PuzzleMad: January 2025

Happy New Year Everyone

Tornado Burr from Juno

It has been a very long time since I bought anything from Juno. I missed out on the fabulous Hippo puzzle due to cash flow issues and he has been quite quiescent recently whilst carrying out house renovations. But...he has found time to create some new unique burrs. I couldn't resist them and the flight around the world with them on was the fastest I've ever seen! Mrs S was really unimpressed to see 3 packages arrive in 2 days. The first was the parcel from Juno and Yukari along with a package of a "second" quality Xmas tree from Dee Dixon and then there was a rather large box from Alex Magyarics - I think he is intending me to suffer a painful death from a blunt teaspoon at the hands of Mrs S. She can scoop at parts of anatomy with the teaspoon and cause intense pain and harm as well as death should the fancy take her. Note that we only allow blunt teaspoons in the house as I wouldn't want the damage to be done without at least some effort on her part so that she has to think about it before inflicting it.

We have LOT of toys from Alex - I hope that I can solve just one or two (if I survive)
He is an evil genius wholeheartedly has been equipped with a 3D printer and let loose on the world

The Tornado burr is not actually a new creation. The original was made by Brian Young in 2008 before I started my puzzle madness. There is a video of Brian making pieces on YouTube and the sheer amount of work is incredible. This does explain why this burr is not particularly cheap. For the workmanship in it, it's a bargain. Brian wrote this about it:

"This ingenious burr was designed by Junichi in May 2007 with “head and hands; no computer”. Junichi had the idea for a multiple rotational movement but did not get to finally apply it to a puzzle until he came up with the Tornado Burr.

People often ask puzzle designers “What was going on in your head to design this puzzle?” What was going on in Junichi’s head when he designed the Tornado Burr? Visualising things going up and down and back and forth at the same time is one thing, but things going up and down, back and forth and around as well is quite another! Junichi says the Tornado Burr “has very eccentric movements” and challenges puzzlers to “Try your luck, and stop this fierce tornado.”

Needless to say this puzzle is not solvable in any computer program that we know of.

This interlocking burr puzzle was recognised for its innovation, design and the amazing puzzle solving experience it provides in the 2007 Nob Yoshigahara Design Competition with an Honourable Mention. Until Brian tackled his Limited Edition of this burr the puzzle had not been commercially available and now Brian knows why. Making the jigs, the number of and complexity of them, was more difficult than making the puzzle itself. As well as conventional check-outs there are routed check-outs and a further 16 sections that must be hand-turned on a lathe."

After reading this, who could resist such a fabulous challenge? I took my photos and put it down to explore. To be honest, I had not seen anything like this before. It very much reminded me of the Kamikaze burr that I bought years ago which also cannot be solved by computer but is coordinate motion rather than rotational.

Pushing and pulling at the sticks immediately reveals that this is not even close to the right approach. After fiddling with it a little bit, the pieces sort of settled into a shape that would give a hint of the approach. I should have realised from the name - what does a Tornado do? It spins!

The pieces just settled like this
A strong sense of foreboding hit me!

Having seen this movement begin of its' own accord, I felt that it was my duty to continue it and the whole thing very rapidly gets warped out of cubic shape. Having moved some pieces (I was very careful to ensure all 4 moved at the amenities time), I realised that is they were turned enough then it would free up others to also turn. OK, challenge accepted!

OMG! I backtracked very quickly at that point as the puzzle became very distorted and pieces started to move independently of each other. It was very stable, there was no chance it was going to just fall apart but it became obvious that I needed to concentrate and be aware of what I was doing. The intrepid puzzler started again and very rapidly got himself into trouble - somehow I had turned one of the sticks 90º independently of the others in the same plane and then nothing else was possible. It took me a while to realise what I had done and attempt to backtrack. The heart stopping moment where I realised that the solo rotated piece could not be returned in synch with the others stopped me a bit and in ever increasing panic I tried various moves to extend the gaps that appeared to allow the piece to turn back. Only after about an hour of swearing at myself did I manage to get it back to the start and calm my nerves again. It's very exciting stuff this puzzling isn't it? Why to I scare the crap out of myself so often?

After a rest for an hour or so, I started again and found a combination of moves that seemed to open up the grooves a little bit. A little bit of shookelling about (it's a Scottish term) and I had a wonderful Aha! moment. Oh that moment was wonderful - I took a photo and jiggled the puzzle only to have a slow motion moment of horror! I had a whole lot of pieces in a pile and only a vague idea where they should be. Bugger! Having reached that point and gone beyond the point of no return, I pushed everything together for a couple of photos and now I am wondering what to do next.

Aargh!

Look at the workmanship in those pieces!

It's always good to see Juno's mark.

This reminds me very much of the situation from July 2023 when I thought it was a really good idea to dismantle the Euroka puzzle (also from Juno). I ended up with a pile of pieces and absolutely no idea how to reassemble it. I did get sent a video of Juno showing the assembly but I cannot for the life of me manage it and it remains in a bag as a puzzle to be attempted soon. It is so important that it is in my current to be solved pile in the conservatory. It really needs to go back together and displayed. Sigh, one day maybe!