A Fun Week Of Torturing

Ice Cream SandWitch

Having had a bad week last week, I was really motivated to get back into it for this post. I took the three TICs that Allard gave me to work and tortured a couple of lovely girls who surprised me with their tenacity.

Georgia - my ODP

Even the radiographer!

Caduceus pieces

I had worked on Caduceus first after writing my post last week. It looks the easiest of them having only 2 pieces to fit inside. The fun thing about it is that both pieces have circular rods in them which implies that they will both need to undergo rotations to get them placed.

The first thing to do is go through some thinking© to work out which direction each of them need to be placed across the cubic frame. I was gratified to see that both girls who tried this puzzle did exactly the same thing before attempting the insertion. It's nice to see that thought is universal with puzzles. 

Having established the direction of travel we experimented to see how the individual pieces could be moved into place and then see whether the second one could be manipulated around the first. Oh boy! They really get in the way of each other. There are a LOT of moves and they dance around each other a huge amount. There are so many rotational and sliding moves that for me it is impossible to keep track of them. I managed to assemble it last Sunday evening and then couldn't take it apart again for a very long time.

Damn! That was tough

Eventually I separated the pieces and watched in fascination as Georgia and one of the other theatre staff worked on it and was very gratified to see that they had the exact same experience. Both really enjoyed it and were keen to try the others. I love infecting others with the excitement of puzzling! Especially girls - we need more girl puzzlers.

The next 2 of the TICs from Alan Lunsford were Cobra and Hydra:

Cobra has only one rotational piece

Hydra has 2 rotating pieces

Cobra has the advantage that the two frame pieces are just like simple interlocking cube puzzles and relatively easy to work out where they go together but then whilst it is simple to see where the rotating piece has to go, it is actually a huge challenge to insert it into position. With everything you try the piece almost arrives but not quite. Many possible moves leads to the thing falling apart. None of the girls managed to get past this point and it was with some trepidation that I attempted it myself. It is damned tough. There is a very very nice sequence to get the thing assembled. Luckily with this one, once you have done it then the disassembly is not going to be hard to manage. It is really clever and perfect to get someone hooked - the ability to get so close and yet so far away is wonderful for the experienced as well as the newbie puzzler.

Hydra has 2 rotational pieces and it doesn't take long to work out where they have to go. Like the Caduceus, there is a whole lot of dancing with some rather extreme moves before it eventually slides together. Disassembly is also a challenge. It took me a good hour before I could say that I really understood the puzzle. I will be taking it to work to torture people for a few weeks.

Cobra assembled

Hydra assembled

If you have a 3D printer (Sob! Never me!) then I suggest you go to Alan's Printables page and download the files for these and make yourself some TICs - they are simply fabulous!

Next up, I tortured myself with George Bell and Nan Ma's Dodecahedron assembly kit. I spent quite a lot of time in the IPP design competition room in Italy attempting several of the challenges set out with these and completely failed. I came to the conclusion that my hands are too small or the pieces were too perfectly made with not enough gaps to help me. But, I am a sucker for a puzzle kit and the five challenges sung to me. I started with the easiest of them (rated medium) and after nearly an hour yesterday, I finally managed an assembly. Hooray!

Dear Lord! That was tough and it was the easiest!

I spent another couple of hours trying various of the other challenges and got absolutely nowhere apart from to teach the cats some swear words and to piss off Mrs S with all the muttering under my breath. The pieces can be assembled gradually by gently pulling apart and adding extras. This continues until there's no space for any more and then as long as the assembly is correct there's a space for the final piece but no way to insert it. Time to take a few out and place them in a different order. Finally you have to pull it apart to the almost falling to bits position and try and manoeuvre the last piece or pieces and let it collapse together into shape. Unfortunately, I have been completely unable to manage it - I pull it apart to the almost falling to bits and then as I wiggle, it just "falls to bit" - Aargh! I'll keep at it for a while longer but I'm losing hope. I saw a friend at the MPP manage them all but I have no idea how.

Finally I have to show off the Ice Cream SandWitch puzzle which I also solved this week.

Ice Cream SandWitch by Alexander Dangl
I never noticed the mis-spelling until now!

This puzzle was also an entry into the Design competition this year where it won a Jury Honourable Mention Award. I actually didn't play with it myself at the IPP because I had immediately decided that I wanted to buy a copy having seen p[eople enjoying it and with lots of shouts of delight as they solved it. The following day at the main puzzle party, I quickly found it for sale and got hold of a copy. Let me say straight up - it's a lovely thing and great fun to solve with plenty of Aha! moments.

It is available in 3 ice cream flavours (pistachio, vanilla and the strawberry that I have). The aim is to work your way through finding and using tools to get yourself the coin to allow you to buy more ice cream. At the moment it is available from PuzzleMaster and sold out at Tye and Amanda's Nothing Yet Designs (they may well get more n stock in time).

Initially, the only obvious tool is a bolt that slides part way out when you tilt the puzzle downwards. The first thing to do is work out how to release the bolt and then see where it can be used to make other things happen. The first couple of moves are quite easy to find and will lull you into a false sense of security. I managed those first couple of steps very fast and then got stuck for a while. I had a bolt, a magnet and that was it. There are lots of magnetic areas inside the puzzle but I was unable to manipulate them. I had to put it down for a while due to demands by the present wife that I do some stuff for her. Later on, I returned to the puzzle and noticed something really quite subtle. Aha! I now had...another magnet and nothing to do with it.

I'll not tell you what I did next as I don't want to spoil it for any of you but I have to say that you need to use physics to solve this one and after another few moves you have your coin to allow the purchase of more ice cream. It's wonderful and certainly a candidate for my top ten(ish) of 2026. I will be bringing this to work to torture people as well. My work bag is always shoulder bruisingly heavy because I bring so many great puzzles with me. Torturing people is fun!

Burrs With A Twist

Literally... With Twisting Movements In Them!

Trust Steve to produce something funny with an extra twist in it!
Boarin' Burr - the boars appear on every surface

First of all, I MUST give proper attribution to the origin of last weeks main puzzle. The wonderful version of the Diagonal Star puzzle that I wrote about last week should actually be named the Sequential Cube. It was designed by the amazingly talented George Bell as a variant of Lee Krasnow's very rare Sequential Star. Practice does improve things with this puzzle - I can now solve the Sequential Star version and the 9 move version quite easily. The 14 move seems to be more problematic for me but I keep trying. If you get a chance to play then go for it - it's very mind-bending.

I should also point out that we have a new blog in the puzzlesphere - Fraser, whose name I forgot last week, has started an unassuming little place on the internet where he asks the useful question: Can an idiot solve it? This looks really useful to me - I have been an idiot my whole life (I'm pretty old now) and am rubbish at puzzles. I will be using his advice to see whether I should bother trying to solve some of the puzzles I see on the internet. Go show him some love/views! 

Today, I am writing about a couple of puzzles that look like burrs and sort of work like burrs in that they are composed of interlocking sticks but there is something twisted inside both figuratively and literally.

The IPP provides all of us with a list of puzzles we want. I am lucky enough to be given a few of them every now and then. Everything that the TwoBrassMonkeys do should be added to your list of things you want because there is always something special about them. Here, I have Steve Nichol's exchange puzzle. He designed a burr with some extra challenge to it. The theme is both the boars that are often found zooming around Italian towns causing havoc (Steve, cause havoc??? Oh yes! everywhere he goes) and of course, the name refers to the fact that pieces rotate like bores. and effectively double lock the burr sticks. Steve likes interlocking puzzles but always seems to want to make something a bit more interesting than a standard version. He has created them from hexagonal sticks and round sticks to confuse you. He's made odd movements and multi-step sequential discovery burrs which won my puzzle of the year for 2024. There seems to be no end to the ways that Steve wants to play with your head. In this case he has a burr with boars that got bored and bored their way inside your burr:

If you push on a boar then it unscrews from the puzzle!

This is interesting and very ingenious. It is quite reminiscent of Oskar's screw burr but extra confusing! Obviously this cannot be entered into Burrtools so you will need to be careful. Luckily everything is sequential and you quickly can produce a bunch of very odd looking sticks. Make sure that you mix them all up so that you have no idea what came from where and what orientation they were in when you started. This was one of my mistakes initially. It did not occur to me that stick orientation would be that critical when I scrambled them and I really struggle to reassemble it the first time.

There's nothing boring about this puzzle!
I have absolutely no idea how he designed this

The multi-coloured sticks can be assembled into a six piece burr in lots of ways but the locking mechanism comes from the bores/boars. Take a look at the notches in the sticks and with a little care it is possible to put it back together again with only a little trial and error as sticks may need switching end over end.

Great fun, with a twist - just as we would expect from Steve. Thanks mate. I assume that this will be put up for sale at some point. Keep an eye out on the Two Brass Monkeys website.

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SV Burr by Richard Williams (P91 puzzles)

This burr is a fascinating design by Richard Williams. The aim is to disassemble and reassemble the burr and, most importantly, in the process, understand why it has the name SV Burr - what is SV? I bought it at an MPP last September having watched lots of people struggle both with the disassembly but also get caught out by the reassembly. I made sure not to watch what they were doing and what they had found along the way. I took it home and began playing. Initially it has absolutely no moving parts and takes quite a bit of pushing and prodding to make your first move. Very quickly a tool is o=in your hands - not what you would usually think of as a tool - it's just a bolt. What can you do with a bolt in a burr?

There are a couple of holes in the puzzle where you can poke the bolt but no real clue as to whether this is having any effect. After poking and pushing and screwing and unscrewing I did find something and then movement happened. Yay! After that, nothing else was possible but I did have another hole. I "screwed" my courage to the sticking place and put the bolt in the hole and closed up the burr in the hope that I could now use gravity to pull or push something inside. Well, that was a stupid thing to do because now I couldn't move anything. After a day, I contacted Rich to see whether I was on the right track and apparently I had been very stupid! He had never even considered that anyone would be so stupid as to do that and advised me to try and undo what I had done. As always, never underestimate my stupidity! Eventually, I did manage to undo the mess that I had got myself into but it took a couple of days - phew! Then, of course, there was more stupidity! I tightened something to much and stripped some of the plastic off - this rendered my puzzle non-functional! Aargh! Yep, I'm an eejit!

At the next MPP, I had to give it back to Rich to fix. I eventually got it back at the last MPP and promised to be more careful with it this time. I started again determined not to prove myself too foolish. I did the first moves again and achieved my sliding burr moves. This time I did not lose a piece inside. I worked on various other possibilities and somehow managed to get more movement. I was screwing and unscrewing but not understanding why it changed things inside. Despite that, I managed to progress. At some point a new too dropped out and I had no idea where it came from. A little exploration revealed a hidden compartment which had been the hidey-hole. The new item was an odd looking tool but there was only one place it could go and in it went. In fact it went in and out several times causing some more screwing movements and another piece came off/out. Turning the puzzle over caused yet another tool to drop out and this time I had noted where from. After searching about there was only one place to try it and yes, more screwing about. Then the final piece was removable and the burr came fully apart:

A six piece burr?
Nope! A lot more than that.

After this it becomes clear what the SV stands for - I'm not going to give it away. You need to get your own copy of this and work it out for yourself. Thanks Rich!

So we have to burrs that have lots of twists in the tale and twists in the puzzling. Fabulous - I need to lie down now as I'm really quite dizzy.

This Minima Is NOT Minimal

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

Minima Tokyo aka Jammed Coin from Frederic Boucher and Ars Aenigma

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

Don't tell her about this lot!

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

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

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

First piece out and coin revealed

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

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

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

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

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

Coin is now un-jammed.

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

Having A Puzzle Friend Is Essential

I Need My Lunch By Idan Shvartz

Last week I mentioned how I had suddenly started to make progress on Idan's amazing INML puzzle after many weeks of attempting to do the same thing over and over again. Having gotten started on it, at various intervals during my work, I found myself stalled with no obvious way forward and at least once, no way back either.

At this point, I have to extoll the virtue of having a puzzle friend. Either someone who has done it before or as I have done many times in the past, someone (Shane) who simultaneously solves it and we help each other along. With this puzzle, I had the company of Dominic who was the one who initially recommended Idan's puzzles to me. The wonderful thing with solving this puzzle with Dominic in the background was that he knew all the pitfalls and was able to give hints that really were barely hints. Looking through the email chain, I can actually see that he barely said anything at all. The main feature of a good clue giver is someone who can just remind you to look where you've already looked, he doesn't tell you to do anything just a hint to focus somewhere. I am vey grateful for this support because I still feel like I have actually solved the puzzle myself but not gone off on some awful tangent for too long or done something damaging to the puzzle.

At the end of last week's post, I had found the first part of my lunch and had gotten stuck at that point. I didn't know what I had actually done to get it and actually wasn't sure where it had come from. More worrying, I found myself unable to backtrack. Initially this had been a source of stress until I went back and re-read the instructions that Idan had given me. He said that 

"Resetting the puzzle is another piece in itself as part of the overall solution of the puzzle". 

This made me realise that the reset was not going to be just a matter of reversing what I had already done. I could continue toward on it in the knowledge I was getting myself further and further in the "proverbial sh1t" but there would be a way to puzzle my way out of it.

I was presented with a pair of large holes and a new tool. A quick think© again and I was on my way. More pieces were coming out and more places to stick things. Looking at the puzzle, I knew with certainty what I needed to eventually do but I was a long way from being able to achieve it. I got stuck again and after another chat with Dominic, I was encouraged to look at a part of the puzzle that I had so far more or less ignored. I had noticed something odd about it way back at the beginning of the odyssey but there was nothing I could do with it. Now, though, I had a new tool and a new set of possibilities. This time I had to think about several tools at once and a little dexterity had me the very thing I was hoping for. Time to push it into the puzzle to get my reward... NOOOOO! It wouldn't do what I wanted. Aargh! There was a teeny tiny bit of movement but something was locking it up. Think© again you eeejit!

I could see a potential locking mechanism but had no way to get to it. Or did I? What if I try this??? Nope! Blocked again. What was blocking it? This puzzle keeps you searching and thinking at every single step. So much stuff has been crammed into one very diminutive shell. I quickly manipulated the block and started using my tool to remove the blockage. Ooh! I needed a second tool and then a third before using my fourth tool at the same time, I had the next stage open. 

LUNCH IS SERVED! There's no clue behind the button but the aim of the challenge can be seen.

All that effort for a beer and a sandwich!

Having whooped with delight at getting my lunch, I turned to resting the damned thing. I had upset Mrs S by using one of her Tupperware containers to hold all the parts - there were 16 separate parts plus a whole bunch of loose bits within the main body of the puzzle. It was going to be one hell of a job getting this thing back to the beginning. Especially as several of the moves didn't seem to be reversible. At one point during the solution the obvious dovetail had been slid but was now locked open. Nothing seemed to allow me to reverse what I had done so it was obviously I had to look harder. The piece that I needed was very very well hidden but once I had it, there were a number of things I could do with it. Only one of which got me anywhere. I got stuck thinking the wrong thing after that and Dominic came to my rescue yet again. No need to tell me what to do - another of his skilful hints about how to think what might be possible with my current configuration and all of a sudden I was back on the correct path.

My goodness! That first part of the reset was very clever! Idan is another genius like Derek. I am amazed yet again. After that clever move the reset is partly a matter of remembering what pieces came out of which hole and also remembering what order they had been released to me. Luckily I had taken extensive notes and I was back at the beginning in about 15 minutes.

A repeat solve showed that I did understand it and I took my photo of all the parts that could be released from the puzzle. No I am not going to publish it for general viewing.

So much packed into one small package!

Idan has an incredible puzzle brain! This is one of the best puzzles I have ever solved - it is very rare for me to write about the same puzzle twice in a row! It will be at the top (or close to it) of my top ten(ish) of 2026. I can't wait to see what he manages to produce next. If you get a chance to own or even just play with this puzzle then jump at the chance!

Thank you, Dominic, for recommending this puzzle enhancing my experience so significantly.

I Need My Lunch - Or At Least Some Breakfast!

I Need My Lunch by Idan Shvartz

I don't have much to write about today but thought I would show off something that has been keeping me busy for weeks and weeks and weeks with little success until very recently.

A couple of years ago, a new puzzle designer from Israel, Idan Shvartz, caught the world by storm with a new and phenomenally complex new creation called Abraham's Whale. I really don't have time to keep up with the mechanical puzzle discord group and heard nothing about it until it appeared in the top 3 puzzles of the year in the 2023 edition of Peter Hajek's EPP booklet. It looked amazing in aluminium and brass but was sold out by the time I had heard about it. I was eventually offered the opportunity to get a copy but I had already overspent my budget by a LOT and puzzles of this quality were just not cheap so I had to pass on it.

A few years later, Idan designed and manufactured another limited run of his next creation, I Need My Lunch. This was initially only going to be available to puzzlers who had already purchased the Abraham's Whale. I therefore gave up on the idea of getting a copy and hoped to have a play eventually at an MPP (like Allard did at the last one). Luckily for me, I had been in touch with Idan and he still had a copy available fro someone who had not taken him up on the offer of a second puzzle. I jumped at the chance and sent off some PayPal and he sent off some metal. It made it across gauntlet of HM Customs without interception and I admired a rather diminutive (101 x 53 x 20 mm) but incredibly well made puzzle. It was made from Aluminium, steel and assorted other bits including a rather heavily modified padlock. It arrived in January and I set to work very quickly to see what I could do.

The instructions are to find your food which is hidden inside and Idan says there are 24 moves to achieve this but the reset requires a whole different set of moves which means that there is a whole lot of puzzling to be done.

Back view

When it first arrives, there is almost nothing that is possible. The two flathead screws at each end of the puzzle can be turned with a thumbnail and a ball bearing or two visible through the bars of the cage can be rattled about. Other than that, nothing seems to move. The padlock can be wiggled about and a close look reveals that the key is captive in the body but not inn the keyway - it won't come out! There also seems to be something "wrong" with the shackle.

I got nowhere! Absolutely nowhere for weeks and weeks! There didn't seem to be anything I could do. Now as a short bloke, I have to be careful not to eat too much for fear of getting fat easily. Mrs S said that it was "for better or worse" but not for fatter! As a result of this, I tend to never eat breakfast and as a result I really "need my lunch". This kept me at it. Constantly fiddling and hoping something new would happen trying the same thing over and over again. Of course, that didn't work until suddenly it did! Aaaargh! All I needed was to think about positioning before trying something obvious. I now had a couple of objects to use as tools. But as usual, I couldn't make anything happen until I tried a combination of things.

Progress was being made for a while - I had to take notes because pieces and tools were falling thick and fast. After about 8-10 steps I got stuck and emailed my friend Dominic (he who encouraged me to get a copy if I could). Dominic was very good and gave me little hints that barely told me anything but also encouraged me when I mentioned what I had been doing. 

Over the last 2 weeks he has gradually encouraged me to get further and just this morning I received the first part of my lunch - I have absolutely no idea how I did it and I cannot seem to put it back (which doesn't bode well for the reset). I am stuck again with just the first part of my lunch and starting to get hungry. I have a whole lot of pieces in a little Tupperware box which upsets Mrs S and interests the cats who keep putting paws in to pull pieces out. Hopefully I will continue to make gradual progress but I dare say that I will need more hints from Dominic.

If you get a chance to play or buy a copy of this puzzle then you MUST take it! The quality is incredible. This is along similar lines in terms of quality, puzzling and manufacturing to puzzles produced by Wil Strijbos and Jon Keegan. Amazing puzzling in a very small container.

Jammed Again - It's a Gem!

Jammed Gem Again 3D

Allard reviewed this last week which motivated me to get to it as well. Cutting to the end of his review - it's great and you should buy it! The preorder is currently sold out but maybe Tye will have pity on you and open it up again if more of you request it.

This is the 3rd in the Jammed series by Frederic Boucher (Jammed Gem, Jammed Gem Again and, earlier this year, Jammed Coin) and has been heavily influenced by the amazingly talented Josh Clouser. The original Jammed Gem (pictured left was made by the late and dearly missed Eric Fuller in collaboration with Frederic. I have owned this since it was released in 2022 and have singularly failed to solve it. I have obviously completely missed a crucial feature which was a common feature when Eric made a sequential discovery puzzle. I have literally gotten nowhere and actually ended up putting it away. I think I will now have to go back to it. 

Frederic wanted to make a sequel and did so in 2024 where it won a Jury Honourable Mention award in the design competition - it was called Jammed Gem "Again" and was beautifully made from wood. I am not sure who created that one but it was never made generally available for purchase. Just recently, Josh recreated it in PLA, and Tye Stahly (let's not forget Amanda Stahly) put it up for sale on his Nothingyetdesigns store. Whilst it is not as gorgeous as the wood version (I am always biased towards wood), it is still a very attractive puzzle and is very pleasant to look at and hold. I did say to Tye that it doesn't feel 3D printed - it has a lovely texture and feels much more solid than many 3D printed puzzles. There are also quite a lot of other parts inside including magnets and various other metal parts. 

It comes with some very "helpful" instructions. Allard posted my copy to me when I notified the MPP group that I had to work during the last puzzle party. It consists of one of Frederic's usual Minima style boxes (2x2x3 internal dimensions with holes in the sides  and some panels that won't move at all. After I admired it, I set to work and realised immediately that none of the interior shapes would move at all. I obviously needed to release something first. easier said that done! Playing with it quite quickly got me a couple of tools including a broken key chain. The first step in releasing the interior was quite quick after this discovery except it didn't release the interior. I had a hole I had something to put in the hole and nothing happened. Damn! I'm not very good at puzzles. 

I got stuck at this point for a day or so. There were a number of interesting features where magnets attached to metal but this didn't seem to do anything. Eventually I decided to use a torch (flashlight for the Yanks) and suddenly something was visible (had it always ben there? I had no idea but it wouldn't go away until a bit later it was missing. WTF! At this point I had a little thought© and noticed something special. Oooh, that's very clever! I was now able to do other stuff. 

Frederic has put some of his tricks from other puzzles into this and the sequence of discovering new parts, new shapes and new moves is a wonderful journey. It rapidly got so complex with a steadily enlarging pile of pieces and potential tools that I felt the sudden urge to take notes. Gradually, I made progress using various combinations of pieces and suddenly I found the first gem (very nicely hidden (or even "jammed") and then I got stuck again. I was stuck with one gem and no obvious progression for quite a while before contacting Tye to tell him of my progress and asking whether I had missed any pieces in my path. He acknowledged that everything had gone as planned and I needed to look at the puzzle properly to find the next step. Hmmmm!

I looked and looked to no avail until I looked in the right place. There was something very interesting inside but my goodness it was a long way out of reach. Time to think© again and create the biggest tool I had ever seen in an SD puzzle! Suddenly I had what was needed to complete the challenge. I had the inspiration, the second gem and my number (mine said "Test" rather than a number. Absolutely BRILLIANT! There are a LOT of parts in this - I laid them out for a photo and counted 16 pieces that had been removed from the box plus 3 that are captive inside it. It had taken me a  few days to complete. If you haven't pre-ordered it from Tye then you should have. Badger him to see whether there is any chance of extras.

The reset is easier than the solve but you still need to remember what you had done and what went where. This beautiful creation is a definite candidate for my top ten(ish) of 2026. I intend to take this to work and show it to some of my more mechanically minded colleagues. I am definitely going to have to go back to my copy of Jammed Gem and also my Jammed Coin. Frederic is just a genius!

Jammed Coin (wood version)

She Solved It And Now I Have A Dilemma...

This was how your intrepid puzzler and his feline overlord left it last week

At the end of last week's blog, myself and Mazikeen had managed to randomly move everything we could find in every possible position we could think of and luckily, due to the extreme flexibility of the cat, we were able to remove two panels from the Gravity cube by Alex Owens. After this we were both rather badly stuck. Interestingly, i was unable to put the panels that I had removed back on to the cube - I/we literally had managed this by chance with minimal understanding of what we had achieved. My usual to and fro approach really wasn't working here as I achieved things without knowing what I had done. Was I enjoying the puzzle? I don't know. It was interesting and obviously very clever but the lack of understanding was decreasing my enjoyment. Also, the inability to progress any further at all despite a good few hours of play was making the puzzle lose its shine.

After writing things up last week, I was determined to continue and the cat and I continued to swear and fiddle. Actually, I did all the swearing and she seemed to sleep a lot. I took it to work and carried on playing (no, the cat did not accompany me to work - for some reason, surgeons aren't too enamoured with the idea of a cat wandering around the operating theatre!) I was forced to work on it alone. Somehow I made more progress. I have no idea how! Are you getting a theme here? After a further couple of days another 2 panels had been removed and yet again, I could not put them back. Nothing for it other than to try to move onward. With the two panels left, I found a few more possible moves and thought I was making progress. After another 3 days of doing the same thing back and forth multiple times, I was able to do and undo those things consistently and almost understood what I was doing but could go no further. Now what?

After last week's blog post, Goetz contacted me to offer help if I needed it. He had apparently received a copy of this puzzle quite a long time ago and had solved and reassembled it many times. It had been his EPP recommendation as top mass produced puzzle for 2025. I admitted that I had progressed to 2 remaining panels and Goetz offered a hint which included finding and using an L-shaped piece from inside. I didn't have an L-shaped piece and could not make the move that he had used to get it. Apparently Alex had improved the design since Goetz received his version. OMG! Was I doomed to be stuck at this point. After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing we established that I had everything that I needed and I was encouraged to do something that I had toyed with trying for a while but had been too frightened that I would lose the only tool I had. There are lots of horror stories about puzzlers inserting things into holes and not being able to remove them! 😱

I worked with Mazikeen to screw our courage to the sticking point and used the tool. There was a click and suddenly a whole new direction of panel movement was possible. A 5th panel came off - hooray. we were ecstatic. One last panel to go and I now had a new tool that had been released by that panel. The next steps were actually fun - it was almost obvious what I had to do and after another 5 minutes we had the inner cube released to explore:

She looks delighted!

This inner cube seems to have a single sliding lid but it is locked in place. With the tools I had, there was only so much to try and there was a delightful Aha! moment and the lid was open revealing yet another cube inside. Was this it? Mazikken thought there would be more:

A new cube? Hooray!

Still more to be done...

That innermost cube did not seem to be the final step and I was encouraged to play further - luckily the final mechanism was not too troublesome - even fun! Alex has put a rather pretty fidget toy inside for you to play with when you eventually get in. I didn't dare leave the cat to play with that or it might have ended up inside the cat.

All rings can spin

Can I eat it?

I was so delighted to have solved it eventually but now petrified. Almost all of the mechanisms were navigated without really knowing what I was doing and now I am thinking that there is no way I will be able to reassemble this incredibly complex puzzle. There are quite a lot of pieces here (hidden behind a spoiler button:

OMG! Now what?

I am hoping that now that I can see what I am doing, I will be able to backtrack my way through the assembly and then see whether I understand it enough to redo the whole thing without too many random movements in the process.

So, the title of the blog post mentions a dilemma... I need to think about whether this is a candidate for my top ten(ish) of 2026. Whilst this is an incredibly ingenious design and the manufacture is unbelievably good, I am currently left feeling that I solved it with a whole lot of random moves and no understanding at all apart form the final moves. I also have the worry that it will be left in pieces forever more. Over the years, quite a few of my puzzles have been solved by random moves and that has not detracted from them as I eventually did understand the pathway through the puzzle solution. I think that if I manage to reassemble it and that process helps me with a proper understanding of the mechanisms involved then not only will it be in my top ten, then it may head towards the top! I'll keep you all informed.

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Overdrive assembled

Thank you to George who recognised the Stewart Coffin puzzle as Overdrive in my recent post about what I brought back from the MPP. I had received this last year from Steve and was aware that it was a six piece coordinate motion puzzle. I had been trying for many hours to get it together in the correct assembly and had given up. George mentioned that there is an easier assembly which involves a minor CoMo move of 3 pieces to create 2 halves which slide together. It was with much relief that I assembled the above (less than attractive) assembly and could put it away finally. Thanks George!

I Keep Doing This To Myself

Mazikeen might be more likely to open it than me!

I keep buying complex puzzles. I can't resist them. Especially when they are recommended by another puzzle friend. I had to wait a while for the Gravity box by Alex Owens to come back into stock but as soon as it did, I quickly hit buy and started playing when it arrived. 

It is beautifully made and turning it over in your hands reveals the enticing sounds of all sorts of things moving around inside. I have been working on several SD puzzles at the same time (Twins box, I need my lunch, Emerald vault and Rune lock) recently. Unfortunately, I bought all these complex puzzles and can't seem to get anywhere with any of them! Partly I seem to be working too many days every week but also because I am rubbish at puzzles. 

The gravity box accompanied me to work for a couple of weeks in the hope that I might get somewhere with it. The instructions don't really give much of a clue. I found the first move rather promptly because it's fairly obvious but after that I couldn't seem to find even a second move. OMG - this was going to make me very sad. The panels of the box look like they should slide but which direction? and which ones? I turned the damn thing over and over and over and pushed, pulled, poked and shook all the panels - NADA!

I tried it in every position and still nada. Then I did it all over again and suddenly it moved. I have no idea why it moved this time. Having moved a panel, I was able to try other panels. Sometimes they moved and sometimes they wouldn't. I put it all back to the beginning because I prefer my to and fro approach to give me a memory of a pathway. But I got stuck again with a closed puzzle. More fiddling about for an embarrassingly long time and I eventually got it moving again - still no idea why. Progress was made over a good few days and a panel came off revealing an inner cube and hints of "stuff" inside. Nothing possible for another day or so apart from undoing what I had done with the panel still off. Lots more turning it over and over whilst trying to slide bits. Nothing worked until suddenly it did. No idea why! Oddly, I couldn't undo what I had done until suddenly I could but then not be able to redo it. I was beginning to worry that if I was ever to solve this I wouldn't stand a hope in hell's chance of putting it all back together! At some point I had been forced to abandon the to and from approach! I was hopelessly lost despite having achieved very little.

Several more days of play without a clue what I was doing when I was able to slide something new and then move other panels. At least I think it was other panels but I couldn't keep track of what I had done. Yesterday, after an operating list of hip and knee replacements, I was feeling lucky. Try again. Have some feline help and anything is possible. Stuff moved again and I had a second panel removed and the logo fell off. I'm on a roll:

This is promising!
Everything in the start position with the two panels removed

Today I have continued working on it. I have no idea how I got to this point and I certainly can't undo it. I have a few things that move (apart from when they don't) and I have managed to slide all the moved panels that remain in place back to their start positions. Nothing new has opened up. I haven't found any of the promised tools yet and I struggle to go back to the position I had when the second panel was removed. I can get there sometimes but not every time. I have gone back and forth many many times and failed to find anything new. I have a few ideas for possible moves I'd like to try but they are all blocked.

This is incredibly frustrating! So many random moves that I cannot keep track of. The complexity of the design is incredible but I have no idea what I am doing. At this moment in time, the cat has just as much chance of opening this as I do!