Sometimes I Just Gotta Think Over and Over Again!
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Grooved Three Piece Board Burr |
This very simple design was released at the beginning of August and I couldn't
resist it because the design looks so simple (just 3 identical pieces) with a
nice challenging level of 8.2 and also because it won a Jury honourable
mention in last years' remote
IPP design competition. This alone would make it worth purchasing but mostly I have come to accept
Eric's choices. He loves interlocking puzzles and burrs but they have to be
something really special to pique his attention. He could make anything he
wants with extremely high level but he almost never makes that sort of puzzle.
Eric only produces puzzles that he personally finds clever and
interesting.
This sat next to me for a few weeks whilst I worked on some of my new toys
from Mine and the latest twisty puzzles. Finally I had a little time to play
and out it came. The premise is simple - interlock the pieces into a standard
board burr shape. A teeny tiny bit of thought© allowed me to deduce how the
pieces should end up and where the dowels should be. It is trivial to get two
of the pieces to interlock and then when it's time to get the third piece in,
it is immediately revealed that the dowel gets in the way. Take it apart and
try a different orientation and same result. Doh!
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That took some rather special thinking© |
More time to think© and I eventually manage to relax my feeble brain enough to
let a new sequence in and I had it assembled. There is something wonderful
about this design. It is really not terribly complex but it still seems to me
to be really challenging. When I try to think to hard I cannot assemble it - I
seem to have to try and achieve a relaxed brain thinking© each time before I
can solve it - I don't actually think there are very many puzzles quite like
that. Random movements won't do it and thinking too hard is
counter-productive. The delight here is a sort of unfocussed thinking. This is
rather different from the next puzzle.
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Puzzles from Mine - no real detail visible |
Koichi Miura has designed a packing puzzle called Croissant which has been
produced by Mineyuki Uyematsu (Mine) and was put up for sale on Puzzle of Mine
via his private
Facebook group. He announced the latest batch of wonderful designs way back in May and
having taken rather more orders from fans than he was expecting, it took quite
a few months for all the puzzles to be cut, assembled and distributed. I think
from one or two of his posts that Mine was knackered at the end of it. I
cannot post a photo of the puzzles - Mine hates that some people recreate his
productions from photos either for their own use or for sale and he prefers
that I none of us publish photos on our blogs that might facilitate copying. I
have therefore not put any here - Googling for them will almost certainly
provide you with some images that will give you an idea. Sorry!
Recently a good friend of mine has set up a wonderful new Facebook group which
is dedicated to
Mechanical puzzles. I and several very active puzzlers in the community are moderators of the
group (there are very few significant rules - mostly no spoilers allowed) and
we frequently chat behind the scenes. The Croissant puzzle has been the focus
of quite a bit of discussion as several of us have been working to solve it. I
couldn't resist the premise of four identical croissant shapes to be placed in
a tray with a limited entry hole. The first 2 pieces can be inserted easily
and then they block the next. Certain movements are required to make room and
then the third piece goes in. After this no movements are possible which can
make room for the fourth. OMG!
It's very tough not showing any photos!!! This one also requires lots of
experimentation to make a discovery or two and then some more thinking© which
won't work until you think© again. It took me 4 days to assemble this one and
the Aha! moments were wonderful. Even the genius that is Derek Bosch is
currently stumped on it! I am sure that he will get there soon but it needs
just the right type of thinking and until you have done that you just gotta
try again and again and again! A candidate for my puzzle of the year, I think.
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