2-Maze Challenges, Double – CrossRoad

Every once in a while you run into a puzzle where the pieces seem to be at cross-purposes with one another, forcing you to battle on until you are cross-eyed.  You may even be tempted to crosscheck the starting position with the challenge descriptions by cross-matching maze plate colors and orientation indicators.

Of course I’m talking about CrossRoad designed by Brian Kren and made by Puzzled By Piker.  I bought it because I thought the label said it was a crisis-causing amazing challenge.  It turns out that it was a criss-crossing multi-maze challenge.  All-in-all, it provides 62 amazing crisis-causing criss-crossing multi-maze challenges to conquer.

The puzzle is 3D printed and consists of a frame, 7 maze plates, and 2 sliders.  The frame holds 2 of the 7 maze plates at a time and the different combinations of maze plates and starting slider positions provide 62 challenges to solve.  The number of moves to complete each challenge ranges from 7 to 67.   

The included documentation identifies the 2 plates required for the each challenge, their orientation, and the location of the sliders for the starting position.  Each plate is printed with a different color for easy identification and has 4 debossed symbols used to identify the orientation of the plate within the frame.  

I originally expected that the 2 plates would move in different directions, one along the x axis and the other along the y axis, like Goodbye (Say Hello to – Goodbye).  However, both maze plates move along the same axis, which also makes them easier to manipulate.

Each slider consists of 2 pieces that are magnetically connected so that they can be separated to easily insert them through the frame and maze plates.  The sliders move within the cross of the frame and through the mazes as both the sliders and mazes are moved.  Do I even have to mention that the ends of the sliders get in the way of each other.

Each maze plate has a single exit point and the goal is the manipulate the plates and sliders so that the plates are eventually removed from the frame.  Each challenge states the minimum number of moves to solve the challenge but you are certainly welcome to exceed that number if you so desire.

With the easy-reset magnetic sliders, setting up the challenges is quick leaving you to focus on the challenges themselves.  I found that as I worked on the challenges, I developed a feel for how to traverse the mazes and was able to solve them quicker (for the same difficulty level) as I went along.  The cross and the windows in the frame provide ample viewing of the mazes to chart your way.  The first objective is to try to determine which plate needs to be removed first and you can easily guess wrong.  Needless to say, a lot of backtracking may be involved.  If you get hopelessly lost, it only takes a couple of seconds to reset it back to the beginning.  I didn’t find it necessary to do this, but there were several times I was going back and forth trying to get the sliders past certain blocked moves.

I haven’t completed all 62 challenges, but I can say that CrossRoad is a nice design and the implementation is well done.  Thank goodness for the easy-reset sliders.

Since this puzzle utilizes 2 mazes at a time, I’m tempted to refer to it as Double CrossRoad.  Especially since the pieces always seem to keep going back on each other.  Of course there are 2 sliders as well so maybe it should be Double Double CrossRoad.  And for variations in the future?  Triple Double CrossRoad anyone?

Although the packaging and included documentation studiously avoids providing any means of contact including a website address, this puzzle was made available on the Puzzled By Piker Etsy Shop.  It is currently unavailable but you can purchase the STL model files for a nominal fee to 3D print a copy of your own.

Puzzle or Just Puzzley? – Treasure Box

What’s wrong with this world?  How come we don’t have puzzle gift registries?  Why do puzzle gifts have to be received with puzzled expressions and that awkward silence?  Followed by the well-meaning gift giver breaking the silence with, It’s a puzzle.  Of course it’s a puzzle, but … but ... but just … why?  Most people recognize this minefield for what it is and avoid it altogether.  No winners ever emerge from this minefield.  At best, you are a survivor.  If you’re really unlucky, you can even end up as collateral damage at a buddies party.  Jimmy said that his NPSO got him a nice puzzle that he just loves so I got you one too! (NPSO – Non-Puzzling Significant Other).  Your nicely constructed facade just fell over and flattened your soon to be ex-bud.  But sometimes, just sometimes, you get lucky.

Treasure Box is a laser-cut 3D Wooden Puzzle by ROKR.  I received it as a birthday gift from my mother.  It’s not a puzzle but it’s puzzley.  On the other hand, the instruction manual says that it’s a 3D Wooden Puzzle.  On the other, other hand, it’s more of a straight-forward combination look box with very nice mechanical movements featuring many gears.  Then again, if you have another hand to spare, it has a lot of parts that have to be put together, so maybe it really is a puzzle that would fall under the put-together category.  If that’s the case then I definitely cheated in solving it by closely following the 34 page solution manual.

It arrives as 158 very fine and precisely laser-cut pieces.  The pieces are unassembled and in fact are still nestled in the sheets that they are cut from.  6 sheets of pieces to be exact.  Everything is nicely labeled and the pieces are easy to separate from the sheets.  The connecting tabs are amazingly small, work well, and remnants are easy to sand down.  A small bit of wax is also included to help lubricate some of the moving parts.

The box consists of 2 compartments.  A small compartment secured by an iris opening and a slightly larger compartment secured by a combination lock and 2 keys.  Opening each compartment is separate from the other.  As a future improvement, I would suggest making the iris compartment large enough to hold the keys required to open the second compartment.  The iris compartment would also be a good place to put either the combination or a clue to the combination required for the other compartment instead of just writing it in the provided space on the bottom of the box.  Just sayin’.

The box does a nice job of being decorative and highlighting the geared mechanisms.  Many windows are included to provide views of internally moving gears.  I was really impressed with the quality and final appearance of the box.  I still find it amazing how well laser-cut pieces can be bent around corners.

One of the first steps is to put together a gear assembly and it was a good choice to lead with.  It was simple to build and at the same time very satisfying.  Putting the gears together, it seemed tight, but when it came time to test it, it was very smooth and impressive.

No glue is required but beware, I recommend NOT disassembling it as you may break pieces trying to take it apart.  How do I know.  I had to glue a spot that I over-stressed while trying to rearrange something.

Assembly is mostly following a straight path defined by the directions in the 34 page Assembly Instruction manual.  However, there is one fork in the road.  For the combination locking mechanism, you need to decide whether to make it truly lockable or to leave a bailout in the unlocking procedure in case you forget the combination or have an issue with the build.  I’m embarrassed to say that I chose to leave the bailout in and regret doing so.  If I had the opportunity to do it over, I would definitely remove it.  And as I mentioned earlier, you don’t really want to disassemble the puzzle to reconfigure it, which was what I was originally thinking when I made that decision.

The instructions do a good job of describing the construction process and include many drawings of the assemblies and sub-assemblies being built.  Various warnings are provided in the diagrams when needed such as when to apply wax, when to sand, and when to pay special attention to the orientation of the pieces to ensure that a laser-engraved side faces the proper direction.  There were only a couple of times where I said to myself, I don’t get it, and had to resort to thinking.  I’m recovered enough now to finally get this blog out a year after finishing the build.

Most things went together easily and extremely well but the use of tiny laser-cut pins was a pain.  They were difficult to hold in place, needed to be forced into holes too small for them in order to provide a permanent frictional fit, and occasionally broke due to the stress induced by the aforementioned difficulties.  Luckily, plenty of spares are provided.  Thank goodness for play-testing feedback.

Although I don’t consider Treasure Box to be a much of a puzzle, I thoroughly enjoyed building it and seeing how how the mechanisms were implemented.  Being the first model of this nature that I built (Yes, I did it before the Birthday Cake (Surprise! – Birthday Cake)), I found the building of a working 3D mechanical model from 2D laser-cut wood a fascinating process.

If you are not familiar with how a combination lock works, this is a great opportunity to see the mechanism in action as you build and test it.  Since you are required to set a combination, you get to see first hand how that is implemented.

And what about the idea of a puzzle gift registry?  I goggled it after drafting this blog and to my great surprise, I found one.  Brilliant Puzzles supports a Gift Registry capability!  A sure sign that there’s still some hope for the world.

The Case Of The Perplexing Orange Spaghetti – Orange Perplex

The Crime Scene

It was a day, a day like any other day as I went about my daily routine.  The coffee tasted like yesterday’s cigarettes and the newspaper regurgitated the same old political woes destined to repeat for eternity.  Just a normal day.  And then it, walked into my life looking like bad news needing a place to roost.  I could already tell it was not going to end well.  These things never have happy endings.  Investigating the scene of the crime, I could see the guts of the victim decorating everything in the vicinity.  From the state of the remains, it appears that the victim was knocked over, not once but several times as it tried to recover but it never had a chance. 

And thus begins the tale of The Case Of The Perplexing Orange Spaghetti.  How did the victim get knocked over?  Why wasn’t it able to hold on?  Why were there no witnesses?  What was the motive?  Where was the weapon?  Was the room locked?

The principle point of this pitiful plot is how the simple printing of a recently released No Problems Puzzle progressed into a perplexing Orange Perplex problem.  This is the very same Orange Perplex puzzle that was recently reviewed a couple of weeks ago (No Problem Puzzles, Update #3).

Take 2

Orange Perplex consists of 15 segments that are divided into 5 pieces with each having 3 segments.  The segments of each piece are connected at a different level within the orange from the other pieces.  It arrives as a print-in-place model.  That means that it is printed with all the pieces in the solved configuration.  It’s like magic.  But not the type of black magic that transforms an orange into spaghetti.  Squash maybe, but not an orange.

I decided to eschew the suggestion to print the puzzle with rafts and supports.  Normally, I get excellent adhesion when 3D printing and avoid rafts.  I always end up regretting using them and I hate having to deal with raft rash.  However, sometimes you just can’t avoid it.

The problem is not that the model is print-in-place, but that a major portion of the orange segments hang out over the base before they can be counterbalanced when connected with other segments.  For me, this resulted in segments falling out from the puzzle.  And what does the 3D printer do when what it’s printing on takes a walk?  It keeps right on going assuming that it’s there.  Unless of course your printer has that fancy shmancy automatic spaghetti detection feature.

When I checked in on my first printing attempt about halfway through, one of the segments had detached from the plate and rolled out.  I was very surprised that the adhesion failed.  Should I kill the print?  Nah, by this time, some spaghetti had filled the gap and the print was still proceeding nicely.  I would just have to reprint that one piece.

Singled Out and Flipped

When I came back at the end, I was greeted with a full plate of orange spaghetti.  What happened?  Well, it appears that another segment failed.  I’m guessing that it was filling that segment with spaghetti until it was able to continue.  However, the spaghetti filling might not have been very stable and that piece may have tilted.  Once that happens, you’re doomed.  Tilting means one side goes down but the other goes up.  The part sticking up will then catch the housing of the hot end or the hot end itself.  Best case scenario, that part gets pushed to the side or the entire print gets detached from the plate.  I don’t even want to think about the worst case scenario.

Having learned my lesson, I reprinted it with rafts and supports.  And guess what?  A segment still fell out.  Very disappointing but at least it failed near the end and spaghetti supports aided in it’s recovery.  Only 1 piece was affected and I reprinted that one upside-down so that the bridge connecting the 3 segments occurs early on.

In examining the segments, they all appear to have fallen out when the bridge was just being formed.  In all cases, the thin lip of the forming bridge appears to be curled up which may have led them to be knocked loose by the hot end.  I’ll have to keep an eye on this in the future.

And finally, was the room locked?  No.  But my printer is enclosed and the door was shut, so there should have been a consistent temperature within the enclosure and across the plate.  Of course, I’ve never tested the temperature gradient across the plate.  Does anyone really do that?

Orange Perplex

Flattenry Will Get You Nowhere – Soma Tray

Over the last several years, the Soma Cube developed by Piet Hein has suffered a lot of abuse.  Since the 7 pieces forming a cube has 480 solutions, various tortuous methods have been employed to jettison 479 of them leaving the puzzle with a unique solution.  One of these time-honored methods is to squash it.  This involves picking one of the 480 (or maybe more appropriately 240 to avoid the mirror) solutions and scaling it down along one of it’s 3 dimensions.  To be quite honest, I do not know if every combination results in a unique solution but I’ve always assumed that squashing the Soma cube is a uniquifying process.

Soma Tray was designed by Rick Eason in 2016 and used as his exchange puzzle at the 41st International Puzzle Party in 2025, suggesting it sat on the shelf for 9 years.  In fact, it looks like it was buried on a shelf resulting in a somewhat flattened appearance.  OK, a very flatted appearance.  My guess is that it’s flattened shape under a heap of other puzzle prototypes had doomed it from seeing the world.  However, as we now know, it successfully escaped and made itself know. 

The puzzle consists of the 7 squashed Soma pieces with 1 dimension about a quarter of the size of the other 2.  All the pieces are flat with 5 of them having a single squashed cube added on top.  As the name of the puzzle would indicate, there is also a tray.  The tray is 5x3x2 with the 2-layer Z dimension representing the flattened dimension.  There is also a 1x3x1 shape affixed to the bottom of the tray, 1 unit from the end.  This provides a 2-layer 3x3 area on the left and 1x3 area on the right.  Both the pieces and the tray are made from laser-cut veneered wood.  The tray also has the name of the puzzle as well as additional information debossed along the rim of the tray.

Soma Tray comes with 2 challenges.  The first is to build a typical, albeit squashed, Soma in the 3x3 area of the tray.  I’m assuming that this is a uniquified Soma cube but I didn’t verify that.  The second challenge is to fill the tray with all 7 pieces.

The puzzle arrives nicely packed in the tray except for a single square sticking up from the tray.  Needless to say, filling the tray is not achieved by simply flipping that piece over.  Since the tray arrives with 1 piece sticking out, I obviously wanted to fix it and started with the second challenge.  I immediately dumped the pieces out to start with a clean state and embark on fixing the problem.  I know I said that you couldn’t just flip over that one piece in the original packing state to solve it but honestly, I just assumed that.  Maybe the joke is on me.

Since the right side of the tray limited that pieces that could be placed there, that’s where I started.  This definitely turned out the way to go as the spillover into the 3x3 side helped put the final pieces in place there.  I should also note that I solved it a second time and ended up with the a mirror image of the first solution.

Having completed the first, or technically, the second challenge, I proceeded to work on creating a squashed cube.  After some random attempts, I decided to think about the relationship between the pieces with and without the extra cube.  This gave the direction that I needed and soon after, I had a squashed cube nestled in the tray.  Since the other challenge had a mirror solution, I checked the cube as well and sure enough, the solution to this challenge had one as well.

Soma Tray is not a difficult puzzle but I did enjoy the challenges.  I also like how the pieces store in the tray.  And you can never have enough Soma variants.