Puzzle Within A Puzzle – Lone Star Burr

Steve Nicholls’ exchange puzzle for the 41st International Puzzle Party (IPP) was a plastic sphere.  After careful inspection, the sphere was determined to be comprised of 2 hemispheres, one red and the other transparent.  Further inspection revealed other clues such as a dimple in the middle of each hemisphere and some cryptic symbology on the transparent hemisphere.  After referencing my vast collection of books on hieroglyphics, I determined that it was safe to store food in this puzzle in the UK and EU - a good indication that there might by some candy inside as a reward for solving the puzzle.  The dimples turned out to be red herrings.

Having experience in opening many of these types of puzzles acquired from numerous gumball machines over the years, I quickly solved this puzzle and separated the 2 hemispheres from each other.  Secreted betwixt them were a makeup applicator and a card displaying 2 puzzle hamsters with guns drawn ablazin’.  The back of the card indicated that the 2 cuddly gun-totin’ hamsters prefer to be referred to as brass monkeys.  Although there is no indication of pronoun preferences, I can attest that at IPP41, it was required to address Steve as Your Majesty.  And yes, kneeling and groveling was encouraged.

Just when I thought that was it, I noticed that a single hunk of plastic had fallen out of the sphere as well.  For the most part, this starry object was red, white, and blue with some yellowing at the edges.  It looked a bit puzzly, so I decided to give it a whirl.  When this lone star burrst, I ended up with a small collection of colorful little pieces, kinda like caltrops but unexplainably juicy looking.

Lone Star Burr was designed and made by Steve Nicholls and used as his exchange puzzle for IPP41.  The burr consists of 5 pieces and has a red, white, and blue Texas star on each side.  Each piece is a multicolor 3D print.  It may be all gussied up with colorful starry bits but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s still a regular dodecahedron.

When viewed assembled, the burr appears intimidating.  However, when viewing the disassembled pieces, it definitely comes across as more tractable.  Spurred on by the opportunity of an easy victory, I tackled the challenge. Indeed, some trial and error, balancing pieces, a little swearing, getting things lined up exactly where they need to be, some more swearing, starting over when subassemblies fell apart, stuffing the makeup applicator in the mouth to stymie even more swearing, and then simply sliding things back in place, produces the original shape.  I was surprised about how the final glide path doesn’t look like it would work, but everything slides smoothly together in the end.  Of course, if you don’t have everything exactly lined up, it won’t go together and you may end up with some more swearing.

Lone Star Burr can be purchased on the Two Brass Monkeys website.

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.