This puzzle had me stumped for over a week of intermittent attempts at disassembly but I finally succeeded!
Once I got the first side piece out you’d think that things got easier from there but not so much..as you can see from the move count, the 5th piece takes another 16 moves.
Move count is: 47-1-2-4-16-2-4-1-3-2-1-3-2
Alfons crafted this beauty in 2015 from Oak, Wenge and Benge.
Stuart included a trio of Disentanglement puzzles in a recent parcel he had sent me.
I must admit I’m simply terrible at solving this type of puzzle but these three appear to have been chosen with different levels of difficulties.
I first tried (very difficult) the one with two large blocks that have a myriad of chord running through it all, my chances of ever solving this one are slim to none.
The second one I tried seemed to be the (easy) one that has a square stick through a hole in another piece, as I managed to solve it rather quickly.
The third (difficult) one appears to be solvable but I’ve yet to accomplish that..
All are very nicely made, thanks again Stuart.
Stuart was kind enough to include this clever tray design that is very reminiscent of classic ‘Coffin’ designs.
Four seemingly innocent pieces need to be placed within this frame and as is usually the case with this sort of puzzle your mind races to the thought that it looks like a cakewalk.
Much like many Coffin designs this one plays on the fact that there are multiple sides that are begging you to place pieces alongside them until you quickly realize that it’s just not going to work.
I spent a considerable amount of time with this one until I thought I had come up with the intended solution but Stuart told me that I found an alternate solution, very nice design Stuart, thanks for sending it to the great white north.
I recently received this very interesting puzzle from longtime puzzle designer Stuart from downunder. I didn’t initially recognize this particular variant of the ‘Instant Insanity’ type puzzle as I’ve only ever seen the cube versions. I had previously blogged about Rik van Grol’s ‘Complete Insanity’, however Stuart told me he came up with this version some 15 years ago.
This version features 10 pegs with ends coloured and your task is to place them in the pyramid frame so that no colours are aligned, now accomplishing that on one side seems fairly trivial but achieving that on both sides at once will likely drive you ‘insane’ lol..
Brian made a run of 30 of this very cool puzzle in 2005 and I was fortunate to have acquired a copy from long time puzzler Stuart Gee from Australia. Thank you Stuart. See bottom photo of the goodies that he beautifully crafted and graciously included in my parcel.
Here’s Brian’s description from Mr Puzzle:
“The object of the puzzle is to disassemble the thirty pieces and reassemble into this attractive collection of stellated rhombic dodecahedrons.
This puzzle was conceived whilst making the Diagonal Twins exchange puzzle for IPP25. Brian just kept extending pieces to see where it would lead.
There are 288 saw cuts in this puzzle. Each piece is cut from a single piece of wood. No glue is used in the puzzle. The very fine tolerances of each saw cut are the secret to it fitting together well. The more pieces added to this type of puzzle the more magnified any small variance becomes. Where to place the darker pieces to create the pattern is part of the challenge.
The puzzle is made from different shades of Red Silky Oak, a native Australian wood. Size: 160mm x 160mm x 65mm.”
I started to contemplate making a box to keep my copy of Mark’s wonderful ‘Peanut’ puzzle stored safely in the Hexagonal Ring Configuration.
I had a few boards of Ambrosia Maple and thought this might be the perfect fit for the carcass of the box, it was also used for the top and bottom, properly floated to counteract any expansion issues. Slipfeathers are all Holly as well as the box sleeve.
Here’s the description from my wood supplier for the Ambrosia Maple:
“Wormy Maple is one of the most unique wood types. What is Ambrosia Maple lumber?
Well it's not actually a species - but rather two things that happen to the wood when it has been infested by the Ambrosia beetle!
The most obvious is the tiny holes from the beetle boring through, but it also leaves some interesting streaking caused from a fungus it carries on its legs.
Of course it goes without saying all our lumber is kiln dried and these visitors are no longer an issue!”
Check out my original blog on Mark’s ‘Peanut’ puzzle.
This is yet another missing Juno for my collection, I was excited to have acquired it from another puzzle friend.
Here’s Juno’s description from Pluredro:
“There were lots of off-cuts of Koto after we produced Slammed Car and the off-cuts were too good to be disposed of. So, Juno designed the puzzle to efficiently use up these off-cuts and it turned out to be Headed Lattice.
He made original plywood for the main part of the puzzle, but the amount of the end pieces made of Koto were not enough, and then he needed to produce extra end pieces using Utile.
Furthermore, although he planned to use PNG Rosewood for the middle layer of the plywood, after he dressed timber stocks, there seemed to be some of them which looked like Zebrano. That’s the reason why we ended up with a mixed combination of timber species for this puzzle.
Darker Jarrah timber is used for the Koto headed one and the Utile headed ones have a rather pink colored Jarrah. Please understand that you can choose the color of the head (end) pieces, but cannot choose the type of species, PNG Rosewood or Zebrano.
There are only four pieces to the puzzle, but it requires relatively high numbers of 20 moves to remove the first piece from the assembled shape. The pieces become unstable during assembling/disassembling the puzzle, but the end pieces prevent a shortcut solution done by rotational piece movements. The puzzle has only two possible assemblies and it is doable to burr puzzle lovers, we don’t say an easy puzzle though.
It is a big and heavy puzzle considering the number of the consisting pieces. All the sharp corners were beveled, and the surface of the puzzle is smoothly finished.
The puzzle is sold assembled. The solution to this puzzle will be supplied upon request by Burr Tools file format.”
Size: 120 mm x 120 mm x 70 mm
Number of pieces: 4
Material: Jarrah, PNG Rosewood or Zebrano, and Koto or Utile
I was fortunate to have tracked this puzzle down for my Juno collection and it now completes my ‘Pinned Framed’ series that includes this Large with the Medium and Small versions.
Here’s Juno’s description from Pluredro:
“Here is another representation of Framed Burr. It features pins and complex shaped grooves on the pieces and there are also grooves on the four sides of the frame to give an escaping exit to the pins. This is a level 149-15-2 burr puzzle meaning it requires 149 moves to remove the first piece from the frame, and another 15 and 2 moves for the second and third pieces.
Juno originally designed 57 moves for one piece and he was almost ready to produce them for our regular product. He wanted to reuse the off-cuts of Burmese Teak pieces and designed smaller pinned framed burr that can be made from the off-cuts. Those M and S sized puzzles had 50 and 40 moves solution and he thought that 57 moves for the L sized puzzle was not enough. He restarted the design from scratch and increased the moves of the L sized puzzle to 149.
Insanity guaranteed.
Of course, the puzzle is very difficult, but it doesn’t mean it is impossible for human beings to assemble without computer aids. Because of the smaller number of possible assemblies of the four internal pieces, some very serious puzzlers can find the orientation of the pieces and can track the way to the goal of the puzzle by unremitting and patient efforts. Although the numbers of the required moves for the solution is smaller than one of our product Meanders Box, this one is at least ten times more difficult than Meanders Box.
The puzzle is quite big and heavy. Please check the images below and then you can imagine how big the puzzle would be in your hands. The frame has concave on the four sides to make pushing the internal pieces easier.
The puzzle is sold assembled. The solution to this puzzle will be supplied upon request by Burr Tools file format.”
Size: 135 mm x 135 mm x 42 mm
Number of pieces: 5
Material: American Rock Maple, PNG Rosewood, Burmese Teak and stainless pins
I’ve known Mike for a couple of decades now and he’s hands down the most talented puzzle craftsman, not only does he excel at making puzzles but some of his puzzle boxes are highly sought after around the globe. He’s also mastered the art of wood turning and you can see a clip on his YouTube channel turning a knob for his Fairys Door.
Back when we had the Renegade Puzzlers forum we would often discuss various woodworking techniques and a sphere turning jig was brought up and sure enough Mike had a video of that as well!
Mike has a website ‘Puzzzlevision ’ that features most of his prior works, obtaining a piece from Mike is something of a challenge as his work is in such high demand and that brings me to the reason for this post. Mike has crafted a ‘One of a Kind’ ‘Fairy’s Door’ to be auctioned at Puzzle Paradise shortly.
Here in his own words is his description:
“For information and to help me add more people that may be interest in the ‘One of a kind’ deluxe edition Fairys door puzzle box. I will say briefly that:
All fairys are 36 (+2 of IPPDC 34) + this one of a kind edition = 39 in total.
The 2 from the puzzle contest have less details aesthetically because it was something I improved later. (One of these copies is my own)
The ‘One of a kind’ has more final details aesthetically, different rare woods and an additional step in the solution.
The wood in the Knob/Hinges and Magic Wand is Gabon Ebony.
What is cool about the Knob is that it has a loose ring in the middle but you can tell only in the video and not in the photo!
All I wish is that this copy will go to a home (or a museum) and that it will be respected accordingly.”
This is a cool puzzle from Bruno!
Here’s Bruno’s description from his blog:
“For those of you who had been following me, you remember that I started a new design, Hexabox, as a sequel to Drawer Box, and then I stopped, because of too many issues in the design and in the 3D printing process.
‘Vingt fois sur le métier remettez votre ouvrage’ wrote Boileau the poet. So I did (more than 20 times actually...).
Hexabox is a puzzle box, with coordinated motions and a pinch of sequential discovery.
I like to refer it as the big sister of Drawer Box, one of my very first designs, with some nice additions and improvements.
It requires 25+ moves to remove the 3 drawers and to find the hidden coin with 3 phases in the game. It is a difficult puzzle, with, I hope, some nice Ah Ha ! moments down the road.”
I recently got this very cool design by Osanori!
It’s a fun puzzle trying to first figure out how to manipulate the pieces to get them all out. This puzzle features a level move count of 21.6.4.6 with a rotation required. Once you do manage to remove the pieces your next task is to put them back into their original state..be sure to drop by Pelikan to see what’s available.
Kevin wrote about it:
“Waffle by Oasnori Yamamoto was actually one of the first that I actually tried from the new arrivals but I got a bit of a shock the very first evening. This consists of 4 bright yellow mini burrsticks made from Garapa which have been arranged into an attractive cross shape on a Jatoba frame and the obvious aim is to remove them. Itis immediately clear that Burrtools is not helpful here because as soon as the pieces start to move the requirement for rotations becomes very apparent. I began moving them about and trying to make space for the required rotation to happen and quite quickly lost track of what I had done - I suddenly couldn't reset the puzzle! OMG! A lot of swearing during an episode of Grey's Anatomy had Mrs S looking at me with anger and me sweating under that gaze as well as worrying about the puzzle. After a fraught ½ hour I got it back to the beginning and drew a little diagram of the start positions. I went back to work on the others and only this last week did I start to play again. This time I actually made plans of what I needed to do and always made sure that I could reset. Still no joy - the pieces always seem to block the required rotation and I could not find a way to make space. Again whilst watching TV, I idly fiddled and did something without realising it. I looked down in surprise and couldn't believe it. Moving back and forth, it is apparent that the arrangement and movement on this one is critically accurate. Having found that amazingly accurate move, I quickly had the puzzle solved. Really tough to find the correct move making for a real challenge.”
This is a very nice reproduction of one of Kamei’s classic puzzle box designs.
I have no idea who crafted this one but I certainly can say the craftsmanship is definitely top notch!
Although it’s essentially a ‘trick box’ the solution is quite nice.
This is the printed version from Aleksandr also known as 136 Minutes Cube - 8190 moves, with extra piece 205 Minutes Cube - 12282
Here’s what Kevin wrote:
“The sequence cube was an incredible design by Aleksandr Leontev which he shared with me at the beginning of the year and when he tried to make a copy discovered that it proved to be impossible to construct in a stable manner. As a compromise (which probably actually saved my sanity) he created a variant with only a single removable piece rather than entirely dismantleable. This was called either the 136-minute cube or 205-minute box depending on which pieces were used. Those numbers were supposed to denote how long it should take but in my case, the numbers were considerably higher! It was a wonderful piece of 3D printing and a masterpiece of N-ary puzzle design.”
This is a very nice design by Jerry and Eric’s craftsmanship is excellent as usual, using Purpleheart for the pieces and Maple for the frame.
I’m still in disbelief at Eric’s sudden passing, this is another puzzle that was on its way to me before this happened so and I still find it difficult..
Jerry also has blogged about this cool design.
Here’s the description from Cubicdissection:
“Made in the same fashion (and intended as a companion to) 2014's "Rail Box", Nine Theta takes the same piston concept even further down the road. While the solution is a couple moves fewer than the Rail Box (15.3 instead of 18), it's more confusing due to the increased number of pieces. This is a damn difficult puzzle, even for the seasoned collector!
Construction of this puzzle is excellent, with through cage joinery, milled solid pieces and bevels all around. Fit is dead-on.
48 copies made for sale, each signed and dated. This puzzle is shipped assembled.”
