Puzzlemad New Additions: I've been rather bad recently!

2 Piece oddity

6 board burr in a cage

Last week began with me mysteriously (???) receiving 2 absolutely stunning works of art from Brian Menold. The 2 piece oddity was designed by Tom Jolly and is an interesting, if not particularly difficult puzzle - Brian's workmanship is amazing - here we see Purpleheart, Padauk and a Holly veneer. The 6 board burr in a cage was designed by Stéphane Chomine it is made from Granadillo for the cage with 6 Walnut and Olivewood pieces for the Burr The solutiom has a level of 17.8.9.3.3 and I have not yet managed to solve it.

Pyracube

Mini Chessboard

This pair arrived last Thursday from Eric Fuller - Pyrracube by Stewart Coffin is a packing puzzle made from Ash and Sapele - I am rubbish at packing puzzles but every now and then I try a new one to see whether I can improve! The Chesspoard is by William Hu and is made of Peruvian Walnut & Maple. A nice little challenge for me!

You cannot have too many twisty puzzles!

Unbeknownst to me, I also had a delivery on Saturday whilst at the MPP - this is from Calvin at the HKNowstore. Here we have the Greg and Felix's 2x2 & Megaminx and the Moyu Wheel of time. The un-stickered puzzles are Eric Vergo's Pentagram and the Constrained megaminx (with interchangeable centres) both from MF8.

Whilst at the Midlands Puzzle Party I might (ahem!!) have made a few acquisitions:

A printed plastic version of Lee Krasnow's Barrcode burr

I have lusted after Lee Krasnow's barrcode burr for years but it has always been out of my reach. But a good friend got permission to make a few in plastic and I couldn't say no! This has some rather interesting movements!

Coronation Cube

This printed plastic creation was given to me by Rich Gain - it is the Coronation cube and was his entry into the 2014 IPP design competition. I solved it at the MPP and it has a lovely sequence of moves including one rotation!

Lucky Clover

I couldn't resist buying this from Wil Strijbos - it is a sliding tile/sequential movement puzzle designed by Hans van der Zon and whilst I very much doubt whether I can solve it or the other 2 puzzles that can be made using the extra pieces supplied, I was totally captivated by the movements that were possible! This will provide me with hours and hours of fun!

A rather unusual Rubik cube

Wil gave me this as a gift - It is a keyboard converted to a 3x3 cube - unfortunately I realised last night that the keys are from a dutch keyboard! This will be a fun little challenge!

q3Fight cube

I bought 2 of these from rich gain - it is a shiny metal version of Livecubes and will allow me to experiment and make hundreds of different interlocking puzzles from Ishino's site. Having 2 sets means that I can go up to 5x5 and even 6x6 cubes for added fun! You all know that I cannot resist shiny things! I am sure that my friends Steve and Noella will want to play too - they love my shiny toys too!!!

Finally - the ULTIMATE in shiny toys:
My friend Stephen Miller started Pyro puzzles and the first in his series of Elemental puzzle is about to be released - the Fire Puzzle is the first. Those of us at the MPP managed to get our copies ahead of the official release - mine is Number 5! I have seldom seen such a beautifully made and packaged puzzle. I have not really done more than open it and play with the movement. There is a lot too this puzzle including deciphering clues as well as the mechanical aspect of it! If you haven't ordered one then be quick before they all go!