What’s The Bu? – Caching Zzzzzz

News flash!  There’s a new puzzle maker in the community!

You’re not going to catch Stefan Garcia sleeping on the job.  Stefan decided that for the 41st International Puzzle Party (IPP), he was going to make his exchange puzzles himself.  Having secured a nice design from László Molnár, he embarked on the journey of 100 puzzles.  With no experience in 3D printing, Stefan bought a 3D printer, learned how to create and slice model files, and produced a fine batch of puzzles for the exchange.  And he didn’t just knock it out of the park, he launched it into space.  

To say that for a first time 3D printing effort that Caching Zzzzzz was nicely printed would be an understatement.  The ZZZZZZs are what you would expect from a 3D printed puzzle, but Stefan put in extra effort to make the frame with color changing filament and deboss the design and puzzle information on the top and bottom.  Extra touches included debossing the IPP41 logo information on one of the pillows and 3D printing the puzzle directions.

Caching Zzzzzz was designed by László Molnár and has 2 challenges.  The first is to fit all 6 Z pieces within the frame so that it makes an apparent cube.  The second challenge is to pack 4 of the Zs along with the 2 pillows within the frame to also make an apparent cube.  The frame has 4 double-voxel openings and 2 single-voxel openings, which makes it seem like there would be ample opportunity to insert the pieces within the frame.  Of course, when all the pieces are packed, these spaces need to be filled.

For the first challenge, you quickly realize that the last piece can’t simply be inserted without apparently leaving an apparent hole in the cube, which is no then longer apparent.  So apparently, there must be at least one more apparent move to complete the apparent cube.  And this is the thread that I pulled to work my way to the solution.  I found that accomplishing this exercise put me in an apparently solving frame of mind that made completing the second challenge easier than if I had simply attacked it cold as a single challenge puzzle.
 
Athough I didn’t find the puzzle extremely difficult, I wouldn’t say it ZZZZZ Z.  I’m looking forward to seeing what Stefan and László cook up for future puzzle exchanges.

 

Minima Meets Flop – Minima Flop

What happens when the Minima series crashes into the Flop series.  You get Minima Flop of course.

Minima Flop is the third puzzle in the Minima Series that I’ve solved after Minima Nest and Minima Ludique.  It was developed by Dr. Volker Latussek and make by Nothing Yet Designs.  The puzzle consists of 4 Mahogany V shaped pieces that have to be packed within a highly fenestrated frosted acrylic box.  And the windows are numerous and large enough to allow a school of red fish to flop through them.  The packaging for the puzzle is well-thought out and holds the box with 3 pieces trivially packed inside with enough space leftover to place the 4th piece on top of the box.

Minima Flop merges Dr. Latussek’s Flop series of puzzles with the Minima series started and mostly populated by Frederic Boucher.  Never having previously done a Flop puzzle, I’m assuming that it refers to how the some pieces can’t simply drop in but need to flop in.  Sorry for all these technical terms,

My experience with restricted opening packing puzzles is that the boxes are designed to add openings where needed.  Minima Flop seems to take an alternate additive approach and provides material where required to hold the pieces.  We’re accustomed to holes used to poke pieces out and offset holes to allow rotations.  Now we have extended holes that allow pieces to be flopped through them.  Before you get worked up and think that this is a spoiler, I can assure you that this is not a great revelation as the pieces you start adding to the box start flopping out within the first couple of minutes.

Solving the puzzle is simply a matter of applying drop, flop, and shift maneuvers with the four pieces to be packed in the box.  And technically, you just plop that last piece in when solving it.  If this is your first Flop puzzle like it was for me, it doesn’t take long to embrace the 1.5 voxel flop maneuver required to solve it.

I thoroughly enjoyed leveling up on the flopping skill and look forward to tackling some of the more maxima puzzles in the Flop series.

Looks Easy, There’s Just One – Hitch

Every once in a while, you run across an enticing puzzle while surfing the internet.  Ok,  maybe a little more often than every once in a while.  Maybe once a week – that I don’t run into an enticing puzzle.

This is the story of one particular puzzle called Hitch designed by Émil Áskerli.  I spied this one on the Pelikan Puzzles website and alas dear readers, it is no longer available.  It was a lovely looking puzzle in an interesting compact form.  I’m sure that you can tell from my choices of filament that the version made by Pelikan used Purpleheart and Zebrano.  

Having printed it myself, I obviously solved it as an assembly puzzle.  The pieces didn’t look that complicated and they were obviously divided by color into 2 sets of 4 pieces.  The tan pieces are identical and the purple pieces are 2 pairs of pieces that are mirror images of each other.

I expected the solution to be easy and I was moving along just fine when I developed a hitch in my gitty up.  I couldn’t see the magic.  I say magic because even when I accomplished it, I didn’t see the magic, it just happened - magically of course.  I find that as I get older, it becomes more difficult to see further down the path and I just hope that any unnoticed gaping holes in front of my feet lead to the destination.

Early on in the solving process, I figured out where all the pieces HAD to go, which is always a bittersweet moment because it is usually followed by a long tortuous period of time that is terminated with the realization that the pieces don’t really go that way.

It’s not that difficult to get 7 pieces where they need to go, but getting that last piece in eluded me for a long time.  Being noticeably more afflicted by nearsightedness as I age, I kept changing the orientation of the pieces, trying to get a configuration that could be morphed into an assembly that would accept that last piece.  And of course that last piece was not the piece that I expected.

After some time, I gave up trying to figure out how it would happen and just decided to move forward without expectations and low and behold, the path opened up and swallowed that last piece.  Whereupon, I quickly closed it up and claimed victory.  

It may be small but Hitch has nice moves and solving it is very satisfying.  Or would have been satisfying if I were able to project hypothetical movements better, or recurse multiple solution path branches faster, or maybe just simply curse better with more gusto.  Then again, maybe the pieces that I printed were just a little too tight.  Yeah that ‘s it.  The pieces were malformed, not my brain.  That’s the story that I’ll be sticking to!  

Hitch is a great puzzle.  Just make sure you get a good copy!

Panefull Puzzle – Window Packing

You will go through great panes to solve this puzzle.  Four of them to be exact.

Window Packing was designed by Koichi Miura and exchanged in this year’s International Puzzle Party (IPP) by Meiko Kimura.  The puzzle is made from laser-cut acrylic and consists of a window frame and 4 blue tetromino pieces (1-I, 1-Z, 2-L) that need to be packed into the frame.  The 2 outer layers of the frame are made with gray frosted acrylic and have 4 large openings that come in handy to manipulate the pieces within the frame.  The center layer is clear and made from 2 pieces, but I have to confess that I don’t know why it isn’t a single piece.  

You will immediately notice that the O-penings on the front of the puzzle are not the same shape as the pieces to be packed inside.  Hint -  One corner of the middle layer has a single voxel opening (2 sides) to allow the pieces to be inserted within the frame.

This puzzle is not difficult, but it’s not trivial either.  It does require the rotation of pieces within the frame.  However, it should be obvious which piece needs to go in last and that doesn’t leave too many assemblies to check.  The rotations required to get the pieces in position are not difficult and the large openings help accomplish this.
 
I found packing this window frame much more enjoyable than packing the window frame in my old storm door for the winter.  Window Packing is a good entry puzzle for 2D packing.

Octadecahedron by Another Name – Pinwheel Crystal

What was the last octadecahedron puzzle you played with?  I thought so.  You’ve never heard of one.  That’s because of the lack of publicity that octadecahedron receives.  Now if I asked you about a truncated rhombic dodecahedron puzzle, you’d all be jumping up and down shouting that you have one in your collection.  Maybe even the Pinwheel Crystal made by Dave Rossetti.  It’s all in the naming.

I’ve always wanted a puzzle made by Dave Rossetti and I finally got my wish at this year’s International Puzzle Party (IPP).  Dave’s entry in the IPP Puzzle Exchange was Pinwheel Crystal designed by Stewart Coffin.  This is a geometric shaped puzzle in the form of a rhombic dodecahedron with truncated tips.  And the interior is hollow in the shape of a rhombic dodecahedron.

The puzzle is made from Granadillo and Maple and gets its name from the nice pattern made by the contrasting colors of the woods.  The puzzle consists of 6 pieces that are used to construct the truncated rhombic dodecahedron (just roles off the tongue, not like octadecahedron at all).

I’m always amazed at the complexity of these types of geometric pieces.  My woodworking skills top out at cubic dissection constructions.  The jigs and setup up required to make the angled cuts for geometric puzzles like Pinwheel Crystal is a whole other game.

So Dave used his amazing geometrical angly cutting skills to make 24 identical pieces (12 each of Granadillo and Maple) which he separated into 6 piles of 4, sprinkled them with glue, and shook them in a bag until he had the 6 puzzly pieces with a nice finish.  A little more shaking and he had the assembled Pinwheel Crystal.  Repeat 99 times and you’re ready for the puzzle exchange.  Sounds like magic, but everything seems like magic until you know how to do it.

Pinwheel isn’t a difficult puzzle to solve but it is a very attractive puzzle and beautifully made by Dave.

 

Screwing Around With Flowers – Tulip Twist

What do you give a wife who doesn’t like flowers or puzzles for her birthday.  A flower puzzle of course!

Tulip Twist is a flower themed puzzle with a lot of eye appeal developed by GlennovitS 3D on Printables.  For anyone who would like to print their own copy, the stl files can be downloaded from the Tulip Twist Puzzle Printables webpage.

The puzzle has 2 tulips, a planter box, and 3 layers of soil for the planter box to plant the tulips in.  Each tulip consists of a root, a stem, and a flower.  The flower and stem are the same for each but the roots are different.  Each of the 3 layers of soil has pathways for the roots of each tulip and each layer is different. The goal is to determine how the layers of soil need to be placed in the planter box to allow the tulips to be planted so that the roots are no longer visible.

From a puzzle perspective, Tulip Twist is very simple.  It’s really more about the eye appeal than the complexity of the solving process.  It may not be the most complex puzzle on your shelf, but it will certainly do a good job of drawing attention.

The design of the pieces is very well done.  The 3 parts of the tulips screw together very nicely, but note that they are reverse threaded, which feels somewhat awkward.  This is an attempt to keep them from unscrewing when you’re screwing around with them.  However, they are nice and tight and the rest of the puzzle tolerances are so well done, they don’t seem to be at risk of coming apart.

I was very impressed with this freely downloadable puzzle from Printables and my wife loved it.  It makes a great gift for that special budding puzzler in your life.

Time to Smother – The Blue Bird of Happiness

With a name like The Blue Bird of Happiness, you would expect this puzzle to have an upbeat theme.  However, the goal is to have the other jealous (or if you’re Mr. Mark - envious) birds, Miserable, Wretched, Gloomy, Woeful, and Mournful, smother Happy until it can’t see the light of day.  Yes, it’s time for Happy to have a case of the blues.

The Blue Bird of Happiness was designed by George Sicherman and used by Nigel Croot as his exchange puzzle at the 41st International Puzzle Party.  The puzzle consists of 6 pieces, with IPP41 debossed on each piece.  The pieces are 3D printed with each having a different color representing their personality.  Be careful not to confuse them!

As mentioned above, the goal is to place the blue piece on a flat surface and completely hide it using the other pieces.  Given the nature of the bird-like shapes, it’s not too difficult to discern the orientation of the blue bird required for the bottom of the pile.  One by one, you heap the Miserable, Wretched, Gloomy, Woeful, and Mournful birds on top until The Blue Bird of Happiness has vanished.

I didn’t find it very difficult to smother The Blue Bird of Happiness and I felt kind of sorry for him.  However, I needn’t have worried.  There were plenty of cracks for Happiness to seep through and like the phoenix, The Blue Bird of Happiness rose again to taunt the next puzzler.