Pelikan's Post IPP Release

Wow! Just Wow!

Soon to be released by Jakub and team!

I seem to have received a delivery at the beginning of last week and the race was on. I had 7 fabulous creations to work on in just under 2 weeks. The upcoming puzzles from Pelikan are expected to be released later this week - probably 31/7.

From Back left we have:

Cabrio by Dr Volker Latussek

Cubi 8 Plus Alpha by Frederic Boucher

Camel by Theo Geerinck

Hitch by Émil Áskerli

Minima Tower by Frederic Boucher

Unlawful Assembly by Pit Khiam Goh

Curly Burr N8 by Frans de Vreugt

This is an amazing set of puzzle designs and beautifully created by the Pelikan team - there will definitely be something for everyone here.

Unlawful Assembly

Unlawful assembly by Pit Khiam Goh

I started with this delightful puzzle by the master of sliding move puzzles. I already own this one made from acrylic but the wooden one looks much more lovely. Pelikan have constructed this one from Garapa, Bubinga and Oak with wonderfully contrasting colours and a stunningly finished tray to pack the pieces into. There are 4 identical stepped pieces and a cross to fit inside the tray with the challenge being made by the fact that there is a considerable lip covering the tray making insertion of more than 3 pieces quite challenging. It is fairly easy to work out several possible square(ish) assemblies that might fit when playing outside the tray but getting them into the tray quickly gets quite confusing. The temptation is to try and squeeze one of the pieces diagonally under the lip of the tray but don't bother - that requires force and is the wrong way to do it.

The first time I worked on it, the solution took me a good hour or so to solve and that was only because I was familiar with the type of challenge. I gave this to a couple of my assistants/ODPs at work and watched them spend a couple of hours failing to solve it. Eventually I came back to the pieces all packed inside and I happily told them they had cheated! The pieces were in the conformation that can only be done by force. At this point they couldn't remove the pieces and a joint broke forcing it out. This is a great puzzle for beginners but don't let them attempt it unsupervised.

This puzzle should be in everyone's collection!

Curly Burr N8

Curly Burr N8 by Frans de Vreugt

This has been beautifully made with Maple and Merbau. Frans is an interesting designer - he is not prolific but everything he designs has something very different from the usual run of the mill burr designs. There are either interesting shapes or, more usually, interesting ways that the pieces interact and move. The Curly Burr N8 is definitely designed along those lines...it looks like a standard 6 piece and, indeed, there are 6 pieces, but they form frames that interlock inside each other along the same axis as well as interlocking along perpendicular axis. The upshot of this is that the pieces need to move apart from each other before any axial movements can occur. This makes it much more fun and much more mind-bending to solve. There are a few blind ends but not along long pathways and then the first piece comes apart after just 8 very odd moves. After this the remainder dismantles sequentially. The moves are so unusual that despite paying proper attention to what I had done, I could not reassemble it without Burrtools.

6 pieces that look like standard burr sticks

I think that even the burr aficionados amongst you will find the reassembly from scratch a real challenge  due to the unusual way the burr pieces move.

Camel

Front side

Back side

Yes!!!! I adore the animal themed puzzles that Jakub and Jaroslav produce. I know they are often very difficult to design and manufacture but they are just so lovely and give me an excuse to keep another one on display in my living room. Mrs S was away when this batch came in and when I showed her the photo of the delivery even she admitted the camel was very cute and really realistic. It has been crafted from American Cherry which gives it a rich brown "camel" colour. This is a collaboration with a master designer and craftsman, Theo Geerinck which means that the solution will be interesting as well as good looking.  

When first playing with it, only 3 pieces move and I comically pushed and pulled them and then tried to rip the legs or head off it. Of course, that doesn't work. I don't think any self-respecting camel will let you tear a leg or head off without complaining vigorously at you. I was stumped at this point for a rather long time. The fun thing with these sorts of layered constructions is that you cannot tell by looking at them which parts are supposed to be mobile and which are glued together. This leaves you pushing and pulling pretty much everything that you can get a grip on. After a whole day of getting nowhere, I tried a new technique and there was a "click". Aha! Then another click and another before I was able to remove a piece of camel anatomy. Before long I had the poor animal in pieces on my table and was able to see the ingenious locking mechanism which included a couple of pieces that are hidden inside. I scrambled the pieces and left it for a couple of hours and attempted the reassembly. Whilst not impossibly difficult, even that was a fun challenge as I had lost my orientation of several pieces.

This is wonderful and perfect to display as part of a puzzle menagerie.

Hitch

Hitch by Émil Áskerli

Émil is another very interesting designer producing burrs and interlocking puzzles with pieces that have clever ways of interacting. His Puzzlewillbeplayed page is absolutely fascinating. I initially thought that Hitch puzzle (made from Purpleheart and Zebrano) was a straightforward burr but I have ended up reclassifying it in my database as an "Interlocking puzzle". It looks like an 8 piece burr and is indeed made from 8 sticks but the interaction is interesting and requires a series of moves that lead logically one into the next until it is disassembled. Does this sound too easy? Fear not, the moves are very nicely hidden. Initially there are a few pieces that can move and the whole puzzle can form several different shapes at first. I went round and round in circles from shape to shape and looking to see whether it freed anything up. It requires careful inspection of all the pieces that you have in each conformation until you suddenly notice that a new move might be possible. Pelikan have constructed this nice and tight so that nothing moves without a deliberate attempt meaning you need to actually work out what to try rather than random pushing and pulling of the pieces.

Not really classical burr sticks

Only 7 moves are required to remove the first piece and 13 for complete disassembly but the discovery aspect is joyous. Even more fun (and definitely possible because I did it) is to reassemble it from scratch with scrambled pieces. A few of you may be able to do it without memory of the disassembly, but most experienced puzzlers should be able to work out the assembly with a little work. It's brilliant!

Cabrio

Cabrio by Volker Latussek
Doesn't look like much but it is absolutely brilliant!

No Pelikan release is complete without a design from Dr Latussek! When opening the package, it looks very understated. All you can see is a very nicely crafted box made from American Walnut which Pelikan have failed to close properly. Pulling off the lid reveals some rather lovely Zebrano pieces inside forming an apparent 3x3x3 cube. No wonder the lid couldn't close properly - it needs to be slid on from the side and the pieces are in the way.

Looks like a cube

5 pieces to be packed

The upshot of the sliding mechanism of the lid is that this is effectively a 7 piece puzzle with the pieces needing to interact with the base and the lid to get the cube inserted inside and the puzzle closed. It is very reminiscent of the fantastic Slide Packing puzzle by Hajime Katsumoto that won the Puzzlers award in 2016. This time instead of just 4 pieces to insert, there are 5 and 3 of them are non-planar shapes which makes the solution really quite counterintuitive.


I found quite a few 3x3x3 cube shapes that were possible but of course they all blocked the assembly of the lid and needed to start with a completely fresh way of thinking about this. Like many of Volker's puzzles, you need to think about the last piece to be inserted and how you might get access to that and then try and work with the remaining pieces and the lid to make that final assembly possible. There are 2 obvious possibilities for the final piece but then you will realise that you also need a proper plan for the penultimate piece and it is not as straightforward as you might anticipate. I worked on this for several days before I had a glorious Aha! moment and managed to put the lid on properly. This is a work of genius, just like the predecessor.

Are the pieces inside? Take my word for it - after a several day struggle, they are!

Cubi 8 Plus Alpha

Cubi 8 Plus Alpha by Frederic Boucher

This startlingly gorgeous creation by Frederic Boucher is one of the picks of the bunch this release. Not only is it stunning, it is also a very very challenging fun design. Frederic has an amazing and rather warped mind. He has collaborated with several of the very best craftsmen in the world to get his designs to the masses as well as makes some limited runs of his puzzles himself. I am delighted that he was able to find someone willing to make such a complex puzzle available. This beautiful creation has been produced by Pelikan from Wenge, Pink Oak, Purpleheart and acrylic. 

Some very interesting shapes here

There are 8 cubes with sticks of 2 different lengths which, when assembled together, form a 2x2 cube.  I have to admit that just making the cube (albeit with some holes) is a massive undertaking and really quite fun - its a sort of 3D jigsaw that has to slide together in order. However, the real challenge is to pack that cube inside the box so that no holes are visible from outside (unique solution). through a 1 cubie sized hole in the box. Frederic wrote that the pieces interract together like a train on its tracks during solving.

This puzzle is amazing and very very difficult! I might have needed some help with this one! 😱

Minima Tower

Minima Tower by Frederic Boucher

Allard has shown off a whole series of the amazing Minima puzzles created by Frederic and there are a good few more to come. Eric Fuller even converted one into a sequential discovery puzzle. Here we have one of the designs beautifully made by Pelikan from Mahogany and Ash. It doesn't look like much with a 2x2x4 box (upright it will be a tower, hence the name) and 4 simple L-shaped triominoes to be placed inside so that the 5 square holes are each covered by a piece of Ash. There is a single 1x2 voxel entryway. The box has lots and lots of finger holes for you to manipulate the pieces as there will be rotations required. I have only been working on this one for a day and so far not got even close to a solution. These puzzles are a delight and a real challenge but still very approachable by both beginners and advanced puzzlers alike. This will also be an essential purchase for many of you.

This is an absolutely amazing batch of puzzles to be released this time. There is definitely something that you will enjoy. My favourites are the Camel, the Cabrio and Minima Tower. 

A Gift That Was Fun and Gifts That Are Humbling

Boxed Six Board Burr by Frans de Vreugt

The Dutch tend to be pretty amazing puzzlers! I know several and work with quite a few to produce the CFF journal and they never cease to amaze me with their skill, knowledge and sheer bloody-minded persistence at solving things. I hope, one day, to be as good a puzzler as the Dutchmen (and woman) that I have met. I doubt very much that I will manage it but I'll keep on trying!

At the last MPP, Frank was thinning out some of his puzzle collection (only the ones that aren't part of his particular special interest, Kumike and Journet puzzles) and he handed me a couple of IPP exchange puzzles. Both of them had been given by Frans de Vreugt. The Boxed six board burr was one of Frans' own designs which had been made in association with Buttonius and given away in 2004 at the Tokyo IPP (24). I did not realise properly what it was because it had been packaged with 4 of the burr plates in the frame. After I took that assembly apart and realised that the pieces are really quite simple, I was very attracted to it. I am awful at assembly form scratch and board burrs are particularly difficult for me. I have had the RIPley board burr next to me on my desk for the last 3 years and have not even come close to assembling it!

RIPley by Andrew Crowell and made by Brian Menold
I just cannot solve it despite years of attempts!

So with some trepidation, I began fiddling with the boxed burr earlier this week - I figured that with such simple pieces, I might actually stand a chance. It is very portable being only 35mm across and easily pocketable for fiddling at work. Unfortunately, I seem to specialise in very  major surgery these days and I have to keep my concentration 100% on what is going on - I kept taking the puzzle out to play and quickly realised that I couldn't do it at work. In the evenings, I had better luck and managed to find a nice logical assembly of the board burr outside of the box and attempted to repeat the assembly with the box. Oh dear, the slots in the faces of the box are very restrictive and my "beautiful" assembly wouldn't work. At this point I seemed to have some blinkers on and I couldn't find an alternative assembly for a couple of hours over 3 evenings whilst watching TV with Mrs S. Eventually I found an assembly that looked like it might just work - after carefully arranging the pieces in the right order I set to work and assembled the puzzle:

Assembled - very simple and very clever

I kept it assembled for a few days until I had time to take my photo and then discovered that I couldn't take it apart. It's quite humid and hot in the UK at the moment and some puzzles are getting a little tight. This was a little tight but the internal edges were not bevelled and moves had to be perfectly aligned to get them to move. I had found one move but the second move would not happen. It took me a rather frantic hour to find that a different piece needed to move first and then it could be disassembled. Just a little gift from a friend - it was great fun and a lovely challenge.

Quantum Entanglement designed by Pit Khiam Goh

Another present from Frank at the MPP was the boxed 6 piece burr very reminiscent of the Internal combustion burr made from metal that I reviewed way back in 2011 except this has 6 sticks that lay across each other in 2 groups of three. When I took the photo, I thought that the aim was to find a way to insert the two loose burr sticks into the puzzle as it had been given out. I did have a quick fiddle and it looked to me like the pieces that were in the box were actually captive. Doh! I am not terribly bright, though. After my success with the boxed burr, I properly looked at this and realised that it would be impossible to insert the other two pieces in this configuration. I then spent 10 minutes and removed all the pieces (eejit that I am I forgot to take another pic!). I then looked into how these pieces could be positioned that might form an assembly. I did find a few and realised that I was in trouble. If I could easily find a few ways to orient the pieces that might work then there were probably going to be quite a lot and I would never be able to work out which was the right one let alone find a 48 move assembly.

I was not particularly upset by this as some puzzles just need Burrtools and I find that whole process really quite fun (I know that George Miller considers it perfectly acceptable to play with BT as a solution method). I programmed in the pieces and it spat out a solution in about 3 or 4 minutes. I had been correct to give in so fast - there are 964 assemblies and only one solution! I assembled the puzzle using BT and was amazed at the beautiful interplay of the pieces - the box literally is only there to keep them all in the correct planes. I have kept it assembled and will work on a disassembly at a later date but I fully expect this to be a rumblingly impossible experience for me!

The WDIGMI Xmas puzzle from Tanner Reyes (made by Tye Stahey)

I had admired the Xmas question mark puzzle on Facebook a while ago but had not bought a copy because I figured that it would be too difficult for me. Tanner saw my admiring comment and had a copy left over and he generously decided to send me a copy as a gift. 

Tanner burst onto the puzzling scene with his incredible YouTube channel "What Did I Get Myself Into". In it he shows off some of the most complex and beautiful puzzles that have ever been produced and does it with humility and humour showing off his huge enjoyment in this crazy pastime we have gotten trapped doing. His collection is pretty awe-inspiring and having started puzzle design and teamed up with Tye from Nothing yet designs. The puzzle had obviously been made for Tanner to give away as Christmas presents and mine arrived complete with a lovely wooden Christmas label. I put it down for the week whilst I played with the supposedly simpler puzzles above and have been working on it yesterday evening and today.

There are 7 pieces to fit inside the question mark and three holes in the top to place them through. Except the bottom hole is too small to insert any pieces through and must be there to allow manipulation and orientation as the pieces slide down. This puzzle is lovely to play with and very tactile. So far I have gone through the gamut of randomly inserting pieces and moving them into random positions, randomly inserting pieces and moving them into specific positions and finally trying to assemble a reasonable shape outside the puzzle frame in the hope that I will find at least something that might possibly fit. I doubt very much that I will mange this but it is gorgeous to look at and beautifully made. I do not know whether it can be solved using Burrtools - I suspect that the holes in the top mean that rotations will be needed but if I ignore those then I might at least find an assembly or two. First of all, I will need to work out how to use the non-rectilinear grid in BT. Again, humbled by the generosity and brains of my fellow puzzlers. I wish I was as good at solving these things as people think I am.

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I was delighted to receive the Burrtools file for the Sher-lock - a notched Trifecta direct from Girish himself. I had tried to find an assembly for the puzzle with the key pointing frontward but despited finding several possibilities, there was no way that I would be able to put it together. My plan is to assemble it using BT by my side and then leave it for a while before attempting the disassembly myself without having any memory. As expected with all of Eric's creations it is gorgeous in this orientation:

Time to work on taking this apart.

Also - for those of you who have purchased the "Ode to the Bevel" puzzle by Dr Latussek from Pelikan, a correspondent of mine who is exceptionally talented has found a second solution to the puzzle. It is very clever even if not quite as elegant. If you have solved it one way then you should look for the other  solution. I love it when this happens as it gives you much more bang for your buck. I do hope that another run of these will be made - it is a terrific puzzle.