Perseverance Pays Off...

Finally!

The Snowman Puzzlebox by Kyle Chester-Marsden
Someone has stolen the poor snowman's nose

I hadn't managed to attend many MPP's last year and also don't really have time to lurk in the Discord and hence missed out on a few of the beautifully made puzzles from Kyle and from what I have heard, I have really missed something special. In mid November he put out a little announcement on the Mechanical Puzzle Community Facebook page that he was making some more of the Snowman boxes available again as potential Xmas presents. He had made these as presents for Xmas 2023 but as usual, I had not seen them and missed out. They had been reviewed back in February by Steve and looked fabulous. This time around I saw them announced and contacted him immediately! Phew! For once, I had not let it get by me. The handy thing was that he had one available at the last MPP of the year and I picked up a nice brown box and sneaked it into the house. "She who must be feared" saw it amongst all the other acquisitions on my return and, luckily, it didn't register when I told her that was going to be her present to me at Xmas. 

We don't tend to do Xmas presents much because, by and large, we each buy whatever we want throughout the year and it seems pointless to buy something just because of the time of year. I know "she" will be buying clothing etc and "she" knows that toys will be arriving. We just try not to complain about it too much unless the clutter escapes into the shared areas.

Nice box with magnetic closure

Beautifully packaged

I hid the brown card box box in my study and totally forgot about it! I'm an eejit! I blame work mostly because I ended up in the operating theatre through most of the holiday period and just didn't seem to have much time. Finally just in time for New Years Day, I remembered it and unpacked. Marvelling at the packaging, I was delighted  to see something just beautiful inside. We have a small box with a disfigured Snowman on top. The top and bottom plates of the box are made from vibrant Padauk and the main body along with snowman, made from what looks like Maple. When turning it upside down there is an interesting clicking noise.

Time to explore and I quickly found that the snowman could swivel on his box but only a fraction of a turn before stopping dead. It could return but that was all that was possible. Examining it from all angles showed me that things moved inside and sometimes they allowed the snowman to turn further or turn back further... and sometimes turning it didn't allow any turning. Hmmm!

Why would the extra rotation be allowed sometimes but not other time? Time to think© and listen. After a little while I made a crucial discovery and I could rotate at will in any direction that I wished. At least I could do that for a few turns until I couldn't any more. It seemed to be very tight and I didn't want to use force. Time to search for something else. I looked and looked and looked, and...found nothing. I was stuck!

This being stuck seems to be something that happens to me a lot. Mrs S says it's because I'm an eejit and rubbish at puzzles. She is starting to insist that I shouldn't ever get any more. Sob! I thunk for 10 days until it occurred to me to have a proper close look at the puzzle using a magnifier app on my phone. At this point I had an idea and tried to implement it. I was so certain that I was right that I put the puzzle in a room with a dehumidifier and after 24 hours my suspicion was confirmed. The puzzle seemed to be rather tight and loosened slightly with the dehumidifier. This then allowed me to carry out the next movement and with a bit of a squeak, I was able to see the rather clever mechanism inside. There was no nose to be seen but part of the mechanism dropped out and looked like something that had an additional function. A few minutes later, after nearly 2 weeks of trying, the snowman and his nose were reunited:

Even Mrs S thought this was delightful!

Thank you Kyle, I love it. It's a clever mechanism with a nice added extra step. My only excuse for how long it took me was being busy and the humidity in the UK just now made it really quite tight. This will look lovely on display.

If you get a chance to try it or buy it then you will not be disappointed. Unfortunately, I missed out on the Reluctant Drawer from Kyle which won accolades at the End of Year Puzzle Party as well as in the Mechanical Puzzle Discord. Hopefully I'll get to play at an MPP in the future.

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Last week, when I mentioned Juno's incredible Tornado burr, I showed off (one of my) trays of shame:

A LOT of unsolved puzzles here

After another 24 hours of playing with the Tornado burr, I finally did manage to reassemble it and even did it again a second time. It's a bit fiddly but certainly very approachable for a lot of you geniuses out there. Don't be put off by the "burr" in the name. It's really not a burr in the traditional sense - I would recategorise it as an interlocking puzzle. Juno still has a few for sale here if you are interested.

The white bag at the back of the tray pictured above has been there for 18 months! I bought the incredible Euroka 10x3 puzzle from Juno in Feb 2023 and put it on display on a windowsill for nearly six months when a moment of madness made me disassemble it. I thought I could do it piecemeal and take sequential photos which would help with the reassembly. I wrote about it here. 

Lovely on display

Unfortunately the puzzle doesn't really come apart sequentially. I took it apart from the top and removed 3 layers before my Aha! moment collapsed in a heap on me leading me to the epithet below:

You Stupid Boy!

Over the subsequent 18 months I have repeatedly attempted reassembly only to be surrounded by pieces, a very high blood pressure and a new-found reliance on swear words. I have access to an unlisted video from Juno showing the assembly as well as the picture on his info page about it. Multiple attempts have failed and after last week's success with the Tornado burr, I was determined to assemble the bloody thing.

held by rubber band

This time I had a new advantage! I had a rubber band! These wondrous items have never been allowed in our house due to the fascination that our cats have had with them. They adored chewing them and once broken would swallow them. It all sounds perfectly reasonable and slightly funny until 24 hours later they reemerge from the cat at the opposite end. Picture the cat zooming all around the house with an itchy bum and a rather hideous springy brown kebab emerging from his back end. Then add to this wonderful image add a picture of me chasing him around with a piece of kitchen paper to try and catch and extract said kebab and rubber band. Whilst this seems funny to most blokes, it is not funny to Mrs S and as a result rubber bands are VERBOTEN! 

Our last cat unfortunately left us last year and I felt brave enough to keep a band or two in my study for emergency puzzling situations. This was just such a situation and I put said rubber band to good use. I managed to assemble the bottom 5 pieces and placed the band around them. I then built up the next 2 layers on top and it suddenly became stable. After this, I just had to work out how to place subsequent middle layers and finally, after several hours of attempts, I got them all to engage with a click. 

Hooray!

I'm not taking that apart again!

Mrs S was actually impressed when I showed her that it was finally assembled and threatened for a moment to take it apart for me. I snatched it away! I now think I could do it again but not for a while!

My other tray of shame has been removed from the living room! The weight of it has marked the carpet and I am told in no uncertain terms that I must redistribute them so that there is less weight on the tray. Some of these puzzles have been there for several years, unsolved but with a vague hope that I might one day mange them:

Marks on the carpet? Whack! Ouch!

Some fabulous and difficult puzzles here

In particular the Popplock T13 remains unsolved as well as Brian Young's Ages sequential discovery burr (not even found the first hidden move! Sigh! I must try harder!

Oops! I Did It Again!

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!

Euroka

Oops! That was stupid

I really hope that the Tornado burr doesn't end up next to the Euroka over here:

The white bag of shame!

Thank you Juno for the fabulously beautiful puzzles, for the wonderful Aha! moment and also for showing me up yet again!

Happy New Year! My top ten(ish) puzzles of 2024

Happy New Year to you all! I have no idea what happened to 2024. Actually I have a vague idea that I worked my way through it with not enough breaks for enjoying what I love. I only managed to get to 2 of the MPP's of the year which is a bad sign that I am working a lot of weekends. New Year resolution to work less!

Welcome to my customary end of year post looking back at my puzzling highs of 2024. As always, thinking about it was triggered by Peter Hajek's request for the top 3 acquisitions of the year. Peter wants to know the best arrivals in the collection and I always write about my best puzzles solved which makes it a little harder to come up with a good list. I have had a pretty good year of puzzle purchasing much to the disgust of the current wife, but it has felt like a bad year for me in terms of puzzle solving. Having looked back through my year of posts, there have been some absolutely amazing creations. 

Nowhere near solving!

Smack-n-Moles by Stickman - this has been sitting in my conservatory next to me for over a year now and I picked it up regularly throughout 2024 and got absolutely nowhere. I have made a few discoveries but nothing is useful. It remains in my naughty pile and is not getting put away until done!

The coloured plastic version of the Crazy double circle cube was refought towards the end of 2023 when the black version began to have issues with the inner circles catching on me. I duly scrambled this version and whilst it has worked flawlessly, I don't seem to be able to solve it. I get really close to the end game and then lose it - sigh! Another one I will keep going on.

Vertigo from Dee Dixon - it looks and smells lovely! It remains in my kitchen (much to the disgust, yet again, of Mrs S) and to my eternal shame, I have not even managed to find the first move. The top inner disk spins freely and that is it - Aargh!

Blinded, also by Dee Dixon. Another one in my kitchen and if this continues then I am going to get a Whack! Ouch! very soon.

Box of Celts - this won quite a lot of votes at the last EPP and I was very lucky to manage to get one early in 2024. I haven't even found the first step yet.  OMG! I am so bad at puzzles!

I missed out on Juno's tour de force (the Hippo) but at the beginning of the year I did manage to acquire this gorgeous puzzle, the Dual Meanders Box. There are a lot of moves possible with so many maze plates that can move as well as the centre of the walls. I seem to make progress in two possible directions but always seem to hit a dead end no matter what I try. This has been shelved for a while due to frustration.

The Fibonacci box from Jesse Born. Having collected and solved the Pi box, I had to have the next in that series - it is simply gorgeous and has a very complex mechanism with some serious brass inside. I have managed to make things slide but absolutely nothing seems to lead anywhere and I cannot find any connection to the Fibonacci number series. 

Of course, let us not forget that Shane has been quiescent for a while (note that I did not say quiet because Shane is NEVER quiet!) He produced, in collaboration with the Two Brass Monkeys, the Who Dares Wins lock. I am not very good at locks but this one is kicking my butt - yet another puzzle I haven't even found the first move for. I can see something that I'd like to try to do but I don't have anything to do it with - sigh!   

Finally managed to solve with a good bit of assistance

Orbit by Dee Dixon. This took over a year to solve and was only possible with a decent hint at the last MPP. Maybe there is something about Dee's puzzles? There is a massive challenge to them and I just cannot seem to solve them easily. Very good value for money!

Almost made it

There have been so many great puzzles that I had to relegate a few - this doesn't mean that they aren't good - they still deserve a mention and here's a few almost there puzzles:

Mibinity designed by Michel van Ipenburg and beautifully created by Jack Krijnen is a delightful and unusual manifestation of the N-ary puzzle group. It's a lovely little delight, not too hard and fun to fiddle with and, of course, beautifully made. It has reminded me that Stephan Baumegger has created a whole bunch of new N-ary puzzles that I haven't bought yet due to funding constraints. Sigh!

Every year I buy a whole bunch of disentanglement puzzles from Aaron Wang and most of them bamboozle me for the whole year before I give up. This year, Aaron helped produce some wonderful wire only puzzles which had just the right difficulty level and some wonderful Aha! moments. I have not yet managed the string puzzles but I'm hopeful!

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Finally...On with my top ten(ish) puzzles solved in 2024:

Every top ten needs to start at least at 11 because I cannot count! So here we go.

11) Incredible Packers

Over the last few years I have been delighted by some truly wonderful packing puzzles with something very special about them. It may be the wood or it may be the odd technique needed to solve them. In either case they all share a fantastic delightful Aha! moment. Here's a few that I had to mention:

Persistence of Memory by Alexander Magyarics
Made by Brain Menold

Nested Soma by Dr Volker Latussek with Lucie Pauwels
Made by Pelikan

Also from Mine-san:

Perfect entrance

3L x2

Sukiyaki by Frederic Boucher
Made by Pelikan

10) 234 Puzzle Cube

When Mike Toulouzas designs and makes something you know that it is going to be very special and a perfect challenge. This came out of the blue as a gift at the beginning of 2024 and delighted me with it's sheer beauty as well as a challenge that is just tough enough to make me feel foolish and yet smile at the same time. Thank you Mike!

9) Chained Key

Luke Waier had a really good idea

Lots and lots of people have gushed about this beautifully crafted puzzle this year and, as usual, I was late to the party. I quickly saw why so many people loved it - there are lots of steps and each one needs some careful logic and thought©. I have had to put it further down the list because one part of mine had a step that had been overtightened and I could not progress until I received reassurance at the MPP and then had to use an external tool to loosen that bit before continuing.

8) Minima Puzzles - so so many of them!

Frederic Boucher had an idea - he created a 2x2x3 box with holes in various places and odd pieces to fit inside. Sometimes it needs odd rotations, and sometimes there need to be odd holes to allow these rotations. It is soooo good that he made quite a lot of them. I haven't gotten around to solving them all yet but I am working my way through them. 

Minima Tower by Frederic

Recently Minima Smiley

Minima Domino by Frederic

Minima Texas

Minima Ludique

Minima Twig

I think the world thinks it was a good idea based on great reviews from others and the fact that so many other people jumped on this bandwagon to produce their own variants.

The great Laszlo Molnar designed some

Lucie Pauwels couldn't resist it

Even Dr Latussek added something special

7) Vertigo Puzzlebox

Yes, I actually solved a Vertigo puzzle (just not one from Dee Dixon

This is the second of the puzzle boxes made from Lego that I have from Quizbrix. Every time I see a Lego box, I am sceptical but every time I am amazed at the incredible complexity and fun mechanisms that can be fitted into an amazingly small volume. I adored this one and it is still available here.

6) Oleg's Wardrobe

Oleg's Wardrobe by Dee Dixon

I have this here because it is a fabulous puzzle and beautifully made by Dee Dixon. The mechanism was incredible and really fun to solve. It isn't higher up the list because I just cannot seem to reset it at all. I will need to take it to an MPP next time and see if anyone can do it for me!

Whilst I am thinking about Dee's creations, I have to include the Uplift puzzle here. I received it in 2023 and spent months and months spinning the damn thing around. I then finally made progress this year and solved it with a wonderful Aha! moment and a silly grin at the end!

Uplift

5) Twister Box

When Pelikan produce a box it's a "must have"

Jakub and Jaroslav appear more than once in my top ten(ish) of 2024 because they produce some gorgeous puzzles and work with some of the best designers in the world! However, when they produce one of their own designs, everyone should sit up and take notice. Also when they produce a box, it will be something special. Their craftsmanship is second to none and their ideas are amazing! This box made me laugh out loud! I solved it by accident as most people will but the understanding of the mechanism is the fun part - then you can do it easily every single time! Brilliant!

4) Free Me 9

Joe produces an amazing challenge

When Joe Turner sends out an email about yet another of his brilliant Free Me puzzles, the puzzling world really pays attention! I said yes as soon as the email arrived and was not disappointed. The aim wasn't just to free one coin but 3 with a whole series of mechanisms. It really took me some time and needed a little hint.

Three coins this time!

3) Picolock

Boaz Feldman does it yet again!

This amazing puzzle lock by Boaz Feldman won a huge number of accolades at last year's EPP. I finally stopped buying wood for long enough to pick one up and loved every moment of the solve. It's classic Boaz with beautifully hidden mechanisms that are a delight to find.

2) Matchbox playground

The Matchbox Playground by Pelikan and Peter Gal

I adore a puzzle set but I seldom actually attempt more than a few challenges from them. This wonderful set is a fabulous collection of matchbox challenges stunningly made by Pelikan comprising the exhaustive analysis by Peter Gal. I keep returning to it. Even the box looks like a matchbox. Amongst all of the beautiful puzzles that I received in 2024, this is probably the most beautiful item on my shelves - it is simply stunning.

So many pieces - it's a challenge to put them in the box

The simplest challenge

1) Brass Monkey Sixential Discovery puzzle

You knew it had to be this one!

This is an absolute masterpiece of puzzle design and manufacture by Big Steve and Ali. It's a fitting end to the Brass Monkey series. I doubt it can ever be beaten - it might be the best puzzle ever made! There are so many beautifully made mechanisms that lead to one Aha! moment after another. I wish I could solve it all over again. I hope the guys are feeling the pressure because I want another tour de force like this again.

Solved after so many steps!

All six Brass Monkeys

Do you agree with my top 10? If you have any different thoughts then please comment below or even use my Contact page to tell me how wrong I am. I look forward to your thoughts. 

Happy New Year to you all!

I really hope that you all have a fabulous year in 2025 with good health, success and plenty of wonderful puzzling. I look forward to entertaining and maybe helping many of you in this year.