Popplock T15

I was one of the super-lucky folks who managed to acquire a copy of Rainer’s latest masterpiece from him in Assisi… I handed over a small pile of cash just before the traditional Sunday Puzzle Party and he gave me a fairly substantial paperweight.

The T15 is another big brute of a lock – styled as a padlock, this is the sort of padlock one might use to lock the gates of your medieval castle… it has a bunch of rivets and pins around the face but the one thing that seems to be missing is a hole for the key… come to mention it, it doesn’t come with a key… curiouser and curiouser.

The shackle is made up of three heavy steel plates riveted together and the central button has a large T (for Tricklock) on the one side, and Rainer’s logo and the lock’s designation on the other… without an obvious place to start, you’ll need to begin experimenting to find a suitable thread to tug on…

The first move is a bit sneaky (albeit quite tame by Rainer's standards!) and then other things start to be able to move.

There’s a fun bit in the middle of the solve where you’re trying to make sense of how various things interact and if you get it wrong, you seem to get thrown back to the start again – at a suitable time, some magic happens and you know that you’ve made progress… and if you’re good, you can avoid undoing that progress.

I’m not very good… in fact I spent a long time not making a lot of progress at this point. I’d described my progress to a couple of friends who’d solved it and they nodded sagely and provided gentle encouragement to continue… but continue, I could not.

When Louis was round to stay he asked me to show him how far I’d got and when I showed him it transpired that I’d literally virtually completed the solve – there was just one “move” left on the solve – but I needed a lot of encouragement to achieve said move – almost to the point that I suspect a few others are going to be caught in purgatory for a while like I was.

As always, Rainer’s tolerances and machining are sublime and everything works just beautifully until that last move where a somewhat agricultural yank seems to be required – albeit one with a deft touch – IYKYK.

Rainer’s 2026 Tricklock is another doozy!