Polyomino Progression - Tyler Hudson by Nothing Yet Designs

This 4-piece symmetrical puzzle differs from most by the amount of challenges offered.

I struggled with many of them and still stuck on some!

Here’s the assortment of Challenges:

Challenge 1:

Form a symmetrical shape utilising all 4 pieces. 2 solutions.

Challenge 2:

Take the Z- shaped piece. Using 2 other pieces as well, create a symmetrical

shape.

• Using Z + M + J- shaped pieces: 1 solution.
• Using Z + M + F - shaped pieces: 1 solution.
• Using Z + F + 1 - shaped pieces: 2 solutions.

Challenge 3:

Find which 2 pieces can be combined to form a symmetrical shape:  1 solution.

Be sure to drop by ‘Nothing Yet Designs’ to grab some of Tye’s puzzle offerings.

Shinobi - Greg (Puzzle Wanderer) by Nothing Yet Designs

This 3-piece symmetry puzzle is a fun one that took me a little bit of time to solve each solution.  It’s not overly difficult as far as symmetry puzzles go so a good one to leave on your coffee table for guests to tackle.

Here’s Greg’s challenges for this puzzle:

“Create a symmetrical shape from all 3 pieces - 2 Solutions

Extra challenge: Use 2 of the pieces to create a symmetrical formation”

I highly recommend you drop by ‘Nothing Yet Designs’ to grab some of Tye’s puzzle offerings.

Symmetrain - Choongmyoung Lee by Nothing Yet Designs

Symmetry puzzles are some of the most difficult puzzle solves for me.  This particular design is amazing, kept me busy for a while and I even contacted Tye to confirm that the solution required symmetry as I was starting to think that it would make some random shape! 

Tye had mentioned to me that this particular puzzle featured a ‘Rotational Symmetry’ solution, of course Wikipedia came to my rescue as I had never heard of that before.  That ultimately gave me the push I needed to find the solution.

I highly recommend you drop by ‘Nothing Yet Designs’ to grab some of Tye’s puzzle offerings.

Pentomino Jigsaw - Tamas Vanyo (2014) by Nothing Yet Designs

 

I recently received this cool puzzle that was designed by Tamas.  I’m a big fan of any ‘Pentomino’ type puzzle so this is one I really enjoyed.

Your goal is to fit the 12 pieces into 10 x 6 frame (I will definitely be making a wood tray for this one), with only one solution this will keep you busy for a while!

Be sure to drop by Tye’s Shop and grab a copy.

KeyTIC by Andrew Crowell

This is another great design by Andrew, his numerous Turning Interlocking Cubes are unrivalled in the puzzle community.

This particular design has an assembly that requires some crazy moves that I hadn’t encountered before, very clever design!

You can purchase the STL files directly from Andrew’s Etsy Shop if you have a printer or buy the completed designs as well, here’s Andrew’s description:

“KeyTIC - 21 Total Moves and 10 Moves to completely free the first piece in terms of disassembly.”

Squared Cube - Haym Hirsh by Brian Menold at Wood Wonders

 

I recently received a copy of this puzzle from fellow discord member ‘MrMark’ (Thanks Mark!)..it’s a really clever design by Haym that is a real stumper.  Mark crafted this particular copy using a variety of colourful woods; Redheart, Black Palm, Mahogany, Walnut, Padauk, Marblewood, Purpleheart, Canarywood.  

Drop by Wood Wonders to grab yourself a copy!  

Here’s a description from Brian:

“Here Haym has taken just a simple square and made a very nice Cube Puzzle! Like the Inelegant puzzles the sides have the occasional hole in them. Seven vaguely "L" shaped pieces are made up of 1x4x4 unit pieces. The stand is very helpful in solving this one as the pieces seem to slide around during assembly. But a nice sturdy cube in the stand is the result!”

8 Stars Labyrinth by Robrecht Louage

Here’s a review from  Gabriel’s blog from 2015:

“Robrecht Louage has already accustomed us with very original designs year after year. As an avid IPP contestant, Robrecht always enters his new puzzles at the yearly International Puzzle Party, and this year's Ottawa event was no different. Even though it didn't earned any award at the competition, Robrecht's latest creation, the 8 Stars Labyrinth, deserves all the credit for its originality.

If you have followed the Belgian designer's work over the last few years, then you'll immediately notice something's missing in his new design. That's right, there's no coin to be freed this time around, but even so there's no excuse why you shouldn't try this one out. For lovers of labyrinths, mazes and hidden paths, the 8 Stars Labyrinth offers you a perilous journey through an obstacle-ridden trail, which only the most adventurous puzzlers will be able to overcome.

What remains common from other previous designs is the use of Trespa - An unusual but strong material made by combining Kraft paper and phenolic resin, resulting in this light-brown color seldom seen in any other puzzles, but in reality it's a great fit for an otherwise unusual puzzle itself. The top of the puzzle is covered with a semi-transparent polycarbonate sheet, which gives this foggy appearance to the labyrinth, as if you were roaming around in an eerie mist.

To start your journey, you must insert the small metal sphere in the "IN" hole found at the right of one of the sides. I believe the name of puzzle has something to do with the number of traps you can find scattered throughout the path, which is eight, if I'm not mistaken: right after you insert the sphere there's another one by the entrance, preventing you from going back in case you ever regret entering this fiendish labyrinth; following this welcoming committee is a blacked-out stretch of the path that doesn't let you see what type of trap you're facing. Here, like the other three similar traps that await you, you need to figure out how to advance to the next obstacle unscathed. Each of these four "black" traps is unique and present you with a different challenge, so proceed with caution as you approach them; farther in, you'll see another trap just like the one you encountered when you first entered the maze. You'll need some dexterity skills to pass through this one, but it shouldn't give you much trouble; one of the hardest parts of the puzzle is the hidden labyrinth at the bottom. Most of the path is covered by a plaque full of small holes that only let you see the sphere at certain points. You have to navigate through this maze mostly by instinct until you find the exit, just before passing through the last black trap; there's a final trap close to the exit, so you need to move the sphere slowly in order to avoid the pitfall ahead.

I was intimidated at first by all the traps found in the puzzle, especially the black ones, where I didn't know what to expect. Turns out, it was easier than I thought and I was able to solve it within 10 minutes or so. The most challenging parts were the black trap in the middle (the second blacked-out stretch) and the hidden maze at the bottom. Some trial and error should take care of it, so if at first you don't succeed...”

Okto Cube - Yavuz Demirhan by Cubicdissection

Eric Fuller (Rest in Peace) has done magnificent work on this very clever design by Yavuz!

I had originally blogged about this very cool design by Yavuz, but have since decided to do an update blog with some of my photos.

Be sure to visit Cubicdissection to see all puzzle offerings:

“Another hit from the creative genius of Yavuz Demirhan. Octo cube is a six piece board burr which must be assembled within a cube construct. The cube itself is comprised of eight identical pieces which interlock around the board burr. Assembling the cube pieces in the correct sequence is extremely difficult; this is essentially two puzzles interacting to form a whole when finished. This is a very difficult puzzle! Thirty nine moves in total are required for final assembly.

Construction of this puzzle is extremely nice...we spent a lot of time on it. Each cube piece is milled from solid wood, and each board burr is precisely made with shoulders on the cross pieces for strength.”

Puzzle Pusher has an excellent blog review with many disassembly photos.

Coaxial - Stéphane Chomine (2012) by Pelikan

I recently received this puzzle and was pleasantly surprised by its nice craftsmanship from Pelikan.

It’s not an overly difficult design by Stephane, so it’s a lot of fun to play with.

Jerry blogged about this puzzle in 2014:

“Designed in 2012 by really prolific puzzle designer Stephane Chomine (who has a whopping 497 designs to-date), the Coaxial was another non-starter for me. 

Made by Pelikan to the usual high standards out of Maple and Wenge, this interlocking solid does not sport the more usual box frame style. Instead it consists of 6 pieces, three of which are regular burr units while the "frame" is made up of another three odd-shaped pieces; pairs of square rings each joined by a spar and with protrusions.   

While it has a 17.2.3.2.2 solution (ie 17 steps to remove the first piece), not a lot compared to some other interlocking burrs, some with well over a 100 moves, the Coaxial is, in my view very difficult. I got stuck around step 10 and could proceed no further. No amount of trying, random or otherwise yielded any luck. Fortunately for me the good folks at Pelikan provided a printed solution to help and Burr Tools took care of the re-assembly.”

Jabs - Ken Irvine by Brian Menold at Wood Wonders

This is another fun design by Ken, I really enjoyed Broken Soma and of course this one is an excellent sequel to it..these designs are really quite clever.  

Here’s Brian’s description:

“Well, Ken is at it again. If you liked Broken Soma, I think you'll enjoy Jabs! Although, I think, Jabs is a bit easier than Broken Soma, that may be a good thing. If as I did, you struggled with Broken Soma for what seemed like far too long! Like the Broken Soma, Ken has split the three voxel piece into six half cubes. Now it's up to you to find the one solution to this clever puzzle.”

Triple 3 - Osanori Yamamoto (2015) by Pelikan

This is a puzzle design that Osanori has made many variants over the years and still currently creates them.

It’s an ‘apparent cube’ type packing puzzle with the obvious goal of covering all of the Cherry Box openings with the Jatoba Pieces.  The level move count is 10.2.5 which is rather high considering there’s only three pieces.

Here’s what Kevin had to say about it:

“The pieces of Triple 3 leave quite a bit of space inside with the limitation of placement being provided by the large front hole and single cubie hole diagonally opposite. This required a different approach to me from the Triangle Ring 3 with placement of the specially shaped piece first and working out how to add pieces around it. A much tougher challenge which took me several days.”

Knotty 6 - Yavuz Demirhan (2013) by Pelikan

This puzzle is a bit of a throwback to a time when high level board burrs weren’t so prevalent, (Torture by Frans de Vreugd being the exception).  This design won’t have you scrambling for a burrtools file to reassemble as it only requires a couple of moves but still a neat puzzle to play with.  Pelikan weren’t set up at their current shop, however the craftsmanship is still quite evident and this copy is made from Padauk, Maple and Wenge.

Gabriel blogged about this puzzle back in 2014, here’s an excerpt:

“Knotty 6 is designed by the prolific Yavuz from Turkey, and manufactured by Pelikan in the Czech Republic. The puzzle is made from very high quality materials and a lot of care went into producing each copy. The wood is dried to 8% moisture, and a lot of varied species of wood are used to have an extensive diversity of colors and textures in their designs.

The puzzle consists of six identical P-shaped pieces, or congruent, and they interlock to form a tight knot, which at first seems impossible to undo. However, the two holes inside allow for the pieces to move in a certain way so it's possible to remove one piece at a time. I found that there are multiple solutions to remove the first piece, as seen in the pictures below, which indicate that any of the three colored pieces can be the first, although the solution is identical in all three occasions. The pieces move by sliding them one unit at a time. You need two moves to remove the first piece and another two to remove the second. No rotations needed.”

Camel Ride - Stephan Baumegger by Pelikan

This is another cool ‘zoo burr’ design by Stephan, Pelikan used Oak for the burr pieces and Garapa (Brazilian Ash) for the Camel, here’s Kevin’s description:

“This beautifully made 12 (13) piece burr design by Stephan is yet another that belongs in Goetz' Burr zoo. I had bought this and solved it way back in 2014 after I had bought it direct from the designer. Obviously Stephan has allowed Pelikan to reproduce some of his more fun burrs. Having solved this way way back, I had absolutely no recollection of the solution. I have gotten a bit rusty with burrs over the last couple of years and this caused me quite some difficulty. The level is 16.8.9.2.2.3.4.2.1.2 so not too high a level but the fun part here is that to make some of the moves the camel inside needs to be moved around to make space for the other pieces to move. I managed to remove the first two pieces after 3 days of fiddling about with my usual to and fro approach. Removing the next piece was a real challenge – finding the required moves requires looking and experimenting and is very enjoyable. Even after almost all the pieces have been removed it remains stable and does not collapse on itself at all. Fabulous!”

Switch - Dan Fast by Alfons Eyckmans

Alfons not only makes his own designs and this puzzle is a design by Dan and thought it appropriate to let him describe it:

“My puzzle design named “Switch”. Level 22.15.2.5.2.2. 

When I designed this puzzle I loved the look of it, multiple woods on a single piece, and nice symmetry. Unfortunately, too much movement makes it difficult to keep track of what moves are available, not very stable, and there’s a shortcut by rotating a piece out around 9 moves in. 

So a really nice looking puzzle, beautifully built by Alfons Eyckmans, but not my best design and will always look good on my shelf anyways as part of my collection!! 

On to the next, better design!”