Did Juno Con Me? No Way!

The Con Way Puzzle by Juno

Frame assembled

A little while ago Yukari sent out an email to the puzzling world offering Juno's latest creation, the Con Way Puzzle, for sale. it was made from gorgeously grained wood so how could I turn it down? Also it was a design by Juno so how could I turn it down? On top of that, it came with a stand and I am a sucker for a puzzle with a stand for display so how could I turn it down? Fear of the present wife could have made me turn it down but I hit buy before I had time to think about what "she who must be flinched from" even impinged on my mind! Only a few minutes later did I wonder about the Whack! Ouch! that I might receive....again!

This gloriously beautiful thing arrived within a week from all the way across the globe and I lined up all the pieces for my photos. It was beautiful made from New Guinea Walnut and American Cherry. I admired the grain and then looked with horror at the shapes which appeared to be random and then the frame which unexpectedly came in pieces. I have a long history with Johan Heyns' puzzles having wonderful frames to display them on and me finding the assembly of the frames being a huge first challenge! I managed the frame after a few minutes of offing and blinding and had a look at what I had to play with:

This puzzle is based on a design by the famous mathematician, John Horton Conway who many of us have followed as teenagers interested in recreational maths. I remember programming the Game of Life into my Sinclair ZX81 - sigh, good times! The Conway puzzle was a classic packing puzzle that appeared in Stewart Coffin's Puzzling World of Polyhedral Dissections and has been made in some beautiful woods by various creators. It turns out that the original version was not that tough once the puzzler made a certain realisation. Juno had decided to take the initial idea and make it better by making all the cuts skewed. He had been worried that the challenge was too easy but when people tried out his 3D printed prototype they had really enjoyed it. As a result I have another piece of glorious wood in my collection.

I knew nothing about the original puzzle and set to afresh. There are 6 pieces that seem to be based on a 2x2x1 basic shape and then 3 mini cubes that are 1x1x1 voxel in size apart from the fact that only one of the pieces has been cut with orthogonal cuts. Everything was at an odd angle and looking at the pieces, they were all slightly different meaning that finding a basic assembly pattern wasn't going to do it. Juno showed off the solution to one of the versions way down at the bottom of his product page but I was determined not to look at it. 

This is not one to solve on your lap (especially with cats around) - you need a flat surface and I would suggest a ruler or tape measure as well. Knowing that the cube is going to be 60mm in each direction was going to be very helpful. The grain of the wood was not going to be helpful - Juno was careful to ensure that you didn't solve it as a 3D jigsaw with the picture being the grain. I found that the constructed frame was very useful to find corners that were 90º in all dimensions. This helped narrow down what pieces could go where. After finding a few corners (unfortunately several pieces had 2 corners that could have been external and needed a trial and error approach with the ruler. I had sort of decided on what I thought was the only possible basic arrangement of the basic shapes but not workout which ones exactly went where.

I did take it to work a couple of times but got no where with it apart from to make a couple of arthropods laugh at my failure. Home it went for me to have a proper effort on. My basic idea was right but I needed to find which slanted cuts would match with each other - there were not going to be any odd corners internally which definitely helped.

Finally after a couple of hours of thought and a bit of trial and error, I had my Aha! moment and had a rather precariously assembled cube to pick up and place on the display frame, hopefully without it falling apart. I have put the photos behind a spoiler button so as not to inadvertently give any clues but I suspect that the grain in my version will be very different to yours and the pictures will to be helpful.

One Con Way Puzzle assembly

The single voxel cube is in the centre

I love a puzzle with a stand!

There are still 5 of these left in stock as I type. If assembling cubes is your thing then this will not disappoint you. It is a thing of beauty when on display, the frame is a puzzle in itself and this might be a really good puzzle to give to "normal people" to play with! it's very tactile and compelling to play with.

Thank you Juno and Yukari for yet another lovely fun challenge!

Is It Safe In Your Hands?

Safe from Pelikan Puzzles

This new sequential discovery puzzle box is due to be released by the amazing Pelikan team this coming Friday. It will be limited to a small release of 64 copies so you will need to be quite quick.

Instructions and a certificate

It is a stunning creation made from various woods - it looks like Acacia and Walnut at least. There are also metal components and magnets. It must contain something valuable because it is quite large and quite heavy. Dimensions are 11 x 11 x 15.3cm (4.3 x 4.3 x 6") and weighing 985g (2 lb 3oz) making it very tactile to play with. 

The story is that this safe belonged to George Thomas, a wealthy factory owner, and many robbers have attempted to get into it to steal the huge treasure that is inside. Your task is to get into it and retrieve the haul for yourself. It does not need any shaking, spinning or banging.

There is a door on the front held by an ornate hinge and a dial on the front for the combination. The dial clicks as you turn it to get to the combination. Apart from this, nothing else seems to move at all. The hinge is not a fake hinge and doesn't come apart. There are some interesting brass pins on the side of the puzzle as well. It did occur to me that the feet might be useful but they don't come off to reveal an alternative locking mechanism:

Those feet look like a possible tool or entry?

Small coin
NOT the treasure though

Once you have finished exploring what you have and getting nowhere then you need to think© about alternative approaches. I had my first Aha! moment after about 15 minutes - there is no hint from the outside that what I tried would work but I couldn't think of anything else to do. I was in the safe and found my first small prize - a small coin. Was this a hint at vast treasure still inside? There was clearly more to do. Maybe more coins further in?

I got stumped for a little while at this point. The temptation to shake it and spin it was there but I was a good boy and decided to use my tiny brain on it. The next few mechanisms were beautifully created and a delight to discover. I had my treasure after an hour or so!

Or did I?????

This is a wonderful creation designed by Jakub and brought to life by the Pelikan team. You won't be disappointed in this one. I suspect they will sell out very quickly - make sure you are ready on Friday 5th September.

---

I blame Allard! Look what he made me do:

I got by a big customs fee but it should be worth it!

The Half Voxel Confuses Me!

Marble Cake +

The last few weeks have been rather poor puzzling weeks for me. The case mix at work has become rather challenging as I have been presented with quite a lot of really challenging cases. For 3 weeks in a row, I have been up to my eyeballs in blood which has a marked tendency to leave you just a little fatigued by the time you get home. At one point, was also a connection on a pice of equipment that had not been tightened adequately and when some salvaged blood was connected, there was a ...erm... leak. I have to tell you that a little blood goes a long way! Especially when it trickles up your arm inside your clothing! Aargh! 

One puzzle that I have been carrying around with me for a few weeks has been another packing puzzle from Frederic Boucher, produced by the amazing Tye Stahly, is the Marble Cake+. It is currently sold out but, again, if enough of you make enquiries, Tye might be convinced to make it again. In this one, Frederic proves his mastery of 3D puzzle design - he abandons the usual 2x2x3 container to be packed and uses a 2x4x4 box which has a giant 2x2 hole in the top (plus a small 1 voxel hole in the front. No rotations are allowed. So what makes it a challenge? 3 of the pieces have ½ voxel overlaps which effectively means that it is not a 2x4x4 packing puzzle - it is, in reality a 2x8x8 puzzle and my brain doesn't work well at that scale.

I have spent at least a month searching for a way to assemble the pieces that fit the space (there were going to be gaps) and I really struggled. Having the ½ voxel pieces messed with my head. In fear that I would need to work my way through dozens of assemblies to pack, I entered the pieces into Burrtools and, much to my relief, I saw that there was only one way to assemble the pieces in the 2x4x4 space. All that I needed to do was find it and then work through 16 possible orientations with the box to find one that worked and finally, work out the order and move sequence of the pieces. I deliberately did not memorise the position of all the pieces but had a vague memory of where 3 of them went with respect to each other. I know it is sort of cheating but I was getting desperate for some success. 

Even knowing the start positions of these pieces did not make it easy. I really struggled to assemble my shape and after a month, I finally found it. Next, place it inside the box. Easy peasy? Nope! I always start by trying to see whether I can remove the pieces from the box rather than put them in. Here this was made a little easier by the fact that the front wall of the box was detachable. I don't know whether this was deliberate but it really helped me! I pulled off the front and stuffed the assembly inside and attempted to take the pieces out.

Make sure you take your photo of the assembly because you will forget it almost immediately after you take it apart to place individual pieces in the box! Quite a few of the orientations of the shape can immediately be discarded because there is absolutely no way to get even a single piece out.

I spent all morning today with my assembled cuboid and systematically worked until I found which one was possible and with great relief, just before it was time to write a blog post I had my solved puzzle. Talk about cutting it to the wire! It's a brilliant design by the absolute master of packing puzzles. A slight spoiler in the next picture so I have hidden it behind a button.

Finally after a month!

This is a huge challenge for such a simple idea and with no rotations. The half voxel pieces seemed to confuse me so much. Maybe you will be better at it than me? Ask Tye about making more and hopefully you can try it yourself.

More Mathematical Beauty

Which Teaches Me To Count From Zero

Fibonacci Box from Jesse Born

Under surface is stunning too

Way back in 2018, I bought my first box from Jesse Born, the Pi Box which was reviewed here with huge pleasure. You all know that I "don't collect boxes" but if there is something else about a puzzle box that draws my attention then I bend my rule just a little bit - with the Pi Box, it was the connection to mathematics that did it for me. I have always loved mathematics (especially the abstruse pure mathematics) and have collected lots of recreational maths books and even attended the Open University for quite a few years to study maths before the job got so busy that I couldn't keep it going. So the mathematical connection of the Pi Box forced me to make a purchase - I was delighted and called it "possibly the most beautiful puzzle in the world". To be honest, having watched the incredible puzzles being made by Jesse, it took quite a lot of willpower to keep to my collection down to just the one box. However, I was ever mindful that I really cannot afford a divorce and Mrs S would not want hordes of bank balance busting boxes being brought to the door, I stayed with just the one.... until the Fibonacci Box was announced and I placed an order almost straight away. I hope that none of you blame me for buying another box? It again has a strong mathematical connection. It did take a very long time for Jesse to make them and it wasn't until March 2024 that it arrived. Complete with a certificate of authenticity - I am fairly certain that fake ones are not going to be possible!

To my shame, I took my photos and admired the manufacturing skill. It is another simply stunning creation to rival the Pi Box for beauty. It is made from Holly, Katalox, Cherry, Poplar, Brass, Richlite. I attempted to open it straight away and for some reason, I could never work it out. You all know the reason - I am not terribly bright! The description by Jesse claims that it should be easy but I was being dopey and not getting anywhere. I put it down on my desk after a week or so and it has been sitting in my study on the desk amongst an ever increasing pile of puzzles and was forgotten about until Mrs S forced a minor tidy and it was seen again. I spent another week or so before it was put down.

More recently, I did some more tidying and saw it again. I went back to the Pi Box and had a Think©.

Two of the most beautiful puzzles in my collection

One thing I noticed when I opened the Pi Box again, was the way I started counting and I had not been doing that with the Fibonacci Box. The important thing to realise is that mathematicians (and computer scientists) begin counting at zero! I should have realised that this might be important because the Fibonacci series starts at zero:

0   1   1   2   3   5   8.....

Looking tat the number of leaves/petals on the top of the box, I would not need to go that far along the Fibonacci series. Having worked it out and performed the series and unlocked the box and backtracked immediately. I then hit a snag. I had back-tracked and should have a locked box but it was still open. Very odd. Then I could not perform the sequence to re-open it. The last move wouldn't work. It was time to contact Jesse and receive some very nice support  via WhatsApp complete with a video of what he thought was happening. A quick click of the interior locking mechanism and I had it. Phew! Now I was able to open and close it at will.

Amazing work of art in the locking mechanism!

It was finally possible to have my two mathematical boxes open side by side:

Amazing mechanisms and beautiful workmanship

I would absolutely love to buy more puzzles from Jesse but fear for my life prevents it. Maybe I will get to try some more at an MPP in the future. It is not as if I have too few puzzles to play with. What I have is far too little time and not very much brain power to solve them!

I have made barely any progress on the Twins box:

Strijbos boxes

Think Like It's String

But Sometimes That Doesn't Work

Summer on the Xiaoshang Bridge

You all know that I can't resist a good disentanglement puzzle (actually, I can't resist a puzzle!) and the king of good wire and string puzzles is Aaron Wang. Every year he sends out a nice new list of impossible challenges which I spend several years failing to solve. I have learned that I need to focus on the ones that don't have string if I am to have any chance at all but some of the releases every year are clearly ultra-complex N-ary puzzles and nobody can resist owning at least 1 (or 50-100) N-ary puzzles. I can't afford to buy the whole set but I always buy a good selection.

This release had four lovely looking challenges based on the Xiaoshang bridge and I bought the Summer version thinking that I might actually understand it and be able to solve one for once. In this version there is a fish swimming under the bridge that has been caught up and needs to be brought in to dry land. It didn't look that hard to me and so I started early on it.

The fish has a very particular shape to its' mouth and this provides the clue for how to proceed. The first thing that you notice is that there is very little wiggle room with all the links of the chain and the fish. The moves will need to be quite precise. After a little play it quickly became apparent that this was actually a string puzzle! The way to solve it is to think like the chain is made of string - if you can see how the string version would solve then the chain version is going to be the same....with a little bit extra. It needs a little fancy manoeuvring to get the fake string into position and then it does the required move. Unlike with the string version, the fish is not released in a single move - it just moves the fish to another part of the puzzle and then it's quite simple to remove the fish for a photograph:

I'm better at fishing than puzzling!

I was feeling really good about myself - I would have a subject for the blog today! Time to throw the fish back in the pond as you are supposed to. Just reverse the sequence that I did earlier. Move one hooks the fish onto part of the chain and then fancy reorganisation and unhook and...

Tadaaaaaa!

The fish is back on the bank of the river! Huh! How did that happen? It's very odd, I could have sworn that I did the exact reverse of the initial set of moves and it didn't put the puzzle back to the beginning. I tried again and again with the same result. Very odd! This was a cue for a minor panic. I couldn't possibly fall down on the very first puzzle in the batch! Aaron had rated this a level 10 and, after the disassembly, I did wonder how he came to that conclusion. When I failed multiple times at the reassembly, I realised that there was more to the puzzle than I had initially thought. Great fun. Time for some think©ing.

After another 15 minutes or so, I realised that the disassembly requires a very specific positioning of several parts of that chain and it's really important that the same positioning is repeated when doing the reverse. Once realised, I had it back together. The fun thing here is that I have repeated the disassembly and reassembly a number of times and the initial false start in the reassembly happens to me every single time! Maybe you will be better than me?

Trumpet - design by Shuai Chi and made by Mr Gao

There are a few puzzles in this year's release that are musical instrument themed. This one, Trumpet, looks very compelling and not terribly tough with no string and a shuttle to be removed from a relatively simple shape.

It's "only" a level 8 on Aaron's scale so maybe actually achievable? I think in all the years I have been buying from him, he has never released anything simpler than level 8. I thought that PuzzleMaster had a very odd difficulty scale of 5 to 10 but Aaron only has a scale of 8 to 10! If you missed out on buying his puzzles direct then a huge number are available from PuzzleMaster here.

There are a couple of very obvious things to do with the shuttle straight away and they do look like they are going in the right direction. The only trouble is that when you perform one or other of those "obvious" moves then nothing further seems to be possible. Literally, each time you do it you can do one sequence and then are stopped in your tracks! Level 8? Lord help me!

The Einsteinian approach of doing the same thing many dozens (hundreds?) of times doesn't work as usual and I was stuck. I took it to work with me and failed there, much to the amusement of a few colleagues. I didn't let any orthopaedic surgeons near a wire puzzle as they have access to bolt cutters and power saws! Eventually I tried something silly combined with what I had done before and suddenly the shuttle was somewhere new. That was unexpected. A few moves later and I had my solved puzzle:

I can solve a level 8 puzzle!

I was on a roll! I now had 2 puzzles solved - was I going to get a lucky third? Sob! The answer to that is a resounding NO! 

I continued with the musical theme with Double-barre

 

Double-barre - design by Shuai Chi and made by Mr Gao

My first issue with this one was that it's not actually terribly clear which pieces get removed. I think that it splits into 2 halves but I cannot actually completely certain. It's a level 8 and supposedly simple.

Just as with the Trumpet, there are a couple of obvious moves to try which moves the double shuttle to link up with another part of the chain of rings. After that, I cannot seem to find anything to do that doesn't get things either very badly tangled (even without string) or need to force the wire to bend which is not right.

After a few days of doing the same thing multiple times, I saw a post on FB that had olved this puzzle. I reached out for a clue and received a nice photograph of a partway state and a comment that I should solve it like the Chinese Lantern 1 puzzle. The only problem is that I have singularly failed on that one too.

I have tried to get my version into the same configuration as my advisor and nope, I cannot do it. I have put it down for a while and will come back to it when I have some new ideas. Or maybe get some more hints. Sigh - I am rubbish at puzzles!

Whilst you are here, I have to tell you that most of the puzzles from Pelikan's latest release are still available. Don't miss out... they are really good.

Pelikan Summer Release 2025 Part 2

The remainder of the puzzles just released by Pelikan

If you had not been informed by email from Jakub, then you should know that the puzzles from the current release are now up for sale in the Pelikan store. All except the Minima Magnetik and Rising Peaks - Everest are still available. If you still want the Minima Magnetik then you badger  get the version Tye Stahly from the NothingYetDesigns store to make another batch of his version. I don't know whether Pelikan will make any more.

Today's blog is about the remainder of the summer release from Jakub and Jaroslav. I am sure that I can help you spend some more money!

Broken Frame and Window

Broken Frame and Window by Lucie Pauwels

This is yet another tray packing puzzle from the amazing Lucie Pauwels. Except it is not “just” another tray puzzle! Lucie seems to have the unique ability to design these puzzles with something about them that makes them more than trial and error. Jakub obviously is very good at recognising the value of these amongst all the designs that he must see. The Broken Frame and Window is a brilliant, beautiful and challenging logical design. It consists of a complex tray made from Maple (137 x 137mm) with a very specifically shaped gap where the frame should be and then a square hole in the centre (the window). To be fitted in, there are 14 unique pieces made from a deep vibrant Purpleheart.

When I first looked at it, I sort of quailed, thinking that this would be many many hours of trial and error and I have the memory of a demented goldfish so have a huge problem remembering previous patterns that I had tried. However, when I set to playing with it, I quickly realised that this is very much a logic challenge. There are some pieces with very restricted placement choices and a couple of gaps in the frame that have very limited options for which of the pieces can go in them. This made the puzzle much more compelling. 

It still was not easy and took me several hours of play before I reached the point where the frame was filled. Much to my chagrin, I had made one assumption about one of the gaps in the frame and kept trying the wrong approach until exasperation made me think a different way. I am sure this was a deliberate design feature by Lucie meant specifically to trap me! The central window is just a 5x5 square and should be relatively easy to fill once you have worked out which pieces are left over from the frame. The only problem is that there are 5 different ways to fill the frame and only one of them leaves the correct pieces to fill the window. There is still some trial and error but it is great fun!

Coffin-Flop

Coffin-Flop by Dr Volker Latussek

Over the last few years of reviewing the puzzles designed by Volker Latussek, I think the Flop series is my favourite because of the fabulous accessibility and challenge. I had thought that the series had ended but was very gratified to see the Coffin-Flop in the current batch. This one is beautifully made using American Walnut and American Cherry. It is beautifully chunky and consists of three tetracubes and three pentacubes. They are to be fitted into a 70mm across box with a 3x3x3 cavity. The pieces consist of a total of 27 voxels which will completely fill the box with no gaps.

Volker designed this and named it as a tribute to the great Stewart Coffin - there was even a conversation between the two puzzle powerhouses:

"Dear Mr Coffin, when your HALF HOUR was published as a packer at Cubicdissection last year, I myself played with your basic idea of splitting a 3x3x3 into three penta-cubes and three tetra-cubes to add a cube-shaped box with six pieces to my FLOP SERIES. That doesn't work with your HALF HOUR, but there is actually a similar set of six pieces that has nice movements in and out of the box. I wonder if I can call the puzzle COFFIN-FLOP? Pelikan will publish the puzzle.”

STC: "After all these years, what a surprise. I never was very good with names. Often that was the hardest part. I have been so busy with other projects lately that puzzles are now in my past. But they were fun, especially dissections. No opinion on type of wood. I used whatever was available. Keep up the good work.

Stewart Coffin (STC), Massachusetts" 

You know from the beginning that this is going to be a huge challenge of first construction of possible cubes and then finding the single way they can be inserted through the limited opening (less than 2 voxels across). There will be rotations and there will be swearing! In fact there was swearing right from the beginning as the special transport placement of the pieces actually proved a challenge for this puzzler to remove from the box just so that he could get started.

The solution of course requires rotations and also the ability to control rotations deep inside the box with no room to insert your fingers - if you can find a way to control gravity then you will have a significant advantage. If you are one of us normal humans who cannot change the direction of the gravitational field as required then some real dexterity is required.

Yessssss!

Taking it apart and returning it to the transport position is another huge challenge!

I adore these puzzles and was very gratified to solve it after just 2 days of work! If you have any of the previous Flop series then you should buy this one - it is brilliant!

The Real Euklid

The Real Euklid by Dr Volker Latussek

Another incredibly challenging packing puzzle - The Real Euklid has seven cubic and cuboidal pieces to fit in the 9x9x9 box with the usual limited entry at the top. It is rather lovely to look at being made from Mahogany and Wenge - using these woods also gives the puzzle a nice weight.

Yes, Dr Latussek has done it yet again! There is yet another puzzle in his incredible Euklid packing series. This one must be really special because Volker named it as “the REAL Euklid” as if all the previous ones had been fake. Volker wrote the following about this design"

"Finally, we've arrived! After a few wrong turns and some significant misjudgments, such as seemingly unique solutions suddenly turning into double-digit numbers of solutions, I am now proud to present THE REAL EUKLID. The task I set myself over six years ago should now be complete: Find a 9x9x9 cubic box with a centred 5×9 opening and seven different cuboids with an edge length of between 3 and 6 units AND A UNIQUE SOLUTION!

In fact, I changed my design strategy for THE REAL EUKLID. Until now, I have always focused on the most beautiful sequence of movements possible for seven cuboids, but this time I did it the other way around: I let the possible cuboids sink in and saw which sequence they showed me - I tried to take on the role of the solver who wants to discover the designer's idea but initially only sees the pieces. Looking at the cuboids without any preconceived sequence of moves broadened my perspective so much that I was able to complete the task. When I saw the solution for the first time, I couldn't believe that I had achieved my task. I was very sceptical because of my experience with EUKLID. Maybe I didn't want to believe it because I secretly hoped that there was no solution to my task. Overall, I had a great time designing THE REAL EUKLID.

Now take a look at the seven cuboids and the interplay with the box for yourself. Then you too can have a great time with THE REAL EUKLID."

There are at least two in this series that I have still not solved despite going back to them on and off for years now. I would not be surprised if this one joined that group. I have only really had an hour or so to play with this one so far and have not got a clue as yet. These puzzles are not for the faint hearted. All the shapes to be fitted inside have a side length as a multiple of 7mm (21, 28, 35 or 42mm) and the interior is 63mm in all directions - there is a sort of beauty to that and I am sure that knowing it will be a help to some of you but to me - I haven’t got a clue. Good luck to all who buy - it will be a great challenge.

Minima Smiley and Sally

Minima Smiley and Sally by Frederic Boucher

The Minima Smiley puzzle I had reviewed in April was a great puzzle and huge seller for Pelikan. Of course, Frederic did not want to just leave the series with a huge triumph! He had to take it one step (or maybe quite a few steps) further by bringing the Smiley ball back and giving him a girlfriend (and a heart to seal their love) and hence we now have the Minima Smiley and Sally. Oh, and as if that wasn’t enough, the bolt from the last version was still present only bigger - MUCH bigger. This incredible puzzle is a serious challenge which I have still not completed as Jakub puts them on sale. I have retrieved Mr Smiley and found Sally inside but so far have not managed to retrieve her. There is quite a lot of thought required here as well as some considerable dexterity. At the moment I have got Sally trapped into a place that I cannot seem to retrieve her - it will need some thought© and quite a bit more time.

You know you need this one for your collections - it is lovely, it’s a huge challenge and the continuation of the series. No puzzler can truly resist a puzzle series - especially if they are this good.

I am sure that there are some puzzles for you here! There is so much to choose from with puzzles from 3 of the best designers in the world. Get them whilst they are still available.

Pelikan Summer Release 2025

Upcoming Puzzles From Pelikan

Yes, if you have been watching my new stuff page or my FB page then you will have seen that quite a few new toys have arrived at PuzzleMad HQ over the last month or so and Mrs S has become increasingly irritated with me. The camel's back very nearly snapped at the end of last week when I had to admit to her that there might be another delivery from Jakub, Jaroslav and team whilst I was at work last week. My incipient murder was delayed by a plane malfunction in Germany and the promised big box didn't arrive on time. The end result was that it was delayed until last Monday and I was working from home - no there were no knee replacements on the kitchen table! I was doing committee work on the dreaded MS Teams - 😱. The arrival of the box was beautifully timed between meetings and I managed to intercept it and secrete it away before there was an explosion! Phew.

The downside of the delayed flight was that I had much less time to play. I have only managed to solve 4 of the 8 arrivals so far. Hopefully the rest will be ready for next Sunday.

The Bunch 2.2

The Bunch 2.2 by Alfons Eyckmans

This gorgeous cube is another of a long line of amazing interlocking puzzles from the Master, Alfons Eyckmans. I have quite a few of these now, both direct from him, as well as versions from Pelikan and they are always great fun to play with as well as looking fabulous on display. This one is very attractive made from Wenge, Maple and Purpleheart. It is a simpler design than many of the others but this makes for a rather nice exploration and solve. 

My first time dismantling it I found a rather nice rotational shortcut but quickly put the piece that is removed back in the puzzle as I know that Alfons tends not to like rotational solutions. The first piece comes out nice and logically and opens up quite a lot of movement but for a while I was missing the key move that would allow me to progress. It was a nice surprise when I found it and even then the next part was not obvious. The puzzle does reveal the inner locking mechanism and that helps you plan the next few moves. 

It's going to be fun putting this back together

Having disassembled it, then is definitely a fun challenge to scramble the pieces and then reassemble after the memory of the disassembly has faded. Great fun! If you love cuboid interlocking puzzles and Alfons' work interests you then this is a brilliant one for your collection.

Rising Peaks - Everest

Rising Peaks - Everest by Girish Sharma

This is another of Girish Sharma's amazing interlocking cube creations.  Judging from the name Rising Peaks hyphenated with a mountain name, I suspect this is the first in a whole series of these puzzles - I certainly hope so! Beautifully made using Padauk, Wenge, Acacia and Maple, the initial challenge is to separate the pieces from their travel assembly. Maybe I'm not very good at puzzles (it does say that all over my website) but I actually took a good 5 minutes taking it apart. Then obviously you have to assemble them into a 4x4x4 cube using linear moves only. Many puzzlers have moved away from solely linear interlocking puzzles but I still love the standard interlocking puzzles that I first learned about so many years ago from Richard Gain. They provide a wonderful challenge and can be quite tough. This one is absolutely superb. 

From the beginning it is very easy to establish the positions of the 4 pieces but actually assembling them is a tremendous fun challenge. Working out which pieces to use first and which subsequently get inserted is part of the difficulty. There is no obvious order when looking at the shapes and in fact the required order was a bit of a surprise to me. At first it's possible to place any 3 pieces in a promising arrangement but the final one ain't going nowhere! I spent a good 45 minutes trying various arrangements of the first 2/3 pieces before I found a sequence that looked promising - something worthy of Girish' design skills. Once I'd found this start, I thought I was making progress until miraculously a piece fell out unexpectedly - I sort of lost track of what I was doing and ended up back at the beginning. Start again...

Continuing in my search I noticed a possible move that I had missed the first time and that opened up a whole set of dance moves of the pieces in an out around each other. The Pelikan team have made this beautifully tight so the pieces don't flop about and each move has to be made deliberately with the occasional "thwack" as they settle in to place. I had my cube assembled in about an hour. 

There is NO spoiler here - the relative positions of the pieces are really obvious

Having taken my photos, I then struggled to dismantle the puzzle and put it back into the storage/travel position. It's a disassembly challenge as well as an assembly one. I redid it a few hours later and even though I remembered the vague order of the pieces, it still took me quite a while to repeat the process. 

This is another masterpiece of design and manufacture by Girish and Pelikan. If you like interlocking puzzles then this should be high on your shopping list.

Minima Magnetik

Minima Magnetik by Frederic Boucher

My goodness! Is there no end to Frederic's design skills and ideas?? Here we have yet another wonderful puzzle in the now enormous Minima series. I have written extensive reviews of Minima puzzles over the last couple of years and have to admit that this series is one of the single most compelling series I have ever played with. I had thought that Frederic might run out of ideas but there seems to be no sign of it so far. The Pelikan team have made this version using Jatoba and Acacia woods with a bunch of magnets. This amazing design looks so simple until you casually have a play. The usual 2x2x3 box has two entry holes to it and what looks like some finger-holes as well. Anyone looking at these shapes (1x1x2 sticks) with a hole in one end and another at the front will be able to think of quite a few ways to get the pieces inside and think this is simplicity itself. I sort of thought so too until I received the instructions.

"First place the box on a flat surface.

Pack the pieces inside su that no magnets are visible through any holes in the box.

Once a piece has been placed in the box, you can not touch or move the pieces with your fingers or move the box"

Ah! Now we have an entirely new challenge! It is a simple packing but made challenging by the constraints. The magnets are obviously the key to manipulating the pieces. To add to the challenge the embedded magnets have their polarity arranged such that 4 of the pieces have one orientation, another the opposite way around and one piece has no magnet. First challenge is to decide which way around the box needs to be placed and then it will be necessary to use both repulsion and attraction to move the pieces around. If the pieces are placed through one hole and another piece placed through the other, then it is quite possible for a diagonal repulsion to occur and another piece placed to prevent this. There is a whole lot of challenge to this one.

I worked out an approach after about half an hour of fiddling out of the box and attempted to do it inside. This taught me that I needed to be very careful with the exact order that pieces need to be placed. I thought I had my solution and took this photo:

No magnets visible but....

Having been unaware that this design was being made by Jakub, I had ordered the same puzzle from Tye Stahly's Nothing Yet Designs store and had actually received his copy a few days earlier (thanks Allard, for forwarding it on to me). 

Minima Magnetik from Tye

I set about doing the same thing with the 3D printed version and, to my horror, it would not work! The repulsion of the magnets was not quite strong enough to achieve one of the crucial moves. This could only mean that my initial solution was not the intended one. It also means that you have two solutions to find if you buy the Pelikan version of this puzzle. I went back to the drawing board and have to shamefully admit that it took me another 2 days to find a solution that would work with both versions. The actual sequence of moves is really quite involved requiring multiple steps. This is a must have puzzle!

Minima Drawer

Minima Drawer by Frederic Boucher

This gorgeous creation is yet another Minima design by Frederic. It is also another of those must have puzzles. This version has been created using a very beautiful Leopard wood and Maple and is stunning. It arrives with the box completely closed and one L shaped piece outside. The drawer of the box can slide in either direction, although on arrival it can will only go one way and reveals a number of pieces inside. It's not straightforward removing all the pieces and requires the drawer to be moved in both directions to progressively release the pieces. Be careful! It's easy to get stuck!

Dowels galore!

Once you have all the pieces, the extent of the challenge becomes clear! There drawer is prevented from coming out by a one voxel dowel attached to the roof of the puzzle inside. There is also another one voxel dowel pointing horizontally inside the drawer. The pieces and extra dowels need to be placed inside the 2x2x3 cavity as usual. Having experienced the minor challenge of removing the pieces from the transport position, I knew that multiple moves would be required and sliding the drawer back and forth. Gravity was going to be a key consideration here. There are a few arrangements that will fit the space given but it is clear that most are not physically possible. The approach here has to be to find an assembly and then work backwards to see whether it can be removed from the box. 

No spoiler - it is solved!

I think I got somewhat lucky and found the solution after only a whole day of trying but on the way I nearly had a heart attack several times. The limited opening means that some of the pieces need to be rotated into the box and if they are not right or in the right order, they must be removed using the same rotation. Sometimes this can be very hard to achieve and leave you with a huge challenge and worry that you have trapped them inside permanently.

This one is a minima for true puzzle professionals - it is fabulous!

I will be working on the remaining 4 puzzles over the upcoming week and will finish the reviews next Sunday.