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| Upcoming release from Pelikan |
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| Couldn't fit into the grid |
This time there is a huge selection of puzzles from your favourite designers
and a variety of different types of puzzle with varying difficulty levels to
suit everyone.
From top left above:
Zack Die Krone by Stephan Baumegger (2 versions available)
The Horns of Booth by Dr Volker Latussek
PSI by Girish Sharma
5 Balls by Frederic Boucher
One Match Left by Jorgos Anastasou
Serial Square NTC by Lucie Pauwels
LOL by Frederic Boucher
Sam Duo by Frederic Boucher
Heavy Lifter by Girish Sharma
Yes U Can by Frederic Boucher pictured separately
Jakub has asked for me to give some reviews as quickly as possible and so I
will be spreading them over two weekends of blogs. Expect them to go on sale
quite soon.
Zack Die Krone
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There will be 2 versions of Zack Die Krone by Stephan Baumegger, both are
absolutely beautiful. This fabulous puzzle is not for the faint-hearted. When
I first picked it up, I thought it was a 6 piece burr in a frame and expected
a huge struggle as a result. When I had a closer look I was relieved to see
that it is "just" a mere 3 piece burr within a cage that has a big hole in the
top. How hard could it be? OMG, it is a serious challenge!
There are a few possible moves at first but after that the possibilities open
up quite a bit as there is plenty of space to look at what is happening and
also plenty of space to move the pieces around each other an around the frame.
Initially the frame really gets in the way of what you want to do but after a
bit of fiddling a way method of getting around it can be found. Once this has
been done, you will need to carefully control the pieces as they appear to
become quite unstable. Rotations won't happen easily but are possible and you
will need to prevent that. I managed to unlink one side of a piece from the
others and then got very badly stuck being completely unable to progress and
needed to backtrack to the beginning again. Luckily, I found that it's usually
pretty easy to backtrack if you paid attention but I dare say some of you
might get lost at some point.
I remained stuck at the same position for a whole evening before I managed to
find a possible move. It's a huge advantage being able to see more or less
everything that is going on and sort of planning what you can do. With great
satisfaction I found a path to release a piece from both the others and then a
simple matter of releasing it from the frame. I had my 4 pieces and could take
a photo. At level 21.8.3 for the complete disassembly, this is a huge
challenge for anyone and only the very best of you will be able to reassemble
it without Burrtools (I certainly needed it)
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| An incredible challenge The magnets hold it stable when assembled |
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A new designer I've not heard of before,
Jorgos Anastasou seems to have been designing for a few years but this is the first of
his that has been mass produced. This beautiful cute little puzzle is made to
look like a matchbox (very reminiscent of the
matchbox playground
from last year). It's made of Jatoba, Wenge, Maple & Cherry. Only two of
the woods are visible from the outside of the box. There appear to be two but
pieces inside the box which can slide and reveal a lovely little single match
left in the box (hence the name).
After six moves the match can come out but the tray formed by the two but
pieces still won't slide out. A further 7 moves leads to one more part removal
and a further 2 to complete disassembly. It's not terribly difficult but it's
lovely and really quite cute. I suggest that you leave the pieces for a couple
of days before attempting the reassembly. It will keep you nicely for a little
while. Not hard but just right for a little light puzzling. Indeed,
Jorgos wrote about it:
He's right, it is a simple thing compared to may others that have been made but it is a delight and very beautiful."Sometimes the simple things can be the most enjoyable! The "One Match Left" is a moderately difficult level 6.7.2 disassembly challenge with a unique solution reassembly. It's fun to determine the position of the small match piece trapped inside the seven unit burr pieces and frame. Τhanks to Pelican for making my design a reality with their high quality construction and materials! Have fun!"
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| Leave it for a few days and assemble from scratch |
Heavy Lifter
This wonderful interlocking 4x4x4 cube puzzle is by the amazing
Girish Sharma. It has been stunningly produced in some lovely woods - Zebrano, Acacia,
Wenge, Maple and
Massaranduba. It has been incorrectly assembled for transport and quickly comes apart
into 4 rather complex shapes and an L. I did not receive any instructions and
from the start assumed that it was a TIC. As a result, I set to work looking
for the position of all the pieces and then rotational moves to get them
interlocked. The process took me about an hour whilst watching TV with Mrs S.
It was really very satisfying to work it out and seat the pieces into place. I
was so delighted that I did it repeatedly that evening.
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The following day I got my instructions from Jakub and was stunned to realise
that it was not meant as a TIC...he wrote:
"Over the last few months, I have been tinkering with the idea of high level 4x4x4 IC which form a full visible cube. So far, I've known the highest level to be 11 by a few designers. The challenge I took on myself was to design something with a higher level. This is first of the many designs that I have coming up in future.
Heavy Lifter is a level 12.2.2.2 IC with 5 pieces. The puzzle comes disassembled and the goal is to assemble the pieces into a 4x4x4 cube. Once you have assembled the cube, you might realise the importance of the name of the puzzle."
Amazingly, it was actually an interlocking cube very similar to many of the
wonderful Microcubology puzzles I bought way back at the beginning of my
puzzling odyssey but MUCH MUCH tougher. The following evening, I just had to
try again and do it without the rotations. This was a huge challenge as the
TIC part had given me some preconceived ideas that I needed to get rid of.
Girish has created an absolute monster of an interlocking cube which is
absolutely wonderful to work on. The "proper solution" took me well over an
hour and was joyous - this might well be my absolute favourite of the bunch.
LOL
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How can anyone resist a new puzzle designed by Frederic Boucher. I certainly can't and if it's called LOL then there is guaranteed to be something sprecial about it. This puzzle is very reminiscent of the Galette by Osanori Yanamoto in that there is a small flat box with a limited entry and a set of pieces to insert inside. There's no window in the front so it will all need to be done with dexterity and gravity along with quite a lot of thought. The puzzle is beautifully made from Jatoba and Cherry with the puzzle name on the surface which I think might be Marquetry (it's something I've never seen from Jakub before).
The 5 simple pieces are to be put inside to make a 4x5 voxel rectangle. It's made more complex by the fact that the largest piece can't even fit through the 2 voxel opening - it requires a rotation to get inside and maybe there will be rotations needed inside the box without easy access?
There seem to be only a limited number of ways to create the rectangle and some of them are quite obviously impossible. I found a couple that potentially might be possible but finding a way to get them in the box is a huge challenge. The pieces block each other from getting into position and manipulating them through the tiny entrance hole is a frustratingly difficult experience. At one point I had a really good idea and it worked. But then the next step wouldn't work at all and I had a mini heart attack trying to undo the first supposedly good idea. It took me a good 30 minutes to get the pieces all out again and calm myself down. There had been quite a lot of swearing during that process and Mrs S kept glaring at me! Having retrieved all the pieces I had a little think© and found myself trying to do the same thing over and over again. At one point, a little experiment with the pieces revealed a very subtle design element and yes, thank you Frederic, I did laugh out loud. A few minutes later I had my assembled puzzle:
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| Phew! That took a while. |
Frederic wrote about it:
"LOL is an assembly puzzle with a very simple goal: Assemble the five pieces to make the acronym LOL, respecting the following rule: the 3 characters must have the same size (height and width). Will you discover the trick and succeed in the challenge? Exclusively for the PELIKAN version, a box is included. As a second challenge you must pack the pieces completely into the box. I hope this puzzle will make you laugh out loud!"
It appeared that I had only done the secondary challenge. The primary challenge still awaited me. This took me another hour or so yesterday and the important thing is to assemble the letters standing up on a flat surface. There is a very special trick that has had be done during the manufacture of the pieces to make it work. Another laugh out loud moment!
Sierpinski's Burr
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| Sierpinski's Burr by Tyler Hudson |
Tyler wrote about it:
"Sierpinski's Burr is a variation on the traditional framed 6 piece burr, in which 2 opposing corners have been removed. The resulting shape is one I hope you find quite interesting! It adds a few extra moves to the puzzle, and also provides small windows through which possible moves can be deduced. At level 40, it may sound a bit daunting, but keeping track of the solve is manageable, without too many dead ends. I don't think this one will be the hardest burr out there, but it should be a lot of fun to work out. Of course, the puzzle is named after the Sierpiński Triangle, which the triangular faces of the burr resemble. Pelikan's build of my design adds a lovely tactile feel, as well as being a beautiful wood combination. I hope people enjoy it! :)"
He is absolutely right! This is a huge challenge but is definitely manageable.there is a particular sequence that recurs several times and each time it is done it allows further progression before being undone and moving other pieces. The entire disassembly is level 40.6.3.1.2.2 so once the first piece is out then the rest will follow quite easily by looking inside and working out what is possible.
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| A fabulous burr |
I have only had 5 days with the puzzles so far and managed to solve 5 of them in that time. I plan to work on the rest for next Sunday - come back for them.
My pick from this bunch is the Heavy Lifter and the LOL puzzle but all are absolutely fantastic!
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