Mrs S Meets Frau L.

Upcoming puzzles from Pelikan

Last week I reviewed the "easier" of the puzzles from the upcoming release from Jakub and Jaroslav's Pelikan puzzles. That was despite one of Lucie's puzzles being anything but easy! Today I focus on a week of fiddling with the results of Dr Volker Latussek's warped mind. These are really not easy!

Frau L.

Frau L. arrives with all but one piece in the hinged box

This incredible puzzle is yet another follow up to Hajime Katsumoto's Penta in a box. In the summer Volker continued Hajime-san's amazing thoughts about packing pieces into a hinged box by making the pieces 3D and a subset of the Fatomino group with his very fun puzzle that he named Fatomino. It was a hugely fun puzzle and really makes you think about what adding a rotational entry into a 3x3x3 box does. I loved it!

5 rather large pieces to be placed

Of course, Volker cannot leave a good thought alone and always explores any of his ideas until he reaches a limit of puzzling possibility. This time he decided that ALL of the pieces need to be 3D and none of them planar. This particular puzzle is absolutely gorgeous with a Mahogany box and each of the pieces made from multiple different wood cubes (Acacia, Garapa, Maple, Padauk and Purpleheart). It must have been a real pain for the Pelikan team to manufacture these but the end result is very worthwhile. Volker said this about the design process:

When I first tried to fit five FATS into a box with a hinged lid and briefly thought, ‘That’s impossible’, only to then use FATOMINO to demonstrate the wonderful properties the FATS display when combined with the hinged-lid box, I had discovered something astonishing for myself, without being able to put it to use for FATOMINO.

So I had to say goodbye to the FATS and instead fill the 3x3x3 box with any polycubes. I hadn't imagined quite how much of the familiar would remain in the end. For me, it was an exciting journey through the world of polycubes, only to end up packing five pieces back into the box, with a unique solution and a surprisingly low fill rate of less than ninety per cent.

Mrs L. often watched me as I moved the little blocks back and forth on the screen, and on more than one occasion, years later, she opened the corresponding parcel from Pelikan and saw the results. She always shares my delight when something intangible turns into something tangible.

With FATOMINO, it was the box with the hinged lid that she kept opening and closing. Perhaps it was the memory of her childhood jewellery box that made her so happy. It certainly wasn’t the FATS. For FRAU L., I’d only asked her briefly what sort of wood a jewellery box ought to be made of. Mahogany, obviously. With the polycubes for FRAU L., Pelikan had enquired whether the individual voxels really did need to be made from different types of wood. Yes, absolutely. Perhaps the colourful pieces in FRAU L. will help her get over the fact that, apart from LE COLLIER DE TANTE LIESEL and her wedding ring, no jewellery could have filled a jewellery box.

I dedicate FRAU L. to my wife Magdalene, whom I have called Mrs Latussek for almost four decades now, because she finds the name so ugly. It’s lovely that she has stayed with me all the same, and I so very much hope that the name Latussek sounds at least a little pleasant in the world of puzzles.

With FRAU L., I wish all members of the puzzle community a supportive companion for their passion. In particular, from Mrs S..

When I mentioned to Mrs S that this puzzle had been named after Mrs (Frau) L, she thoroughly approved and was amazed that anyone from the community would know enough about her to mention her. Needless to say, Mrs S never ever reads my blog and has absolutely no idea how much she appears in it (if she did there  would be a lot more than a Whack! Ouch!) Mrs S does admire the beauty of the wooden ones but has never had any urge to play with them which is a shame.

The Frau L. puzzle has 24 voxels to fit inside a 27 voxel cube. I initially thought that this might make the puzzle easier with having extra space but in reality this is not the case. The absence of a planar piece really adds to the complexity. I tried creating cubes and then looking at how to recreate the hinge movement that is so delightful with the Fatomino puzzle. There is a requirement to partially fill the main body of the box and leave enough space in the middle layer to allow the top parts to rotate down. The 3Dness of all the pieces caused me a lot of difficulty. I found a couple of nice cube assemblies and looked at all the possible orientations of them to see how they could be dissected into a top and bottom half. Every single one of them either had spaces that were blocked by cubies in front or the front lip of the box. In desperation, I went to Burrtools and realised that this was going to be much more difficult than I thought - there are 26 possible cubic assemblies! OMG!

I spent a whole week exploring them systematically and was getting nowhere at all. In the end I found myself sliding back and forth on the screen amongst the 26 solutions when I noticed a gap adjacent to a piece that I had not been really concentrating on. It was a gap in a very peculiar direction and in retrospect I should have realised that this would be something that Volker's warped mind would seize upon. I duly assembled the cube out of the pieces and explored what movements the special gap might allow - the Aha! moment was amazing! This assembly is similar to the assembly in the Fatomino puzzle but MUCH more! When you see it, you will know what I mean.

This is a glorious puzzle and a very fine extension to the Penta in a box line. Being named after Frau L herself is very fitting - she should be very proud.

Albert

Albert arrives with one piece outside the box

I vividly remember the incredible challenge that was Petit Albert from this time last year! I received a fair bit of correspondence about it. It was an amazing challenge to fit. That puzzle had an L shaped hole in the side of a 3x3x2 box and a bunch of Tetrominos to fit inside. The catch was that rotations were going to be required and the only way to facilitate them was to have curved edges along one side on each of them. Just like the Penta in a box, Volker is unable to let something go - he always explores the very limits of what is possible with any idea that he has - he always wants to make it better or more difficult. He did it this time by increasing the size of the box to a 4x4x2 cavity but having the same L shaped hole on one edge and lengthened most of the tetrominos into pentominos whilst continuing to have the single very tactile curve along the edges. My initial response was horror - I remembered just how tough the precedent puzzle had been and was frightened that this might prove impossible.

Just like the Petit Albert, this puzzle is beautifully made from Oak and Wenge. They will look great on display together. As with most of Volker's creations there is a very particular transport assembly which leaves one piece outside the box. I actually struggled to get the pieces out of the box as they started to rotate and slide about. On top of that there is very little room to get your finger in to direct them. I eventually had the pieces ready for the obligatory photo: 

A triomino, tetromino and 5 pentominos

Looking at the pieces, there appears to be 3 identical shapes and 4 others. The design philosophy behind it was described by Volker:

Some time ago, a sculpture by the Spanish artist Carlos Albert reminded me of a distorted Tetracube. Perhaps that’s not so surprising, considering that Carlos Albert forges his sculptures from solid square steel. I had set myself the task for PETIT ALBERT of integrating as many rotations as possible into a 3x3x2 box - when playing with the distorted Tetracubes, it quickly becomes clear that the absence of some edges enables new rotations - the challenge with ALBERT was to combine the opening of PETIT ALBERT with the 4x4x2 box from my TWISTED-TETRA. I’m always delighted when something new emerges from the interplay of the familiar and new observations, but I’m especially happy when you, like me, discover and enjoy the sometimes-wondrous properties of the pieces as you play with ALBERT - perhaps PETIT ALBERT’s big brother. Of course, using some of my new favourite Pentacubes: The Fats.

As always, the trick is to assemble the packing shape outside the box and see how easy it is to remove the pieces through the required hole. I quickly found a couple of assemblies - the cavity is 32 voxels in volume and there are 32 voxels in the pieces. This is very important as it means that the first pieces to be removed will need to be direct with no rotations. My first shape had no way to remove any pieces at all direct and I quickly moved onto searching for another. It didn't take long - the pieces are all a really nice size and are lovely to play with on a table. I was very encouraged to see that my second shape had the ability to slide 2 pieces straight out through the hole:

Two pieces will come out but so near and yet so far!

Having done this, I looked for the next moves and found that nothing was possible. It was stuck! I was slightly concerned that if there was going to be a huge number of possible assemblies, I might struggle to remember what I had tried. A third assembly allowed the removal of another piece after the first 2 but again I got stuck. I went back to Burrtools to check on how many possible assemblies there might be and was very reassured to see only 7. Time to be systematic...

I quickly found an assembly that would allow me to easily remove 4 pieces and then a fifth with some relatively simple rotations. After that, there were only 2 pieces left to play with - this MUST be the correct assembly so it was time to try it in the box. Oh boy! Working out how to rotate these first 2 pieces into position was a massive challenge. One piece in particular was a huge problem - controlling the movements was very difficult but eventually I managed it with a rather clever and unexpected rotational move. I have never seen a move quite like that one in one of these packing puzzles - very very clever. I finally had my pieces inside and a feeling of huge achievement.

How does this compare with its' little brother? Interestingly, with this one having larger pieces and a larger cavity, the puzzle is more constrained which actually makes it easier to solve but also a LOT more interesting and fun. It is very clever and more accessible than Petit Albert which was extremely tough. If you have the original then you must get this. If you want to try a rotational packing puzzle then this is one of the best of them. Absolutely superb.

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Safe 2 coming soon

I mentioned last week that Safe 2 was going to be released soon - it is a sequential discovery puzzle which should interest many of you. The original Safe 1 is still available from Pelikan here and my review is here. You can pre-order the Safe 2 by contacting Jakub by email at info@pelikanpuzzles.eu or using the Contact page on their site

There's A Loach In The Upcoming Release!

New Releases Coming From Jakub and Jaroslav's Pelikan Puzzles

I have had a little annual leave recently and had to use a lot of it for stuff around the house but was very delighted to receive a new big box o' puzzles from Jakub containing 6 new beauties. I even had some time to start proper work on them. 

We have:

Loach Bed by Osanori Yamamoto (Top 10 Vote getter in the 2026 IPP design competition)

Mirror Tetra X2 by Oasnori Yamamoto

Window 444 by Lucie Pauwels 

Family Puzzle by Lucie Pauwels

Albert by Dr Volker Latussek

Frau L. by Dr Volker Latussek

This week I have solved the first 4 and will be writing about them.

Loach Bed

Loach Bed by Osanori Yamamoto

This wonderful diminutive puzzle was a Top Ten Vote getter in the IPP design competition for a very very good reason. In fact, it was one of the puzzles I voted for myself. A supposedly simple packing puzzle with a limited entry (single voxel) made from leopard wood and 3 bright yellow pieces made from Movingui (it will also be available made from Acacia and Walnut). There are 2 simple rods and an S-shaped piece to be fitted inside the 2x2x3 box so that the entry is left filled.

I remember playing with this in Italy. I remember the beauty, the perfect logic and the marvellous Aha! moment. I then also remember the Oh $3*t moment when I realised that it needed to be solved outside the box in your head first and then the sequence produced from memory completely blind. This makes this puzzle ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT! The first challenge outside the box is to work out how the S-shaped piece can be inserted and then where the two rods can be placed alongside it and still allow some movement. Then work out a sequence that can allow removal of the pieces. Great! You know what is needed. That took me about 10-15 minutes (I am not terribly bright - I am sure that you will be quicker than that). Then once you know this then insert the pieces inside in the correct order and within a single move of inserting the third piece nothing more can be seen and the rest is done from memory and blind. At this point the careful sequence that you have worked out becomes less obvious and finally you will realise that you need to use gravity for the moves. So rotating the whole puzzle up and down backwards and forwards suddenly makes you question whether you a. can remember where everything is and b. what direction things need to move when the orientation is different to the one that you worked out the sequence.

This picture is not helpful!

The feeling of success is fabulous. Enjoy it...then leave the puzzle for about an hour or so and then with what you know in your head and no real muscle memory left, try and take the pieces out. This again needs to be done blind and can lead to some heart-stopping moments when you have turned it over and about and hoped the required moves have happened but find that a crucial move now won't happen. At this point you need to backtrack without knowing the state of the pieces inside. At one point I got rather badly lost and had to put it down for a bit in a panic. The disassembly is just as challenging as the assembly - there's a reason it won a prize - BRILLIANT!

I would suggest that you do not give this to newbie puzzlers without keeping a close eye on what they do. You could end up with a locked puzzle because you can't see what's going on inside.

Mirror Tetra X2

Mirror Tetra X2 by Osanori-san

This delightful challenge made from Acacia and Padauk arrives as a loosely assembled brick. The aim is to assemble all the attractively symmetrical pieces into a solid 4x4x4 cube with the extra constraint that the cube is formed from 2 mirror coloured halves. 

The puzzle is not hugely difficult but is very compelling to play with. The pieces mostly have tongues or grooves in them (or both) as well as a single 1x2x4 plate and a 2x2x2 cube. Making space for these is both helpful and a hindrance. The most confusing part is the inclusion of two pieces that have a side length of 3 voxels which, for me, made them quite hard to place. Burrtools tells me that there is only one assembly and knowing this, the colour requirement is actually a nice clue as to what you can and cannot do.

It's definitely not a trivial puzzle and actually took me the best part of an hour to assemble it. This is perfect for all levels of puzzler.

Window 444

Window 444 by Lucie Pauwels

Lucie Pauwels always comes up with very interesting challenges and this is no exception. It's a sort of framed jigsaw/packing puzzle made from a whole bunch of gorgeous woods. It arrived like this with all but 2 long pieces in the tray. Once you have tipped all the pieces out you realise that there are 3 different size groups to be inserted - 4 long ones at 5x1 units in size, 4 medium ones at 3x1 units in size and then also four 1x1 pieces. In terms of voxels, with the protrusions and cavities the pieces are considerably more complex and if you were going to put this into Burrtools then you would need a 18x18 voxel grid to do it. But I would advise you - DON'T use Burrtools! There is absolutely no need to do so. This puzzle is wonderfully logical and needs only a little exploration to notice a few critical features which will make you think©. Once you have thunk then the solution needs only a little trial and error and progression happens very quickly. It is very satisfying when you find where pieces need to go. If you make a mistake, it takes a bit of doing to remove the incorrect pieces as they fit together so perfectly (as you'd expect from the Pelikan team) - a small suction cup tool would be very helpful.

This lovely puzzle is another that is perfect for all levels of puzzler - It encourages thought and planning rather than too much trial and error.

Family Puzzle 

Family Puzzle by Lucie Pauwels

Here we have a rather beautiful and very very challenging tray packing puzzle by Lucie Pauwels. It looks much easier than the Window 444 but is a much more difficult puzzle. We have a nice small tray with a cavity measuring 8 voxels high and 15 across. There are 8 rectangular pieces of varying sizes to be placed in the tray and each of them has a single voxel notch punched out of one edge. All the pieces are made from a different rather lovely wood making this a very attractive puzzle to play with. So far so easy - place all these pieces in the tray. There should be plenty of space. 

However, the puzzle is not going to be that easy - Lucie would never let you be that easily successful! On top of the larger pieces there are four 1x2 voxel pieces (mine are a rather lovely Zebrano) which also need to be inserted into the space alongside the bigger pieces. Once all the pieces are in, there will be no holes left. It seemed to me that the obvious thing to do was to insert the bigger pieces and pair up the notches is 4 of them to make space for the small rods. easier said than done. After an hour or so of attempting that, I gave up and just fell back to trying to insert all of the large pieces and ignoring the rods. Even doing that is a challenge as they always seem to fit easily up to the last one:

Not even close on the simple challenge!

After a lot of trial and error I had a crucial Aha! moment which I am sure would occur to you much earlier. After that I was able to get all the large pieces inside but I was a very long way off from getting all the notches lined up. I found quite a lot of possible simpler packings but none allowed me to place all of the rods. I did make a BT file and found that there are 96,608 possible ways to place the large pieces. Time for more thought and more trial and error. I have so far been unable to solve this one so far. BT tells me that there is just a single solution and I have no idea how to go about finding it. 

I think that the better puzzlers out there amongst you will be able to logically approach this and find the solution. Good luck - it's a massive challenge.

Also Coming Very Soon...

Safe 2 by Pelikan Design

Jakub has informed me that he will also be releasing the Safe 2 puzzle soon - I reviewed the Safe 1 here and adored it. This new version is also a sequential discovery puzzle designed by Jakub and team. It is apparently very difficult - Ivan has been working on it for a while and the "Master of puzzle boxes", Peter Hajek, has rated the puzzle box as "good" which is very high praise from him.

There will be 2 versions. The standard version will be €420 and a special version made from Fossil oak (5 copies only) will be €600. If you wish to pre-order then this can be done right now by emailing Jakub and paying a deposit. 

Contact him at https://www.pelikanpuzzles.eu/contact/ or email info@pelikanpuzzles.eu

Pelikan Puzzling Continued

Cabinet - a Pelikan design

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

Cabinet

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

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

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

Teapot

Teapot by Lucie Pauwels

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

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

Olympic Rings

Olympic Rings by Lucie Pauwels

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

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

Fatino

Fatino by Dr Volker Latussek

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

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

Volker said this about the development of the puzzle:

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

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

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

Damn! That is tough!

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

Yasya-Flop

Yasya-Flop by Dr Volker Latussek

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

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

Volker wrote this about it:

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

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

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

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

Not for the faint-hearted!

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

Less is More

Less is more by Dr Volker Latussek

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

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

Volker said this about it:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Jigsaw So Good That It Soothes The Soul

Avocets by Mike & Gill Hayduk

As a rule most of us serious puzzlers tend to look askance at jigsaw puzzles. I have reviewed only a few of many years now but there are some that are definitely worth playing with either for the huge challenge or, as in this case, for the sheer beauty and soothing nature of the puzzle.

Big Steve collects pretty much everything under the sun and his wife must be even more angry than mine! Just over a week ago there was an auction in the Sheffield auction house and Steve saw something that he fancied adding to his collection. He duly asked whether I would mind collecting it rather than them posting it to him for an exorbitant price. I was only working a half day on Monday and had some time to head into town and pick up the result of his winning bid. I was rather surprised at the size and weight of it. I immediately saw why he wanted it.

We have the Avocets Jigsaw puzzle made by Mike and Gill Hayduk. Apparently this husband and wife team had been producing gorgeous wooden creations in the 1980s (their website no longer exists but was active up to at least 2021 according to the wayback machine). I guess they must have stopped producing these works of art relatively recently. This is a shame as, had I known about them, I might well have ordered something from them. Steve has been buying their puzzles for years having bought directly from them and more recently finding them in auctions. His collection is very extensive and I have spent quite a while drooling over the gorgeous wood. This particular puzzle is made with quite an assortment of woods: The Avocets from Sycamore, Walnut, Zebrano and Ebony. The background from two shades of Tulipwood and the bowl with stand from Iroko. It is truly gorgeous and rather frightening in its complexity.

Having picked it up I was encouraged to just invert the bowl to drop out the pieces and get playing. I was not sure that I could reassemble it if I did but having had so many of my own puzzles irrevocably scrambled by Steve and Rich at MPPs, I decided that if I gave it to him in pieces then I couldn't be held responsible. Here goes:

Oh boy! This might be impossible!

I set to work on it as and when I could find time and luckily I had taken a picture of the fully assembled version because there is no way that I would be able to do it without that as a hint. 

I began with the birds and true to form, a certain little demon was very interested in joining in and maybe even running off with some pieces of birdie.

I want that piece

Watching that the birds don't fly away

I worked on this gorgeous creation for a good few hours in total and have to admit that whilst I am not generally interested in jigsaws, I found this one very very soothing. It is beautifully made and very tactile. The pieces fit together like a dream.

I suspect I might be competing with Steve if any more come up for sale in the future.

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The Secret of Two Friends

I need to post an update from the last time I reviewed this wonderful little puzzle chest from Pelikan. When it was first sent out the lock and keys were too small and fragile but after both myself and Ivan had pointed it out, they corrected it and sent out new versions. I needed to spend more than a week working on it with the new lock and keys before I was finally able to solve it.

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

This wonderful Pelikan design is still available to buy (the fancy version with sub fossil oak has sold out). It is very worthwhile getting hold of a copy. the mechanism is clever and very well disguised.

Ze Next Ones From Pelikan Are Just As Much Fun

Diasafe by Lucie Pauwels

Last week I reviewed the amazing Minima-Ze series about to be released by Pelikan and saved the others for this week (yes, I didn't have time or ability to solve them all in a single week). I managed to get to the remaining wonderful puzzles this week and even solved some of them.

Starting with the rather unusual looking Diasafe by Lucie Pauwels, I couldn't work out whether it was a maze puzzle or a packing puzzle and eventually settled on the latter. We have a rather attractive set of Wenge pieces each of which has a rather colourful jewel on the top and a box made of Pink Oak which has an S-shaped path in the top surface. Clearly the aim is to fit the pieces in one layer inside the box via the 3 voxel opening in one side. The interior of the box forms a 7x7 square and the jewels are expected to protrude into the path. 

I started by just forming squares with the pieces and quickly realised that my usual approach with packing puzzles of starting outside the box was not going to work. I found rather a lot of square assemblies very quickly and a quick play with Burrtools revealed that there are 2004 possible squares. Time to make squares in the box using the pathway in the top and you will quickly realise that there is quite a lot of thought going to be required. I started randomly and found that it is possible to place many of the pieces somewhere inside quite easily but the larger ones are either very rapidly blocked from moving along the path and two of the shapes cannot physically be placed with out rotating them at some point whilst in the box. This forces the perplexed puzzler to think about the order of placement. These pieces that need rotation need space to do so. Maybe they need to be placed early before the pathways gets too blocked up?

I got stuck after 2 days of trying and was forced to go to BT to at least look at possible final square assemblies which ended having the jewels protruding into the pathway. Interestingly, there are only 3 possible ways to create a square with the jewels still in the S-shaped track. Of these 3 assemblies, just one can be physically completed. It is very clever and a fun puzzle to think about. This is perfect for advanced puzzlers and beginners alike.

Shrine

Shrine by Lucie Pauwels

Shrine shows off the breadth of Lucie's skills. Not only does she design amazing packing puzzles but she also can design very clever interlocking puzzles. The Shrine has been made from a vibrantly gorgeous Bubinga and an Acacia block which needs to be held securely inside the assembly. There are 6 pieces which are 1x3x7 voxels in size and each has a 1x3 voxel slot in it. They all have ½x1 voxel protuberances and cutouts at various points in them. Counting them reveals that there are just enough to have all holes filled. The end result shape is not terribly obvious and I thought that this might be a significant difficulty in the solution of the puzzle but in reality this is a really clever sequential assembly challenge. Finding which pieces cane interlock with each other shows that there are not many possible assemblies to try and it is just a matter of thought© to assemble one piece into another and progressively build up a pleasing shape. After a few have been put together the addition of a 4th or 5th (depending on which you start with) becomes impossible. Having met an impossible to finish position several times, it occurred to me that I might need to make two assemblies that fit together rather than each one after another. Once I had realised this, then the assembly is a fun exploration of which pieces fit together in which order. Another beauty by Pelikan which is suitable for all puzzlers.

I have put the final assembly behind a spoiler button:

This doesn't really tell you how to assemble it

Thyor

Thyor by Dr Volker Latussek

This rather stunning creation made from Wenge, Padauk and Maple by Dr Latussek is called Thyor. Was this something to do with the God of thunder? I was rather mystified at the name until I received an explanatory email from him with an explanation. This puzzle is a tribute to one of the original German puzzle manufacturers: THYOR is short for "Thirty Years Of Rombol". Volker wrote this:

"The Kröger family runs a small game publishing company in Paderborn, Germany. My friend Bernhard - whom I still addressed as Mr. Schweitzer back then - recommended my SOMA PACK for publication there. It was my first mechanical puzzle to go into series production at Rombol.

Recently, after the relaunch of rombol.de, I read that the Kröger family had already begun publishing designer puzzles in small series as early as 1996. With the company’s 30th anniversary this year and the handover to the next generation in the family, I also wanted to personally express my gratitude for the great collaboration. Since the Kröger family now also distributes Pelikan puzzles here in Germany, I asked Pelikan to publish my puzzle THYOR: Th-irty Y-ears O-f R-ombol.

For THYOR, I experimented with 1.5x1x1.5 instead of the usual 1x1x1 voxel. As always, even changing just one parameter opens a whole new world. In THYOR, I break down a 1.5x1x52.5 rod into 18 sections for the 6 pieces that need to be packed into the box. I’m very confident that the solution will be unique even after you’ve played THYOR; at least, some of my fellow metagrobologists have confirmed this."

Volker always defines a specific setup position for the transport of his puzzles and this alone can be a huge challenge. I removed just one piece for the initial photo and stopped there. The other pieces did not seem to want to come out terribly easily. I backed off for a while as I did not want lots of pieces lying around with me unable to put them back into the box again. 

When I did come to trying to solve this one, I was not disappointed! I managed to remove 3 of the 6 pieces without too much trouble but the remaining 3 just would not come out of the box. The lip of the box stopped them from just dropping out and it became clear that rotations were going to be needed just to get access to the pieces. I'm slightly ashamed to admit that it took me a good 30 minutes just to get access to the pieces and begin trying the full assembly.

This challenge is very different to most of Volker's previous puzzles. It does not require rotations to achieve the main aim (the rotations are only needed to get the pieces out). This one can be solved by Burrtools and creating the BT file after you have solved it will add to your fun. It's not an easy one to create (at least for me) - at one point it was going to take 860 millennia to find the solution! Maybe that will give you an idea of how tough this challenge is?

The Secret Of Two Friends

The Secret of Two Friends by Pelikan

This stunning Puzzlebox is a new design by the Pelikan team. It has been beautifully made from a rather dark oak and a metal lock, keys, hinges and decorations. The aim is to open the chest and see what is rattling around inside. 

The lock can be opened using one of the keys and the chest will still not open. Something odd is going on inside. There is no movement where you think it should be. Time to investigate further and something interesting shows up quite quickly. There is then a need to use what you have in creative ways. I did have to let the Pelikan team know that one piece is too fragile and they have assured me that they are aware and will be fixing that.

I have only found the first small part of the mechanism and have failed so far to complete the task. I have tried using all the pieces I have in ever more creative ways but cannot seem to unlock the chest. I do know how it should open but I seem to be missing a step in the solution. This is definitely a lovely puzzle for anyone's collection and as a rare Pelikan design it is worth getting hold of.

Is It Safe In Your Hands?

Safe from Pelikan Puzzles

This new sequential discovery puzzle box is due to be released by the amazing Pelikan team this coming Friday. It will be limited to a small release of 64 copies so you will need to be quite quick.

Instructions and a certificate

It is a stunning creation made from various woods - it looks like Acacia and Walnut at least. There are also metal components and magnets. It must contain something valuable because it is quite large and quite heavy. Dimensions are 11 x 11 x 15.3cm (4.3 x 4.3 x 6") and weighing 985g (2 lb 3oz) making it very tactile to play with. 

The story is that this safe belonged to George Thomas, a wealthy factory owner, and many robbers have attempted to get into it to steal the huge treasure that is inside. Your task is to get into it and retrieve the haul for yourself. It does not need any shaking, spinning or banging.

There is a door on the front held by an ornate hinge and a dial on the front for the combination. The dial clicks as you turn it to get to the combination. Apart from this, nothing else seems to move at all. The hinge is not a fake hinge and doesn't come apart. There are some interesting brass pins on the side of the puzzle as well. It did occur to me that the feet might be useful but they don't come off to reveal an alternative locking mechanism:

Those feet look like a possible tool or entry?

Small coin
NOT the treasure though

Once you have finished exploring what you have and getting nowhere then you need to think© about alternative approaches. I had my first Aha! moment after about 15 minutes - there is no hint from the outside that what I tried would work but I couldn't think of anything else to do. I was in the safe and found my first small prize - a small coin. Was this a hint at vast treasure still inside? There was clearly more to do. Maybe more coins further in?

I got stumped for a little while at this point. The temptation to shake it and spin it was there but I was a good boy and decided to use my tiny brain on it. The next few mechanisms were beautifully created and a delight to discover. I had my treasure after an hour or so!

Or did I?????

This is a wonderful creation designed by Jakub and brought to life by the Pelikan team. You won't be disappointed in this one. I suspect they will sell out very quickly - make sure you are ready on Friday 5th September.

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I blame Allard! Look what he made me do:

I got by a big customs fee but it should be worth it!