Tag Archives: Packing

Sunrise – Sunset

Sunrise – Sunset is a Stewart Coffin design which I recently found for sale on Ebay with a Buy it Now option. Seeing it, I didn’t hesitate as this is a Coffin original, which was going for a very good price so I couldn’t resist. Labelled as design #181 in the Coffin numbering system it was used by Jerry Slocum as his IPP exchange puzzle at IPP22.

Sunrise - Sunset top tray

Sunrise - Sunset top tray

This is another tray packing puzzle from Stewart, and as I’ve noted in the past, I’m terrible at tray packing puzzles, so I didn’t hold out much hope for this one. If you’ve seen previous reviews of Coffin Packing puzzles, like the Check Me Out puzzle, you’ll know that Coffin is a real sod when it comes to messing with your head, and how you normally go about putting pieces into a square box.

The puzzle itself is a twofold puzzle, hence the name. The tray is two-sided, so you get twice the puzzle from the same pieces. On one side of the tray is a 5×5 grid, with the centre cube permanently stuck in place (representing the sun if I were to guess), and the other side is a 4×6 grid. The idea is simple pack the pieces into one side, then flip the tray over and do the same on the other side.

The base is make from three layers, making for a very solid frame. Guessing I’d say the frame is Mahogany, but that’s a wild guess! Four of the five pieces are five units in size and the fifth is four units and are made from three different woods. If I were to guess, I’d say Bubinga (the almost purple looking wood), Lignum Vitae (green), and Mahogany (light). As you can tell from some quick math, the pieces match the grid sizes, so they’re going to fit exactly in this one, which for me is a good thing, as these strange sized grids really mess with my head!

Sunrise - Sunset bottom tray

Sunrise - Sunset bottom tray

When I sat down to solve the puzzle, I expected to be at this for hours, as I have been with other tray puzzles, but I was shocked and pleasantly surprised when I had solved the first side within 5 minutes. So I flipped the puzzle over and tried the other side, thinking it was going to be a lot tougher. Again I solved it fairly quickly and was very happy with myself. So on the difficulty scale I’d rate this one as easy, but rewarding.

Once of the really nice features of this puzzle is that the solutions (and there is only one per side) have a degree of symmetry to them, which really adds to the effect of the Sunrise / Sunset theme of the puzzle.

This is a great little puzzle, and if you’re like me and not very good at packing puzzles, if you can find a copy of this one, pick it up as you’ll feel better about yourself having solved one!

PS: I make no guarantees about your feelings or success at solving this puzzle 😉

Melting Block

Melting Block is a fun little packing puzzle designed by Tom O’Beirne. I was fortunate enough to get one of Tom Lensch’s special copies when he made a small run of these puzzles recently. Originally made in the 1970’s it’s great to see that this puzzle is so popular with a number of people still making it and it still being well received.

Melting Block.  That Ebony block has to fit there?

Melting Block. That Ebony block has to fit there?

The puzzle is a nine piece packing puzzle, plus the box. Some of the versions which have been made have a lid which fits on the box and may have a space for the ‘extra’ piece, however the version I have from Tom doesn’t. The puzzle measures 4.5″ x 3.25″ x 2″ and each of the pieces in my copy is made from a different wood, including the box, making this version really stand out.

Each of the pieces is etched with the wood type

Each of the pieces is etched with the wood type

Each of the pieces has been engraved with the name of the species of wood which is a great touch (and a nice reference if you’re still getting to grips with identifying the woods). The box is made from Lyptus, and the pieces are Purpleheart, Canarywood, Holly, Bubinga, Yellowheart, Indian Rosewood, Ebony, Pink Ivory and Makore.

When the puzzle was sent to me, the first eight pieces were neatly packed in the box with one small piece wrapped separately. As you can see from the first photograph, the box is looking pretty packed even before you try to find space for that extra piece. Of course this is exactly why it’s called the melting block.

There really is space!

There really is space!

I spent around half an hour working on this puzzle, trying to figure out how I could re-arrange the eight blocks which were already packed into the box to make room for that ninth block. On initial attempts, I could find space for around half of that block, so I got all nine blocks into the box, with half a block sticking out. Not perfect, but it certainly gave me hope that there was more space to be found. When I found the combination that created the extra space, it really put a smile on my face, to see the ebony block slip into place perfectly.

Solving this one really needs you to use all the available space, and once the last block drops into place, you realise there really was a huge amount of free space when the blocks were first in the box, and now it’s truly full!

This is a great puzzle to pass around as it’s not going to get damaged and will really make you think. My son has had a good few attempts at solving it, but so far he’s not succeeded, however I expect he’ll solve it at some point when he comes back to it. The copy from Tom really is stunning, and the fit and finish is perfect, as you’d expect from a master woodworker like Tom.

If you’re interested, some of my fellow bloggers have reviewed some of the other versions out there. Head over to Allard’s blog to see what he had to say about the copy he bought from Wil Strijbos, Brian’s blog of the Creative Crafthouse version called Redstone Block, and finally Kevin’s blog to see what he has to say about it.

Overall, we’ve all enjoyed this puzzle, and I highly recommend you pick up a copy for yourself. You’ll not be disappointed! If you’d like a copy, Creative Crafthouse have their version available for a very reasonable price.

Tromino Trails

This entry is part 5 of 6 in the series IPP 31

Carrying on with my review of IPP31 puzzles, here’s another of the puzzles that I picked up when I was at the recent Post IPP California Puzzle Party. Tromino Trails was Stan Isaacs exchange puzzle from IPP31, and given that Stan was the host of the Puzzle party, it would have been rude not to buy one of his puzzles.

Tromino Trails

Tromino Trails

Tromino trails is designed by Donald Knuth and made by Pavels Puzzles. You can read Pavel’s description about the puzzle by following the link, and also purchase a copy for yourself if you’d like one. And I highly recommend you do!

This puzzle goes back to 2009, and IPP29 in San Francisco. There Donald Knuth gave a talk about varying puzzles he was working on and passed out a sheet with some puzzle problems that people could play with later. One of those problems was the Tromino Trails problem. I’ll let you read about it on Pavel’s site, as he was there and will explain it far better than I.

However I digress.The Tromino Trails puzzle is a physical version of Don’s paper problem from IPP29. The puzzle consists of 24 L shaped trominoes with varying paths marked on them, a tray that can be configured to a number of different sizes and five challenges.

The first problem, a 6x6 loop

The first problem, a 6x6 loop

You start off with a 6×6 square, and 12 pieces, with the goal being to fit the pieces into the tray and form an unbroken loop with the trail marked on the pieces. There’s a single unique solution to the problem. Given that the tiles are transparent, the trail is visible on both sides, and therefor can be flipped over and rotated as desired.

The 6x8 challenge and pieces marked with one dot.

The 6x8 challenge and pieces marked with one dot.

You then move a few bars around and get a larger 6×8 tray, add four marked pieces, and have the same goal of an unbroken loop. Again this problem has a unique solution.

Reconfiguring the tray to the next size

Reconfiguring the tray to the next size

Moving the tray around is easy as the spacers all have tabs on their ends that fit into notches in the tray and have a number of dots based on the challenge you’re attempting. A great idea and really well thought out.

Next up a 6×9 tray created by moving more black frame pieces, and two new trominoes. Same goal, same unique solution … are you seeing a pattern yet?

All five challenges, add progressively more pieces, and a bigger tray until you’re using all 24 trominoes, all with unique solutions, and you have a beautiful, and elegant puzzle design. I think the nicest thing about this (given that we know I’m not good at tray packing puzzles) is that this one is really approachable. I’ve been able to solve all five problems, and none of them are too difficult. Yes they’re a challenge, but not such that you get frustrated and want to throw the puzzle across the room.

There’s no solutions provided, but if you are stuck, or just curious, then click the 6×6 solution link or the 6×8 solution link to see the solutions. After that you’re on your own. After all, what’s the point in my giving you the solution. This is actually a fun tray puzzle!

Check Me Out

This entry is part 3 of 6 in the series IPP 31

Quite some time ago now, I mentioned in the post about the Post IPP California Puzzle Party that I’d purchased a copy of Dave Rosetti’s exchange puzzle from IPP31 and that I’d write a review soon. It seems that soon wasn’t very soon at all and it’s taken me months to get round to writing it! But here at last is the review of ‘Check Me Out’ designed by Stewart Coffin, and numbered 256 in his numbering system.

STC #256 - Check me out

STC #256 - Check me out

Check Me Out is another devious tray packing puzzle from Mr Coffin, where a mere four pieces have to be packed into the tray. To make things interesting, the tray isn’t square, it’s a nice parallelogram, and one piece is conveniently not placed in the tray. If that wasn’t hard enough, the card which comes with the puzzle kindly states


With puzzle art such fun to play
Chuck the four “checkers” in the tray
So that shape and color both will be
In perfect two-fold symmetry

Front of the info card

Front of the info card

Back of the info card

Back of the info card


The Puzzle itself is fairly plain. There’s no exotic woods used here (possibly Maple for the lighter wood), and the base of the tray is made from a veneered 3 ply plywood. That said, the grain in the veneer of the base of the tray is nice enough and gives a good contrasting colour to the pieces. Add to that the fact that the grain is offset to the angle of the walls of the tray really helps to mess with your head as you’re solving it. The bottom of the tray is marked in pencil “256 STC 2011”.

Bottom of the tray

Bottom of the tray

Each of the four pieces is very accurately cut and has had the corners rounded very slightly to take the sharp edges away. It’s a small detail, but as a fellow puzzle maker pointed out to me when I started making puzzles, it really does make the puzzle far nicer in the hands when you’re solving it.

Solving this one really took quite a while for me. I spent several hours trying to find a combination where all four pieces could fit in, ignoring the symmetry part of the problem. This is an excellent puzzle that will likely keep you busy for a long time. Who would have known that four pieces could provide such a problem to placing them in a tray?

I’m not going to post the solution here, as that would spoil the fun. If you’re really stuck, then drop me a note and I might help you out by letting you know where one or two of the pieces go!

Shippers Dilemma

This is to be the first in a series of posts in the run up to Thanksgiving Day here in the US. So what better to be thankful about than new puzzles to play with?

You’ll have to indulge me for a few minutes here, as this set of puzzles comes with a bit of a story. Don’t worry, there’s puzzles in here too! So back in June, my parents came to visit me here in California. It’s the first time they’ve traveled since my dad went through all his Cancer operations, and it was the end of a long road for him. Both he and my mum were in need of the break, and having not seen them other than the quick trips back to Scotland for work, it was the perfect time to catch up. While they were here we had planned a bit of a road trip. None of us (either my parents or my new family) had been to the Grand Canyon or Death Valley, and since it was likely to be the last time my parents would be able to make such a long trip, we took the 2000 mile round trip in an RV.

Entrance to Calico Silver mining town

Entrance to Calico Silver mining town

While we were in Death Valley, we stopped at an old Ghost Town by the name of Calico. This is an old silver mining town which has been restored and has the tourist trap costumed inhabitants wandering around. One of the shops there was a modestly sized Puzzle shop; Calico Woodworks, selling ‘old west’ puzzles, including various disentanglement puzzles, tavern puzzles and wooden puzzles. I must have spent an hour in the shop (much to the dismay of the rest of the family who wanted to see the town) browsing, and talking with the owner, who had a fantastic knowledge of the puzzles she was selling.

Calico Woodworks

Calico Woodworks

As it happens, we struck up quite the little banter, and I have no doubt our discussions helped her sales for the day as the shop was packed when I left. Not long after I walked in, and I was animatedly pointing things out to Jen and my Mum, she hands me a puzzle which she calls the ‘Manhood Puzzle”. Clearly its something she hands to all the men as it comes with a story that if I can’t solve it, she’ll have to change my name to something girly. The puzzle she hands me is a nut and bolt puzzle, which as it happens I’ve seen before. I play along for a minute, and poke and prod at the split washer which is secured in the middle of the screw between the head and a nut which is soldered to the screw, before unscrewing the bottom section and removing the washer.

2 Piece Pyramid Puzzle

2 Piece Pyramid Puzzle

She then picks up a few other puzzles to show me, and entice me into buying. As she’s off finding the puzzles, I spot a two piece pyramid puzzle sitting on the counter, and promptly solve it. (After all it was sitting there un-solved!) She comes back, spots it solved and asks if I did it. “Yes”, I reply. She curses me, then proceeds to tell the story of having received it from Creative Crafthouse, spent days not being able to solve it (having received 1,000 of these), and calls them telling them their puzzle is broken. When they told her how to solve it, I believe a large chunk of pride and humble pie was swallowed!

She picks up a series of three puzzles, which for the Shippers Dilemma series. It turns out these are made by Creative Crafthouse and come both individually and as a nice set of three. As it happens, she didn’t have the first in the set available, but I did end up buying the other two puzzles from here (amongst other things).

Shippers Dilemma's

Shippers Dilemma's

So now that I’m done with my story, back to the puzzles at hand! The two puzzles I ended up getting are Shippers Dilemma ‘Y, the middle difficulty puzzle, and Shippers Dilemma ‘Z’ the very hard puzzle.

Both puzzles come in their own wooden boxes, which have been routed with a number of grooves to signify the difficulty of the puzzle. It’s a nice touch and means you can easily tell which puzzle you’re picking up without having to leave the lids off! Also, the ‘lid’ is really the base, and the puzzle can be built inside it then the rest of the box slipped on top to put it away (that is if you get it back into a cube)!

Pieces for Shippers Dilemma 'Y'

Pieces for Shippers Dilemma 'Y'

The first of the two puzzles is made entirely of ‘y’ shaped pieces, 25 to be exact, which have to be placed together to make a 5x5x5 cube. The puzzle was designed by David Klarner and published in the Journal of Recreational Mathematics in 1970, so its not a new puzzle. Originally thought to have just 236 solutions, Burr Tools shows there to be 1264 solutions possible. Never the less, this is still a challenging puzzle, and it’s unlikely you’re going to solve it in 5 minutes. I think I played around for about 30 minutes to get one solution, and was happy enough with that.

There are a number of other shapes that you can make from the pieces, including a 10x5x1 rectangle from 10 pieces, and a 15x4x2 using 24/25. So lots to keep you occupied with this particular puzzle. It does come supplied with a solution sheet showing 4 possible solutions, and the other shapes you can try, so if you’re struggling with the 5x5x5 then one of the others may prove easier!

The pieces of the puzzle themselves are unfinished and fairly rough. While the fit is fairly precise between pieces, there’s evidence of glue on some of the pieces, and not all the small cubes are glued perfectly straight onto the longer ‘base’ section. That said, this isn’t an expensive puzzle, and given that it’s well worth the money.

Pieces for Shippers Dilemma 'Z'

Pieces for Shippers Dilemma 'Z'

The second of the two Shippers Dilemma puzzles is ‘Z’. You’ll not be surprised when I tell you that this puzzle is made from 25 ‘Z’ shaped pieces (or N in pentominoes sets) which need to be made into a 5x5x5 cube. Like it’s little brother there are a number of other possible solution shapes using varying numbers of pieces which are listed with the puzzle, so again plenty to keep you occupied. This is listed as a very hard puzzle, and given that there’s only 4 solutions, which are provided, I can see why. Around an hour found me a solution that let me put it back in its box, and I was pretty happy with that. Burr Tools confirms that there’s only 4 solutions.

This puzzle is made from a darker wood, but again, I’m not sure what sort of wood has been used. It’s of a similar quality and price to the previous puzzle, so all in all good value for money and a serious challenge regardless of how many times you solve it!

I may have to puck up the first in the series, as it has a beautiful symmetry to the way the pieces fit inside, which I really liked. That’s one for another day though. Funny that I traveled all the way to Death Valley to pick up my first puzzles from Creative Crafthouse, but I’ve not been disappointed, and will likely buy more from them in the future.

Come back tomorrow to see the other puzzles I picked up while in Death Valley!

Vinco’s Twisted Halfcubes & Diagra

A while back, I got in touch with Vaclav Obsivac and placed an order for several of his puzzles. Amongst those, I asked for a copy of the Twisted Half Cubes, and Diagra puzzles.

Vinco's Twisted Half Cubes in the box

Vinco's Twisted Half Cubes in the box

Vinco's Diagra in the box

Vinco's Diagra in the box

Packing the pieces back into the box is a puzzle of its own!

Packing the pieces back into the box is a puzzle of its own!

To look at, both of these puzzles look very similar. Indeed, they have the same basic idea at their root. Both puzzles have eight pieces which combine together to create solid cubes. The goal of the puzzles is to create various solid shapes with no ‘legs’ sticking out of the final assembly. This sounds pretty simple, but I can assure you that it’s really not. In all honesty, putting the pieces back into the box provides a packing puzzle of its own, as the box is too small for all the pieces to be placed in without some level of interconnection!

All of the puzzles in this series are made from varying woods, and have been lightly waxed. No stains are used, so the natural wood is left on show, which is one of the factors that I really admire from Vinco’s puzzles. As with all of the Vinco puzzles, these are made to the same high quality and tolerances that you’d expect from this master craftsman; and none are expensive at around €14 each. At that price, these are really hard to pass up.

The Halfcubes sets

The Halfcubes sets courtesy of Vinco's website

The beauty of the set of these puzzles, which includes (naming just a few) the Diagonal Halfcubes, Vidly Halfcubes, Prism Halfcubes, Two U, Cubicula, Hooked Halfcubes and Handed Halfcubes, reviewed by Kevin (where he also reviews Diagra), is that you can own all of them and they all provide a new and unique challenge. Despite the basic idea being the same, each puzzle is a new challenge, and requires a new way of thinking to solve it. The partial list is shown in the chart here, along with not only the suggested solution shapes for each puzzle, but also how many different ways each shape can be created. There’s a lot of puzzling possible and that’s if you only try for the suggested solutions. Click on the image to the right to see a list of many of the puzzles in the series in a more readable size.


Twisted Halfcubes

The eight pieces of the Twisted Halfcubes puzzle

The eight pieces of the Twisted Halfcubes puzzle

With the Twisted Halfcubes, the legs of the puzzles are all hook shaped, and hook around the small internal cube on another piece, linking the two puzzle pieces together in such a way that they will support each other. The differing angles at which the legs are attached make the problems more complex, as you need to find the right pieces to take the puzzle in the direction you need. In most cases, it’s not possible to create a closed solution by simply adding the next piece to the previous in a sequential manner. Most closed loops need you to approach the puzzle by thinking about two halves which will rotate together into the final shape. I really like this feature as it adds an extra challenge to the puzzle space, and also limits the use of programs like Burr Tools for solving the shapes.

Twisted Half Cube, Super Cube Solution

Twisted Half Cube, Super Cube Solution

Twisted Half Cubes 'Z' Solution

Twisted Half Cubes 'Z' Solution

Vinco sets a number of possible solution shapes of which just a couple are shown above. The solution on the right shows how the pieces support themselves when placed together, so shapes where some pieces do not need to be resting against the desk are possible. I promise that there’s nothing out of view of the camera holding the pieces up.

Diagra

The eight pieces of the Diagra puzzle

The eight pieces of the Diagra puzzle

Similar in design to the Twisted Halfcubes, here the hooks have been replaced by square blocks, meaning that all pieces slide into each other. The difference here to the Twisted puzzle is that coordinate motion solutions are now possible, as the pieces are no longer hooked to one another but slide together. Again, the interesting location of the ‘legs’ makes for some challenging goal shapes and the approach to joining the pieces together is different from the previous puzzle.

I would say that the basic shapes are easier in Diagra, and perhaps this is a more enjoyable set to play with since it’s faster to put the pieces together and take them apart than it is with Twisted Halfcubes. The challenge level does step up a notch when you start looking for the coordinate motion solutions though, so don’t underestimate the challenge from this one.

Diagra Super Cube solution

Diagra Super Cube solution

Diagra 'Heart" solution which required coordinate motion

Diagra 'Heart' solution - requires coordinate motion

Coordinate motion solutions in Diagra!

Coordinate motion solutions in Diagra!

As noted in the comments for the solution above on the right, a coordinate motion is required to make this shape. The image on the left shows how the three sub-units join together to make the final shape, and all slide together at the same time, with a satisfyingly smooth movement. Have a look at the very short video below to see this in action.


The beauty of these puzzles are that you’re limited only by your imagination as to the shapes you can create. These make a great set of building blocks, and just playing with connecting them in different orientations is as much fun as trying to create the specific patterns on the short instruction sheet provided. I’ve spent a lot of time doing just this, and as such find it a great stress toy when it’s a rough day at work!

You can order these puzzles directly from Vinco or through Puzzle Master, and I highly recommend any of the Halfcubes series. I will certainly be picking up more of them myself.