I was absolutely delighted to chat with Yavuz again in Italy in June. He is such
a delight to talk to - about puzzles, about business, about family... he's
absolutely wonderful and, as I have
said before, very very talented both as a designer and as a craftsman. His
Step by Step was the very winner of a very well deserved
Honourable mention award
from the Design Competition jury and it also received one of my 5 votes as well.
It is an incredible piece of puzzle design and amazing woodworking technique to
manufacture something so complex in its movement. I spent quite a lot of time on
it during the IPP and actually managed to solve it. I suspect it did not
win an award from the puzzlers because it is really quite a complex difficult
solve.
Cube dropped out of the frame
When it came to time to buy Yavuz' puzzles, I had already spent most of my
free cash and had to decide whether I purchase the Step by Step which I had
solved or go for another new challenge. In the end I decided on a new
attractive puzzle which Yavuz had released earlier in the year. I went for the
Kubro which is a mixture of Oak, Wenge with steel posts and acrylic framing.
It was packaged in the solved state and Yavuz suggested that I undo the top
mirror screws to release the upper acrylic plate and drop out the pieces.
Having done that I scrambled the pieces and set to trying to put them back in
the reassembled frame. Oh boy - This is not for the faint of heart! Creating
the 3x3x3 cube outside the frame is not terribly difficult and Burrtools tells
me that there is only one assembly. This means that you will have 6
orientations to try to place them in the frame.
Initially I thought that it might require sliding pieces in from the sides but
realised that the genius of Yavuz has made that impossible because the cube is
3x3x3 but the middle layer of the frame is at the halfway point. This means
that pieces can poke through it but not actually enter or exit that route.
Only the top hole can be the entry and this is restricted. Interestingly, it's
not restricted by much with only 1 voxels covered at two diagonally opposite
corners. I initially thought this might be relatively simple - I always try
and solve these in reverse by making the shape and working out how to take it
out of the frame by moving the pieces around next to the frame but outside of
it. With this puzzle, I found the way the frame blocked at the half-way point
made it very difficult for me to visualise the interaction. Several
orientations of the cube could be discarded very easily but there was one that
had me absolutely convinced I had found the correct orientation. I was
completely fixated on it but at the last 2 piecesI just could not place them.
To my huge embarrassment, I got stuck here for ages and even contemplated
rotational moves. After a day or so I slapped myself and told my self that
Yavuz would never do such a blasphemous thing! I was forced to try an
alternative. I did eventually find an interesting sequence that should work. I
was able to do it outside the frame and carefully placed the pieces in the
right orientation and order to keep my memory working. When it came to
repeating it in the frame, it is quite fiddly because the pieces at times are
widely separated from each other and the frame tends to tip them over inside -
this requires a bit of dexterity to control. I watched in awe as the pieces
were forced to dance around each other a couple of times before every piece
was inserted. A very excited shout of success from me made the cats actually
look up from their resting positions. Picture of the solved puzzle behind a
spoiler button:
My goodness - that is very clever!
Whilst I am ever so slightly wistful that I didn't go home with the Step by
Step which is a masterpiece of design and woodwork, I am very pleased that I
went with Kubro as it will look fabulous on display and was a very fun solve
which took me an embarrassingly long time to solve.
Squary Pack 1
Yavuz kindly also insisted on giving me a gift to go home with me - he handed me a small box with one of his earlier packing puzzles - this one is Squary pack 1. The aim being to put the 4 square pieces inside the 2 layer square box. There's a big hole to place them through! Should be easy? Yeah! Maybe not. It's easy to put 3 pieces inside but they then block any 4th piece you try.
I always got stuck in this sort of scenario
This is quite a diminutive puzzle and very fun to play with. I kept doing the same thing over and over again and then trying it in different directions to no avail. Eventually I had wonderful aha! moment and got the 4th piece placed inside. Where Kubro is probably too difficult for a casual puzzler, this is perfect to torture your friends with or to take to work - I plan on doing this very soon. Squary pack 1 is the first in a huge series of similar packing puzzles which look incredibly fun. The full set can be seen here. I probably need to get the rest of them some time if I can sneak them pasty Mrs S.
If you want to buy Yavuz' designs then there are a lot of his puzzles made by
himself as well as PuzzleMaster on the
PuzzleMaster site. If you want to buy from him direct then you can contact him by email (contact me if you want his address) or via Instagram (yd_puzzles).
Goh Pit Khiam has figured quite a bit on this site over the years. He's very
prolific but not just someone who exhaustively creates Burrtools assembly
puzzles. He has a very odd brain that finds things that are clever and
interesting. This week's puzzle is something very special.
Elbow room was a huge hit in the
IPP design competition. In fact, it was considered so so good that it won a special award -
something I have never seen before. The Jury gave it their Grand Prize and the
Puzzlers voted it as their favourite from all the puzzles in the design
competition. Together, this meant that it was awarded the "Puzzle of the Year" award - this is something I have never seen before and it is absolutely
well deserved. It was my number one puzzle which I voted for and that is quite
something because the field was so strong. I have already seen that several
people liked it so much that they have created their own 3D printed versions.
I really wanted to get it in wood - that way I would have a fantastic puzzle
to torture people with and a wonderful wood object to go on display.
I had my suspicions about who had made it but wasn't certain until the day of
the announcement of the winners. and literally as soon as it was confirmed as
the winner and the craftsman revealed, I sent an email to Tom Lensch from the
IPP dinner. It was so good that I couldn't even wait until after the dinner
had finished! Tom responded pretty quickly and put me on the list for when he
had made them. I must have reached the front of a long queue last week as I
got an email asking to confirm my address and requesting a little PayPal
transfer. The hop over the pond seemed to be exceptionally fast this time and
just a few days later Mrs S was frowning at me for yet another delivery. She
really shouldn't complain - I have slowed down my buying considerably this
year!
The puzzle was nicely packed and I quickly revealed a nice chunky box made
from Cherry with a single Voxel hole in the corner and Tom's mark on the
inside. The blocks are a beautifully grained Sapele. There are 2 pieces with
an extension on one side and a slot to take the extension and 2 pieces with
just slots only. Finally there is a single square cotton-reel type piece
which can join two slots. The aim, clearly is to place all the 4 pieces
together inside the box as a 2x2x2 cube. However this is only possible if it
is done as a sliding pre-linked snake assembly that transforms into a cube
during the insertion.
Make an assembly to slide in - NOT like this!
Just the very idea of doing that is something that kept me going in the
competition area. There is something very tactile about these pieces and
making different shaped snakes of linked pieces that keep failing to be able
to be inserted through the orifice was quite compulsive.
I think I must have spent a good 30-45 minutes being laughed at by various
puzzlers when I kept failing but they also encouraged me to keep going.
When I received my own copy, I had to play straight away and it was just as
difficult several months later despite having been solved by me in the past.
I spent a little while trying random things before my logical thoughts from
June came back and I proceeded to work on it systematically. It didn't take
quite as long this second time but was just as enjoyable.
This was sooooo good!
If you get a chance to work on this then jump at it - it is literally one of
the best puzzles of the year. It is so simple in idea and yet so tough and
logical to solve. The wood version is certainly the best but even a 3D printed
one should be fun.
Thank you Tom.
It's arrived! Hooray.
Safe 2 from Pelikan design
Jakub and team had not managed to get the Safe 2 SD puzzle ready in time for the last release. Mine arrived on Thursday and so far I have found my first tool and managed to use it make things happen inside. I have no idea what it has done but there's some significant movement going on. I can also undo what I move but then gotten no further.
It is still not yet up for sale but preorders are open if you contact Jakub.
From my previous posts, the Frau L. and one version of Loach Bed is sold out but the rest are still available as I type so you should have a look before they sell out.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
The pressure is on! I managed to dismantle 4 burrs by Alfons coming up soon from
Pelikan last week and had 3 left to solve for this week's blog post. I knew this
was going to be a hell of a challenge as 2 of them were by the amazing Dr Volker
Latussek and one by Lucie Pauwels. Packing puzzles are definitely not my strong
point and these two designers are particularly skilled.
I had to start with the Minima - I adore this
whole series and actually think I have almost every one made. Considering Volker had
not been certain about designing Minima puzzles initially, he has taken the
idea to new heights with some incredible designs and this one is definitely
one of the most fun ones I have ever played with. Jakub and team have made
this one with a wonderful set of accurately cut Wenge pieces and a beautifully
grained Oak box.
The basic premise of the Minima series is to have a 2x2x3 box to be packed
with relatively simple pieces in such a way that the holes in the walls always
end up filled. The interior may not be and the need for interesting rotations
is often part of the fun but not always. Volker has taken this simple idea
here with packing pieces that are just 2 voxels in volume but spread over a 3
voxel space with the use of diagonal cuts across one of them. Here is what
Volker said about this design:
"MINIMA FOR FREDERIC was actually meant to mark the end of my foray into
the world of MINIMAs. Over the last few months, I’ve been playing once
again with one of my favourite building blocks: this is the complete set
of fourteen building blocks, each consisting of a cube and a second cube
that is cut diagonally into two parts, with each half glued across its
entire surface to the cube. Accordingly, the building blocks in this set
each have the volume of a bicube. Twelve of these blocks uniquely fill a
3x4x2 box (TOUR), nine fill a 3x3x2 box (GIRO) and six fill a MINIMA box
(3x2x2). Years ago, I designed a ‘put-together’ puzzle for Pelikan’s
RONDE
using five pieces. Naturally, I now wanted to find out which building
blocks could be used to fill a MINIMA box and provide it with suitable
openings."
Oh boy! He has really provided us with a puzzle where the openings are crucial
and used in different ways. It arrives in a special configuration (as almost
all of his puzzles do) which gives a tiny hint of what might be coming up for
the intrepid puzzler. Most of the pieces come out through the large 2x1½ voxel
hole in the top surface but one of them is blocked and needs a bit of
rotational fiddling to be released.
As usual, the initial challenge is to make the cuboid shape that will fit
(this time the cavity will be completely filled. The handedness of the pieces
means that you have to be careful which position they are placed in. I quickly
realised that the arrival position had the 4 pieces with bevels at 90º to each
other would form a cube and then the straight-line pieces would have to be
used as a sort of length extender.
This is one of the most fun and rewarding Minima puzzles that I have ever worked
on. The solution is completely unique, totally logical and beautiful to perform.
A little dexterity is needed to control all the moves but it is fun.
This lovely little challenge by Lucie arrives as an interlocked set of pieces
that form a cube with a lump on the top - obviously this is not the final
placement of the pieces. This has been made using Maple and a brilliantly
vibrant Jatoba. The precision is perfect. I removed the pieces to examine them
and realised that the name of the puzzle came from the fact that the pieces
could all fit together to form a 4x4x4 cube or the Maple pieces alone would
form a 3x3x3 cube. I made the simpler assembly first and enjoyed that - a nice
little warmup for the main puzzling.
This incredible creation has been made from a deep Purpleheart wood for the box and an incredibly dark and fabulously grained Acacia. It is simply gorgeous. It arrives in a special configuration that Volker deliberately designed - the pieces seem to fit inside the 3x3x3 cavity but the central row is protruding above the surface. Obviously, this needs to be remedied and the pieces rearranged so that the pieces fit flush with the top surface. It's not going to be an easy process as the pieces (five L-triominoes and three L-tetrominoes) each have either a dowel protruding from one of the voxels and a reciprocal hole for accepting them. The box has a single dowel protruding into the top row of the puzzle. This reminded me a lot of a puzzle that I still haven't managed to solve from last year, Farmacia - this is still sitting on my desk waiting for me to complete it.
Volker wrote this about it:
"As promised, here it is APTEEK. When working with the usual v’s and developing FARMACIA, I had to learn that some very nice moves are not possible. However, from my experience with FILLING V, I know how powerful L’s are. So what could be more obvious than turning four v’s into three L’s and filling the 3x3x3 box together with the remaining five v’s? And suddenly, the previously impossible moves become possible. I really hope that you too will see that the price of losing the simple and clean construction principle of the 9 v’s of FARMACIA is not too high and that the beauty of the APTEEK solution - just as in APOTHECA - justifies the mixture of eight v’s and L’s."
Unlike the Farmacia there is no hole in the box to accept a dowel and with the dowel positioned in the top row, I had a funny feeling that this puzzle was going to require rotations to solve it. I spent a good few days trying to make at least a cube shape with the interlocking dowels and holes all fitting together. Interestingly, after many hours I had completely failed to find one. This didn't bode well for solving the puzzle in the box! 😱
Eventually, I resorted to Burrtools. Initially I looked for cube shapes and was slightly horrified to see that there were 7 cubic assemblies and 3 had a single hole that occurred in the correct place were it to be placed inside the box. I will need to assemble each of these cubes and then try the disassembly to see whether I can put one of them in the box. I did recreate the file with the box and found that there are 8 possible assemblies but no solutions. OMG! It will need rotational moves to assemble. Burrtools can only be used to give you a hint as to how it might possibly be assembled but not the actual solution.
I have spent several days on this and gotten nowhere so far and also to my horror, I cannot put it back into the transport position either.
This is an incredible challenge and best suited to the hardcore packing/interlocking puzzle solver amongst you.
Hopefully these will be going on sale within the next week or so.
It doesn't seem that long since the
last Pelikan release
- I just don't know how they maintain such a punishing schedule and keep the
quality so very high! Despite producing another huge batch of puzzles in just
over a month, they are all absolutely stunningly made with a fit and finish that
can only be described as perfection. There are 7 new puzzles to be released in
this batch and the first four of them to be reviewed are a progressively more complex and very
interesting set of 6 piece burrs.
Alfons Eyckmans designs some of the most amazing interlocking puzzles and
burrs there are. I have a huge collection of his designs produced by Pelikan,
Alfons himself, and also the late Eric Fuller. He designs puzzles that can be
very very complex and difficult to solve but also creates easier designs that
have something very interesting and fun. Most puzzlers enjoy a nice burr but
don't enjoy extremely high level versions. Jakub, Simona and the team always
choose puzzles that have something special and fun about them and are not just
very difficult high level burrs. The Eyckmans puzzles in this release are
perfect examples of this. They are all clever variants of the 6 piece burr which makes them especially interesting to many puzzlers.
Dikkop
I Started with Dikkop (translated from Dutch to mean Fathead (for obvious
reasons). I initially thought that this one was a rather complex 3 piece burr.
It is beautifully made from Wenge, Padauk and Acacia and I was very glad that
I picked this one to start with. It's nice and chunky and easy to manipulate
the pieces. As soon as I found the first move I realised that what looked like
one giant burr piece in each direction was two sticks lying side by side. The
"fat heads" prevent the pieces sliding out too easily and do restrict some of
the moves. The disassembly takes 15 moves (9.2.2) and is actually a very
pleasant exploration. It is a pleasure to work out which move comes next with
very few blind ends. It remains stable right to the very last piece being
removed which is very gratifying as it means that a beginner puzzler can keep
an eye on where pieces are and understand how they lock together all the way
through the disassembly.
It's really quite clever
I then scrambled the pieces and from a combination of my very poor memory and
logic, I was able to put it completely back together from scratch. As a
result, this is a really nice puzzle for beginners to burrs as well as
experts. It will also look very impressive on display.
Cannonball
Made from a very dark and beautifully grained Acacia, this lovely clever 6
piece burr has a captive centre "cannonball" made from a vibrant Purpleheart.
This is another puzzle where the sequence is fun to discover and not too
difficult to achieve. I found the first move reasonably quickly but struggled
for some reason to find the second move. I think it was because of the way
that I was holding the puzzle. Once I had found that move the sequence sort of
unfolded in front of me and I was able to remove the first piece after 7
moves. The rest came apart quite easily and again was very stable whilst each
piece was removed. The cannonball proved to be unexpected shape which did
explain why it was held in position so well.
Now, that's an odd cannonball
I am rubbish at burr assembly but was able to put this back together from memory
whilst the pieces were arranged in the order that I took them out of the puzzle.
Once I had arranged them for the above photo, I had lost track of what went
where and how they went together. I was now unable to put it back together (at
least there was no time for me to do it before having to write about them) so a
BT file was used. I do actually think that anyone who is reasonable at burrs
should be able to assemble this from pieces with a bit of thought. I plan to try
and do it myself when I have finished working on the rest of the batch.
Hollow 15
Hollow 15 is a really interesting 6 piece board burr which is a huge step in
difficulty from the Dikkop and Cannonball. This is probably less good for
beginners but is great fun for the more experienced burrista. Entirely made from
a really lovely Acacia, the whole point of this is that the centre of the puzzle
is empty and after just a few moves, you can see inside at how everything is
interlocked. The interesting thing here is that two of the boards are formed as
complete rings with no gaps and the others have small gaps in one edge. The
trick will be to move the pieces far enough apart from each other to make
space for the gaps to be aligned and unlock them form each other. I found the
early moves with very little difficulty but after a few moves, a whole lot more
are opened up as possibilities and the puzzle pieces get extended further and
further away from each other. This makes it rather hard to keep control of them
as some of the seem to want to rotate or sag depending on how you are holding
it. I suspect there might be a rotational shortcut somewhere in this puzzle but
I was very careful to avoid rotations.
After a few moves, I realised how complex this was going to be and I started
using my usual to and fro technique to try and keep track of what I had done.
Once I was about 6 or 7 moves in, a whole lot of movement suddenly became
possible and after wandering up one pathway, I found I couldn't find my way
back to the beginning - GULP! No option other than to continue my exploration.
Luckily at this point the puzzler can see everything that is going on inside
and can try to plan a move or two ahead. I did get stuck for a while when I
couldn't find a needed move and realised that it was because the fit of the
pieces was so exact that I needed to align them absolutely perfectly to
achieve the required move. After I realised this progression was steady and
fun until the first pair came out. It did sort of collapse at this point but
still well entangled. The separation of the last four pieces was still fun but
needed a bit of control.
The pieces look simple but they are not
This is a very impressive puzzle to disassemble and once you see all the
pieces, it is very impressive that the Pelikan team have managed to create
it with such perfect accuracy. With a construction like this even a tiny
error in the angles will result in an impossible to move puzzle but this is
simply perfect. The name Hollow 15 comes from the fact that it requires 15 moves to take out the first piece (level 15.2.4.3.3).
I definitely needed Burrtools to reassemble this one and I suspect that the
vast majority of you will as well. Luckily making the BT file is great fun.
Poolster
Poolster is the final puzzle by Alfons in the release by Pelikan. Made using Merbau (aka Borneo Teak) and Movingui (aka Nigerian Satinwood), it really confused me when it first arrived. I could not tell what it was as on arrival the pieces with square holes had all slid outwards by one voxel making the puzzle look rather frightening. I then realised what had happened and squeezed them all together to achieve the correct shape that you can see above. I initially thought that the centra sticks were a captive 3 piece burr but quickly realised that each central cube protruding from one face is connected by a complex arrangement to the square on the opposite face.
There is a lot of movement possible from the beginning with this puzzle and it will require a systemic approach to ensure that you try each set of possibilities as far as they can go before backtracking to the beginning and trying another one. I found the reinforcing dowels quite useful in keeping track of which pieces I had moved and in which direction. The puzzle remains remarkably stable through the initial exploration and removal of the first couple of pieces (level 10.10.7.2). After that it becomes easier as you can see everything that is happening inside. Once in pieces the impressive nature of the design and the craftsmanship becomes very apparent.
Perfect alignment to make this one work
I think that very few puzzlers will be able to assemble this from scratch but I would be interested to hear if any of you manage this. I needed to resort to Burrtools again but it's a fun one to put together. Like Hollow 15, this is probably best for more experienced puzzles but if you like to collect variants of the 6 piece burr then this is a good one for you.
