Perplexing Packing from Pelikan

Minima Ronde

333 & 444 cubes

Apteek

The pressure is on! I managed to dismantle 4 burrs by Alfons coming up soon from Pelikan last week and had 3 left to solve for this week's blog post. I knew this was going to be a hell of a challenge as 2 of them were by the amazing Dr Volker Latussek and one by Lucie Pauwels. Packing puzzles are definitely not my strong point and these two designers are particularly skilled.

Minima Ronde

Minima Ronde by Volker Latussek

I had to start with the Minima - I adore this whole series and actually think I have almost every one made. Considering Volker had not been certain about designing Minima puzzles initially, he has taken the idea to new heights with some incredible designs and this one is definitely one of the most fun ones I have ever played with. Jakub and team have made this one with a wonderful set of accurately cut Wenge pieces and a beautifully grained Oak box.

The basic premise of the Minima series is to have a 2x2x3 box to be packed with relatively simple pieces in such a way that the holes in the walls always end up filled. The interior may not be and the need for interesting rotations is often part of the fun but not always. Volker has taken this simple idea here with packing pieces that are just 2 voxels in volume but spread over a 3 voxel space with the use of diagonal cuts across one of them. Here is what Volker said about this design:

"MINIMA FOR FREDERIC was actually meant to mark the end of my foray into the world of MINIMAs. Over the last few months, I’ve been playing once again with one of my favourite building blocks: this is the complete set of fourteen building blocks, each consisting of a cube and a second cube that is cut diagonally into two parts, with each half glued across its entire surface to the cube. Accordingly, the building blocks in this set each have the volume of a bicube. Twelve of these blocks uniquely fill a 3x4x2 box (TOUR), nine fill a 3x3x2 box (GIRO) and six fill a MINIMA box (3x2x2). Years ago, I designed a ‘put-together’ puzzle for Pelikan’s RONDE using five pieces. Naturally, I now wanted to find out which building blocks could be used to fill a MINIMA box and provide it with suitable openings."

Oh boy! He has really provided us with a puzzle where the openings are crucial and used in different ways. It arrives in a special configuration (as almost all of his puzzles do) which gives a tiny hint of what might be coming up for the intrepid puzzler. Most of the pieces come out through the large 2x1½ voxel hole in the top surface but one of them is blocked and needs a bit of rotational fiddling to be released.

As usual, the initial challenge is to make the cuboid shape that will fit (this time the cavity will be completely filled. The handedness of the pieces means that you have to be careful which position they are placed in. I quickly realised that the arrival position had the 4 pieces with bevels at 90º to each other would form a cube and then the straight-line pieces would have to be used as a sort of length extender. 

The straight-line pieces lengthen the sides

Having realised this I made a cuboid of the correct size and then discovered that I could make 2 of them with mirror configurations. Time to pick one and then work out which of the 8 possible positions it could possibly be paced inside. I started with a brute force trial and error approach and very quickly realised that, due to the needed rotation(s) I was going to have to be more systematic and actually apply logic and thought©. The 4 single voxel holes in the box were going to have to be there for a purpose - Volker NEVER places anything unnecessarily - everything has a use. Working backwards, I Started with a shape that would allow the last(first) piece to be removed(placed). I searched for orientations of the cuboid that then had the possibility of either a second piece removal straight away or would utilise the holes for movements. At this point I had a fabulous Aha! moment and found a wonderful sequence that made lots of space inside the box. Now, it was time to work out how to place the pieces sequentially to allow that wonderful sequence to occur. Here is the challenge - the pieces don't just fit inside easily, there are multiple rotations involved (one in particular is absolutely incredible - Ronde means a round dance and that is exactly what you will have to do with this one. I don't think I have seen a Minima do that before. It took me an hour or so to find the required moves but eventually I reversed all my earlier moves and packed the pieces inside.

Absolutely incredible!

This is one of the most fun and rewarding Minima puzzles that I have ever worked on. The solution is completely unique, totally logical and beautiful to perform. A little dexterity is needed to control all the moves but it is fun. 

BUY IT! IT'S AMAZING!

333 & 444 Cubes

333 & 444 Cubes by Lucie Pauwels

This lovely little challenge by Lucie arrives as an interlocked set of pieces that form a cube with a lump on the top - obviously this is not the final placement of the pieces. This has been made using Maple and a brilliantly vibrant Jatoba. The precision is perfect. I removed the pieces to examine them and realised that the name of the puzzle came from the fact that the pieces could all fit together to form a 4x4x4 cube or the Maple pieces alone would form a 3x3x3 cube. I made the simpler assembly first and enjoyed that - a nice little warmup for the main puzzling.

4x4x4 and a 3x3x3

Creating the fully packed 4x4x4 is a clever challenge which reminded me a little of the Swan Cube from an earlier Pelikan release - the holes in the faces of the larger cube would need to be filled and this would need careful planning as they got blocked off quite quickly if the wrong piece was placed first. It's not too difficult and is a lot of fun. It could probably be solved by brute force but is better solved by noticing what the shapes will allow you to do and then thinking© about how this should be used in sequence to fill the void in the frame. Assembled shape hidden behind a spoiler button.

444 shape complete

Apteek

Apteek by Volker Latussek

Apteek and Farmacia

This incredible creation has been made from a deep Purpleheart wood for the box and an incredibly dark and fabulously grained Acacia. It is simply gorgeous. It arrives in a special configuration that Volker deliberately designed - the pieces seem to fit inside the 3x3x3 cavity but the central row is protruding above the surface. Obviously, this needs to be remedied and the pieces rearranged so that the pieces fit flush with the top surface. It's not going to be an easy process as the pieces (five L-triominoes and three L-tetrominoes) each have either a dowel protruding from one of the voxels and a reciprocal hole for accepting them. The box has a single dowel protruding into the top row of the puzzle. This reminded me a lot of a puzzle that I still haven't managed to solve from last year, Farmacia - this is still sitting on my desk waiting for me to complete it.

Volker wrote this about it:

"As promised, here it is APTEEK. When working with the usual v’s and developing FARMACIA, I had to learn that some very nice moves are not possible. However, from my experience with FILLING V, I know how powerful L’s are. So what could be more obvious than turning four v’s into three L’s and filling the 3x3x3 box together with the remaining five v’s? And suddenly, the previously impossible moves become possible. I really hope that you too will see that the price of losing the simple and clean construction principle of the 9 v’s of FARMACIA is not too high and that the beauty of the APTEEK solution - just as in APOTHECA - justifies the mixture of eight v’s and L’s."

Unlike the Farmacia there is no hole in the box to accept a dowel and with the dowel positioned in the top row, I had a funny feeling that this puzzle was going to require rotations to solve it. I spent a good few days trying to make at least a cube shape with the interlocking dowels and holes all fitting together. Interestingly, after many hours I had completely failed to find one. This didn't bode well for solving the puzzle in the box! 😱

Eventually, I resorted to Burrtools. Initially I looked for cube shapes and was slightly horrified to see that there were 7 cubic assemblies and 3 had a single hole that occurred in the correct place were it to be placed inside the box. I will need to assemble each of these cubes and then try the disassembly to see whether I can put one of them in the box. I did recreate the file with the box and found that there are 8 possible assemblies but no solutions. OMG! It will need rotational moves to assemble. Burrtools can only be used to give you a hint as to how it might possibly be assembled but not the actual solution.

I have spent several days on this and gotten nowhere so far and also to my horror, I cannot put it back into the transport position either.

This is an incredible challenge and best suited to the hardcore packing/interlocking puzzle solver amongst you.

Hopefully these will be going on sale within the next week or so.

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 to 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. There is something very special about Volker's brain - he sees shapes and movements that almost no-one else can see and produces challenges that are incredibly difficult and interesting to explore. He created the amazing Minima-Flop and I have been waiting with bated breath for another special Minima from him. Here we have, not only another fun Minima designed by Volker, but also a Minima which he felt was good enough to be named as a tribute to the originator of this series, Frederic. 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. Thank you Volker.

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. 

In the original puzzle, the cavity of the box was a 3x3x3 cube and there were 5 planar pentominoes to be fitted inside allowing the lid to 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 and then reassembling it fully. Flummox is well named as it is VERY difficult and will really challenge even the best burrista's. It is a caged 6 piece burr with "extra constraining pieces" and a stick length of 8 voxels 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 too 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 to remove. 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 triangular notches cut into most of them will allow them to interlock at 45º angles to each other and will ensure that they can be placed against the wall of the tray to prevent sliding. i.e. pack them into the tray but not orthogonally - simple? Hell, no!

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

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.

---

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!