A Bumper Pelikan Crop!

The biggest bunch of Pelicans ever!

From back left:
Egg - Pelikan (mixed woods)
Hooks - Alfons Eyckmans (Wenge & Cherry or Bubinga & Cherry)
Octopus - Pelikan (Limba, American Walnut and Wenge)
Infinite - Alexander Magyarics (Mahogany & Wenge)
Captain Hook - Alexander Magyarics (Maple, Wenge & Padauk)
Tigridia - Alexander Magyarics (Limba & Ovangkol)
Gem - Osanori Yamamoto (Purpleheart)
Den 3 - Osanori Yamamoto (Acacia & Padauk)
Waltz - Osanori Yamamoto (Wenge, Maple and Zebrano)
3 Piece Burr Flower - Osanori Yamamoto (Wenge & Limba or Wenge & Jatoba)
Dick-Flop - Dr Volker Latussek (Walnut & American Walnut)

In no particular order but mostly the order I worked on them or solved them in:

Octopus

Octopus complete with 8 tentacles!

It seems that no new Pelikan release is complete without one of their own designs, beautifully visualised as some kind of animal. We have had Turtle, Snail, Ladybug and Crab so far, all of which reside on display in my living room. The arrival of the Octopus in the PuzzleMad asylum/loony-bin was greeted by me with a whoop of delight and by Mrs S with a groan of "Oh no, not more!!". She did admit that it was very beautiful. 

This was the one I began with because it's just irresistible. It's pretty big at 13.3x13.3x9.8cm and made of Limba, American Walnut and Wenge. The beady eyes just look at you. Like the crab, it is not just a simple slot together Kumiki puzzle. It is a burr with pieces that interlock in all directions. It all fits beautifully together and the first sliding move is easy to find but after that it gets more awkward. I was able to remove the first two pieces quite quickly and realised that I had not really paid attention to the orientation they came out - the shape of them meant that they rolled off the cat who sleepily acted as my tabletop. Having realised I was going to be stuck soon, I just proceeded with the disassembly. Usually after half the pieces of a burr have been removed it suddenly gets easier but not with this one. I really struggled for another 20 minutes to find the way to remove the final pieces. The main challenge with this will be the reassembly after scrambling the pieces. I almost gave up and went to Burrtools but luckily before I lost the last remnant of my mind, I finally found the correct assembly. 

This puzzle is an essential purchase if you collect Kumiki type puzzles or if you have the rest in the series. For the rest of you it's worth getting because it's adorable and very clever.

Egg

Egg by Pelikan

I had to check with Jakub about this one as it looked familiar but I barely remember yesterday, let alone something I saw in 2016. This is a re-release using European woods of the beautifully turned Egg puzzle. It comes complete with its own lovely turned stand. These puzzles from Pelikan are wonderfully tactile things to hold and caress. The egg is NOT coordinate motion like some of the other spherical puzzles made previously. When it comes to disassembly, the puzzle is not particularly difficult - it is just a matter of finding the correct places to put your fingers to hold it and and push/pull in the right directions. It is not immediately obvious where to put your fingers to do it and it is so wonderfully smooth that you get no clue from running your fingers over it. If you have it just right then you are rewarded with a beautiful sliding motion as it smoothly separates. After a few minutes you have four pieces which look nearly identical and which will only fit back together in one way. Re-assembly is just a matter of thinking it through. This is a joy to fiddle with and looks lovely on display.

Dick-Flop

Dick-flop by Dr Volker Latussek
It's just 6 tetracubes from the Soma cube

Here we have another masterpiece from the warped brilliant mind of Dr Volker Latussek! This is what he had to say about it:

"When Dick Fosbury died in March this year, I had no idea that I would find a small series of packaging puzzles and name them FLOP after the high-jump technique named after him. A sports journalist ran the headline "Fosbury Flops Over Bar" after his 1968 Olympic win, comparing the jumping style to a fish flipping onto its back and curling its body after being caught."

DICK-FLOP with its six tetracubes follows FRITZ-FLOP with only five pieces. The boxes are each completely filled and the opening is restricted so that some of the pieces have to flop out of the box.  This is the fourth in his Flop series in which he takes a subset of the standard Soma cube pieces and insists that we stuff them into one of the standard shape challenges that come with the Soma cube. Except.... he makes it much more fun by making us do it into a box through a limited entrance hole. And then, not completely happy with that restriction, he ensures that the entry hole is not a whole number of voxels wide which forces some very interesting and difficult to find rotational moves on the non-planar pieces. It looks like the entrance is 2mm too small to allow two voxels through.

The assembly configuration (Volker always stipulates the assembly shape) is a "near miss" and when you take the pieces out of the box, you get a small hint at the deviousness of that man! Some of the moves just to get the pieces ready for play need them to be perfectly placed before it can happen. The incredible precision of the manufacture by Pelikan is simply stunning - when some of the pieces move and you can almost feel the suction holding them in place as the tolerances are perfect to a tiny fraction of a milimeter.

A quick play with Burrtools told me that there are 78 possible ways to assemble a 2x3x4 cuboid from the pieces provided and I was definitely going to struggle to try them all from memory. I then scrolled through them to find only the ones that have a planar piece arranged vertically along the end (i.e. it can be dropped in last) and after about 15 I stopped counting and decided to peek with squinted eyes at the solution. I just managed to restrict my view to 2 piece positions in the end shape and from here restricted the number of assemblies to be tried down to just 3. I was rather surprised at one of those piece positions that I had peeked at but it really helped me. Even having just 3 assemblies to choose from, actually getting them inside the box was still a massive challenge. It took me about 3 days!

This puzzle is an essential buy for anyone enthused by packing puzzles or the Soma cube. It has been stunningly created by Jakub and team and will be a huge challenge to any puzzler. The Aha! moment is wonderful. 

The Fritz-flop and Soma-flop are still available from the Pelikan website and you should definitely buy the whole set for an amazing challenge!

Captain Hook

Captain Hook by Alexander Magyarics

Captain Hook is a very interesting board burr made from Maple, Wenge & Padauk. The tolerances are absolutely perfect - this puzzle slides so smoothly. It is something quite new from Alexander Magyarics, whom I am beginning to wonder whether there is anything he cannot turn his hand to and master. I know that you are all familiar with his amazing 3D and 2D packing puzzles and he has designed a few burrs with frames or boxes over the years but I am not aware of any board burrs from him. This looks very like a standard 6 piece board burr when viewed assembled but within a few moves it quickly reveals that it is not what it seems. The movements are interesting and in one case a little unexpected with a very nice pathway to be found. No big blind ends to get caught in and after 10 moves the first piece can be removed. After that 2 moves each for the next 2 pieces and the fact that it is a 5 piece board burr is revealed. I don't think I have ever seen one before. I tried to reassemble it immediately after I had taken it apart and, whilst I had memory of the relative positions of the pieces, there was a critical tricky step that I could not achieve straight away. There is a very well hidden essential move to allow the disassembly and reassembly and if you haven't memorised it then it will cause you to think© for a moment. 

Infinite

Infinite by Alexander Magyarics
That left side when viewed straight on looks like an infinity symbol

Here we return to classic Alexander Magyarics and it is really, REALLY, REALLY good! It is a beautiful packing puzzle made with a very chunky Mahogany box and just 3 lovely Wenge pieces to be packed. Just 3 pieces? They aren't even that complex! How hard can it be? Oh boy! This is a TERRIFIC challenge. The entry-ways into the 3x3x3 voxel box are quite restricted and must be completely occluded once packed. In fiddling with the pieces I was able to find quite a few arrangements of the pieces into a 3x3x3 cube but none that I found would fit through the openings. 

Not solved but fun

Retrospectively, I found 59 cubes with the relevant solid areas using Burrtools but this was unknown to me at the time. Usually I start outside the box and find the required shape but there were too many possibilities and I needed to combine the very restricted entry requirements with my assemblies to narrow it down. The fascinating thing for me is that the smallest piece has the most limitation and ultimately is the reason for a very interesting solution. I found 2 "almost there" solutions with single holes visible through the entryway and I got stuck for quite some time at this point. I then went to Burrtools in desperation and found that it was unable to find a solution which means something special. I relaxed my rules and started again - it took me another whole day of play to find the solution with a wonderful Aha! moment. This is one of Alexander's best designs - make sure that you find all the near solutions as well as the correct one.

Hooks

Bubinga & Cherry

Wenge & Cherry

Hooks by Alfons Eyckmans

I am always delighted when a Pelikan release includes something from Alfons Eyckmans. There are two versions of this beauty - one made from Wenge & Cherry and another from Bubinga & Cherry - they are gorgeous! Alfons is the absolute master of interesting burr design. Many people are not keen on burrs and cannot understand why I (or anyone else) love them. I always say that it is like exploring a maze that changes as you work your way through. Often there are hidden pathways that are tough to find and sometimes blind alleys or loops. I do agree that many of the very high level burrs are beyond most human's abilities to follow but this is where Alfons is a master...the designs are always interesting and fun to explore. The Hooks burr is one of my favourite types - a caged 6 piece burr which takes the idea of a standard burr and extends it. The cage is incomplete being formed from 4 "hooks" on a base and looks like it should not make a huge difference. The pieces are 3x2x7 voxels which allows for much more interesting interaction. There are a few moves possible early on and no long blind alleys. Quite quickly some complex fun compound multi-piece moves occur and this opens up even more possibilities. Process seems swift until suddenly it's not. After 11 moves, I was stuck and could find no way to progress. I must have either missed something along the way or be missing something crucial to progress on my existing path. I got stuck here for a few hours going back and forth - at least it was creating a muscle memory to help with the reassembly. With only 6 pieces and such an open frame/cage it is possible to see inside the maze quite well. Eventually after multiple failed attempts I realised that I had left a single piece in the wrong position and it had blocked the next move. Having worked that out, the progression was fast and fun and the first piece was removed after a total of 18 moves. The remaining pieces remain stable in the frame for the rest of the disassembly.

Having spent so long searching for the pathway, I was able to reassemble it without help but making a Burrtools file is always fun. I think that most burr aficionados should be able to reassemble this without help.

3 Piece Burr Flower

Wenge & Jatoba

Wenge & Limba

3 Pice Burr Flower by Osanori Yamamoto

This stunning design by Osanori Yamamoto has been beautifully created by Pelikan in Wenge & Limba or Wenge & Jatoba. As the name states, it looks like a flower on each face of the cube structure but it has been made from 3 rather complex burr sticks which interlink with each other inside the cube. Once you have found the first piece to move, the pieces then slide on each other and the flower opens up to reveal the interior. Over a rather delightful 6 move sequence the pieces get further and further apart until the first one comes out and then the other two can be separated. It is not terribly hard to find that sequence but then the real challenge begins - can you put it back together after scrambling the pieces? There are only 3 pieces and the way they fit together at the end looks straightforward but it took me a good hour to find the correct order and position for the pieces to fit back together. This is a very clever puzzle utilising what feels like a knot inside the faces to control the movements. 

Waltz

Waltz by Osanori Yamamoto

Another fabulous design by Osanori Yamamoto, stunningly visualised in Wenge, Maple and Zebrano. This one is almost as if Osanori-san has seen the wonderful 3 piece challenge by Alexander Magyarics and said to himself: "I can beat that"! It is another packing puzzle with a limited entrance and a requirement to block the entry once solved....but this time, just to make it even more interesting, there are only 2 pieces to be packed in the 3x3x3 cavity and filled the 2x2 entrance. Not only are there only 2 pieces but it quickly becomes apparent that one of them HAS to be the entry blocker. I was rather over-confident with this one and thought it would  be relatively easy. Oh no! it wasn't easy for me! I spent a day failing completely and did wonder whether I was going about it wrong - I looked at the name and thought about the cardinal feature of the Waltz and then decided to explore rotational moves. I was successful and managed to assemble the puzzle with the entry filled but something didn't feel right. This was especially true when I found that I couldn't take it apart! Aargh! In a bit of a panic, with a fair bit of dexterity and swearing, I was able to unravel what I had done and decided to try again the more conventional way. But this time I was determined to think© about the name as well but not be so stupid. The cardinal feature of a Waltz is rotation with minimal rise and fall. The 18 moves to achieve the assembly are a masterpiece. The gauntlet has been thrown down and is there anyone who can design something more simple with more beautiful moves than this? Over to you Alexander-san!

Gem

Gem by Osanori Yamamoto

This gorgeous gem of a puzzle by Osanori Yamamoto  is simply stunning made here from Purpleheart. I have previously bought and solved this in April where it was an extra puzzle that I chose to "make up the postage" from Japan! Osanori's version was a gorgeous creation and Pelikan have lived up to the same very high standards. When I bought the original, Osanori-san told me how pleased he was because it was his favourite puzzle.

The original was sent out as an assembly puzzle but this one arrived already assembled. Either way, it is a fun puzzle to explore. If you are good at assembly then it might be a good idea to get someone to dismantle it for you before you play. It consists of 3 rings of wood that are interlocked and  inserted into slots in the cube with one at 90º to the other 2. When disassembling it the sequence it is fun that you cannot see the shape or how the rings are interacting inside the cube. The sliding of the pieces over each other shows off the extreme precision that this has been made with. Having taken it apart, leave the pieces scrambled for a while and then try it as an assembly puzzle

The solution took me only about half an hour but again a lovely aha! moment made better by the silky smoothness of the pieces and how they glide over each other. I could see why this was one of Osanori-san's favourite puzzles. It is delightful. Another piece of Japanese puzzling heaven.

Den 3

Den 3 by Osanori Yamamoto

In this packing puzzle designed by Osanori Yamamoto the aim, as usual is to assemble the pieces (3 of them this time, made from Padauk) into the nice chunky Acacia box. I must point out the incredible detail that Jakub and team have put into the box - Acacia is a relatively plain wood in terms of colour but with having very nice grain and shading. To make this one even more spectacular the top and bottom faces have been assembled with a diagonal line of differently placed cubes of wood - this makes this wonderful puzzle even more precious for a man addicted to gorgeous wood! The cavity of the box is the usual 3x3x3 cube but, with this one, the areas that must be occluded by the pieces are quite extensive over quite a lot of the puzzle which should limit the number of possibilities to go through. I used Burrtools to count the possible assemblies after I solved it and there are 124 ways to assemble a cube from the 3 pieces of this puzzle but when restricting the positions to allow the occlusion of the holes, this number shrinks down to a more reasonable 22. This number is still too high for me to go through and try them all (I find that I can't remember what I have tried after just 3 or 4 attempts) and necessitates using the restricted entry to significantly decrease the cubes to be tried. 

The solution of this took me an embarrassingly long time to find. I think I played with this on and off for 4 or 5 evenings before I found a cube that met all my criteria and then really struggled to place the pieces inside the box. I ended up solving it outside the box starting from cube shape and attempting all the moves that should be possible and gradually dismantled the cube. It should not be that difficult with just 3 pieces but I kept getting stuck 10 or 12 moves in. The disassembly of this puzzle has an incredible level 26 (19.4.3) - if you do manage to solve this then you can be very chuffed at your puzzling prowess. 

Tigridia

Tigridia by Alexander Magyarics

The final puzzle I played with in this new batch was Tigridia by the amazing Alexander Magyarics (last, mostly because my initial play revealed it to be a very difficult challenge). Beautifully made from Limba & Ovangkol, it consists of 4 pieces to be placed as a 3x3x3 cube inside one of the most complex boxes I have seen in one of these puzzles. The entryways are very limited but there are 3 of them to be used. There are lots and lots of holes in the box which need to be covered by the final filling. Your usual approach outside the box quickly reveals that there are a LOT of possible cubic assemblies (Burrtools later told me that there were 64) and obviously each one that you find will need to be tested in every possible orientation. I very quickly got quite confused and lost track of what I had been trying. Most of my potential assemblies, when I found one that also fit the brief to cover the holes, quickly revealed themselves to be impossible to move inside the box and could be discounted. After a couple of days trying and a deadline to hit, I went to Burrtools to at least give me the correct cubic assembly and then I could work out the method to place it inside the box. Even this proved to be a problem! I had the correct cube made but I really could not work out how it could be inserted inside the box, After a very frustrating and then satisfying hour, I found the critical move and it was something rather special that is only possible with a box with this many holes in it. The Aha! moment is wonderful when you find it but that might well take you a VERY long time.

I am rather humbled by the fact that Ivan Danik (the Puzzle Guy on YouTube) managed to solve this one and did not find it terribly difficult! I found this one amazingly hard. I agree with him that the frame is stunning!

Pick what you love guys and get them all tomorrow (6th November at 10am central European time) at the Pelikan store

Some Pelikan Beauties

Trap R2

Last week I showed off the recent delivery of puzzles from my friend Jakub, one of the co-owners of the New Pelikan Workshop. He lets me purchase them in advance and as a service for him I solve them as quickly as I can and write a paragraph about some of them for him to put up on the description page for each puzzle when they go up for sale (it depends whether the designer can speak English and feels capable of writing something themselves). The last few times I have been aware that me being so busy has caused a delay in the puzzles going on sale. This time I ignored everything I was supposed to do around the house to ensure that I did not delay the posting of the puzzles for sale and I had my spiel written in just a few days. I try to put my reviews up on my site to help you decide what to buy too.

The first puzzle for me to review is the Trap R2 by Osanori Yamamoto. My copy is made with Purpleheart but it will also be available in an equally beautiful version with Wenge. When you think of puzzles by Osanori Yamamoto you instantly think "rotations". With Trap R2 you won't be disappointed but this puzzle is very different to any other puzzle I have seen. Initially, it looks like a couple of solid boards joined at the corners with a small wide cylinder between them. The cylinder can move about fairly freely with some interesting limitations but that is it. With a little curious fiddling, you will find an unexpected move or two which opens up other possibilities. These unexpected moves can be in several directions and will lead to blind ends. It is extremely unlikely that random moves will end up with this one coming apart. I have to say that this puzzle needs a good bit of careful exploration to get a complete mental image of the shapes involved and then proper planning to arrange them so that disassembly is possible. It almost needs a full mental understanding of the shapes inside to be able to solve it. The first part has to be done blind which makes it a fun challenge. The Trap R2 is an absolutely marvellous puzzle -  it is totally unlike anything I've seen before and a lovely challenge - for me it has made a great worry bead for the last week. As always with a puzzle from Jakub and Jaroslav, the fit and finish of the puzzle is simply perfect - you cannot see any seams at all in the assembled puzzle and they appear to come out of nowhere when things are pressed in the right places.

The pieces are hidden behind the show/hide button - if you are thinking of purchasing one then DON'T look until you have solved it:

Trap R2 pieces

Square Target

Square Target

Square Target is another puzzle by the amazingly prolific Osanori Yamamoto, which will, of course, require rotations. There are 4 pieces in a frame and the hole is shaped such that they can only be extricated after turning them to the correct orientation. Having said that, the main challenge of this puzzle is actually to find the correct linear moves to make space for the rotations to occur and working out which order to remove the pieces. This puzzle has a fairly complex set of moves to make enough room to let the rotations/removal occur. The reassembly is also a challenge...especially if, like me, you don't pay attention to all the moves you made in the dismantling process. It is very clever and beautifully made by Pelikan. This is a perfect choice for someone just starting out with puzzles that require rotations.

With this one, I can show the pieces as that will not give too much away:

Pieces of Square Target

Shield

Shield

The third puzzle by Osanori Yamamoto could easily be called the "Hashtag" - 4 very simple shapes are assembled on a frame in a # shape and need to be removed after arranging them into the correct orientation and position. As one would expect from Osanori, rotations are required...quite a LOT of them! This is trickier than one would expect as the sliding movement and rotation of the pieces is very blocked and requires quite a bit of planning. This one took me the longest time of the three new puzzles. Eventually, I succeeded in my disassembly only to spill the carefully arranged pieces off my sleeping cat! Needless to say, the reassembly from scratch is a huge challenge and involved a good amount of swearing and the odd Whack! Ouch! It is, however, perfectly solvable with thought - the reassembly took me a good hour. A great idea and a worthy challenge to any puzzler.

Pieces of Shield

Wourie

Wourie

Alfons Eyckmans designs puzzles ranging from fairly simple to massively complex and Pelikan has chosen just the right level with this one - only a very small number of puzzlers want to work on burrs with 40+ moves to take out the first piece (I personally really struggle when the 1st level goes above 30). Wourie is perfect for the puzzler who is either a beginner to burrs or an enthusiast. It looks stunning in the four different woods and the mix of boards and sticks are interlocked with a fun but challenging sequence which has a blind end or two - it actually took me a good 20 minutes to find the first move. Having found the first move, the remainder of the disassembly is not too hard but then the reassembly becomes a real challenge if you scramble the pieces and leave them a while. It is definitely solvable as an assembly puzzle but maybe that part should be left to experts. The fit and finish of the puzzle is wonderful with moves that are silky smooth - it is perfect to display in any puzzler's collection.

Pieces of Wourie - looks easy? Think again!

Rotacube

Rotacube by Lucie Pauwels

Bernhard's version

Rotacube is another delightful challenge by the very talented and extremely prolific Lucie Pauwels (pwbp shows only a tiny fraction of her designs). I originally had the Rotacube drawn to my attention by the King of the Turning Interlocking Cubes (TIC), Bernhard Schweitzer who contacts me occasionally when he has discovered and made a new TIC and offers one for me to play with. Quite a few months ago Bernhard sent me a copy of Rotacube which I played with, enjoyed and forgot about after a month or so. I remembered about it when Jakub had his Pelikan version for sale. I was interested to see how Bernhard's version compared...plus, I'm not terribly bright, and had forgotten the solution completely! I think that it does benefit from the several types of wood used by Jakub but I do prefer Bernhard's rotated top cubie as a handle.

There are a couple of simple but unusual moves to remove the first 4 pieces and with the Pelikan version the fit is so perfect that it feels like one is held in by suction! Once the 4 simple pieces are removed then one is left with a cubic frame made from 2 identical pieces which require multiple rotations to be separated. It is a lovely sequence and not too tough. Even after scrambling and leaving the pieces the reassembly is not impossibly challenging and even suitable for beginners to TICs. This is a very nice puzzle and well worth adding to your collection.

Very clever pieces

The remainder of the Pelikan puzzles are yet to be solved. Keylock has been produced for PuzzleMaster in the past and I am not sure whether this production will also be sold by Pelikan direct. It is a very tough burr (level 47.4.3.2.2.2.1.1.2) designed by one of the IPP design competition winners, Stephan Baumegger.

Keylock

The Droid is another fascinating puzzle with a mixture of boards and sticks by Stephan with a level of 35.2.2.3.3.3 which also was made for PuzzleMaster and I am not sure whether it is being made available from Pelikan this time. My copy below came direct from Stephan - it took me 5 months to dismantle it!

Droid

The 3D Onat Contrast is yet another complex burr by Stephan constructed from some very simple burr sticks into a beautiful cubic design - it has a moderately difficult level of 37.10.4.1.2.2 which makes it less suitable for beginners but probably still do-able with some perseverance. It is stunning and I couldn't resist buying a copy myself:

This should be fun!

Excaliburr (available from PuzzleMaster) is another fantastic puzzle designed by Stephan and is definitely not for beginners! At level 79.18.5.5.5.2.1.2, it is aimed at real burr enthusiasts or people who are seriously addicted to everything related to King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. I own an original from Stephan and as yet have never solved it! I might have a bit of a problem though!

Excaliburr

Swords in puzzles!

Keep an eye on the Pelikan site as well as look at PuzzleMaster to see when these new toys come up for sale. There is something for everyone here - beginners and burr experts alike will enjoy these puzzles which are, as always, stunningly made!

Masterpieces Ahead

Upcoming delights from Pelikan

Last week I tantalised you all with the news that there was soon to be a new release of lovelies from our wonderful friends and enablers at Pelikan and luckily for me I have been home alone all week whilst Mrs S is up visiting the out-laws. It hasn't been all plain sailing and puzzling as the usual chores that she would have done have been left to me as well as work as always. I also have to pay especial attention to our rather disturbed cat who is still missing his brother and is prone to wandering the house wailing at all hours of the day and night. But even with those distractions I still managed to work my way through all seven of them and I present my reviews for you here and then once I have edited and sent them to Jakub the puzzles will go on sale probably within a week.

The releases this time are:

We have (from back left):

Hippo designed by James Fortune

Stir the coffee designed by Dan Fast

Boo Burr designed by James Fortune

Four Mirror One designed by Osanori Yamamoto

Fermat meets Fuller designed by Dr Volker Latussek

One Flower designed by Osanori Yamamoto

Time - 4 - T designed by Alexander Magyarics

Time - 4 - T

Time - 4 - T 

This was the first puzzle I worked on because I am always intrigued by everything that Alexander designs. This diminutive and very pretty puzzle is made from Maple and Purpleheart and is vibrantly gorgeous despite being only 42mm across each side and 15mm thick. It's as portable as any Hanayama puzzle and much more pretty. Alexander has been emulating Osanori Yamamoto again with a puzzle consisting of 4 shapes trapped in a frame requiring them to be removed. This is a new idea for Alexander and yet again he shows his mastery of all aspects of puzzle design. Also on show is the Pelikan boys mastery of woodcraft - despite being so tiny, every piece has been made with supreme precision and the movement of everything is smooth and perfect. I did wonder whether rotations might be essential and I will let you discover whether or not that is the case. This is not a difficult puzzle but it is delightful to explore with some nice Aha! moments as you work through.

Simply perfect and precise

Having dismantled it, I would advise leaving the pieces for a few hours before trying to reassemble. It is definitely achievable and leaves you with a great sense of achievement. This is a delightful beginning to my week of Pelikan play.

Four Mirror One

Four Mirror One

This lovely puzzle by Osanori Yamamoto looked very familiar to me but I could not recall where from. After taking my photo and having a fiddle, I realised that I had another copy of this made by Brian Menold way back in 2015. This version by Pelikan is made from Wenge and Ash with a very striking grain enhancing the beauty. At that time, I had managed to disassemble the puzzle within a few minutes and found the reassembly the real challenge. Back then I must have been much better at puzzling because this time taking it apart took me about 30 minutes. Like many of Osanori-san's delightful frame-based creations, there are multiple rotations required to remove the pieces and with this one there are a huge number of rotational moves possible in multiple positions. On a couple of occasions, I had rotated several of the pieces but found myself unable to move further but also could not remember how to return to the beginning. There are no fancy hidden rounded edges here that allow special moves - it is a matter of making the right amount of space to facilitate a rotation before then moving on to the next piece and eventually orienting one of the pieces into the position where it lines up with a T shaped gap and gan slide out. After that the removal of the rest is easy.

Fab - all the T's are identical

Just like last time I played with this puzzle, I left the pieces for a few hours before the reassembly was attempted and this was again a significant challenge for me. It took me even longer than the 40 minutes back in 2015 - I am slightly ashamed to admit that it took me nearly an hour! Great puzzle - if two separate craftsman make it then it probably is good!

One Flower

One Flower

The second of Osanori-san's designs in this release is another frame and burr piece puzzle. This one is utterly gorgeous made from Padauk and Garapa. There are 2 pieces that straddle the frame and there is a decent sized hole in that frame for the pieces to come out but the pieces are almost the same size as the hole and need to be moved into a certain position for them to be releasable. Easy peasy, I thought! Move them around - rotations will be required as usual and this should not take me long. Wrong! At each corner of the frame is a square peg which severely limits the rotations (and other types of moves) and I found myself completely blocked. I realised after 15 minutes of trying the same thing over and over again that I must be missing something. Alternative directions of rotation maybe? Nope! I put it down for a while and only when returning to it on a second day did a thought permeate my dense skull. This must require something special - what if I try... Aha! I don't recall Osanori trying this before.

Nope! No spoiler here - not showing the pieces

The reassembly is fairly straightforward since there are only 2 pieces and a frame but the delight in the special sequence remains. This is one that I will probably be handing out to friends and colleagues to play with and will enjoy watching their confusion when want they want to do won't work.

Stir The Coffee

Stir The Coffee

The first of two absolute masterpieces in this release, Stir The Coffee is a significantly complex burr puzzle intended for people who really enjoy burrs - it is not for the beginner. I have known Dan Fast for many years (it may be nearly a decade now) and he comes across as a loud, brash Canadian with big opinions (you only need to view some of his videos on his CrazyBadCuber channel to realise this). But one consequence of Dan's personality is that when he starts a hobby or project he totally immerses himself in it and ABSOLUTELY masters it. He has been playing with Burrtools for a good few years now and has created some fabulous designs which he puts on Puzzlewillbeplayed and Facebook. Dan's own personal preference is for really high level burrs but he is in touch with the rest of the puzzling world and realises that such puzzles are a very small niche. As part of his mastery of the art of design, Dan has worked out exactly what the average burr puzzler wants...a challenge with a moderate level that remains stable during play. He also has a superb eye for aesthetics and makes shapes that are just beautiful. At a level of 54.4.2, this puzzle was a higher level than I would normally like (I find that anything above 30ish gets too complex for me to keep a track of the moves and possibilities) but yet again Dan has shown his skill - despite requiring so many moves, there are remarkably few false paths and those that are there, are short or circular leading back towards the original path. The challenge here is to discover the correct moves which are remarkably well hidden. The structure is extremely stable throughout and the pieces dance back and forth to stir the coffee in the rather beautiful cup before the simple but stunning teaspoon is removed and then you can empty the cup.

It's a masterpiece

The disassembly took me a good few hours in total with several periods of going round and round in circles trying to find the moves that I was obviously missing. Despite the extremely high level, it was always possible to backtrack to a place I recognised and start again. Only once I was very near the finish did I get lost but then the only way was forward. This is an absolute masterclass in burr design - Dan has got it absolutely right with a beautiful look, a high level but very achievable for anyone used to playing with burrs. Of course, Jakub and Jaroslav have brought this to life in a simply spectacular way. I cannot wait to see whether they produce anything else.

Fermat Meets Fuller

Fermat Meets Fuller

I have to start the review with these simple words:

"Buy this puzzle! It is incredible!"

Dr Latussek has a very strange mind! I do not understand how he designs these things - Burrtools is no use for them, he must do this in his head. This is not normal, there is absolutely nothing in my head at all let alone complex geometric manipulations. Volker has created several packing puzzles over the last few years and I have only ever managed to solve a couple of the simpler ones - it is telling that one had "for kids" in the name. So when I received the Fermat for Fuller, a few things raced echoingly through my empty noggin. First was the memory that I had not yet managed to solve the original Fermat (I had reviewed it unsolved here and Allard had reviewed (solved) it here), and secondly I wanted to know why it was meeting Fuller? 

Volker told me:

"with FERMAT I wanted to learn how triangular parts interact with one of my typical boxes. When I talked to Eric Fuller about this, I came up with the idea of dividing a cube into six triangular parts and in placing this cubic dissection I had a long and clarifying conversation with Eric Fuller some time ago. Then I had the idea to dissect a cube (cubic) into triangular parts (Fermat). Fermat meets Fuller was born." 

Pelikan has created this using American Walnut and Merbau (which has stunning grain with amazing looking end-grain faces. The precision required for this puzzle is something to behold - it is simply perfect! Only Jakub and Jaroslav can do this in large numbers! 

Delivery configuration

I even struggled to dismantle the delivery position

I took the two loose pieces out of the box and saw the other four in the base and tried to remove them - I couldn't take them out - this was going to be a challenge! Once I had removed them then I had seen the kinds of manipulations that are possible and hoped that would arm me for the solution. I am terrible at this kind of challenge and did not hold out much hope but once I had seen the possible moves and that there was actually quite a bit of room in the box and a relatively large opening, I had a few ideas.

Needless to say, my ideas all failed for the first couple of days of trying. The next thing to do was to look at how many ways the base layer could be arranged, and then see how I could place the extras in the top layer - this is the real challenge - placing a base layer is fairly easy but this really blocks any space left for getting later pieces inside. After 3 days of failure I was becoming increasingly desperate and was losing hope. I then had a large Eureka moment (no, I did not leap out of the bath and run around naked - even with Mrs S away). I had found an arrangement that would leave a very nice gap to place the final pieces but then had to see whether I could place the first pieces in that position. I was stuck...until I realised that the relative thicknesses of the thick, medium and thin triangles had all been very specifically chosen. These pieces had been designed to allow one very very special sequence of moves. IT IS STUNNING! Volker has out done himself - this puzzle is a design masterpiece and is an essential purchase for any serious puzzler. As I said earlier: 

BUY THIS PUZZLE! 

Believe me, you will not regret it!

Hippo

Hippo

Peekaboo

Recently Pelikan have produced a series of wonderful puzzles that contribute to Goetz' Burr zoo and I was very pleased to see them continue this with the Hippo. This one has been designed by a relative newcomer to puzzle design, James Fortune, who I have been watching on Facebook for a year now. James has also set up a shop selling his designs that he has 3D printed (I have not tried any of these but they look amazing). For a design to be accepted by Jakub and Jaroslav, it must be pretty special - they always prototype them and check for poor design features like lack of stability or not a fun solve. The Hippo is a wonderful creation which is perfect for all puzzlers interested in burrs. It is beautiful, having been made from Maple, Purpleheart and Walnut with a wonderful bevelled finish and a lovely surprise once you find the correct start of the pathway. It is this first step that I struggled with the most. There are a couple of moves that are nice and easy to find and they are the wrong ones because they lead nowhere. I had taken this to work to play with and during a lunch break people watching me were extremely disappointed to see me go around and around in circles getting nowhere. Luckily I had to work again and used that as an excuse to stop making a fool of myself. 

Eventually I found the very well hidden first moves and I was on my way. This puzzle has a level of 7.8.8.3.24.7.3.2.3.2.3.2 which is absolutely perfect. There are a few blind ends but none terribly deep and a lovely wide circle where a lot of possibilities lead you astray. I managed to get the first piece out relatively quickly once I had found the initial moves but the removal of the next two pieces took me a VERY long time. I could always return to the beginning but I was missing a well disguised move which I finally found yesterday. Usually with these, they become very unstable after a few pieces have been taken out but this one does not. It becomes sort of "squishy" and there are a few possible rotations that need to be controlled but with a little effort the removal of all the subsequent pieces can proceed without collapse right down to the very last pair. This is nothing short of extraordinary! During the solution, the hippo moves about a little but remains fairly static with just the sticks moving around him - he really gets in the way! There is also a particular feature of a couple of the burr sticks that links them together - it does look like they should separate on several occasions but they are firmly hooked up.

Beautifully made and a beautiful design.

I currently have this in pieces next to me and have created a BT file (a huge part of the fun) and look forward to reassembling it and trying again. If you enjoy burrs or want to try them out then this is a perfect puzzle for you.

Boo Burr

Boo burr

Booo!

This is another creation from the prodigious mind of James Fortune and is also a member of the Burr zoo. It is simply gorgeous made from Wenge, Zebrano with Maple pieces hidden inside. I was a little mystified at the name initially but the reason for it becomes apparent very quickly when (at least the way I had it orientated) a white piece unexpectedly drops out of the puzzle into your lap onto a sleeping cat who shot of reminding me that he had a VERY sharp claw that I needed to clip. Yeeeouch! Picking up the fallen piece, I see why the puzzle is called the Boo burr. Genius. Getting to that first piece removal only requires 5 moves (the whole puzzle has level 5.17.4.5.2.4.3.1.2.4.2.1.2) but finding the sequence took me a while. Again the critical position to find is quite well disguised. Once out there are quite a lot of possible paths and I struggled to work out where to go. I think I found the next piece removal by luck more than anything as it required a further 17 moves. From there on, the path is a nice gentle exploration of burr moves which, again, leaves you with a stable, if squishy, puzzle for the entire remainder of the disassembly. The seventh piece removal provides another surprise:

We have two ghosts in the burr!

I will need Burrtools to reassemble it but that is just as much fun as the exploration and disassembly. Another fabulous burr from Pelikan that will keep all us burr enthusiasts very happy!

So we have yet another phenomenal release coming up from Pelikan soon and there are definitely puzzles that you won't want to miss out on. The Fermat for Fuller and Stir the Coffee are essential puzzles in my opinion - absolutely masterpieces of design and craftsmanship! After that, you have quite a few wonderful puzzles to choose from - do you like burrs? Then the creations by James are just the right difficulty level. Do you like these stunning sequential movement puzzles? Then the designs from Osanori-san or Alexander-san are brilliant! Keep an eye out - I don't know when they will go up for sale but it won't be long!