Clutch Lock

When Andrew Coles offers me a puzzle the only question I ask is “What do I owe you?”. There’s never any point asking about the puzzle or the design process as I know that I’m going to want one, so let’s just cut straight to the transaction-y bit. 

At the last MPP Andrew offered me a copy of Clutch Lock so I followed standard procedure and gave him some cash and a few days later I was playing with a rather weird puzzle lock.  The lock itself isn’t that weird, but the key does have some interestingly aggressive bitting, if that’s even a thing. There’s the usual AC keyring, drawstring bag and information card… so far, so standard. 

The key goes into the lock, but it doesn’t turn, at all… you have to try, don’t you!

The fun starts when you try and remove the key… and you discover that you can’t… and thus begins this little emotional roller coaster ride. 

Some purposeful experimentation will assist in releasing said key, but you will need to have your wits about you… and anyway, there’s not a lot of point in just removing the key as the shackle remains very firmly locked shut.

Clutch Lock is a fiendish design where you will be absolutely convinced that there is nothing you can actually do and you will need to assess things very carefully indeed to find that there is in fact something you can do, although how the heck that can possibly be helpful, is beyond me. 

Some more serious study and experimentation is rewarded with the shackle opening, and while I’m chuffed with being able to do that, repeatedly, I have absolutely no idea what the heck is going on inside that lock - my best guess is literally magical pixies are deciding when to open the shackle and release the key.

Andrew has produced another puzzle lock unlike anything I’ve ever seen before - and I really want to know how the heck he’s trained those pixies to confound puzzlers so completely!