with an irrevocably knotted string. I have been very grateful that Aaron's string puzzles for the last 3 or 4 years have included a quick reset mechanism. This is particularly useful when a knot occurs but also with the Chinese ring type puzzles, the sequence of moves is often so very complex that it is a frequent occurrence for a puzzler to lose concentration and either end up right back at the beginning without realising it or caught in a dead end and due to the huge number of moves to get there, it is often better to use the quick release and return to a known correct earlier position than to backtrack and get lost.

Circuit board I (also by DDK and made by Mr Gao)

Many of the non-Chinese ring type puzzles that have been produced over the last 5 or 10 years look fantastic (which is why I couldn't resist buying them) but require some incredible brain power to work out a solution. The Circuit board I above has a really short loop of string which would make you think it shouldn't be that difficult to wind it off the wire grid. However, I have been playing with this for a year as well and can honestly say that I am no closer to the solution now than when I first started. Indeed, Aaron did rate its difficulty as 10+ but I think only the very best of disentanglement enthusiasts will be able to work this one out. I consider myself to be above average on this wire puzzles but the sheer complexity of these is making me more and more hesitant to buy more string based challenges. 

I haven't completely given up on the Concertina wire puzzle yet because it is still attractive enough to leave on my puzzle tray and I do periodically feel I am making enough progress to come back to it periodically. I think that most puzzlers would hesitate to attempt the Circuit board and only a few more would be attracted to the Concertina wire because of the knowledge that it is a Chinese ring puzzle.

Grenade V by Shuai Chi made by Mr Gao

Having complained about string, I have to sheepishly admit that the new breed of designers are producing wire puzzles that are also immensely more difficult than the wire puzzles that I bought many years ago from Livewire. Many of those were incredibly tough but the wire from the likes of Aaron and Shuai Chi are several orders of magnitude more difficult. The Grenade series (there are currently 6 of them) look complex but not horrific but believe me when I say say that they are the very pinnacle of pure wire challenges. I have managed to get absolutely nowhere with them in a year of trying. At least I am not caught in an un fixable position but nothing I try seems to advance. 

Despite all of this apparent complaining, I adore these puzzles and have ordered a whole bunch of the 2026 releases (although only one which has string in it). I fully expect that most will be beyond my abilities and they will not end up on display but I will still have a lot of fun playing with them.

Now, Having spent a good while with the Concertina Wire and Dale's Elusive Chain Puzzle sitting on the table in front of of me whilst I type this, I have had an idea or two on how to progress so I had better get back to them now. Excuse me...