Continuing my Pelikan Romp

Giegeldonk special version

Giegeldonk available now

You will be pleased (at least I hope you will) to read that I am feeling much better today! The pain is greatly improved after my operation and I am on much less painkillers and the really strong stuff is no longer clouding my already feeble bwain! I might even manage to solve something now.

Last week I wrote about 2 most unusual designs on sale at the New Pelikan Workshop. There are just 1 or 2 of each of those designs left just now so go get them whilst you can - you really will not regret it. At the same time that Jakub and Jaroslav released these they also produced some more "conventional" puzzles which I left until later. The Giegeldonk is a design by the extremely talented Klaas Jan Damstra which he made during a carnival week in Holland. It was named after the district that he lives in and began with the shape of the external frame. It is available in 2 versions just now (limited numbers left) Cherry and Padauk (right hand version above) or Elm and Wenge and I was really delighted when Jakub offered me a chance to buy a special one that he would not be selling to the general public - the left hand copy is Wenge and Padauk. I know that means I have 2 copies of one puzzle but it is gorgeous!

The Geigeldonk looks like a conventional 6 piece burr in a beautifully complex frame and initial play doesn't change this idea but there is actually very little movement possible at first. I think 4 of the sticks can move just a single unit along and that seems to be it. I was a little flummoxed for a few minutes before I noticed something special which led to something REALLY interesting. After that there seemed to be a lot of space inside but surprisingly little unlocking of the pieces. I love it when a burr doesn't just become a huge unstable mess with pieces that can move every which way. I always use my "back and forth" technique which lays down memories of pathways but does make it very longwinded if there are a lot of blind paths. After 3 rather big moves had been made and memorised, I could see inside and was surprised at how much space there was. It should allow me to plan an attack path through. BUT for some reason I could find quite a few small possible paths but nothing that seemed to go anywhere. I was stuck in this place for 3 evenings and becoming convinced that I had been wrong despite making what seemed like good progress. Finally I pissed off Mrs S by shouting aloud when I found a crucial move that had been hiding in plain sight! Phew! At the moment in my recuperating state, she is still being gentle with me! This might explain why I have managed to survive receiving 3 new packages of toys in 3 days this week!

Having removed the first piece, these puzzles usually get much easier after that but because of the shape of the frame here and the way the sticks seem to interlock with each other, the puzzle remains a challenge to remove each subsequent piece - even the last 2 pieces don't just slip out easily they require careful looking and planning to unhook. After 4 days of strife I was overjoyed to solve the puzzle and have the full glory of the level 51(13.14.15.2.4.3) revealed. At that point I had the very sudden realisation that all the 6 sticks were identical which was most unexpected as well as a delight to see:

A gorgeous frame and 6 identical sticks

The difficulty was partially explained by the fact that it is an 8x8x8 grid aalowing much more complexity. Interestingly I was able to reassemble this puzzle from scratch too. Part of it was sheer memory but also it seems to be a nice logical sequence to work through as long as one remembers the rough orientation of the pieces as they enter. I absolutely love this puzzle! It is one of the very best designs that Klaas has produced - just the right difficulty level. Get one now whilst the stocks last!

The Four Hands Puzzle

The final puzzle today is sadly sold out already, the Four Hands puzzle is another fantastic design by the amazing Ray Stanton who seems to specialise in coordinate motion puzzles of varying complexity. I have quite a few by him (made beautifully by Pelikan of course) and they are always a wonder to behold. Ray wrote the spiel for it on the site and said:

"This is called the ‘Four Hands Puzzle’ because even after you have figured out how the pieces should go together, it helps if you have four hands to complete the assembly. This is the most difficult puzzle in the series, and my personal favorite. Given the complexity of both the relative motion and the geometry of the pieces, I believe that this is one of the most complex coordinate motion puzzles ever made. The puzzle is difficult to fabricate because all the interaction between the pieces requires that very tight tolerances be maintained. The craftsmen at Pelikan did a great job as usual, and they created a really really nice looking puzzle with beautiful contrasting woods. Enjoy."

I first saw this in the design competition room in Paris. Ray had entered it and unfortunately it did not win a prize but several of us had great fun playing with it and scaring ourselves to death by its' sudden movements and bid for freedom! I recall my first play with it, I picked it up whilst standing at the table and casually pushing and pulling in various places. It took a few minutes before I had found the correct finger positions before very smoothly and VERY quickly it began to slide apart. I yelped and nearly dropped it on the floor!!! Scared me half to death - I read the name and counted my own upper limbs and thought there was a deficiency somewhere! Over the weekend I went back to it a couple of times and took it to just the point where a single piece would come out and then I would stop and reassemble. I never got the courage to take it any further in that room.

Push and pull just right and this happens

I was delighted when I got the chance to buy my own copy - if Ray says this is his favourite and one of the most complex coordinate motion puzzles ever made then I have to have one! Although I have to say that the Kamikaze Burr Limited Edition puzzle from Brian Young is pretty damned complex too! It also scared me half to death when I solved it - review is here. The Four Hands Puzzle is stunningly made from Wenge, acacia, padauk and purpleheart and turned to sheer spherical perfection. Like all of Jakub's "balls" the feel is wonderful! When I got my own copy I couldn't resist quickly having a play. With the humidity recently here, it was a little stiff but at least it didn't attempt to detonate itself like the Kamikaze burr and the version I played with in Paris. After I found the starting movement I took my photo and threw caution to the wind and just "went for it":

Nice pile o' pieces

I was quickly left with a pile of pieces and a bit of a dilemma! Unlike Ray and many other good puzzlers, I only have 2 hands and my brain power leaves a lot to be desired. I was very unsure whether I would be able to assemble it ever again! I did not dare ask "she who holds my recovery in her grasp" to lend me one or 2 of her own hands! I was going to have to force myself to work this out myself. I assembled the pieces into an order to allow me to see how they differed and was flabbergasted at the number of bevels there were:

Looks impossible! Anybody got any spare hands?

It took me 2 days before I had it back together and required both hands, a knee and the tip of my nose! I was certain that was not the best way to do it but at least I had assembled it myself and without endangering my life. After that I admit that I did look at the instructions that Jakub had sent out. Apparently there are just just enough mm available on certain pieces that it can be done with one pair of hands! Amazing! I did it several times after that and love it! It really is a masterpiece of geometric design and manufacture. I cannot wait to see what Ray comes up with next. If one of these comes up at auction then jump on it - you really don't want to miss out on one of the best coordinate motion designs ever.

There is a wonderful YouTube video on the Pelikan site from Tim Rowett showing off various IPP puzzles that may be available on Grand Illusions soon. At 2m 35s he shows the Four Hands Puzzle coming apart. I have added it below:

Pelikan and Pluredro Puzzle Perfection

Little Dance

Continuing on the theme from last week, I will focus on another few puzzles I have had some success with recently. It would appear that the last week or so has seen my puzzling mojo return with a vengeance and I have managed to solve some really rather tough puzzles. Little Dance was another of the gorgeous puzzles that I bought from Jakub at the New Pelikan Workshop. I have quite a few puzzles from Klaas Jan Damstra who seems to specialise in puzzles with very interesting shapes and puzzling moves. He designed the incredible Canal House which I discussed here.

Because it was from Klaas and because it was a very interesting shape and also because it is gorgeous in Wenge and Padauk, I had to buy a copy. This was reinforced when I read the description from the designer on the product page:

“This puzzle is gorgeous in contrasting Wenge and Padauk. With level 10.3.2.3 it should not be too difficult. While assembling / disassembling the pieces move around one another, hence the name Little Dance.”

I love puzzles with pieces that dance around each other during the solve process - I find it very elegant.

The first thing that struck me when I received this was how beautiful it was and also how absolutely perfect the joinery is. It is almost impossible to see where one piece stops and an adjacent one begins. After photos and a little fiddle I found 2 moves and proceeded from there. There are a couple of blind ends and choices to be made early on. The 2 pairs of pieces are very similar in shape and it is quite easy to get confused and really very difficult to lay down any memories of exactly what has been done. My usual back and forth technique was proving quite tough because, whilst it was quite easy to return to the beginning, I really struggled to work out what I had done each time. The further I got into the solution the worse this got. For a while I got quite stuck....almost all movements apart from the return were blocked. Time to think© and look carefully. I realised that there is a subtle difference between the 2 bigger pieces and this needs to be used in just the right direction.

I reckon it must have taken me about an hour in my usual inefficient meandering method of dismantling this sort of puzzle. I did get sidetracked when I found at one point that rotational moves are possible and needed to concentrate to prevent them from occurring by accident. I balanced the pieces on the sleeping cat who didn't even stir and admired the workmanship:

Very similar pairs of pieces and a symmetrical frame make this confusing

With such a low level of solution I decided to be brave and leave the pieces scrambled for about 20 minutes before attempting the reassembly......BIG mistake!!! I had a vague idea of what I had done and remembered the rough directions of the dance but for the life of me could not remember which piece started where. I had a little panic before pulling myself together and having another go at that thinking© thing - I'm really not very good at it. I found that I was able to plan out some of the moves outside of the frame and then tried them inside it. I got stuck for about 30 minutes before realising that I had started with a simple piece in the wrong place and it was getting in my way later. With that false start in my head, I restarted and BINGO! Phew! No need to resort to Burrtools. I am not very good at assembly but if I have a little knowledge from the disassembly then that is just the little boost that I need. It really is a clever design and wonderfully implemented by Jakub and Jaroslav.

The Little dance is still available from the Pelikan store now (only 5 left as I write) so go get it whilst you can. At 29€ it's an absolute bargain!

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Deadly Romance designed by Markus Götz

Unfortunately the Deadly Romance puzzle has sold out since last week's blog post. I think this may have been Markus' exchange puzzle at this year's IPP (except he gave it away in pieces as an assembly puzzle). I bought this from Jakub because it was very similar in idea and shape to the wonderful Identical Twins that I reviewed last week. I am actually quite glad that Jakub decided to send it out fully assembled as it was difficult enough for me that I know that I would never have managed to assemble it myself and that Burrtools would not be any help at all.

Markus wrote this about it:
“How difficult can it be to put two small pieces into a frame? Well, decide yourself and try with this nicely challenging puzzle. It consists of a cage, which is made of two different colored woods (dark/bright), and two puzzle pieces, which are also made using these two colors. Due to the color constraint the final location/position of the pieces inside the frame should be quite clear – but then the question arises: ‘How to get the two pieces into these positions?’ And this is exactly where the real fun of the puzzle starts! Enjoy.”

I never get peace!

My initial disassembly exploration revealed some very pleasing moves as the pieces dance around each other within the frame. Then there is a blockage and I couldn't go any further. I decided that my beginning moves must have been wrong so I began again but could not find any alternative moves. Every time I ended back at the same blocked area. With my thinking muscle seeming to be malfunctioning, I put it down on the cat (Every single time I sit down one or more of the cats immediately curls up on my legs) and watched some TV with Mrs S. When I looked back at the puzzle I noticed that something had moved in a rather unexpected direction just by being perched precariously. This was very unexpected (would you expect a sleeping cat to be better at puzzles than you?) and I picked it up and continued the move.....Aha! This was absolutely genius - I had been looking completely in the wrong direction. This move was too perfect to be anything other than by design. Having done this unusual move it set me  up for another pair of moves like it and the first piece was removed. A little exploration and I had this:

A lovely frame and 2 relatively simple pieces.

I am delighted that Jakub sent this one out as an assembled puzzle - there is just no way that I would have managed to assemble it from scratch. In the end my reassembly did take a little bit longer than expected because one of the pieces can be inserted in 2 different orientations and the "law of Sod" of course had me trying the wrong one for about 20 minutes first! Yep! I really am not very bright!

I don't know if Jakub plans on making any more of this but it might be worth while asking and if they come up at auction in the future then this is well worth a little punt.

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Pluredro Perfection

Cubin Burr with Pisa #2 inside

I have been a proud collector of puzzles either designed or made by the awesome Junichi Yananose for quite a few years. He has worked alongside Brian Young (MrPuzzle) for a very long time. Juno (as he likes to be called) has an incredible brain and seems to be able to visualise things in his head that are too complex for the normal human being to understand (just take a look at the IPP hosts gift from Paris and you will see what I mean). He has recently set up his own blog and shop which I have begun following very closely.

I met him (and his wife Yakuri) at their table in the Puzzle party room at the IPP in Paris and watched in awe as Goetz counted out several 100€ for something I really wanted but could not quite afford..........yet - Whack! Ouch! Sorry dear - I mean ever! Once Goetz had finished I admired all the wonderful puzzles that Juno had made and designed and in the end couldn't resist buying some. He was incredibly trusting as I had run out of euros by then and was resorting to the PayPal app on my phone but when he couldn't remember his PayPal address, he offered to let me take the puzzles and he would email me an invoice later. Wow! What amazing trust!

A month later when I was sure that they had finished their European travels and gotten home to Australia I had still not received the expected bill. I dropped him an email to remind him and he professed to have completely forgotten. After a little PayPal move (I almost always pay as a gift to craftsmen), I could now feel like a legitimate owner of some wonderful puzzles.

The Cubin Burr was definitely something I couldn't resist - firstly it is big and beautiful (11.6cm cubed and fabulously crafted from Victorian Ash, Oak, Blackbean and Silver Ash - the grain in the wood is gorgeous) and second, it is two puzzles in one. I told Mrs S that it was a bargain (which she didn't quite believe). I began to play with it a week after the IPP and realised that there was a LOT of movement in the pieces. I shied away at first because it felt like I would quickly lose sight of what went where but eventually I "screwed my courage to the sticking place" and persisted with it trying very hard to remember what was happening. After a just a few rather interesting moves that progressed in a sort of logical sequence I had this:

The pieces look rather simple (a big cube was inside)

Juno's branded signature mark

One thing to notice within the pieces is the wonderful branded signature. Having read about how it came about on their blog, I was delighted to be able to have a good look at it.

Inside the external board burr I had a cube which is called Pisa #2. This apparently was not the original cube that was designed to go inside (it was originally intended that the Penta cuboid would go inside but proved not to be stable enough). The Pisa #2 had been designed originally in 1994 for the Hikimi competition and proved to be stable and free standing so perfect to put inside the Cubin burr. I carefully put the Pisa #2 aside for a bit and continued exploring the Cubin burr. The pieces are incredibly simple and I had a quick try at reassembling it without the cube inside. There are some fairly large slots in the edges and I thought it would be quite easy to do. I was wrong! It took me about an hour to get the boards back together to look like this:

Back in shape but without the central cube it won't hold it's shape

Out of interest, I went to Burrtools to make my customary model (I lurve doing this and, for me, no puzzle is complete until I have also made a BT file for it) - it informed me that there are 7 possible assemblies without the central cube but despite that I had really struggled to find just the one! I then set to attempting the reassembly with the central cube in situ. Despite 4 or 5 hours of attempts I could not seem to make any headway and I proceeded to make the cubed model. Just one assembly possible but it was not to be found at that point. Time to move on to the Pisa #2 - strange name but the reason for it becomes obvious as soon as you pull it apart:

Pisa #2 pieces

Just like the famous leaning tower the pieces of this puzzle have a leaning central dowel which fits into a diagonally oriented hole. As you can see from the above picture there is one of every possible combination. There is just one solution to form the 2x2x2 cube apparently and I had thought it might be relatively easy to perform. Aaargh! Remember that I am  not very bright? I well and truly revealed that with this puzzle.....I could not for the life of me put it back together! It took me 2 evenings of swearing under my breath and receiving the laser burning stare from the Eye of Sauron before I had reassembled it. You will see from the product page (which I had not read at this stage) that the Pisa #2 should take only about a ½ hour for most puzzlers but I obviously am not "most puzzlers" - I kept finding myself with 7/8 of a cube and unable to place the final piece. It was with enormous relief and another laser stare that I finally got it back together.

It's just a 2x2x2 cube - how hard can it be? VERY!

Finally having done this, I went back to the full reassembly. I have tried it for several weeks without success and eventually resorted to my Burrtools file. I followed it very carefully and nooooo! I still couldn't get it together. The thing is the central cube moves as well as the boards and it is very hard to tell what is happening with it using BT. I also found that I didn't have enough hands to manipulate the computer as well as hold all the puzzle pieces. I thought of asking Mrs S to help and then thought again....better not!

I feared that I would be left with the puzzle in pieces forever more but then I remembered that, like Brian Young, Juno had included a printed solution with the puzzle and so I picked that up and followed it. It requires a bit of dexterity but within 10 minutes it was back together. Now why couldn't I do that with BT?

I am determined that I will understand this one so as soon as I have got my courage together I will take it apart again and play. Then I will move on to another one that I bought from them at the IPP. Don't tell Mrs S!

If you are interested in these then do go visit their blog and the Pluredro store - there are some stunning puzzles and the workmanship is terrific. Plus of course, they are a delight to do business with.

It's 2019, I Got a Bouquet and It Was FantasTIC!

Is That's a Hat-Trick?

......Erm No. This is About 4 Puzzles and Not 3!

Bouquet

At last, I have finally found some time to play with some toys and might have had some success at last! Yay! I can now tell Mrs S that I do still need to buy new toys as I am solving the old ones. I am not sure she believes me but I am sticking to my story.

I am going to start with the Bouquet which I bought from my good friend Brian Menold's Wood Wonders store quite some time ago (I am ashamed to admit that I got it way back in August and it has sat on, under or next to my puzzle chair ever since then! I love variants on 6 piece burrs (hence I own quite a few burr sets) and a burr with a frame (like Terry Smart's Premiere puzzle which I reviewed here) is completely irresistible for me. The fact that this particular puzzle was designed by another friend, Christophe Lohe, makes it even more special - he has a unique talent for designing puzzles that are just the right difficulty level and really interesting to solve. When I say "just the right difficulty level", I do mean it despite this taking me 3 months to complete!

Brian made a few copies of this in a number of different wood varieties and my rather striking copy is a Wenge frame, with Padauk and Maple burr sticks. It is simply stunning on display - maybe that is the real reason I left that on or around my chair for so long? BLUSH! It is very tactile, a lovely weight and feel to the finish (as we have come to expect from Brian) and I kept failing at it! There are quite a lot of moves possible from the beginning...some of them really look like they are leading somewhere until the trail runs cold and backtracking is required. Not only are the paths quite deep but there are several of them! They all look so enticing that I default to my "Einsteinian insanity" approach and kept getting surprised when nothing happened. Yes, I know, "she" is quite right...I am NOT terribly bright! I think I am supposed to be quite good at puzzling after such a long time but I always struggle.

Round and round and round in circles, I went! Surprisingly never getting bored (this shows how good a design it is) and as always got nowhere. I was obviously missing a critical move somewhere. But where? In fact, I was missing 37 moves (the puzzle is level 23.3.5.3.3)! In shame, I kept doing the same thing and putting the puzzle down for a few hours or days and even had thoughts of shelving it for a while - then in October, Mike published a review saying that he had managed his copy after just a few weeks. I continued my advance into madness and worked on it every evening. There had been a few comments on Facebook about it slightly taunting my prowess which kept me motivated.

At Last!!!!!

Finally, earlier this week I found something - instead of doing the same thing over and over again, I made a few moves and looked inside (visibility is great with this puzzle) and saw a potential opening. What if I???? Oooh! That's nice! Suddenly a new configuration but blocked again for a while. After a little more brain-ache, I realised that there was a certain rhythm to the sequence and then the first piece came out followed by the second. Removing the third and later pieces took a bit of figuring too as I tried to avoid inadvertent rotations and also keep a vague memory of the piece positions.

Wow! That is an absolutely brilliant BRILLIANT puzzle! The movement of the pieces is perfect thanks to Brian's craftsmanship and the design is simply awesome! This is one of the best 6 piece burr variants I have played with. Well done Chris! It is no longer available (due to the excessive time I spent solving it) but if you see one come up at auction then don't ask any questions, just buy it!

2019

Another puzzle which I received from Brian in the same delivery was the 2019 puzzle designed by the equally amazing Klaas Jan Damstra, another absolute favourite designer of mine. I wasn't sure about this particular design but I cannot buy just one puzzle from Brian...I think I may have bought 5 at that time!! Whack! Ouch! Brian made it sound intriguing with his description:

These pieces move about within the frame quite freely despite the rather close tolerance of the frame to the pieces. I was afraid there may be some unintended solutions but I was not able to find any. Not terribly difficult but a pretty good challenge that seems easier than it really is!

When it arrived, and I tried to take photos of it, I was amazed at just how mobile the pieces are! They basically slide around freely all over the place, including lots of rotation of all the pieces. It feels like it is just going to fall to bits but despite all the movement, it remarkably remains intact. It was really quite tough to make it sit nicely for a decent photo - in fact, if you turn it upside down it will not sit nicely to take a picture!

Despite all this movement, it is not a trivial puzzle to solve and there are no illegal solutions either. I played with this one when I got fed up with failing at Bouquet and realised after a couple of days that this also needed to be solved by looking inside. Once I started doing this then the Aha! moment occurred and I said to Mrs S that "I love it when a plan comes together" (that is for those of you old enough to remember the A-team). After 3 or 4 evenings of fiddling I had my 2 pairs of sticks and the lovely pinwheel frame:

That was a nice piece of fun

The reassembly is not a terribly hard challenge but you must remember which orientation to hold the frame and then try not to get the order of the pieces wrong when you put them back.

FantasTIC by Andrew Crowell

I cannot resist buying a TIC (Turning Interlocking Cube) when a new one comes up for sale! My collection is now pretty extensive - not quite up to the level of the world expert, Bernhard but still pretty good. I had noticed that there had been a couple of TICs in the IPP design competition and they looked like they had been made by Brian (apparently they hadn't). The designer initially was not known but let's face it...we ALL know who has been turning out TIC designs like there is no tomorrow for the last year or so! Yes, Andrew Crowell is some kind of evil genius when it comes to these. The sheer complexity and beauty of the designs that just pop into his head is nothing short of incredible. Luckily for the puzzling community, Andrew had allowed Brian to make a nice batch of them after the IPP was complete.

I had bought a few TIC's at the same time as I bought the Bouquet and 2019 puzzles but mostly they remain unsolved as a small pile of pieces around my puzzle chair. Despite that, the new ones looked so gorgeous that I had to have them. If Andrew thought they were good enough for the competition then that was all the encouragement I needed. These arrived at the beginning of November, after taking my photo and admiring the gorgeous combination of Purpleheart, Redheart, Yellowheart and Holly that had been used, I set to work straight away.

They are a wonderful 3 phase challenge...firstly, work out where everything needs to go (this can sometimes be a massive challenge if the pieces are small or not very complex). Secondly, try to establish the order in which the pieces might need to be added to the puzzle and finally, twist your bwain in the same way that Andrew has when he worked out all the required rotations. For many of these puzzles, I even get stuck at the first stage of the solve process! A puzzle with rotational moves always comes with the ever-present worry that a glued joint will be snapped but here, Brian has excelled himself with the very attractive dowel reinforcements in the pieces at risk.

This puzzle lives up to its' name...it is truly FantasTIC!! It is not terribly terribly hard and has just enough to keep you working on it for a good few hours (in my case days) and the positioning/rotation of the pieces follows a lovely logical sequence. That is...until I attempted to place the final piece! I knew where it needed to go but for the life of me, I could not get it into position. I tried to change the order of insertion but that just blocked other pieces. Stuck - AGAIN! Sob! After playing and sleeping on it for a couple of nights, I had the most marvellous Aha! moment! A very unexpected rotation suddenly leapt into my tired brain and I had my cube:

It lives up to its' name!
Andrew and Brian - you are amazing!

I have taken to storing these puzzles (as well as most of the Osanori Yamamoto packing puzzles) in the disassembled state so that I can challenge myself and friends again in the future. I went back to this one to write this article and...Lordy, that's still a huge challenge! One of my favourites of the year!

Hat-Trick by Laszlo Kmolnar

Finally, the 4th puzzle in the Hat-trick(????) from Brian is a gorgeous packing puzzle from another designer I am proud to call a friend, Laszlo Kmolnar. He is one of the most interesting packing puzzle designers out there and I try to get a copy of everything that he designs. In fact, with the names Laszlo Kmolnar, Osanori Yamamoto and Volker Latussek, we have the best packing challenge designers in the world today!

As soon as I saw this glorious creation in Box Elder and Redheart I knew I wouldn't be able to resist. The wood is stunning, the joinery on the box (with the highlighting corners) is gorgeous. Plus, another puzzle from Laszlo HAS to be added to the collection. It was a Top ten vote winner in the IPP design competition which means that there is something fun to the solution and hopefully doable by me.

The box cavity is 4x3x2 voxels in size and there are 6 identical L shapes to be placed inside. It did not take me very long to find a number of possible assemblies but at that point, I stopped dead. The T-shaped slot in the top of the box makes the insertion quite tricky! Pieces go in nicely at first and then we are stuck. It's immediately obvious that rotations are needed but where? There is a lot of space inside for the rotations to be done and I reckon I was stuck on this for a couple of evenings. The Aha! moment was a delight - it took me a couple of hours in total to solve it and with the calibre of the IPP attendees, it will be a perfect difficulty level for them to solve in the competition room.

It's gorgeous packed too!

Phew! That was quite a blog post and finally some decent solving by me! Hopefully, this winning streak will keep going! I have spent a few weeks on Brian Young's Ages sequential discovery burr and to my horror have literally only found 2 small moves so far! Luck! Don't fail me now!!!

Pelikan Perfection

The current batch of puzzles released by Pelikan

I count myself as very VERY lucky! I am offered the chance by Jakub and Jaroslav of Pelikan Puzzles to buy (Yes, I pay for them!) the releases a week or so before they are released to the general puzzling public so that I can offer any last minute advice and so that I can write something for them (in my positively perfect English) for their website to help you decide what to buy. In the past, the release of the puzzles has been delayed because I have been a bit busy at work and unable to solve the puzzles and review them quickly enough. Luckily this time, Jakub caught me just as I had a week off work (primarily for the yearly maintenance stuff like Doctor, Dentist, Optician) and had some time to work on his wonderful beauties. This time they have released 6 new puzzles with a few in a number of colour variations to choose from (they also have a couple of beautiful copies of Stephan Baumegger's Excaliburr available as well.

So today's blog post is a quick romp through each of them to help you choose.

Tom Pouce

Tom Pouce

This rather simple design by Stéphane Chomine looks like a lovely little block of Purpleheart (in my copy) or Wenge which has been wrapped in a cross (mine is made of Ash). It is quite diminutive at 70 x 70 x 30mm. Initially, only one move seems to be possible and the next move is extremely well camouflaged - it took me another 15 minutes to find the second move. After that, there is a very nice logical sequence to separate the puzzle into 4 beautifully accurately made pieces. It's not hugely tough but is a very nice introduction to interlocking puzzles.

Incredibly accurately cut pieces!

The disassembly is a perfect puzzle for a beginner but an experienced puzzler will enjoy the slightly tougher challenge of reassembling it from scrambled pieces. This happened to me when one of the cats turned over in his sleep and knocked them over - it took me another 20 minutes to reassemble it. A lovely worry bead!

Triad

Triad

Triad is a clever idea from the very devious mind of Osanori Yamamoto (I now have a huge number of puzzles designed by him). It consists of 3 fairly simple pieces trapped in a cuboidal frame (it measures 60 x 60 x 48mm when assembled). Each of the pieces is a nicely contrasting wood - it is made of an American Walnut frame with Maple, Wenge and Merbau pieces. The interlocked pieces have an L shape appearing at one end and an I shape appearing at the other. With the frame being so open and there being so few pieces, absolutely everything is visible as you move the pieces about. Random moves won’t help you, this needs a plan to disentangle them and take them out.

3 fairly simple pieces - how hard can it be?

For those who like an extra challenge, the reassembly from scratch is definitely possible and a fun challenge. For me, putting it back together was the majority of the fun - make sure you leave it a decent amount of time so that you forget the sequence and it might take you an hour to get it back to the start!

Wing Hanger

Wing Hangar - you will not receive it like this though!

Wing Hangar is a clever idea by Osanori that Jakub and Jaroslav have created in either Purpleheart and Mahogany or Wenge and Mahogany combinations. They measure 72 x 72 x 48mm. There have been a number of designs like this recently and this one is a very nice addition to the family. I first saw a member of this family of puzzles at the Paris IPP when John Rausch was carrying it around with him and challenging anyone who would sit still next to him to assemble the 2 pieces into the cage - I tried it briefly and completely failed - I was determined to get hold of a copy when I could. I was lucky enough to buy a copy of King Box from Tom Lensch earlier this year:

King Box - made by Tom Lensch

My copy from Jakub arrived fully assembled and did not take long to disassemble having played with the others recently. I suggested to Jakub that these should be sent out in pieces with the challenge being to assemble them from scratch. The challenge of working out both orientation and also the nice dance of the pieces is a fun one which all puzzlers would enjoy.

Wing Hangar pieces - this is what you will receive.

The Wing Hangar is a different design to King Box but shares certain features, it is a fun thing for me to assemble both of the puzzles one after the other. You would definitely enjoy this one from Pelikan.

If you are interested here is what King Box looks like when assembled:

King Box finally together - it took me 2 hours!

Addition

Addition

This startlingly beautiful puzzle is quite small at 50mm along each edge and is available in Purpleheart and Apple or Merbau and Apple. I think it is one of the most gorgeous in the release this time.

It was designed by Klaas Jan Damstra who seems to specialise in producing puzzles with unusual shapes and very elegant solutions. Jakub and Jaroslav have outdone themselves with the construction of this puzzle - it is stunning! This one is the only one that I was not asked for a comment on - Klaas wrote this for them:

“Addition is one of a series of designs with a mathematical theme. With three nearly identical pieces in a frame, 13 moves are needed to get the first piece out. As the solution level is 13.2.1 both disassembly and assembly should not be too difficult. Pelikan did a fantastic job on producing this design. Two beautiful versions are available; the first is made of purpleheart and apple tree, the second of merbau and apple tree. I hope you'll find this puzzle fun to play with.”

It consists of a beautiful frame filled with what looks like + signs in each face. Opposite pluses are linked together across the centre of the frame. The shapes of the pieces are not quite as one expects and after a couple of moves, you have a pleasant surprise. The solution requires proper visualisation of the pieces and how they interact. Once the shapes are understood, then a very clever elegant wooden disentanglement using linear moves needs to be worked out.

Addition pieces

Having done it the "correct way", you should search for the bonus solution - I have found an elegant rotational solution as well which adds more to the puzzling value. At only €32 this is well worth an "addition" to your collection.

YyYy

YyYy

This oddly named puzzle is also designed by Osanori Yamamoto and has been stunningly realised by the guys at Pelikan. Available in 3 different wood combinations (Ovangkol and either Purpleheart, Wenge or Maple), it measures 60mm across each edge. It consists of 4 very similar pieces held in a rather unusually shaped frame. The quality of craftsmanship is so good that at the first viewing of it, I struggled to see where the dividing lines were between the pieces! Starting on the solving process there are quite a lot of different moves possible and finding the next key move proved a huge challenge to me. You cannot see much inside and I spent 2 evenings desperately hunting for this key move. Eventually, I found it and the rest of the disassembly was fun and logical.

YyYy pieces - very confusing if you lose track of orientation

Reassembly from scratch is a huge challenge if, like me, you inadvertently get sidetracked and forget how the pieces were oriented in the puzzle. A great challenge!

TeeTotum

Teetotum

Teetotum, designed by the incredibly talented Alfons Eyckmans, is, in my opinion, the most difficult and also the most beautiful from this release by Pelikan. At the time of writing this blog post, the description on the product page is blank as I was not able to write a review as quickly as the others because solving it took me several days - it is a seriously difficult puzzle! This puzzle is made from Pink Oak, Wenge and Padauk and the use of slipfeathers is always going to make me drool. It measures 84mm along each axis.

Alfons' original

I already had a copy of this sitting in my pile next to my armchair in the living room - this had been a nice gift from Alfons himself several months ago and I had failed to solve it and put it down in my "to be worked on" pile. Getting a new copy from Jakub with a deadline to write a review forced me to work on it again.

A mixture of plates and sticks, this puzzle requires 27 moves for the first piece removal and there are plenty of blind ends to get you lost. At several points, the puzzle seems on the verge of releasing a piece but it just won't go. I needed to backtrack many many times with this puzzle. There is only one solution for the puzzle as it is sent out (although it can be reassembled in another 24 ways according to Burrtools which I needed for the reassembly).  I could find no rotational shortcuts for this puzzle at all. This puzzle is not for beginners but is certainly perfect for any burr aficionado or collector. It will look lovely in your collection.

This is a serious puzzle and not really for beginners to burrs - it took me 3 days of play to get it apart and I suspect a good bit of luck played a part. I think it is doable by anyone with some skill at burrs, however.

Teetotum pieces - putting it together will require Burrtools!

The latest batch of puzzles from the New Pelikan Workshop are stunning and will certainly keep you interested and having fun for a while. Only one of them should be rated for experts only (Teetotum) and the rest are very solvable by beginners too. They will all look great in your shelf and are very reasonably priced. Go buy whilst they last!

Blame the Royal Mail For the Delay in Your Puzzling!

Latest Pelikan Offering

Many of you might have noticed at about midnight last night (BST) that Jakub and Jaroslav put up a bunch of new puzzles for sale on the New Pelikan Workshop. I think that they were hoping that they would go up a week ago but thanks to the Royal Mail, the date had to be put back. I do apologise! Why should the Royal Mail affect the sale of puzzles from the Czech Republic? Because Jakub always offers me the opportunity to buy the puzzles a week or so in advance and in return I write some of the descriptions and a mini-review for his site. This does mean there is a big pressure on me to photograph and solve them as quickly as I can after arrival so as not to disappoint the hungry puzzling masses.

Jakub posted out my batch of puzzles on 7th August and they left his country on the 9th. After that, there was a note on the tracking that they had arrived in London and there it stopped. It usually takes only another 48 hours to be delivered at this stage. The Royal Mail tracking site acknowledged their existence but not that they were in the UK. They were nowhere to be seen. This can not be blamed on Her Majesty's Customs and Excise department as, for the moment at least, we remain in the EU and no Customs should be due. Yes, the Royal Mail had lost them. After 10 days I even phoned them and they said this was not trackable in the UK (a lie). After another 3 days later it suddenly appeared at my house to my (and Jakub's relief - he really wanted to sell this batch of puzzles). The pressure was really on now - I had to solve them quickly so that you can buy them. As I type here it would appear that one, Petit Pack,  is already sold out. So, without further delay, here are my thoughts on the latest batch.

Petit Pack by Osanori Yamamoto

Petit Pack

Another lovely packing puzzle by the Master, Osanori Yamamoto. Pelikan has made this available in 4 gorgeous wood choices (A Cherry box and choice of Bubinga, Wenge, Purpleheart or Padauk pieces). The puzzle should be received by you with the pieces in the configuration above so that you get no clue about the eventual solution. There are just 3 pieces to fit into the 3x3 box.

3 simple pieces - I chose Purpleheart

These puzzles are a great challenge with a low number of pieces to fit in a box open at diagonally opposite corners with no gaps visible in the bigger hole. The first time I did it, I think I cheated by introducing pieces through the smaller hole and I found the challenge relatively easy. Next, it occurred to me that there might be more of a challenge if I place all pieces into the box via the front hole. This way the packing puzzle requires a lovely dance of the pieces around and has a lovely Aha! moment as you find the right order and the moves. The sequence is fun to find and at level 7.2.2, not terribly tough. It is perfect for beginners and experienced puzzles and, of course, if you are a packing puzzle collector then it's an essential purchase.

Solved it!
This one took me about 10 minutes for one approach and another 15 for the best solution

It is interesting to me that this has sold out so quickly whereas the others released by Pelikan have not. This puzzle is my least favourite of the releases this time - it is still a great little challenge but not as good as the other recent releases from Yamamoto-san including Petit ring and Pack 012.

Dunant by Volker Latussek

Dunant

Let me start off this review with these words:

GO BUY IT......NOW!

This is an absolutely amazing puzzle! Just another packing puzzle? Hell no! This is in part interlocking puzzle and part sequential movement puzzle. It is wonderful and seriously difficult. It was entered into the IPP design competition this year and it says a lot about the other entries that this did not win and award. The Aha! moment with this is a multiple and prolonged event. It is available with an Oak box and either Ovangkol or Mahogany pieces.

Initially, when you invert the box you pull out 3 pieces that simply slide in and out easily but clearly are nowhere near the solution as they protrude from the box in the start position. I initially thought that this was impossible until I realised that the 2 larger pieces can be divided up until we have 5 identical pieces.

Looks impossible here

The + shapes split in two - maybe there is a solution?

I spent a long time searching for a configuration that stands a chance of fitting in the box by searching outside the box. Even this is a tough challenge as I discovered when during a very long (7 hour) vascular angiography case I gave this to the nurses and radiographers to play with. It was fascinating to watch them all fail to even find a position that was possible. In the end, I found 2 conformations that might possibly fit inside the constraints of the box only to discover that I could not get them through the pretty large opening at the top. This was going to take a very complex sequence to get them into the box and then get them organised appropriately. I think there must be at least 3 Aha! moments in the solution and quite a lot of groaning too. This puzzle is wonderful - for €36 it's a bargain!

No! I am not going to show the solution here! Find it yourself and ask me by email if you need help.

Party by Klaas Jan Damstra

Party

I cannot resist puzzles designed by Klaas! Both he and my friend Chris Lohe seem to have a marvellous eye for a puzzle with a wonderful balance of interesting shape and fun solution without being impossibly high level or impossibly difficult.

Party is a wonderfully picturesque puzzle with a burr appearing to float in the middle of a frame. Just a three-piece burr held in an open cubic cage, how hard can it be? Well, let me tell you that it's part simple, part tough and completely fun…just like a party should be. In most good parties there should be dancing and that's just what we have. The disassembly sees the three pieces moving around and about each other in a fun way with a few but not too many choices to lead you astray.

I had an interesting and promising conformation and rotated the puzzle to look at the back when a piece dropped out onto the bemused cat on my lap. Needless to say, it didn't stay in the starting orientation! After a few more moves the remaining pieces were out and at that point, I had a wonderful realisation…all of them were identical! Wow! What a lovely and clever design!

I did not know until after I had removed them that the three pieces were identical

The real challenge comes later. Having scrambled (even if by accident) the pieces, the reassembly is a really pleasant but doable puzzle. It took me about 45 minutes and left me with a big grin – I finally had solved something (after my weeks of failure with the Slammed car and Eric's burrset) and really enjoyed the process. This puzzle is available in several choices of wood. I chose Maple frame (when Jakub posted my blurb I realised that the frame is actually Cherry) with Ovangkol which has a gorgeous grain but it is also available with Purpleheart or Wenge pieces. All are lovely!

Well worth a place in your collection even if you are not a burr fanatic.

Rattle Twist III by Osanori Yamamoto

Rattle Twist III

I already own The Rattle Twist duo (I & II) made for me by a very good puzzling friend and I was very keen to investigate this 3rd one in the series (there are even a 4th and 5th published). These puzzles are all designed by the amazing Osanori Yamamoto and his devious mind manages to produce wonderful challenges with very few pieces which may or may not require rotational moves. As a quick interesting feature let me show you that this definitely has rotations in the solution:

Mine arrived doing this and who knows where it should have started!

This puzzle shares the same pieces as the original pair but a different plate for them to be arranged within. There are 4 different woods available and I couldn't resist the Cherry (again, in my blurb for Jakub I thought that it was Maple) and Purpleheart combination. The other options are Padauk, Merbau and Bubinga. Challenge to fit just 2 pieces in a simple frame? Shouldn't take long? I thought so and I thought wrong (as usual) – it took me several hours. There's at least one rotation and the pieces get caught amongst each other blocking most moves. Eventually, I had to stop and think© about what I needed to do and how the shapes would do it before solving it. As is usual for me I tried random moves but this just would not work for me here. The moves are quite well hidden.

Finally managed it - only 2 pieces and it still took me over 2 hours!

This is a lovely idea and I'm pleased to own the third in the series – so beautifully made by Pelikan too.

Merlin by Stephan Baumegger

Merlin

Merlin is a serious work of art for serious puzzlers! This tremendous puzzle was designed by the genius Stephan Baumegger at the request of Dave Holt (The Metagrobologist) to accompany the Arthur and the Excalibur (also Cubic caged burrs) in the theme of TH White's “Once and Future King”. This gorgeous burr consists of 8 burrsticks in 2 sets of 4 and Merlin's wand passing through too. This is a high level burr at 64.7.3. The burrsticks move but they are heavily constrained by the wand which can only move along 2 constrained paths. I have not managed to solve this yet (and may not ever manage it) but this is one incredibly beautiful puzzle which will be fun to try, fail and then put back on display.

This is available with either Purpleheart and Wenge burr sticks or Merbau and Wenge sticks - either choice is fabulous and will provide you with many many hours of puzzling. I was particularly fascinated to read the account written by my friend James Cardinal on Facebook as he solved his copy (from Stephan) - read it here:

This latest batch from Jakub and Jaroslav are all superb - my favourites are Dunant,  Party and then Rattle Twist III. The Merlin is a stunning addition to your collection even if you never manage to solve it. Go out there and give Pelikan your money...I did! Much to Mrs S' disgust - no Whack! Ouch! ...Yet.