Four to Square

Recently I managed to pick up a copy of this great little tray-packing puzzle by Jacques Haubrich.  

The materials alone would set this tray puzzle apart from pretty much all of the others in my collection – it’s made out of stainless steel! Nobody if going to damage this puzzle in a million years! 

It’s a really handy size for chucking in your pocket to annoy other puzzlers with, although it’s not light – remember the whole thing is made of 2mm satin finish stainless steel. 

It’s one of those really simple looking tray packing puzzles with only four pieces (two of which are identical!) … and a tray that, as implied by the name of the puzzle, is absolutely square. In spite of all that, it still provides a pretty good challenge. 

There are stacks of almost-solutions, but Jacques has done a brilliant job of getting those shapes just right so that there’s always one little bit that doesn’t quite fit – find the solution and the pieces will rattle satisfyingly in their tray. 

I’m probably just a bit slow but I find the shapes quite confusing even when I’m re-solving this puzzle, knowing more or less what the final solution looks like. I still find myself wanting to do all the wrong things first before I eventually get back to the right answer. 

Great puzzle!