Pelikan Waits For No Man!

Having returned from the IPP, sneaked my new puzzles in (in their rucksack) and secreted them around my study, I started to work my way through them. I thought I was doing pretty well and felt I might just manage to get a few blog posts in before anything else arrived (I might have a couple on the way). Just when I thought I was safe, Jakub contacted me to say that he was ready with the next batch of Pelikan wonder. My first thought was: "Hooray! More gorgeous beauty and fabulous, difficult challenges" This thought was rapidly followed by another: "She's going to kill me!" Luckily, this time, the box arrived, and it was smaller than the previous ones. She who must be feared thought there were fewer puzzles in there, but don't tell her...they have just been packed tighter. Gulp.

Matruschka

Matruschka by Benjamin Heidt

3 tiny pieces make a stand

There have been quite a few creations on this blog from Benjamin. He designs interlocking puzzles and burrs that are just the right difficulty level for most puzzlers, with some very interesting design features and a lovely sequence to explore. Many burrs are much too complex for most due to multiple long blind dead ends, or alternatively have too simple a sequence and no challenge. Benjamin always gets it right, and Matruschka is a beautiful example. This chunky puzzle is made from Wenge, Cherry and Acacia with a diminutive stand made from Merbau. Looking at it, I was slightly confused as there only appears to be Wenge and Cherry visible, but after a couple of moves, the reason for the name and the extra wood type becomes apparent. A matryoshka doll is the name for the Russian nested dolls, but here Benjamin and the Pelikan team have taken the idea and altered it a little bit to make a nested burr.

The initial exploration reveals quite a few possible moves, and I was worried about having lots of long blind ends to explore, memorise and discount on my way to the correct solution. You can be reassured that, as usual, Benjamin has got it just right. There are quite a few possible ways to start, but the sequences are short before they stop, and you are forced to look elsewhere. The tolerances of the burr manufacture are superb, with everything sliding beautifully. The correct sequence is very well hidden, but once found, you are quickly on your way to the disassembly, and more and more pieces can be removed after you look for the unlocking sequence. The burr within a burr is revealed nicely:

Acacia burr nested within the final 3 large burr sticks

Once the inner burr is released, it can also be disassembled into 6 very beautiful sticks and then the whole lot displayed. 

 

That's a LOT of burr sticks!

The reassembly would actually have been possible for me without the use of burrtools, as I had sequentially removed pieces and placed them in their correct order and orientation on a table. I think most puzzlers should also manage the reassembly if they are careful to do this. Unfortunately, a cat decided to run across my carefully arranged table and scatter the sticks widely. A few unsafe for blogging words were uttered, and Burrtools was going to be my next step.

Once you have done the reassembly that you found then it is time to do it all over again! The 3-piece stand that is interestingly burr shaped can actually be reassembled inside the 6 piece burr so we end up with a burr in a burr in a burr! This is simply amazing!!!

This is a wonderful challenge for all burr aficionados, just the right difficulty level! With an extra twist at the end.

Surround Wil

Surround Wil by Frederic Boucher

There seems to be no end to the puzzle design skills of Frederic Boucher - there are several of his designs in this upcoming Pelikan release. This delightful packing puzzle is fun and should be perfect for all puzzlers of all levels. The puzzle is made from Acacia and a very vibrant Purpleheart. It is quite reminiscent of some of the packing puzzles by Yuu Asaka. There are 4 longer pieces with curved ends, and half-circles cut out, plus 5 disks, all to be fitted into a tray that is too small to take the long pieces side-by-side. If you look at my photo, the top-most large piece is tilted as it doesn't fit in.

This inability to fit the pieces side by side is a big clue that you need to get inventive with how the big pieces can be organised. I found a lovely way to get them all in the tray, but then the half-circle cutouts had been filled, with no space left for the disks. Time to think© and get creative. There is a lovely Aha! moment in this one, and it is very satisfying to pack them all in. This will be coming to work with me to challenge my colleagues - it's perfect for casual puzzling..

T Time!

T Time! by Frederic Boucher

This wonderfully clever packing puzzle by Frederic had me fooled for most of the week. It looks like a simple tray packing puzzle, but there is MUCH more to it. There is a 5x5 space inside the tray and 5 T-shaped pieces to be fitted inside alongside a 2x2 smiley disc. That doesn't look too difficult until you realise that the tray is covered by an acrylic cover with a T-shaped hole in it, in one corner. This explains the nicely curved corners on the pieces - they need to be inserted and manipulated using the holes in the bottom of the tray, plus some use of gravity, until they are in position. There will obviously need to be some rotational moves as they cannot possibly be arranged in the same orientation as the hole in the lid. It doesn't take long to find at least one (if not a few) possible arrangements of the pieces in that 5x5 space, but then the fiddly task of actually getting them into place begins, and, OMG, it's difficult! I spent several days trying everything I could to pack them all in. Nothing would work, and I had to stop for a bit and think© again. 

Finally, after several days of work, I had a special thought (unusual for me!) and realised that there was something very unusual about the design. My jaw dropped when I finally succeeded - Frederic is a genius!

Convolution Cube

Convolution Cube by Stewart Coffin

Convolution ball

Over the 15 years of this website, I have reviewed several versions of the Convolution puzzle by the amazing Stewart Coffin. This incredible interlocking design is not solvable by Burrtools due to the requirement for a rotational move with one of the pieces (does that make it a TIC?). I have a version from Brian Menold and a fabulous spherical version from Pelikan.

I personally would say that a Convolution (as well as its associated cousins, Involute and Involution) should be part of every serious puzzler's collection. All 3 are essential. If you don't have this, then you owe it to yourself to buy a copy. The Pelikan team have done a wonderful job creating this out of multiple different beautifully vibrant woods and the fit is just perfect!

Only 7 pieces but great fun!

The next bunch of puzzles will be reviewed next week - they include more from Dr Volker Latussek, another from Benjamin Heidt and then yet another unusual puzzle from Frederic Boucher. Wish me luck solving them!

More Stupendous Pelikan Success

Involute Ball

I would appear to have been extremely successful in my reviewing process! As I write, all the puzzles apart from one on the Pelikan puzzle website are sold out apart from the Trirods ball (also well worth purchasing). After my last review all the rest went very quickly - well done to Jakub and Jaroslav for such a tremendous success. I have been asked for my thoughts on the last few that I bought from their recent batch and have just now managed to find time.

Involute ball and Brian Menold's wonderful cube version

Convolution ball

Starting with the Involute ball, Stewart Coffin designed the involute cube as an improvement of the original convolution cube and it became another of my favourite puzzle designs. Of course Pelikan made a delightful spherical version of Convolution cube which I adore and keep on show in my living room – I even have permission from Mrs S because it is so beautiful. When Jakub gave me a copy of the involute ball as a Christmas gift I was absolutely delighted! The woods are beautiful and the wood turning is perfect. The disassembly is just like the original cube and a wonderful sequence which can prove to be quite a challenge if you are new to interlocking wooden puzzles due to the combined coordinate motion and rotational move that is required (I have had some correspondence from a relative newcomer who got stuck which required me to make a video to help him).

200 posts - I have been VERY bad!

I really cannot believe it! This is my 200th post and, looking at my analytics data, I should achieve 200,000 page views in the next week or two! Is this a cue for a torrent of mushy nonsense from me? No! Yes! Alright - just a little bit. It hardly seems long ago that I passed the 100 post mark - this time I'm going to be:

"Wondering about wood,

being 'Fuller' it,

admiring the Pelikan,

being amazed at a burl

and finally, going CraaaazyBad with Traiphum"

I've not lost my marbles yet again - it will all make sense soon! Recently I have been buying new toys like there was no tomorrow so basically, to mark this occasion, I thought I would show off a few of the most beautiful and challenging puzzles that have arrived recently and describe my experiences with them. Many are still available for you to add to your collection. Hopefully this catharsis will make me feel better and help Mrs S forgive me!!!

Wood Wonders

Brian Menold is the head honcho at Wood Wonders (actually he's the only honcho) and I have been buying from him for 2 years now - his workmanship has developed during that period until it rivals some of the best in the business and like most (if not all) puzzle people he is a delight to communicate and do business with. During the penultimate sale, due to a quirk with the sales system on his site, I had all the puzzles in my basket snatched from me whilst I used my 2 factor authentication with PayPal - yes Nigel, I hope you feel guilty! As a result of this, he held the one puzzle I had managed to keep and when the next batch came out he contacted me to assure me that I would be able to get those I lost this time. Amongst a decent batch I obtained 3 particularly interesting puzzles from him:

Pyramidal Pile

4 Piece Pyramid

The first 2 are classic designs by Stewart Coffin and are beautifully made. It must be hard enough to make puzzles which are based on a cubic piece, but to make puzzles out of all sorts of other shapes just blows my mind! The pyramidal pile is, gulp, a sort of packing puzzle/construction puzzle. The lovely pyramid (made from Bocote with a Yellowheart tray) can be tipped out to reveal the pieces!

Stewart Coffin's Involute from Wood Wonders

A few weeks ago word went around the Revomaze forums about Brian Menold's craftsmanship. His website is Wood Wonders and he has a small number of beautifully made wooden puzzles to purchase. He also visits various craft fairs and sells direct from them. I contacted him to see what he had and whether he would post to the UK. Recently his 30 year old daughter died of breast cancer and I was rather reticent about contacting him but he was a true gentleman and was pleased to hear from me and said that he was hoping to start shipping puzzles again soon. I left it a while and we resumed contact. His puzzles are hand made from various woods (including some exotic ones) and they are all very reasonably priced. I asked about 4 puzzles and he gave me a selection of woods to choose from. They arrived pretty quickly. This is the first of my reviews.

Involute

The first review, I feel, should be something fairly special. This one is the Involute puzzle - it is Stewart Coffin's design #214 and is an improvement on the Convolution cube (design #30). It is 8 pieces rather than the Convolution's 7 and is a pretty challenging puzzle. I know it is only a 4x4x4 cube so how difficult can it be? Just wait!!! It has been reviewed by Allard here. Brian offers both of them in a number of woods but he had the Involute available in Zebra wood. I do not have anything in this particular wood, in fact I have never seen it before. So after a short sojourn into Google to get an idea about the different woods then it was a no-brainer to choose this exotic one.

A Bountiful Bonanza of Beautiful and Positively Perplexing Puzzles

OR...
I've been a VERY bad boy again!


After a little "issue" I decided that it was time I spoiled myself and bought some of the puzzles I had been hankering after. The present Mrs S has managed to acquire another 2 Mulberry handbags for her "collection" and so she did not mind too much when I decided that I deserved a treat.

This means that over the next few months as I solve them, you also will get a treat as I describe them to you in all their glory! (I will still discuss the more every day puzzles too!!)

All right all right! I'll spill the beans! My first acquisition after months of saving up was the Opening Bat from Mr Puzzle - from what I can gather, this is the piéce de résistance of the puzzling world - it is staggeringly lovely and very large!! I got mine just in the nick of time before the last one sold out.

I've waited a long time for this!

I couldn't resist the last batch of puzzles from Eric Fuller's Cubic dissection site! I was originally only going to buy 3 but changed my mind at the last moment and bought all 4 new ones:

Slow Waltz
I Shall be Released           Chen's 6 Board Burr             N-One

Of course that's not it - the wonderful Brian Menold also produced another batch of new puzzles for sale on his site Wood Wonders. I could resist another packing puzzle - Blockhead (designed by Bill Cutler) and you know how I love interlocking cubes, so I bought Convolution (designed by Stewart Coffin):

Blockhead

Convolution

I am just starting to get a little embarrassed now! But what was I to do when after ordering lots of others, I heard from Wil Strijbos (my puzzle pusher) about some brand new puzzles of his own design? Well, I had to buy them too didn't I?

New Dovetail and First Box

I had also been having a conversation with Jerry McFarland for some time and reminded him about something I had ordered 9 months ago. He had one partially finished in stock so I asked him to send it out when finished and it arrived yesterday! These are stunningly beautiful and really quite large!

Quadlock 4

At the last Midlands puzzle party, I saw a few people attempting the Brandenburg gate puzzle and saw how difficult it was. After reading Allard's review, I asked the wonderful Bernhard Schweitzer whether there were any left. I managed to nab the very last one and he knows how much I love cubes, so he gave me a freebie - a prototype he has made of Jos Bergmans' Star Lock Puzzle. I have solved the latter, but the former is causing me quite a lot of grief just now - how can 3 simple pieces be so damn difficult to get apart?

Brandenburg Gate

Star Lock Puzzle

There can't be any more can there? Ahem (looks a bit sheepish!!!!)

Stellated Improved Square Face

Also at the MPP, I saw a copy of this and it reminded me that I had been emailing the amazing Scott Peterson about some cubes. I then remembered that it had been 9 months since our last contact, so I emailed again and he hadn't yet made any cubes but had another one of these available - it is based on Coffin's Improved Square Face burr puzzle but Scott had altered the ends to give them a stellated shape. It is absolutely gorgeous! Even the present Mrs S had to admit that it was lovely (although she still won't let me put it in the living room!)

Popplock T2

So how about that being the last of them? I'm afraid not. As you know I am quite partial to the occasional Popplock and one of my fellow revomaze forum members wanted to sell his T2. He posted on line and it was mine in another 1/2 hour! Gulp!!

Ghost cube

I also have a ghost cube in transit just now:

And,   Oh dear!!! Vaclav Obsivac also added more stuff to his site - luckily they are very reasonably priced so another 6 Vinco puzzles are on their way!!

So! I do apologise! I've been very very bad!

A Burrtastic (but painful) Week! A Wish Come True!

Mimicry

Last week's blog post was all about metal puzzles - I did manage a short abstinent period but I'm very easily swayed and it only takes a little push to have me back playing with my wood! In the middle of January I received a couple of new puzzles from Jakub Dvořák of the New Pelikan Workshop and a few days later they were made generally available for you all to buy. This gorgeous looking burr has kept me occupied for a couple of weeks and I finally managed to solve it last Friday. This one is called Mimicry and is designed by the incredible Christoph Lohe whose designs always seem to add something new and fun to explore. This puzzle is not yet on Puzzlewillbeplayed so there was no chance for me to cheat by looking up the pieces and entering them into Burrtools.

Jakub and Jaroslav have made this with their usual extreme perfection and every move has just the right amount of resistance. It is 77mm cubed and made of Maple, Purpleheart and Wenge. At level 27.18 it is a real challenge. Christoph says this about the design:

"This design exists of six 2x2 sticks of length 6 in an unusual 6x6x6 frame which I think has never been used before. The frame consists of twelve 4x1 rods which are connected by eight internal corner voxels. Because of these internal corners, the puzzle is densely packed. The sticks are bicolored and the frame is tricolored to result in a unique 27.18 solution. Ignoring the colors there are more than thousand solutions, starting from level 1. The name 'Mimicry' was selected as the outer appearance looks like six 2x4 sticks of length 6."

Of course when I was offered the chance to buy it, I couldn't resist! I love my burrs but really like a level that is challenging and fun. As my friend Jose Dias says; "any puzzle with too high a level ceases to be fun and becomes work", I can honestly say that whilst level 27 sounds very high, it is actually a perfectly solvable puzzle by anyone with a little bit of burr experience. There is a little bit of work because there are quite a lot of blind ends in the solution path, but they are not so long that you risk getting lost. The correct path is long and winding and has a few tricky moves but never enough to dishearten you.

Fourfold and a brief MPP tale

Fourfold

Today will need to be a fairly quick blog post. I spent all day yesterday down in Birmingham at the 21st Midlands Puzzle Party and so really owe the present Mrs S some of my time this weekend. She has had me doing chores and the weekly shopping but has generously allowed me to write my weekend post as long as I don't spend too long. I don't want to risk a Whack! Ouch! or worse so this is a quickie (but still a good puzzle to be reviewed).

The puzzle pictured above is the Fourfold puzzle which I bought from Tomas Linden's Sloyd puzzle store. It was designed by Ad van der Schagt who seems to have been reasonably prolific in several puzzle areas. Puzzle Master have some of his burr designs and Sloyd have quite a few disentanglement designs. I picked this because it looked horrific with a very long string intertwining everything and because it was rated as 4 stars out of a possible 4 in difficulty by the producers - Eureka puzzles. I have had quite a few new disentanglement puzzles recently and have singularly failed to solve most of them. Either I have lost my mojo or I have picked out some seriously tough puzzles to work on! I took the Fourfold to work one day in the hope of finding a moment to have a play. Several of my colleagues were fairly horrified at the complexity of it and I expressed the fear that a very large knot may ensue which I might not be able to undo. But these challenges are sent to try us!