Finding Elegance – Four Pieces

Four Pieces was designed by Emrehan Halici and entered in the Nob Yoshigahara Puzzle Design Competition at the 41st International Puzzle Party (IPP).  He also used it as his exchange puzzle for IPP41.  It is made from laser-cut acrylic with a double-sided black tray with white lettering and 4 red pieces that need to be packed in the tray.  It also comes in a very nice box specifically made for the puzzle.

The pieces remind me of the great white shark Bruce from Finding Nemo.  He was the character that lead a support group for sharks that want to be friends with other less toothy fish.  And indeed, your mission here is to get these fishy pieces to cooperate within a room.

Each side of the tray has a different shaped conference room for the Fish Are Friends, Not Food meetings.  One side of the tray has a square conference room to be filled and the other has a hexagonal conference room.

I only spent a few minutes trying to herd great white sharks around before really getting down to examining the pieces.   The sharks had the look of being the product of intelligent design leading me to assume that there would be an elegant solution.  With that in mind, I tackled the puzzle in earnest.

I started with the square conference room since it had a higher order of symmetry, which I figured would have an easier discoverable elegant solution.  And I was not wrong.  It didn’t take long to commence the meeting in the square conference room.

The hexagonal conference room takes a bit more effort,  I found a couple of configurations that were just shy of fitting.  I was tempted to blame the contractors but I’m all too familiar with the close but wrong scenario where more effort (mental, not physical) is required.  And yes, my faux solutions were elegant as well.  I eventually realized what I was missing and found the true elegant solution to bring the final meeting to order.

And finally, please note that you are packing great white sharks in conference rooms.  There are no red herrings in these meetings.