Scarlett

Some folks who know me think that I’m a completist, and I do like a nice set of things… and if they happen to look really good together, AND happen to be excellent puzzles, then I’m a bit of a sucker for them…

Radek and Doog’s collection of Demonticons has been steadily growing in a corner of my Rademic shelf over the past few months and the announcement of Scarlett produced a predictable order from Barnt Green.

Scarlett is a delightful shade of, err, scarlet and she looks suitably goofy with some seriously exaggerated eyelashes on one side, and, err, not on the other. The supercilious grin invites you to come and have a go (‘cos of course you think you’re hard enough!).

One thing is very clear from the off, there is a lot going on inside there – something that a casual shake will confirm before you even try anything! If you’ve spent any time with the earlier Demonticons, there are a couple of things you’ll try to get things going, and some of them may well appear to be useful… but they won’t get you very far at all.

From here on you’ll need to summon your wits and your puzzle-solving (and potentially adjacent!) skills if you’re going to make any progress whatsoever. The guys have given you enough clues to be able to work out what you probably want to – if you’re paying attention – and then it’s all down to you to execute…

Scarlett’s backstory tells you that she’s in the fashion industry and challenges you to find out what’s she’s working on when you get inside. Once again, there are some excellent easter eggs to reward the solver – I thought Zak’s easter egg was really cool and on theme – this one’s even better!

I love the fact that these puzzles look great on the outside, provide a decent challenge and then give you an extra reward when you finally crack them open. Once again, the machining and finish is seriously top-notch, but then you wouldn’t expect anything less from Doog and Radek, would you?