Parity is to be understood not feared!

OMG! A giant cube and a double parity!

Before you all switch off because it's a twisty post, there's a special little treat at the end of this post and DON'T scroll straight there! I saw you!

Yes! I am sorry to all you non-twisty puzzlers but here's another post about them. My aim really is to try and demystify them and encourage you all to have a go. I agree, the learning curve can be steep but, we are all puzzlers here and should enjoy trying something new and to stretch our solving skills! Today I am going to talk about the dreaded "PARITY" problem and show you that it should not be feared. In fact, it needs to be understood and even enjoyed for the added dimension that it adds to your puzzling. In the process, I will show you some new cubes that I bought from a relatively new shop: cubezz.com has sort of burst on the scene with some really good prices and excellent service - go and have a look.

Lovely like this

More lovely like this?

At the top of the article there is a special view of a fantastic new cube on the market. It is the Shengshou 10x10x10 cube and despite its phenomenal complexity it is smooth as butter and an absolute dream to scramble and solve. I took it to work a few times and everyone was absolutely fascinated by it! It looks amazing either solved or (some would say it looks better) scrambled. I have solved it quite a few times and apart from the hand ache caused by it's sheer size and weight it is wonderful - currently it is my favourite cubic puzzle. This puzzle is what is known as a "knock off" and so not listed on most websites so if you wish to buy it from cubez then just contact them and ask (their price is the best by a very large margin). The "special view" in the top picture is of the cube exhibiting not just one, but two parities and it is really not to be feared at all.

So having frightened you to death, what is a parity and more importantly, why does it occur? At the beginning of last year I posted about a classification of cuboids and then recently republished it in print for the CFF journal and in those articles I talk about several different types of parity. I really would hope that most of you puzzlers at least own a 3x3 cube and have made some attempt at solving it! After all if you are puzzlers then you should not just ignore such an important section of our hobby completely - the founding model should be in every collection. For those of you who have done the 3x3 there is NO parity and you should be very pleased with yourself that you can do what the vast majority of the world's population cannot!

Four Deliveries in one week! Is that bad?

It will be dry bread and water only after buying these!

I'm sorry that this is late - unfortunately I had to work today and not only did it interfere with my puzzling, it also delayed me writing this blog post! Dreadful! Only another 19 years to retirement - sigh!!!

I think it was in November that two of the great puzzle collectors in Europe (Goetz Schwandtner and Michel van Ipenburg) both posted news of a few new Jean-Claude Constantin N-ary puzzles about to come up for sale. When I say a few, this is a small understatement! There were 6!! And they all looked beautiful - very finely detailed and very unusual shapes instead of the more usual linear ones I have seen so far. Well you know by now how addicted to this particular group I am and I immediately asked my puzzle pusher, Wil Strijbos, whether he was getting them in stock! Very soon afterwards his news letter arrived with all of them available and maybe one or two other goodies too!

After a short gulp at the a sheer cost, I decided that Xmas was coming and Mrs S was going to be getting them for me for my Xmas present! What I hadn't realised was that Mrs S had already bought herself several pairs of shoes and boots for her Xmas present and was eagerly awaiting the Mulberry sale for handbags! I'm afraid that it will be dry bread and water for the next few months to pay for it all - I will of course, still be buying puzzles but not food - I must get my priorities right!!

Shortly after my very fast reply to the Newsletter, Wil also mentioned some extras that he had available, the Cast Twist came into stock, 2 more of his fabulous bolts also sort of got added to the list. Poor Mrs S didn't know quite how extensive the order was! But it was on a "need to know basis" and she really didn't for her own good!! Now Wil was hoping to get them out before Xmas but with all of his travelling and issues with stock it just never happened. I had plenty of other toys to occupy me and just waited. This week they arrived - Mrs S was very surprised at the size of the box and even more surprised at how much was inside (the extra was a replacement for the Perrier bottle #2 which had been broken in the mail). These N-ary puzzles will be reviewed in the future.

Livewire puzzles part 10 and a little something special

and it begins again!!!

Part 10? How can that be? In February 2012 I posted my final Livewire puzzles post which was number 9 in the series. In the intervening time more than half of those that I considered best in their line up have been discontinued (so now I'm afraid it is up to you to find them on Ebay) but luckily they have also released an extra 5 puzzles.

At the end of last year, I contacted them and managed to buy the 4 that had been released and they told me of their very latest one about to be released for 2014, the Roller Coaster puzzle and offered me the opportunity to buy it early. They arrived in November and after photographing them and realising that all but one was in the "difficult" range, I sort of fiddled and shied away! My excuse was that I had been preoccupied with work and other puzzles.

But, after a few weeks when Mrs S was off visiting her parents and I was alone in the house for a few days, I could play with them and jingle to my heart's content without having to worry about receiving any damage from the laser burning stare and the whiplash 'cat-o-nine tails' tongue! Yes she has been honing her violence skills! I began with the easiest of the 5 new additions - The Ringleader. This one is the only one of the 5 that is on the level 2 page of Livewire puzzles (rated 7/10) and I was reassured by that.

Ringleader

Paperclip and how about a twisty for the weekend?

Paperclip

Yep! It's another disentanglement puzzle from Puzzle Master! I am so addicted to these - they are really shiny and appeal to my inner Magpie and they have that wonderful tactile nature to them. Plus, they are good value for money and really fun for torturing your friends with (that's one of my favourite pastimes!)

Cast Devil/Menace

The Paperclip puzzle was designed by the great Jean-Claude Constantin and is intended to be a new twist on a classic puzzle. I got this because I remember that one of the very first puzzles that I bought when I began to expand from my Revomaze cubby hole was a puzzle by Professor puzzle in the UK called the Menace. It was really big and chunky and rather than go jingle and get me a laser burn from "she who must be grovelled before", it actually was big and bulky enough to clank! This actually earned me a bruise rather than a burn! This puzzle is also available as a Hanayama cast puzzle - it is called the Cast Devil and is an essential in any collection. I remember that the Menace/Devil took me about 45 minutes to solve and was oddly difficult for the apparent simplicity. When I saw that the Paperclip was a new twist on this classic, I had to have it!

Interestingly the Paperclip is rated as level 5 (Easy) on the Puzzle Master 5-10 point scale and yet the Cast Devil is a level 8. My own experience would say that they both should be a level 6 (Tricky). Whilst the Cast Devil comes in the nice Hanayama box, the Paperclip simply arrives shrink wrapped with a tiny label that my aging eyes struggled to read! It is a nice chunky metal puzzle at 13 x 7.5 x 4 cm - even my orthopaedic colleagues aren't going to be able to cut it or bend it without using serious hardware! It makes a nice clanging sound as you play. It comes without instructions - but it is obvious that you need to separate the 2 pieces and there is no solution supplied. I doubt that you will need it but it can be downloaded from here.

Happy New Year - My top 10 from 2013

Happy New Year to all my puzzle friends, designers, craftsmen and anyone else who has clicked through to this post by accident! I must warn you that this post is rather long - I'm not kidding - it's very VERY long! In fact I'm not sure you should bother to read it really - I'm sure you have much better things to do with your time! But if you are going to stay then enjoy my reminiscing about what seemed to be a very good year in 2013.

3 pictures of my study as it appears from L to R - my pride and joy!

Yet again I have been forced to rearrange my study to improve the organisation! Above you can see the group photos of my displayed collection - it looks good doesn't it? It doesn't end there however - the shelves in the cupboard are loaded with twisties too!

Mass produced twisties in a cupboard

But now I have had to break out of the study due to....  ahem.... "space problems"! Now, whenever something new arrives, if it is made from wood and looks gorgeous then I ask the question:

"Is this one lovely enough to be allowed in the living room"?

This year she has actually said yes on a number of occasions! So the rest of my collection is spread out and pictured below - notice the impossible folded card from Louis - Thanks mate!

Sculpture for her (puzzles for me)

A little theme starting - She didn't realise it would end up like this!

Thank you Louis for the impossible folded card!

But this is not all - I also have the wire and metal ones in drawers in a spare bedroom. So as I say many times:

"Houston, we have a problem!"

but never fear, I will rearrange and make room and I have had permission to use the whole top surface of the sideboard in the dining room - yay!!!

As a small treat to myself for the end of the year I have had a rather long look back at the puzzles I acquired during 2013 and tried to work out what my top 10 have been. I have cheated a bit by grouping some together so there are more than 10 but it's my blog and I get to choose. My criteria? Only that I love it! It can be because it gives me a good memory of someone or something, because the craftsmanship is so gorgeous (even if I haven't yet managed to solve it), or it can be because the solution was so epic or had such a marvellous Aha! moment that I continually get the urge to resolve it or shudder away from it but with a smile at the memory!

I have looked at my database and filtered on the puzzles that I have received during this last year and immediately have hidden that screen from the present Mrs S because it includes a total spend for the year! The amount horrifies even me and if Mrs S saw it then I would be a very ex Dr S!! A nurse's propensity for violence holds no bounds!!

So here we go my top 10 puzzles of 2013:

He's so good that he can weave wood!

Woven Burr

Christmas this year was very quiet for me and Mrs S! We had a lazy day - after a small present opening ceremony which consisted only of 2 puzzles for me (Stifled Sob! Sniff!) Although, I did get some booze and goodies to eat too. We settled down to watch some TV and for me to play with my new and my old toys! I was very good and didn't touch anything that jingled and settled down with a new piece of wooden beauty from Brian Menold of Wood Wonders - this one I had been waiting for a few weeks. Brian has developed a sneaky habit of posting on his webpage about puzzles he plans to make and then allowing pre-orders! So a few weeks ago I told Mrs S that her Xmas present to me had just been announced. She was very good - she feigned interest  and grunted her assent. The puzzle arrived just before Xmas and was kept aside until the big day! I (and she) thought that was going to be it until Calvin from the HKNowstore announced the arrival of something new from Dayan - this is the Wheel of Wisdom twisty puzzle - it looked suitably horrific and so I had to have it! I'm a sucker for punishment!

L in Cage

Wheel of Wisdom

Christmas thanks and wishes

Just a very small part of the special toys I received in 2013!

Last year at Christmas I posted my special wishes for 2013 and am truly amazed that almost all of them came true! In the picture above you can see just a tiny tiny fraction of the wonderful designer's and craftsmen's work that I acquired for my now fairly impressive collection (if I forgot something then I beg forgiveness - I just ran out of space for the photo!)

I am very lucky that I am able buy so many wonderful toys every year and am extremely grateful to my very forgiving wife who lets me get away with spending all our money on such frivolous things (even if it prevents her buying one more Mulberry handbag for her equally important collection!) - she also seems to tolerate me clicking, jingling and swearing continuously beside her with only a mildly acerbic glare! My skills don't really seem to have improved much and I confess that I am still not very bright!

I also count myself very lucky that I have been asked to be a member of the editorial board of the CFF journal, the only print puzzle journal in the world. For me this allows my love of writing to continue on paper as well as on line. I am humbled to amongst some of the greatest puzzlers in the world on that board and to be allowed to edit and even write an article or two for them - I will try to be worthy.

My greatest pleasure has been to become part of an international community who share thoughts and ideas so freely and support each other with such gusto. I have a steadily enlarging group of friends whom I have mostly never met but with whom I communicate back and forth many times - this includes designers, craftsmen and puzzlers. These conversations can continue for weeks and are a constant joy to me. In fact last week I was amazed to find myself "chatting" with a puzzler in Hong Kong, a puzzler in China and another in America all as separate conversations but all at the same time. As an old fart, I have to say "Ain't the internet an amazing thing?"

I now find myself receiving up to 10 emails every day via this blog or personal messages via Facebook or the forums. These emails are from people wanting help to find a puzzle, advice for what to buy or even to track down a designer, they may be asking for help to solve something (I try not to give outright solutions, but usually find just a small nudge is all that is required) or sometimes provide support to fix something which may be faulty. I try to respond to everyone quickly but occasionally I may need to work first! But no matter who it is or what they need, it is always my pleasure to help them and the thanks I receive in return is a marvellous reward.

So my wish for 2014?
Well last year I wished for the incredible limited edition burrs from Brian and Sue Young (MrPuzzle) and actually got them! I have solved 3 and am spreading the experience out over the year! So obviously my wish for 2014 is to buy the next limited edition puzzles from them.

In my work I see an awful lot of pain, fear and suffering (and dare I say it death). Unfortunately with my current special interests I seem to see a lot more than my fair share of dreadful cases! Every day I count myself very lucky to be healthy and happy and able to pursue this wonderful hobby. As a result of this my real Xmas wish is for you in the puzzle community to have a great Xmas and a happy healthy New Year. As my friend Michel always signs his emails:

"Lets keep puzzling!"

Cast Medal

Cast Medal

Here I go again making excuses for the quality of my post today! I have had my mum staying with me for a few days. Her 5 year old laptop is showing the advanced age and is on it's last legs. I finally convinced her to buy a Macbook (as I can't support her on Windows with ease since I have barely used it in years) so we have had a few sessions of tuition and I am completely frazzled! This may make this post a little shaky!!!

Today I'm reviewing the Cast Medal - this one I saw a couple of years ago when a friend of mine brought it to work for me to play with it. I really struggled with it despite spending probably a couple of hours on it. So when my last puzzle order at Puzzle Master went in, I had to have one of my own.

The Cast Medal is only rated as a level 2 on the Hanayama 6 point scale or 6 (Tricky) on the Puzzle Master 5-10 point scale. I would suggest that this particular puzzle is actually a good bit more difficult than the rating suggests - I'd suggest that 3 (7) is a better rating. Two of the three reviews on the product page also agree with this assessment. The reviews have, without exception, been positive and mine will be too. Gabriel's review was positive here.

It arrives in the usual black Hanayama package and is really beautiful to look at being made of 2 disks of copper coloured metal joined together and with a partial ring attached to one, The aim is simply to remove the ring using the rough pathway carved into the surface of the disk and also making use of the holes in them to rotate the ring around into different positions. Initially it is not clear why there are 2 disks but quite quickly it becomes apparent that it requires you to utilise the path way on both of them at the same time. I am not particularly good at these dual maze type puzzles and this may explain why I had so much trouble. Construction quality is very high, it is 9.7 x 4.7 x 2.2 cm in size. No solution is supplied with it but it can be downloaded from here.

It's not just a "stack of sticks"

A stack of sticks?

Mrs S has a lot to put up with really! Unlike most men, I'm not out playing golf, watching football (that's soccer to the philistine Americans!) or even chasing women or doing drink and drugs! My horrible man-habit leaves me in the house most of the time! I'm either surfing the intertubes for more toys, purchasing more toys, unwrapping more toys, solving all said toys (sometimes noisily with jingling - gulp! or with lots of swearing) and finally spending hours on the computer writing about the toys after having taken obsessive photos of them on our nice granite kitchen work surface!! So this means that I am in the house a lot and not doing the chores that she wants me to do! Well as a bloke I can't multitask! I couldn't possibly do chores and puzzle at the same time - so puzzles take priority as I'm sure you would all agree is the correct choice.

Recently I received a few deliveries (those of you who visit my Facebook pages know that I receive so many deliveries that I am on first name terms with my postman!!) and I always show them to "her" hoping for a positive response. Most times I get the "that's nice" response without her even looking up at them. To get her proper attention I would need to announce that I had received a pair of shoes or a handbag! But my last delivery got a new response:

"They all look the same! It's just a stack of sticks"

Aaaaargh!!!!! How can she say such a thing??? Can she not see the beauty, the workmanship and the soon to happen fun? Obviously not! Sob!!!

The Anomaly

The Anomaly

Believe it or not - I still have a few puzzles left from my last order from Puzzle Master - I really outdid myself at my last shopping visit! I decided this time to go back to the last of my set from their own selection of Wire disentanglement puzzles. I think this is the final one in the set of level 10 that I had not done - it's called The Anomaly, although I'm not really sure why!

It certainly looks quite a fearsome puzzle for solvers and as I said it is at the top of their difficulty scale - yep, a Level 10 (Mind Boggling) on their 5-10 point scale. It combines a very complex set of interlocking rings, loops and also a medium length of string so what could possibly go wrong? To make it even more confusing there is a knot fused onto the centre of the piece of string which limits a ball to the top half of the string. At the far end is a large triangular ring and loosely on the string is the brass coloured ring which you are supposed to remove. As with this whole series of puzzles it is well presented in a plastic clamshell package which mercifully is made to open easily - I always seem to lacerate myself when I have to open this sort of sealed plastic pack! The puzzle itself is beautifully made with high quality anodised wire and good strong string. Due to the thickness of the wire you would need to be really quite strong to force it.

So just remove the ring on a level 10 puzzle involving string? Easy peasy!! Gulp! Hopefully there'll be no awful knots! None of the usual bloggers have reviewed it yet but there has been a single review left on the product page giving it 4 stars but claiming it was easy but fun! No solution is provided for you but it is available for download if you want it from here.