Tag Archives: Metal

Kuku (SonicWarp)

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I was recently lent Sonic Warps cheaper entry to the puzzling market, the Kuku by a fellow puzzler. He has had it for some time, but was unable to solve the puzzle, and offered me a shot. I lent him my Isis at the same time. (I’ll review it at some point as well).

The version I have is the ‘hard’ version. Since the person who lent it to me is a serious puzzler, he opted for the harder version after hearing many reviews saying that if you are at all good at solving puzzles, then you don’t want anything less.

The first thing you realise with the Kuku is the size. This puzzle is tiny. As you can see from the photograph, it’s diameter is around 1.5 inches. It’s a great looking puzzle, with the three colours of metals used providing a good contrast and making for a very striking puzzle. When you pick it up, the whole thing rattles and it’s rather difficult to know what’s going on in there. This is nothing new for a SW puzzle so I set about trying to find out what’s going on. The object, open the ball. Sounds simple enough!

Holding the puzzle to my ear, and slowly rotating it, you can figure out that there are several distinct components inside. That’s useful but it doesn’t help you open it. I will admit that this puzzle sat on my desk for many months, with me picking it up and playing with it for 10 minutes at a time, and I never came close to opening it.

The reason sadly was down to issues with the puzzle itself. When the puzzle was put together, the coating used on the pieces is tacky. For most of the joins this wasn’t a problem, but one of the joins was sealed together, meaning that the puzzle physically wouldn’t move. So even doing everything right, I had no chance of opening this puzzle. It’s a comment I’ve heard from a number of people, enough to make me believe that this is a general issue with the puzzle, and not just a one off problem. My issue is that this really spoils the puzzle, and in fact makes it unsolvable.

With some hints from a fellow puzzler I have the tools to attempt to open this , but it requires some force which really should not be needed on the puzzle, and given that I am borrowing it, it made me less happy to go down that route.

There are many videos online that show you how you can open this puzzle. They do require that the puzzle doesn’t suffer from the problems the one I was borrowing had, but also defeat the point of the puzzle somewhat. If you don’t want it spoiled, then avoid searching for the solution. Really you shouldn’t need it!

Would I recommend this puzzle. Sadly no. It seems to be plagued by the Sonic Warp curse of poor production and is sadly let down as a result. If it worked as it was supposed to, this would be a fun puzzle, but as it stands, I’d say stay away.

Danlock ‘B’

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Continuing in my puzzle reviews, today I have the pleasure of reviewing my Danlock ‘B’ puzzle lock.

I’m no expert on puzzle locks, and in fact, this is the first and only puzzle lock in my collection. Having spoken with a number of puzzling friends, they all recommended the Danlock, and by most it is considered the Rolls Royce of puzzle locks. So why the high accolade?

Well the reason comes from the fact that this is a real padlock. Dan Feldman buys the Nabob padlocks, which are made in Israel, and modifies them into these trick locks. So what you have is a solid brass padlock, with a real lock that makes a really solid puzzle. As you can see from mine, the evidence of the conversion is worn on the face of the lock. Mine has several scratches and wear marks from where it was worked on. I don’t think it takes away from the puzzle, and if anything I feel that it adds to the effect.

So down to the puzzle itself. You’re presented with two keys, one shacked to the padlock itself, and the other which Dan has kindly cut in two. The object is to open the padlock, then return it to the state you see in the image above. You’re not allowed to use anything other than that which you find on the puzzle itself, (so no paper clips!) and the best comment I heard was “You can solve this puzzle locked naked in a padded cell”. While I don’t suggest this method, it is true. Everything you need is right there.

With this being my first trick lock, I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but I promptly set about trying to open it. Taking that leap of faith and sticking the broken shard of key into the lock, I quickly had it open, but what next.

All I’ll say is that there are a number of ‘aha’ moments with this puzzle, and it really is well designed and made. All told it took me about an hour to solve the puzzle, and get things back into their original state. A great puzzle, and I can’t recommend it enough to any collector.

So one last thing to say about it. I noted that I have a Danlock ‘B’. Dan made two version of this puzzle. The ‘B’ is revision two if you like and has an added twist over version ‘A’. Having talked with a friend who has the ‘A’ the difference is subtle, and if I’m honest I don’t think it adds a huge amount to the puzzle, however it could prevent someone from finding the final move for just a little longer. If you get the chance, pick up a rev ‘B’ but if you already have an ‘A’ then I’d say there’s not enough extra there to justify adding a second version to your collection.