Cross Windows

I remember this one being up for sale on Cubic Dissection way back when I first started collecting puzzles. There were a few available for sale but the newbie in me just couldn’t imagine dropping quite that much cash on a single puzzle – no matter how gorgeous it looked. (Yes, dear reader, I found it hard to imagine someone paying $300 for a puzzle. Any puzzle. Simpler times...) 

Of course, at the time, I hadn’t seen any of Mike Toulouzas’ work in person, I certainly didn’t have the modest collection that I now have, and hey, inflation. 

Whatever may have changed over the past 10 years or so, I always had a soft spot for this puzzle and I’ve been on the lookout for one at a reasonable price for a while now. As luck would have it a pair of them came up on a recent Haubrich auction of John Moores’ puzzles which meant that I was able to secure a copy at slightly less than the original sticker price – so I considered myself rather fortunate! 

Mike only made 17 copies of Cross Windows back toward the tale end of 2009, so seeing two of them pop up on the same auction was pretty unusual. At the time he described them as a bit of a signature-piece, something that was very clearly his work… of course his signature has developed over the years and it’s now even more creative and certainly no less distinctive!

This puzzle looks great from any angle – you have three intersecting window frames with a hexagonal pattern in each corner. Of course, being a Mike T masterpiece, it comes apart on an unusual axis. And it comes apart quite quickly, most often leaving puzzlists with a small not-so-orderly pile of pieces with very little idea of which piece goes where. 

Faced with six plates, your first job is to understand the interactions between the pieces, the tabs and the gaps in the patterns – convince yourself you have exactly the same number of gaps as tabs, and then set about matching up the former to the latter… realising along the way that Mike’s been a little sneaky and given you a rather unhelpful set of pieces that will only go together one way… and once you’ve found that, the actual assembly will require a fair degree of dextrocity (yes, it’s a word, damnit!), perfect alignment and choosing the correct axis because there’s literally no slop to allow a finessing into place – you have to do it right. 

Chuffed to bits to have one of these from John’s collection – somehow makes it a little more special. 

Pennyhedron

Sometimes the simplest things are sent to catch you out… and when they do, you should probably keep that to yourself. You definitely shouldn’t tell your puzzling mates about how much of an eedjit you are – and you probably shouldn’t write it up on your own blog – that’s just asking for scorn, shame and laughter at your own expense. 

So here goes…

I recently acquired a little Pennyhedron to add to my modest Krasnow collection. The seller’s description mentioned that the fit was pretty snug and it would be shipped assembled. It arrived in the expected condition and it looked lovely… a perfectly petite puzzle. 

Knowing that it was a three-finger Pennyhedron (other Pennyhedrons may exist) I set about trying to open it… trying this way and that, changing axis every now and then, first pulling and then pushing, adjusting my grip a little, then pulling a bit harder, repeating the entire process and then trying pushing even harder – all with not a lot of success. 

I repeated this process across the course of several evenings, always with the exact same result: singular piece of Pennyhedron stares mockingly back at me. 

I begin to wonder if I’m going to need to resort to Chinny’s final solution for Pennyhedra – the large mallet. 

Luckily for me I’m due a visit from the puzzle-whisperer, so I give it to him muttering something about damned three-finger Pennyhedron and he sets about opening it, rather quickly, because it’s not a three-finger Pennyhedron after all – it’s a two-fingered Pennyhedron – and using the correct two finger salute, of course it slides open perfectly (refer maker’s name, after all).  

So I feel a bit of an eedjit, but I decide I should take it along to MPP the next morning and hope some others will fall into the same trap as I have. 

I try it out on Oli who calmly assumes the correct two-fingered salute, flukes the orientation and simply slides it open…

It’s just me then.

I’m an eedjit. 

But it’s a beautifully made example from Lee so I’ll get over my embarrassment one of these days. 

Don’t cry for me, ardent reader.

Laszlo Molnar’s Hat Trick

Barely a year goes by when there isn’t an excellent new design from Laszlo Molnar – 2019 was no exception: he gave us Hat Trick. 

I enjoyed playing with this one in the Design Competition so I was quite chuffed when Brian Menold had some copies up for sale… they didn’t last long, but the good news is that Brian is planning another batch and you can currently reserve a copy on his website.

The premise here is straight-forward: you have six L-shaped pieces, one box with a T-shaped hole and just enough space inside the box to allow those pieces to rest easy… put the pieces in the box. 

Of course to get in there, they need to go in through that T-shaped hole in the top of the box… a hole that helpfully shows you exactly how the final piece need inserting – great! That means you only nee to work out how to get five of those little pieces in there – this just gets easier and easier!

Only, it doesn’t. 

It’s not hard to visualise the shape you’re trying to get to inside the box – getting to that will require some strategy, and perhaps a little Think (c).

This puzzle really rewards thought and planning. Helpfully (yes really, this time!) the box is snug so you won’t be tempted into trying adventurous rotations and the like. 

I really like this one and reckon it’s one of Laszlo’s best so far… so hit Brian up (soon) if you want a copy. 

If you don’t want to take my word for it, Ken (with a Z) is also a big fan, as is Kevin – see what they had to say about it in those links.