Wow! Just Wow!
I seem to have received a delivery at the beginning of last week and the race
was on. I had 7 fabulous creations to work on in just under 2 weeks. The
upcoming puzzles from Pelikan are expected to be released later this week -
probably 31/7.
From Back left we have:
Cabrio by Dr Volker Latussek
Cubi 8 Plus Alpha by Frederic Boucher
Camel by Theo Geerinck
Hitch by Émil Áskerli
Minima Tower by Frederic Boucher
Unlawful Assembly by Pit Khiam Goh
Curly Burr N8 by Frans de Vreugt
This is an amazing set of puzzle designs and beautifully created by the
Pelikan team - there will definitely be something for everyone here.
Unlawful Assembly
I started with this delightful puzzle by the master of sliding move puzzles. I
already own this one made from acrylic but the wooden one looks much more
lovely. Pelikan have constructed this one from Garapa, Bubinga and Oak with
wonderfully contrasting colours and a stunningly finished tray to pack the
pieces into. There are 4 identical stepped pieces and a cross to fit inside the
tray with the challenge being made by the fact that there is a considerable lip
covering the tray making insertion of more than 3 pieces quite challenging. It
is fairly easy to work out several possible square(ish) assemblies that might
fit when playing outside the tray but getting them into the tray quickly gets
quite confusing. The temptation is to try and squeeze one of the pieces
diagonally under the lip of the tray but don't bother - that requires force and
is the wrong way to do it.
The first time I worked on it, the solution took me a good hour or so to solve
and that was only because I was familiar with the type of challenge. I gave
this to a couple of my assistants/ODPs at work and watched them spend a couple
of hours failing to solve it. Eventually I came back to the pieces all packed
inside and I happily told them they had cheated! The pieces were in the
conformation that can only be done by force. At this point they couldn't
remove the pieces and a joint broke forcing it out. This is a great puzzle for
beginners but don't let them attempt it unsupervised.
This puzzle should be in everyone's collection!
Curly Burr N8
This has been beautifully made with Maple and Merbau. Frans is an
interesting designer - he is not prolific but everything
he designs
has something very different from the usual run of the mill burr designs.
There are either interesting shapes or, more usually, interesting ways that
the pieces interact and move. The Curly Burr N8 is definitely designed along
those lines...it looks like a standard 6 piece and, indeed, there are 6
pieces, but they form frames that interlock inside each other along the same
axis as well as interlocking along perpendicular axis. The upshot of this is
that the pieces need to move apart from each other before any axial
movements can occur. This makes it much more fun and much more mind-bending
to solve. There are a few blind ends but not along long pathways and then
the first piece comes apart after just 8 very odd moves. After this the
remainder dismantles sequentially. The moves are so unusual that despite
paying proper attention to what I had done, I could not reassemble it
without Burrtools.
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6 pieces that look like standard burr sticks
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I think that even the burr aficionados amongst you will find the reassembly
from scratch a real challenge due to the unusual way the burr pieces
move.
Camel
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Front side
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Back side
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Yes!!!! I adore the animal themed puzzles that Jakub and Jaroslav produce. I
know they are often very difficult to design and manufacture but they are
just so lovely and give me an excuse to keep another one on display in my
living room. Mrs S was away when this batch came in and when I showed her
the photo of the delivery even she admitted the camel was very cute and
really realistic. It has been crafted from American Cherry which gives it a
rich brown "camel" colour. This is a collaboration with a master designer
and craftsman, Theo Geerinck which means that the solution will be
interesting as well as good looking.
When first playing with it, only 3 pieces move and I comically pushed and
pulled them and then tried to rip the legs or head off it. Of course, that
doesn't work. I don't think any self-respecting camel will let you tear a
leg or head off without complaining vigorously at you. I was stumped at this
point for a rather long time. The fun thing with these sorts of layered
constructions is that you cannot tell by looking at them which parts are
supposed to be mobile and which are glued together. This leaves you pushing
and pulling pretty much everything that you can get a grip on. After a whole
day of getting nowhere, I tried a new technique and there was a "click".
Aha! Then another click and another before I was able to remove a piece of
camel anatomy. Before long I had the poor animal in pieces on my table and
was able to see the ingenious locking mechanism which included a couple of
pieces that are hidden inside. I scrambled the pieces and left it for a
couple of hours and attempted the reassembly. Whilst not impossibly
difficult, even that was a fun challenge as I had lost my orientation of
several pieces.
This is wonderful and perfect to display as part of a puzzle menagerie.
Hitch
Émil is another very
interesting designer
producing burrs and interlocking puzzles with pieces that have clever ways of
interacting. His Puzzlewillbeplayed page is absolutely fascinating. I
initially thought that Hitch puzzle (made from Purpleheart and Zebrano) was a
straightforward burr but I have ended up reclassifying it in my database as an
"Interlocking puzzle". It looks like an 8 piece burr and is indeed made from 8
sticks but the interaction is interesting and requires a series of moves that
lead logically one into the next until it is disassembled. Does this sound too
easy? Fear not, the moves are very nicely hidden. Initially there are a few
pieces that can move and the whole puzzle can form several different shapes at
first. I went round and round in circles from shape to shape and looking to
see whether it freed anything up. It requires careful inspection of all the
pieces that you have in each conformation until you suddenly notice that a new
move might be possible. Pelikan have constructed this nice and tight so that
nothing moves without a deliberate attempt meaning you need to actually work
out what to try rather than random pushing and pulling of the pieces.
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Not really classical burr sticks
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Only 7 moves are required to remove the first piece and 13 for complete
disassembly but the discovery aspect is joyous. Even more fun (and definitely
possible because I did it) is to reassemble it from scratch with scrambled
pieces. A few of you may be able to do it without memory of the disassembly,
but most experienced puzzlers should be able to work out the assembly with a
little work. It's brilliant!
Cabrio
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Cabrio by Volker Latussek
Doesn't look like much but it is
absolutely brilliant!
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No Pelikan release is complete without a design from
Dr Latussek! When opening the package, it looks very understated. All you can see is a
very nicely crafted box made from American Walnut which Pelikan have failed to
close properly. Pulling off the lid reveals some rather lovely Zebrano pieces
inside forming an apparent 3x3x3 cube. No wonder the lid couldn't close
properly - it needs to be slid on from the side and the pieces are in the way.
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Looks like a cube
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5 pieces to be packed
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The upshot of the sliding mechanism of the lid is that this is effectively
a 7 piece puzzle with the pieces needing to interact with the base and the lid
to get the cube inserted inside and the puzzle closed. It is very reminiscent of
the fantastic
Slide Packing
puzzle by Hajime Katsumoto that won the
Puzzlers award
in 2016. This time instead of just 4 pieces to insert, there are 5 and 3 of them
are non-planar shapes which makes the solution really quite counterintuitive.
I found quite a few 3x3x3 cube shapes that were possible but of
course they all blocked the assembly of the lid and needed to start with a
completely fresh way of thinking about this. Like many of Volker's puzzles, you
need to think about the last piece to be inserted and how you might get access
to that and then try and work with the remaining pieces and the lid to make that
final assembly possible. There are 2 obvious possibilities for the final piece
but then you will realise that you also need a proper plan for the penultimate
piece and it is not as straightforward as you might anticipate. I worked on this
for several days before I had a glorious Aha! moment and managed to put the lid
on properly. This is a work of genius, just like the predecessor.
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Are the pieces inside? Take my word for it - after a several day
struggle, they are!
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Cubi 8 Plus Alpha
This startlingly gorgeous creation by Frederic Boucher is one of the picks of the
bunch this release. Not only is it stunning, it is also a very very
challenging fun design. Frederic has an amazing and rather warped mind. He has
collaborated with several of the very best craftsmen in the world to get his
designs to the masses as well as makes some limited runs of his puzzles
himself. I am delighted that he was able to find someone willing to make such
a complex puzzle available. This beautiful creation has been produced by
Pelikan from Wenge, Pink Oak, Purpleheart and acrylic.
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Some very interesting shapes here
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There are 8 cubes with sticks of 2 different lengths which, when assembled
together, form a 2x2 cube. I have to admit that just making the cube
(albeit with some holes) is a massive undertaking and really quite fun - its a
sort of 3D jigsaw that has to slide together in order. However, the real
challenge is to pack that cube inside the box so that no holes are visible
from outside (unique solution). through a 1 cubie sized hole in the box.
Frederic wrote that the pieces interract together like a train on its tracks
during solving.
This puzzle is amazing and very very difficult! I might have needed some help
with this one! 😱
Minima Tower
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Minima Tower by Frederic Boucher
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Allard has shown off a
whole series of the amazing Minima puzzles created by Frederic and there are a good few more to come. Eric Fuller even converted one into a sequential discovery puzzle. Here we have one of the designs beautifully made by Pelikan from Mahogany and Ash. It doesn't look like much with a 2x2x4 box (upright it will be a tower, hence the name) and 4 simple L-shaped triominoes to be placed inside so that the 5 square holes are each covered by a piece of Ash. There is a single 1x2 voxel entryway. The box has lots and lots of finger holes for you to manipulate the pieces as there will be rotations required. I have only been working on this one for a day and so far not got even close to a solution. These puzzles are a delight and a real challenge but still very approachable by both beginners and advanced puzzlers alike. This will also be an essential purchase for many of you.
This is an absolutely amazing batch of puzzles to be released this time. There is definitely something that you will enjoy. My favourites are the Camel, the Cabrio and Minima Tower.
