The next puzzle I got from Wood Wonders up is Just Slide In. Like the other puzzles from Brian it looks terrific.
 |
Just Slide In
|
It is a packing puzzle apparently designed by Stewart Coffin (I can't work out which number). This version is made with an Ash wood tray, a perspex lid (pinned into place leaving a small gap and 4 odd quadrilateral shapes made from Padauk.
Now I am absolutely rubbish at packing puzzles! I don't really enjoy them much (probably because I'm rubbish!) But this one is only 2D and only has 4 pieces - it can't be too bad. Can it? Really??? I bought this because my dislike/fear of this group is cutting me off from a huge part of the puzzle world. I overlook the fact that Brian states that this is much more difficult than it appears. The slight twist to this is that you can't just place them. You have to feed the 4 pieces into the opening in the side of the box, making orientation and order more important.
Initial impressions were "this shouldn't take long so I'll start with this easy one". Stupid boy! After 5 minutes feeding pieces in to the slot at random and having to take them all out again, I decided that I'd better think properly. I started laying them on top to look at the fit and quickly realised that right angles are not helpful. After a further 20 minutes I had the arrangement planned out. I began to feed the pieces in and then got stuck with the inability to place the final piece due to not leaving enough of a gap a the entry! So out they all come, I drop them and have to start right back at the beginning. I am starting to regret the purchase and begin mumbling to myself again. Finally after another 45 minutes I have it done. I punch the air, shout aloud, get an irritated glare from Mrs S and frighten a cat! I don't care - I have finally done a packing puzzle!
If you want the solution it can be viewed on my Picassa web album here. Of course you don't have to look if you don't want to. I post it just to prove that I have actually solved a packing puzzle!!!
After a few days I decide to try again and dismantle it - I am ashamed to write that it has been in my bed-side drawer for 2 months unsolved! No matter what I did I couldn't find the correct solution - I think I found an alternative arrangement of the pieces but this orientation does not allow you to insert the pieces through the slot. I have finally solved it just before bed on the day I return from the 3rd Midlands Puzzle Party (MPP) - I can only think that a whole day spent with some serious puzzlers has enhanced my grey matter just enough to do a relatively easy packing puzzle! I am NOT going to dismantle it until I have a photo!
After this, I think I am going to have to try some other packing puzzles. I'd like to try the MMMMs puzzle and have my eye on 1 or 2 others.
Best guess, this is STC-133 Few Tile, which was an exchange puzzle at IPP-18. But that's just my guess, and perhaps others will correct me.
ReplyDeleteAh Neil,
ReplyDeleteThank you for that - now you have shown me I can see it now.
I have found it here.
I think Brian has improved it by making you solve it through a "letterbox".
OK So adding a comment almost 3 years later but only because I have just seen a link here AND I have been trawling through Coffin designs this evening. I think the puzzle is a copy of STC 153-B "Please Drop In", which Saul Bobroff exchanged at an IPP (Antwerp I seem to recall). I have a copy of both Saul and Brian's version *somewhere* but I am pretty confident they are the same.
ReplyDeleteI bow to your enormous knowledge!
Delete