No Problem Puzzles, Update #10

No Problem Puzzles provided over 100 amazing puzzles designs for the community between November 2020 and April 2023 until the tragic passing of Symen Hovinga on 7 April 2023.  Theo Geerinck, the other half of the No Problem Puzzles duo, decided to graciously allow the puzzle designs to be made available to the puzzle community for anyone to print their own copy to keep the legacy alive.  Mr BurrTools himself, Andreas Röver, is currently in the process of verifying and publishing the stl model files over the next several months.  These are being made available on the Printables site under the No Problem Puzzles collection.  Another contributor, Crab on Printables, has also tweaked some of the models to improve them.

This post continues the review of the No Problem Puzzles as the models are being released.  Since the last review (No Problem Puzzles, Update #9), more No Problem Puzzles have become available.  All level of difficulty ratings are from the puzzle descriptions and are on a scale of 1 to 5.

Drawbridge

Drawbridge is a 3D packing puzzle with 3 tetracube pieces that need to be packed within an articulated frame.  2 of the 3 tetracubes are identical.  The objective is to make a 2x2x3 cuboid with the 3 pieces pieces inside the frame, which is large enough to hold a 2x2x4 cuboid.  The frame consists of 2 joined parts consisting of a base and a top that can rock back and forth.  The frame has a lot of nice added detail to add character such as brick siding, decorative X-braces, and triangular patterned holes.

At a difficulty rating of 3, it makes for a nice challenge.  I tried various methods to insert the pieces past the tilting top until I landed on the correct one.  In hind-sight, the solution is more straight-forward than most of the ones I attempted.  Part of that was applying things I had seen in other puzzles but didn’t end up applying here.

Nest Box

Nest box consists of 5 polycubes that need to be packed within a box shaped like a bird house.  The house is complete with a perch, round doorway, cathedral ceiling, and a chimney. 

The only objective given is to pack the pieces within the box.  Even though this is a level 3 puzzle, I popped them in within minutes.  My rather inelegant solution lead me to believe that I was missing a constraint or two.  Considering that my solution had a piece stuck in the chimney, I decided to try finding a solution that had the chimney unoccupied.  And after some additional effort, I had them packed with the chimney unoccupied.  Was that the solution?  Maybe not since I used a rotation and I was beginning to suspect that if the word rotation is not used in the description then it’s not to be used.  Taking once last shot, I finally came up with a solution that packed the box with the chimney empty and without using rotations.  Whew!  BTW – the rotational solution was rather clever but difficult to undo.

Tumbler II

Tumbler II consists of 3 pieces that need to be packed in a 3x3x3 box with a bar across the middle of the open top that can rotate to each side.  And there are poke holes on all the other sides of the box including the bottom.  It has a difficulty level of 3.5.

I really should read the directions before solving these puzzles.  It requires no rotations and the 2 open rows on the top should be filled.  So much for tumbling the pieces in the tumbler.  The requirements removed some of the cool tumbling moves that I found.  In my defense, I have an expanding collection of these puzzles unsolved on my shelf and casually take them down to solve without going online and looking at the directions.  Perhaps I should consider writing the constraints down since the puzzle is really incomplete without them.

The solution to this one was nice and sneaky.  It took awhile before I groked the sneaky bit but after that it was quick going.

Slideshow

Slideshow is a level 3, 3D restricted packing puzzle with 4 pieces that need to be packed in a box with a sliding top.  However, the sliding top is at an angle and is not removable.  Unlike other puzzles, I knew exactly what to do here and proceeded to assemble the pieces where they needed to be.  Oddly enough, they couldn’t quite get there so I proceeded to tweak the assembly.  And I continued proceeding to proceed until I finally lighted upon a move that allowed me to further proceed.  At this point, I knew the movements needed to solve the puzzle but that’s only half the problem.  The other half is being able to accomplish those movements in a restricted space without access.  I’d like to point out that there are no poke holes in this puzzles since slideshows require darkness.  I finally manged to solve this one with my patented hopeful shaking technique.  But not to worry.  Unpacking is much easier than packing.



If you don’t have a 3D printer, you can obtain copies of No Problem Puzzles from Nothing Yet Designs based in the US or the PuzzleguyStore based in the EU.

No Problem Puzzles, Update #9

No Problem Puzzles provided over 100 amazing puzzles designs for the community between November 2020 and April 2023 until the tragic passing of Symen Hovinga on 7 April 2023.  Theo Geerinck, the other half of the No Problem Puzzles duo, decided to graciously allow the puzzle designs to be made available to the puzzle community for anyone to print their own copy to keep the legacy alive.  Mr BurrTools himself, Andreas Röver, is currently in the process of verifying and publishing the stl model files over the next several months.  These are being made available on the Printables site under the No Problem Puzzles collection.  Another contributor, Crab on Printables, has also tweaked some of the models to improve them.

This post continues the review of the No Problem Puzzles as the models are being released.  Since the last review (No Problem Puzzles, Update #8), more No Problem Puzzles have become available.

Slats

To get back to solving the No Problem Puzzles that have been coming out, I grabbed Slats simply because it looked like the easiest solve in the expanding collection of puzzles yet to be solved.  It consists of a frame and 4 slats that have to be added and centered withing the frame.  It also comes with a heart that needs to be transplanted inside.  It has a level of difficulty rating of 4 out of 5 but I found it much simpler than that, especially considering how much trouble some of those other level 4 puzzles are giving me.

Staying true to my take a whack at it approach, I jumped right in by trying to add pieces to the frame.  Even with a cavalier attitude, it is evident that there are only a couple of ways to add the pieces to the frame.  With some fancy maneuvering, I had all 4 slats in the frame.  All that was required was to add the heart.  Whereupon it became evident that the slats were not configured correctly to accept the heart and had to be reorganized.  Once I had them in the correct position, it was a simple procedure to add the heart.  Truthfully, the steps required to add the slats in the correct configurations required by the heart were simpler than the first configuration that I found.  It may be worth your while to determine what your heart is telling you before getting engaged with Slats.

Bunk Bed

Bunk Bed consists of a frame with a rotating top and 6 pieces.  The bunk bed consists of an upper bunk and a lower bunk.  The upper bunk can be rotated downward for storage, which is the required position for the solution, creating a 2x3x4 enclosed space to contain the pieces.  The pieces consist of 3 pairs of identical pieces, two of which are planer.  The non-planer ones are there to get in the way.  The objective is to get all the pieces within the frame.  Of course that is easier said than done requiring shifting pieces as well as rotating the top to get them all packed within the bunk bed.  A quick calculation indicates that there will be no voids when the beds are packed providing the first significant clue to the solution.  This one was not very difficult but that is to be expected with a difficult rating of 2.5.

Toolbox

Toolbox consists of 4 tools that have to be placed in a toolbox tray to make an apparent 2x3x4 cuboid.  And the tray is even equipped with a swiveling handle.  There aren’t many ways to fit the pieces within a 2x3x4 space, resulting a very restricted search space.  You just need to break through that Aha moment to find the solution.  It has a difficult rating of 2 and it reminded me of Akaki’s easier Picnic Basket puzzles (A Tisket A Tasket, Puzzles In – Akaki’s Picnic Baskets).

Toggle Box

Toggle Box is a 3D restricted entry packing puzzle with 4 identical pieces that make an apparent 2x3x3 cuboid.  The restricted entry has a rotating door that toggles the opening between 2 configurations.  I found Toogle Box to be a quick solve, which is reflected in its difficulty rating of 2.  A great choice for introducing someone to 3D restricted opening packing puzzles.

 

If you don’t have a 3D printer, you can obtain copies of No Problem Puzzles from Nothing Yet Designs based in the US or the PuzzleguyStore based in the EU.

No Problem Puzzles, Update #8

No Problem Puzzles provided over 100 amazing puzzles designs for the community between November 2020 and April 2023 until the tragic passing of Symen Hovinga on 7 April 2023.  Theo Geerinck, the other half of the No Problem Puzzles duo, decided to graciously allow the puzzle designs to be made available to the puzzle community for anyone to print their own copy to keep the legacy alive.  Mr BurrTools himself, Andreas Röver, is currently in the process of verifying and publishing the stl model files over the next several months.  These are being made available on the Printables site under the No Problem Puzzles collection.  Another contributor, Crab on Printables, has also tweaked some of the models to improve them.

This post continues the review of the No Problem Puzzles as the models are being released.  Since the last review (No Problem Puzzles, Update #7), more No Problem Puzzles have become available.

Chain Stitch

This was Theo Geerinck’s exchange puzzle at the 28th International Puzzle Party (IPP).  It consists of 6 planer pieces that somehow form a 3D shape.  But what is that 3D shape?  Since it’s designated as a level 2.5 puzzle, I decided to make it extra challenging by not looking at the final shape.  Which was extra challenging.  Too challenging in fact and I resorted to peeking at the photo of the final shape.   Even knowing what the final form looked like, it wasn’t trivial.  Unless you have a crochet background, I’d recommend looking at the photo.  It also comes with a stand.  And it’s big, really big, so big!    

Nineveh

There are several puzzles that involve packing 9 V tricubes into a 3x3x3 cube.  This one stands it on end.  The goal is place the 9 Vs in a stand that is only big enough to hold a 2x2x2 cube.  Of course, you have to do it in such a way that the pieces overhanging the sides do not fall down.  At a difficulty level of 3 it’s not super challenging.  This is helped by the fact that there are 7 solutions.  Then again, if you’re objective is to find all 7, it may prove to be a little more challenging.

 

Quintessence 

Who doesn’t like a good dodecahedron puzzle.  The objective of this one is to take 6 identical shell pieces, each configured with a different hook assembly, and make a dodecahedron with the hooks weaving around each other inside.  Doesn’t look so bad and with a difficulty level of 3, it should pop together quickly.  On second thought, maybe it’s a bit more involved.  Then again, after several interesting moves, it wasn’t that difficult to get together.  However, I have the nagging suspicion that I used a sketchy (off-axis) rotation.  I’m not considering this one done unless someone indicates that a sketchy rotation is required.

 

Rhomble

Here’s a puzzle that was skewed twice over.  Or is it thrice skewed over.  I wasn’t confident that I could immediately discern whether it was twice or thrice so I had to think about it for a bit.  In the end, I convinced myself that you lose a pair of squares for each skew performed and that Rhomble was a Soma cube that had been skewed 3 times.  This puzzle has a difficulty level of 2 and makes a nice little challenge to skew ya bwain a tad.


If you don’t have a 3D printer, you can obtain copies of these puzzles from Nothing Yet Designs based in the US or the PuzzleguyStore based in the EU.

No Problem Puzzles, Update #7

No Problem Puzzles provided over 100 amazing puzzles designs for the community between November 2020 and April 2023 until the tragic passing of Symen Hovinga on 7 April 2023.  Theo Geerinck, the other half of the No Problem Puzzles duo, decided to graciously allow the puzzle designs to be made available to the puzzle community for anyone to print their own copy to keep the legacy alive.  Mr BurrTools himself, Andreas Röver, is currently in the process of verifying and publishing the stl model files over the next several months.  These are being made available on the Printables site under the No Problem Puzzles collection.  Another contributor, Crab on Printables, has also tweaked some of the models to improve them.

This post continues the review of the No Problem Puzzles as the models are being released.  Since the last review (No Problem Puzzles, Update #6), more No Problem Puzzles have become available.

Squeezy

Squeezy consists of 5 pieces that have to be packed within a holey frame made from 2 identical pieces that slide together.  And the sliding is hampered by all the pieces that have to be stuffed inside.  Of course, this is one of those puzzles where you don’t have much to start with, find some things to hang your hat on, discover some key moves, realize what you had been missing, and end up saying - of course.  The things that I got right didn’t hurt me whereas the things that I got wrong led me astray.  In the end, after discovering some rather nice movements, I managed to get past my short-sightedness and strangle, I mean squeeze the frame together.  Squeezy provides a really good challenge for a level 3 puzzle.

I lied when I said that the 2 halves of the frame were identical.  One piece has the puzzle information debossed on it.  Ohhhh, is that a clue?  Maybe, maybe not.  But I did reverse the 2 halves after I initially solved it.  Make of it what you will.  Just for the record, my wife believes that I have no clue what clue really means and that I don’t give out clues because I’m clueless.

I Box

The goal of I Box is to pack 5 pieces within a box with a v-shaped opening.  It has the same difficulty rating of level 3 as Squeezy but is completely different.  For this one, I would recommend that you solve it before you solve it.  In other words, have a well defined plan when adding the pieces to the box since it is a bit fiddly to get pieces back out once they are in the box.  Especially since the pieces need to be rotated and enter/exit the box at a 45 degree angle.  Also, unlike Squeezy, it doesn’t have a lot of finger holes for manipulating the pieces - 0 versus 18 unless you count the opening.  However, I did find the solution much quicker and with a solid plan, manipulating the pieces into place was not that difficult.

Mecon

A truncated octahedron by any other name, such as macon, would look as wondrous.
    - Not Shakespeare

Macon is a level 3 puzzle requiring packing 12 truncated octahedrons, or macons, into a cubish form that can be displayed in the provided stand.  But wait, the macons are split in half resulting in 24 semimacons.  Groups of 4 are then reattached to make 6 semimacon tetraclusters.  Except the process was botched and they weren’t reattached where they were cut.  Of the 6 tetraclusters, there are 4 of one type and 2 of another.  It’s up to you to rejoin the unmated halves.  To make it a bit more interesting, not all semimecons are mated to lend it a more cubish appearance.

The puzzle is not difficult, but it does take some time to adjust to the geometry.  And having done it more than once, it didn’t seem to get any easier the second time around.

But why were the truncated octahedrons made hollow?  Probably because they make a cool pattern when the puzzle is solved.  But of course, now everyone is going to wonder if you place a space-filling cuboid in each mated center, would you still be able to assemble it?  I would go with no but they tell me you never no.

Multiplex

Multiplex consists of 4 square chipped tiles that need to be packed within a square tray.  In essence, you need to map the pointy bits into chips.  The description says that Multiplex is a level 2 puzzle with 196,608 theoretical combinations to try.  Not hard, just takes a long time to solve.  I don’t know how the number of combinations was computed, but lucky for us, it seems a bit inflated.  Disregarding the edge details of the pieces, I think there would be 12,288 combinations.  And if you’re observant, you can quickly knock it down to 3,072.  After that, you will certainly avoid trying every possible combination and only check the ones with matching edges to converge on the solution.  I appreciated the thought that went into this design that rewarded the solver with a significant clue in the beginning to avoid a lot of unnecessary and tedious tile swapping.


If you don’t have a 3D printer, you can obtain copies of these puzzles from Nothing Yet Designs based in the US or the PuzzleguyStore based in the EU.

No Problem Puzzles, Update #6

No Problem Puzzles provided over 100 amazing puzzles designs for the community between November 2020 and April 2023 until the tragic passing of Symen Hovinga on 7 April 2023.  Theo Geerinck, the other half of the No Problem Puzzles duo, decided to graciously allow the puzzle designs to be made available to the puzzle community for anyone to print their own copy to keep the legacy alive.  Mr BurrTools himself, Andreas Röver, is currently in the process of verifying and publishing the stl model files over the next several months.  These are being made available on the Printables site under the No Problem Puzzles collection.  Another contributer, Crab on Printables, has also tweaked some of the models to improve them.

This post continues the review of the No Problem Puzzles as the models are being released.  Since the last review (No Problem Puzzles, Update #5), more No Problem Puzzles have become available.

3OPc

Packing squarish pieces within a circular area is always challenge.  It just seems to mess with your head.  This particular puzzle has 3 normal squares (aka O’s) and 3 warty squares (aka P’s) that need to be packed within a circular tray.  Lacking a brilliant solving approach, I started putting pieces in the pan and swirling them around, occasionally flipping them over to make sure that they were done on both sides.  And then I had an epiphany!  Maybe they weren’t warty squares after all but really disabled rectangles.  Or maybe there were some of both.  Turns out that they were all disabled rectangles when I found the solution.

This is a nice example of packing squares in a circle.  It’s rated with a level 4, but I didn’t find it as hard as some of the other level 4 puzzles.  You just have to know the difference between a warty square and a disabled rectangle.  Of course, you may just see rabbits or ducks but that’s just silly, and it’s not going to help you.

Pyre

What could you make with a lot of sticks.  27 sticks to be exact.  A pyre?  Yes indeed, a pyre puzzle.  This particular Pyre is cubic and constructed from 9 bundles of 3 sticks.  And each of the 3 sticks is oriented on a different axis.  This results in a cube with a 3x3 grid of sticks oriented along each axis.

My initial attack on Pyre was to start from the outside.  However, I quickly had the spark of an idea on how to start the Pyre and shifted to working from the inside out.  Following this approach and shifting some pieces as I went along, I ended up with an assembled cube.  However, I did perform some wonky rotations and squirrelly movements, which leads me to believe that this assembly is not The Assembly.  This is the second week in a row of this now and hopefully will not become a habit.  I’ll just have to set it next to 12 Logs for another shot after the holidays.  The level 4 rating is well deserved. 

7 Spiders

Halloween has come and gone but we can still enjoy a cluster of spiders within a pumpkin.  7 Spiders is a 2D packing problem consisting of ... um ... let me see … oh yeah - 7 identical spiders that need to be packed within a pumpkin tray.  Initially, the spiders seem very territorial and don’t nest together very well.  However, after a bit of coaxing and jostling, you can find some nice tiling patterns.  Unfortunately (or fortunately for your continued enjoyment), the 2 obvious ones are not in the solution.

There are a variety of ways to easily place 6 spiders within the tray, but the 7th is a bit more recalcitrant.  It looks like there is a nice big opening, but all those legs get in the way.  I found at least 1 configuration where everything fit except for the very tip of a single leg.  My approach to interlocking the spiders was to spin them until I had a nice web of spiders that fit within the pumpkin.

This is a very nice Level 3, 2D packing puzzle and will definitely come back out next October.

Aghhh!  I just read the puzzle description and it said that the eyes, nose, and mouth of the pumpkin need to be covered.  Is that possible?  I see bits of each peeking out from behind the spiders.  Luckily, rotating the web of lying spiders completely covered the pumpkin features.  So it is possible and looks even more awesome in this solved state.  And it’s certainly a big clue when solving that I missed out on.

Hexatanglers

This 3D packing puzzle has 6 identical pieces that need to be placed within a restricted opening box.  I naively thought I could see the answer, but when I finally printed it, it was just shy of being able to slip the final 2 pieces in.  Now it was a proper puzzle.

With a slight change in perspective, It was easy to add 5 of the 6 pieces with room to move them around.  However, there never seemed to be enough room to squeeze that last piece in.  It could have been forced in but that should be avoided.  Taking another look at potential assemblies outside the box, I found one that worked like magic.  The pieces just slide in with no resistance.  There is even a nice Aha moment associated with inserting the pieces.  It’s a nice introduction to 3D packing puzzles with a difficulty rating of 2.  

 

Jigsaw Box

With a difficulty level of 2, this one is a quicky.  The 4 jigsawy pieces along with 2 floating panels comprise the 6 sides of a cube.  Once the cube is constructed, it’s loose but will not fall apart.  In fact the looseness is required to assemble and disassemble the cube.  It’s nice and compact so you can keep it in a pocket to share with others.



 

If you don’t have a 3D printer, you can obtain copies of these puzzles from Nothing Yet Designs based in the US or the PuzzleguyStore based in the EU.

No Problem Puzzles, Update #5

No Problem Puzzles provided over 100 amazing puzzles designs for the community between November 2020 and April 2023 until the tragic passing of Symen Hovinga on 7 April 2023.  Theo Geerinck, the other half of the No Problem Puzzles duo, decided to graciously allow the puzzle designs to be made available to the puzzle community for anyone to print their own copy to keep the legacy alive.  Mr BurrTools himself, Andreas Röver, is currently in the process of verifying and publishing the stl model files over the next several months.  These are being made available on the Printables site under the No Problem Puzzles collection. 

This post continues the review of the No Problem Puzzles as the models are being released.  Since the last review (No Problem Puzzles, Update #4), another set of No Problem Puzzles has become available.  They consist of Push Pull, Hash^3, Trio, Pakze!, and T On Top.  For this batch of puzzles, the specified level of difficulty varied between 2 and 4 on a scale of 5.

Push-Pull

What a monster.  I had intended to include this one in the last update but I was unable to solve it over several days.  You have to respect these difficulty level 4 challenges. 

Push-Pull consists of 5 pieces that have to be packed in within a 3x3x3 box with double swinging doors on the top.  The doors are situated such that each carves out a 1x3 space within the box as they move.  And once they are open, you end up with a 1x3 opening that is roughly a quarter of a voxel in from the side.  Thus creating an opening of about 2.5 voxels wide in the center of the 3 voxel space.

While trying to solve this one, many things seemed obvious to me.  And what was obvious to me, obviously changed as I went along.  My assumptions concerning the last piece to place in the box, how they would move, impossible orientations for pieces, etc., etc., etc., were all called into question.

I kept trying the same things over and over to gain some insight on how to proceed.  I found a couple of assemblies where 1 piece would be able to be removed but the others would be stuck.  I had assemblies where it would have worked if one of the pieces were replaced with its mirror image.  I even had inspiring assemblies where pieces slid nicely back and forth but wouldn’t allow both doors to close.

Eventually, I ran myself dry and was clueless on how to proceed.  So I took a break to work on other puzzles.  Several breaks actually.  Many times, I would come back to one of the configurations that, like several other puzzles, just had the air of being The One.  But it just wouldn’t work.  Until it did!  With exact placement and a little nudge, I was able to close the doors on this one.  Whew!

Trio

Trio consists of 3 identical pieces with the objective to make 3 cubes simultaneously.  It immediately reminded me of the Impossible 3 Cube Triangle Puzzle by Andrey Ustjuzhanin although those pieces were all different.  It is not difficult to solve with a difficulty level of 2 but I did find that it took a bit more than negligible force to get the pieces together.  Once together, although they are very loose, they will not fall apart.  So loose in fact that it can be posed to look unsolved.

But wait, there’s more!  If you print another set of 3 pieces you can make 6 cubes simultaneously.  Yes yes, you could just make 2 sets of 3 cubes but the new challenge is to have all 6 pieces intertwined.  It’s not much more difficult than solving the 3 cube puzzle but does have the advantage of going together without any force.  Of course you can’t throw it around the room without it coming apart like the 3 piece version.

Pakze!

Pakze! is a ball packing puzzle with a difficulty level of 3.  There are 4 tri-ball pieces and 1 di-ball piece that have to be packed within a box through a large open slot in the middle of the top.  As with any of these types of packing puzzles, you need to start with determining what type of packing is required for the space provided.  Once that’s determined, it’s not to difficult to perform the packing.  However, I did have to backtrack to get the di-ball in the proper location.

T On Top

T On Top is a 3D packing puzzle with 4 pieces that have to be packed within a restricted opening box.  The box has openings on all sides except the bottom.  In the solved configuration, 3 pieces have to occupy the 3x3x3 space in center of the box while the long T piece has to block the short T opening on the top.  With a difficulty level of 4, I expected this one to be a challenge and I was not disappointed.  It always seemed like the box was forcing the pieces to be misaligned.  Although, I spent a lot of time trying to work out different morphing configurations, once the solution is known, it’s not that complex.  However, there are a couple of key rotations that have to be performed.  The only detractor is that it’s a bit fiddley when trying to move the pieces within the frame.

Hash^3

Hash^3 consists of 6 identical pieces that make a hash cube, i.e., a cube with each of the 6 sides showing a hash symbol.  Each pieces is constructed from 2 parts that need to be glued together.  I was feeling a bit Halloweeny when I printed them in 3 different colors.  I also decided to swap the parts of the pieces so that the pieces were bicolor.  Each piece is now different while still being exactly the same.  This allows for adding different challenges such as having each side a solid color, different colors, etc.  Even with these additional challenges, Hash^3 is not difficult to solve as it looks as it’s stated level of difficulty of 2 would suggest.

Unlike most of the other puzzles in this series, it does not have the name of the puzzle or the designers on it.  However, it does come with a stand with the No Problem Puzzles logo.  It is comprised of 3 identical pieces and relies on the thinness of the plates for the assembly.  And once together, it won’t fall apart.  Personally, I think the puzzle displays better without the stand.

This is the fifth blog post continuing the review of No Problem Puzzles as they are released on the Printables site under the No Problem Puzzles collection.  The prior posts and the puzzles that they cover are:

Preserving a Legacy – No Problem Puzzles
Sandbox
Swinging Lid Tray
3U Frame

No Problem Puzzles, Update #2
Turn Around
Unmatch Box
Quinta Cuboids
Dizygotic

No Problem Puzzles, Update #3
Boon
Sliding Doors
Pivot Window
Orange Perplex
Salmiak
Vixen’s Antlers

No Problem Puzzles, Update #4
Black Cat, White Cat
Pizza Panne
Donut Perplex Junior
Twist Them In


If you don’t have a 3D printer, you can obtain copies of these puzzles from Nothing Yet Designs based in the US or the PuzzleguyStore based in the EU.

No Problem Puzzles, Update #4

No Problem Puzzles provided over 100 amazing puzzles designs for the community between November 2020 and April 2023 until the tragic passing of Symen Hovinga on 7 April 2023.  Theo Geerinck, the other half of the No Problem Puzzles duo, decided to graciously allow the puzzle designs to be made available to the puzzle community for anyone to print their own copy to keep the legacy alive.  Mr BurrTools himself, Andreas Röver, is currently in the process of verifying and publishing the stl model files over the next several months.  These are being made available on the Printables site under the No Problem Puzzles collection. 

This post continues the review of the No Problem Puzzles as the models are being released.  Since the last review (No Problem Puzzles, Update #3), we have another 4 No Problem Puzzles to review.  They consist of Black Cat White Cat, Pizza Panne, Donut Perplex Junior, and Twist Them In.  For this batch of puzzles, the specified level of difficulty varied between 2 and 4 on a scale of 5.

Black Cat, White Cat

This puzzle addresses the problem of herding cats.  It’s not difficult to determine how they need to be arranged but a real challenge to get them to all cooperate by coming together.  The difficulty level of 2 is a compromise between the ease of determining how the pieces are oriented and the difficulty of putting them together.

Black Cat, White Cat consists of black cats and white cats.  6 of each.  All identical in shape.  2 to a side constructing a cubic box.  It’s up to you to arrange the distribution of the colors but I would recommend having a black and a white cat on each side for the best visual appeal.

It’s fairly simple to get all the pieces in place until you get to the last one.  Then you realize that an additional pair of hands or 2 would come in handy to be able to slide all the pieces together.  Only having 1 pair of hands, I failed multiple times to form the box and ended up with partially completed subsets collapsing.  I needed a better way and finding that way became the challenge to solve.  As evidenced by the photos, I did find that better way and ended up with a rather solid box.  And once together, I really doesn’t want to come apart.  Of course the challenge requires a different way to take it apart.  This is the way!

Pizza Panne

7 Pizza Slices.  You know what that means.  Yeah, I don’t either.  Who cuts a pizza into 7 slices?  And it doesn’t make any more sense when you realize that 5 slices seem to make a complete pie.  In any event, you have the task of packing 7 pizza slices from a deranged pizzeria into a pizza box.  The puzzle claims to have a single solution but I’m not sure how this can be determined.  The level of difficulty is rated as 3 on a scale of 5.

In addition to the 7 slices and the box, there are garnishes for the pizza including salami, mushrooms, and olives.  I didn’t originally plan on adding the garnishes since it doesn’t impact the function of the puzzle but since I was printing other pieces in multiple colors, I just added them to those prints.  I have to admit that it does look a lot more appealing and it did add some nice heft to the pieces.

This one is tricky.  The tricky part is knowing if you have solved it or not.  Adding 6 slices to the box is trivial and that last piece just needs to be folded to get it in.  Unfortunately, these pieces don’t fold too well.  It takes a while of jostling the 6 pieces around before you eventually create a space that seems like it would take the last piece.  On my first attempt, I had a configuration that looked like the last piece would fit if given a little force to wedge it in there.  Suspecting a more elegant solution, I forgoed (take that you forewent snobs) the brute force physical cramming technique that I employ for packing suitcases and continued the search.  I was eventually rewarded with a configuration where the last piece slid in with a little friction but no force to lock everything in place.  Solved!  However, when I put the pieces back in after taking the blog photos, I found a different solution where the pieces are still loose in the box.  I suspect that this last configuration may be the intended solution.

Donut Perplex Junior

I originally assumed that this puzzle was a simplified version of Orange Perplex that was covered in the last blog, but in fact it is a decomplexified version of the senior Donut Perplex consisting of 13 pieces that was entered in the International Puzzle Party (IPP) Nob Yoshigahara Puzzle Design Competition in 2019.  I didn’t see the senior version originally offered on No Problem Puzzles so I don’t know if we should expect to see it released as part of this series.

I can see why the puzzle was knocked down to 4 pieces since it conveniently provides a top, bottom, inside and outside.  I found it easier than the stated difficulty level of 2 would suggest.  Certainly a puzzle for beginners.

Twist Them In

A restricted opening packing puzzle with a twist.  Not only do you have to pack the pieces within the frame but you have to accomplish this whilst being able to rotate the 2 halves of the frame.  With a difficulty level of 4, you know it’s going to be interesting.

Twist Them In consists of a 3 piece frame and 4 pentacubes that have to be packed inside.  The 2 halves of the frame are connected but can be rotated.  One half has an open side but it has a sliding cover that can only be removed when the halves are rotated 90, 180, and 270 degrees.  However the lid is locked firmly in place when the 2 halves are aligned at 0 degrees.

This one is a great challenge even with the experience gained from solving the prior puzzles in this series.  It’s obvious that the last operation in the assembly is to add the cover and rotate the halves so that they are aligned.  Analyzing the impact of the rotation on the space within the frame provides a good starting point on how the pieces need to be placed within the box.  Even so, it took me a while to finally come up with the winning combination.  This is my favorite No Problem Puzzles puzzle so far.

This is the fourth blog post continuing the review of No Problem Puzzles as they are released on the Printables site under the No Problem Puzzles collection.  The prior posts and the puzzles that they cover are:

Preserving a Legacy – No Problem Puzzles

• Sandbox
• Swinging Lid Tray
• 3U Frame

No Problem Puzzles, Update #2

• Turn Around
• Unmatch Box
• Quinta Cuboids
• Dizygotic

No Problem Puzzles, Update #3

• Boon
• Sliding Doors
• Pivot Window
• Orange Perplex
• Salmiak
• Vixen’s Antlers

If you don’t have a 3D printer, you can obtain copies of these puzzles from Nothing Yet Designs based in the US or the PuzzleguyStore based in the EU.

No Problem Puzzles, Update #3

No Problem Puzzles provided over 100 amazing puzzles designs for the community between November 2020 and April 2023 until the tragic passing of Symen Hovinga on 7 April 2023.  Theo Geerinck, the other half of the No Problem Puzzles duo, decided to graciously allow the puzzle designs to be made available to the puzzle community for anyone to print their own copy to keep the legacy alive.  Mr BurrTools himself, Andreas Röver, is currently in the process of verifying and publishing the stl model files over the next several months.  These are being made available on the Printables site under the No Problem Puzzles collection. 

This post continues the review of the No Problem Puzzles as the models are being released.  Since the last review (No Problem Puzzles, Update #2), the next 6 No Problem Puzzles have become available.  They consist of Boon, Sliding Doors, Pivot Window, Orange Perplex, Salmiak, and Vixen’s Antlers.  For this batch of puzzles, the specified level of difficulty varied between 1 and 3.5 on a scale of 5, with 4 of them being a level 3 or higher.

Boon

This months review celebrates the addition of 6 new No Problem Puzzles designs.  Boon times indeed.  And the first boon is Boon consisting of 3 pieces that need to make an apparent cuboid within a frame.  To make it interesting, the frame is not fixed but consists of 2 intersecting pieces.  No rotations are required, but I can attest to the fact that there are rotational shortcuts.  My recommendation would be to avoid them and find the more elegant non-rotational solution requiring 8 moves to remove the first piece.  It is rated at a level of 3/5.

Sliding Doors

When one door closes, another one opens.
    -   Alexander Graham Bell

Sliding doors is awesome and has a very nice solution.  It does suffer a little from potential shortcuts but if you studiously avoid rotations, i.e., tilting pieces, the Cartesian path is very good.  Unfortunately, some of the rotations are very easy to perform and you will be tempted even as you look at it and say to yourself, I really shouldn’t do this.

Sliding doors is an apparent cube 3D packing puzzle with the goal of packing the 3 pieces within a frame.  And like many of the No Problem Puzzles, the frame has moving parts (this is why we like the No Problem Puzzles so much).  In this case, 2 of the sides have a sliding door that gets in the way of inserting and moving pieces.

The solution involves shifting back a forth between the sliding doors.  Since the tops of the doors come to rest on the pieces within, sometimes only the thickness of the door will keep an invalid move from happening.  Don’t be tempted to cheat the moves by tilting the piece over the door edge.  This will make sense once you start playing with it.

With a difficulty rating of 3.5/5, you know that you can expect a good time.

Pivot Window

OK, I’ll admit it.  I struggled on this one.  The prior puzzles did a good job of setting me up and leading me astray.  I thought I had learned some key movements that would guide me to a quick solve and in the end all I learned were things not to attempt with this one.

Pivot Window is a 3D packing, restricted opening puzzle.  The goal is to cram 5 tetracubes within a 2x3x4 box.  The box has a 2x3 lid that not only rotates about it’s midpoint lengthwise, but the pivot point is on a track allowing the window to move back and forth in the opening.  This window adds a paneful element to the solution.

I spent a lot of time trying many things outside the box before I actually tried putting something in the box.  Don’t be like Zen.  Do some experimenting with the pieces and the box.  It’s well worthwhile. 

There are supposed to be 2 solutions!  How can it be so difficult?

I got all excited when I finally got all the pieces in the box.  I had a good 5 minutes of exultation before I realized the that solution was not an apparent cuboid.  The instructions didn’t say it had to be an apparent cuboid but the picture in the original listing showed the box looking completely filled and that had been my original goal albeit temporarily forgotten.  Ugh!

I’ve also found a second way to pack the pieces in the box but unfortunately, I’ve yet to discover an apparent cuboid solution.  If the intended Pivot Window solution is not an apparent cuboid, I agree with the 3/5 difficulty rating.  If it is supposed to be an apparent cube, I think the rating should be higher.  At least that sounds better than degrading my puzzle solving prowess level.

Orange Perplex

Orange Perplex is a perplexing orange consisting of 15 segments that are divided into 5 pieces with each having 3 segments.  It was entered in the International Puzzle Party (IPP) Nob Yoshigahara Puzzle Design Competition in 2019.  The goal is to pack all 5 pieces together to form a complete orange.

The segments of each piece are connected at a different level within the orange from the other pieces.  The 2 pieces with the connections near the outside can be used on the first or fifth level depending on how it’s oriented.  Similarly, the 2 pieces with the connections halfway to the center can occupy the second or fourth level.  The final piece always occupies the center level but can go in 2 different ways.

Picking the filament color for this one was a breeze but my NPSO made me use orange instead of perple.  And I did have some printing issues that I’ll address in a later post.  If you’re undecided, my recommendation would be to definitely use supports with a raft.

Unfortunately, I did not come up with a clever way to solve this puzzle and ended up just cranking through the permutations until it all went together.  For me, the 3/5 difficulty level was an indication of the time needed to solve it as opposed to figuring out an elegant solution.

Since it’s print in place, it’s easy to distinguish the top from the bottom, which reduces the complexity of the solution.  However, you can always print a second copy upside down and swap 2 of the pieces between the copies.  Or you could just take the 2 pieces with the uppermost connections and flip them upside down and print them alongside the original 3 pieces.  It’s up to you whether you want to be nasty when you share it with someone else by saying that it’s a print in place puzzle while failing to mention that you swapped some from a flipped print.

I didn’t realize until I was ready to publish this blog that I failed to print the Orange Peel.  Yes, there is a spherical shell that splits in half that you can use to store the puzzle.  Obviously, it’s not required to solve it.

Salmiak

Salmiak is a type of licorice (or liquorice if you’re from the other side of the pond) made with Salmiak salt that is popular in northern Europe.  This is the second salty licorice puzzle that has been featured on ZenPuzzler.  If you have a good memory, one of the Picnic Basket puzzles (A Tisket A Tasket, Puzzles In – Akaki’s Picnic Baskets) was named Salmiakki, which is the Finnish spelling.

Salmiak the puzzle is a 2D 5x5 packing puzzle with 6 pieces.  However, the puzzle has been skewed on all 3 axes.  Why?  Because it messes with your squary mind.  I always find it fascinating how even though the skewing reduces the possible orientation of each piece from 8 to 2, it still seems harder.

Although black would certainly be the most appropriate color for the pieces, I used the next closest thing, Orange!  It looks so nice!  It looks particularly nice as a diamond standing up on end and probably deserves a stand to display it that way.  There is also a lid that can be printed for the tray but I can’t comment on how well it functions since I decided not to print it.  The stl file for the pieces was especially well thought out.  And the stl file for the lid was especially not well thought out.  If you decide to print the top, don’t forget to turn it over before printing.

Salmiak has a difficulty rating of 2, which seems about right.  However, it’s really difficult to gauge because sometimes you get lucky and most of the time you don’t.  For me, it was a relatively quick solve but a fun little challenge.

Vixen’s Antlers

Vixen’s Antlers consists of 6 pieces that form a hexagonal box.  Or is that 3 pieces that form a hexagonal box.  It’s really up to you.  The intent is for you to print 6 pieces and then glue them together in pairs to form 3 pieces.  It is also recommended to use 2 different colors for a nice visual effect.

As a 3 piece puzzle, the solution requires coordination motion to solve and has a difficulty rating of 1/5.  And as a 6 piece puzzle, it’s even easier since it no longer requires coordinate motion.  It may not be difficult but it’s very appealing, displays nicely, and is a great example of a coordinate motion puzzle for non-puzzlers.

This is the third blog post continuing the review of No Problem Puzzles as they are released on the Printables site under the No Problem Puzzles collection.  The prior posts and the puzzles that they cover are:

Preserving a Legacy – No Problem Puzzles

• Sandbox
• Swinging Lid Tray
• 3U Frame

No Problem Puzzles, Update #2

• Turn Around
• Unmatch Box
• Quinta Cuboids
• Dizygotic

If you don’t have a 3D printer, you can obtain copies of these puzzles from Nothing Yet Designs based in the US or the PuzzleguyStore based in the EU.