Tag Archives: constructing

The Art of the Wooden Puzzle

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Several varieties of puzzle fall under the umbrella of “wooden puzzles,” from sliding tile puzzles and jigsaws to puzzle boxes and brain teasers. Heck, I devoted an entire post to wooden puzzles last year, sharing several from my personal collection.

With the advent of more affordable laser-cutting machines, we’ve seen several puzzly Kickstarter campaigns (like Baffledazzle and Codex Silenda) successfully launched, pushing wooden puzzles into the 21st century with more ambitious designs and greater functionality than ever before.

So you can imagine both my surprise and my excitement when The Metagrobologist posted a link to a Popular Woodworking article on how to make your own wooden puzzles!

There are step-by-step instructions on how to create three different 3D wooden “burr” puzzles, and this article covers everything from construction to assembly. Exact measurements are included.

It’s clear the author is all about quality, understanding both the art behind these mechanical 3D puzzles and all the necessary steps to ensure a safe and successful build.

If only shop class in school had offered me the chance to make something like this!

In all seriousness, this post offers fascinating insight into how some of these mechanical brain teasers are made, but when you consider the care and precision it takes to produce one of these puzzles, even knowing how it’s done doesn’t make the puzzle any less fun. What a treat.

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It’s Follow-Up Friday: Domino Wonder edition!

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Welcome to Follow-Up Friday!

By this time, you know the drill. Follow-Up Friday is a chance for us to revisit the subjects of previous posts and bring the PuzzleNation audience up to speed on all things puzzly.

And today, I’d like to return to the subject of our recent 5 Questions interviewee, Lily Hevesh, aka Hevesh5.

You might have seen the above video from Hevesh5, the amazing triple spiral, which we shared on our Facebook and Twitter accounts.

It’s honestly one of the coolest, most staggering domino creations I’ve ever seen, a 15,000-domino work of kinetic art that took Lily 25 hours to assemble, and I couldn’t resist sharing it with my fellow puzzlers and PuzzleNationers.

Apparently, I wasn’t alone in that. The spiral got FOUR MILLION views in two days. It got major attention on Reddit, the YouTube front page, CNN, CBS News, and more!

It has amassed over TEN MILLION views in less than a fortnight.

And, as you might expect, Lily was not only humble, but grateful for the support of puzzlers and domino fans like.

Check out this video discussing the video’s success, as well as Lily’s plans for the future:

So great to see such positive attention for her and her work. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer person.

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1 word, 3 letters, a world of possibilities

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As I was writing Tuesday’s post and returning to the world of crossword-inspired art, it made me wonder what other puzzly works are out there, waiting to be discovered, appreciated, and perhaps mistakenly filled in.

So I did a little digging, a little Googling, and a little research, and I thought I’d introduce you, my fellow puzzlers and PuzzleNationers, to some of the crossword-infused works of art I discovered.

So, without further ado or hullabaloo, let’s get to it!

This work from 2005, entitled “I Can’t Read,” is a collage of crossword and newsprint, and although I discovered it on Crossword City, it was originally posted on the DeviantArt account of content creator PrairiePunk.

This Untitled piece by artist Juliet A is just one of several crossword-inspired pieces I found on the website Milliande.com. They featured themed weeks for posts, and “crossword puzzles” apparently provided plenty of inspiration for several impressive, engaging creations.

This wonderful bit of crossword-fueled street art, discovered in Ghent, Belgium, was posted on Pinterest.

Inspired by the Mendel Art Gallery in Saskatoon, as well as the Saskatoon art scene itself, this work by Megan Mormon was developed for partygoers to play with and solve (with post-its provided). The clues and entries are all geared toward local art.

My personal favorite was this piece by Tony Blue, entitled Crosswords 2, a work of mixed media on canvas.

Puzzles meet performance in this sketch by Emily Jo Cureton, based on key words from the May 16, 2008, New York Times crossword.

Crosswords have even found their way into the world of nail art, as typified by this design by Hannah Rox Nails, created for Girls’ Life. [Note: the link leads to a YouTube page.]

I’ll close out today’s gallery with this intriguing piece of interactive crossword puzzle art, created by Gary Hill. The ever-shifting view of the grid only allows you to examine small portions at once, leaving you curiously adrift as you solve along with the artist.

This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to crossword-inspired art. A quick Google search or targeted Pinterest hunt will reveal many more.

For a few more pieces of crossword art, complete with commentary from the artists themselves, check out this article from CrosswordUnclued.com.

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Identity and Gender in The New York Times Crossword

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[Image courtesy of the Odyssey Online.]

Only two months ago, I wrote a blog post about a Slate article discussing how The New York Times crossword can be socially tone-deaf at times. So it’s heartening today to write about a New York Times crossword puzzle that’s progressive, one that is bringing the conversation forward instead of feeling out-of-touch.

On Thursday, September 1, the paper published a crossword by constructor Ben Tausig. Even on the surface, this was a rare puzzle, because it allows for multiple entries that fit a given definition. These puzzles are known as Quantum puzzles or Schrödinger puzzles.

The most famous example is the 1996 Election Day crossword pictured below, which “predicted” the outcome of the election quite cleverly by allowing for either CLINTON ELECTED or BOB DOLE ELECTED to read out, depending on how the solver answered seven down clues.

In Ben Tausig’s puzzle, there are four across entries and four down entries that each allow for two possible answers. For instance, 67 Across is clued “Tough stuff to walk through” and the answer can be FIRE or MIRE. That entry crosses 60 Down, which is clued “Word that can precede sex,” allowing for the answers SAME or SAFE.

What separates Tausig’s puzzle from this elite group of masterfully constructed Quantum crosswords is what it represents on a social inclusiveness level.

The letter variability — allowing for M or F to appear in the box and still fit the definition — is a wonderful metaphor for the fluidity of gender, especially in the limiting, but generally accepted, binary concept of male or female. Having GENDER FLUID as the revealer entry helps demystify both the theme and the topic at hand for solvers.

[Click here to see a larger version of the grid.]

As constructor Ben Tausig says in his XwordInfo write-up of the puzzle:

The theme letters don’t move from M to F or from F to M, in the manner of a binary, but float in an unresolved place in between. That’s a simple but reasonable way of representing queer sexuality — as a forever-exploration of identity and desire.

And although those two concepts only scratch the surface of the rich panoply of emerging terms and definitions with which people can express their gender or identity, this is an excellent step forward.

Kudos to Tausig and the crew at The New York Times crossword for a puzzle that’s elegant and inclusive in more ways than one.

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It’s Follow-Up Friday: Lollapuzzoola Puzzles edition!

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Welcome to Follow-Up Friday!

By this time, you know the drill. Follow-Up Friday is a chance for us to revisit the subjects of previous posts and bring the PuzzleNation audience up to speed on all things puzzly.

August 13 marked the ninth annual Lollapuzzoola event, hosted in New York City by Brian Cimmet and Patrick Blindauer, and subtitled “It’s Hip to be Squared.”

While I couldn’t attend the tournament, I did download the tournament set and tackle the six puzzles prepared for the event. And today, after waiting a few weeks out of respect for the constructors and solvers-from-home to avoid spoilers, I thought I’d offer my thoughts on those puzzles, for any interested PuzzleNationers who might be considering participating in the future.

WARM-UP: Twinlets by Brian Cimmet

Before the tournament proper started, solvers tackled a pair of identical 9×9 grids, having to figure out which of the two clues given for each Across and Down coordinate applied to which grid. Intended as a tribute to the tournament’s ninth year, this was a strong, fun opener that used the dual grids to the fullest.

Several clues were repeated, allowing for some clever wordplay. For instance, both 5 Down clues were “Sweet”, cluing DELICIOUS and SCHMALTZY respectively.

Interesting grid entries included ZZ TOP, KANYE, and USER ID, and my favorite clue was either “Catcher behind a plate?” for BIB or “You’ve got two on your head and four in your head” for LOBES.

[Image courtesy of The King of Babylon on Tumblr.]

Puzzle 1: Celebrity Chefs by Mike Nothnagel

The tournament kicked off with this enjoyable 15×15 grid where food phrases that featured a last name used the first name instead (so you had CHICKEN A LA LARRY instead of CHICKEN A LA KING, for instance).

Nothnagel’s cluing was topnotch — I circled more favorite clues on this puzzle than any other in the tournament — reinvigorating some tired old standard entries with unexpected spins.

Interesting grid entries included THINKPAD, DRY EYE, TB TEST, and X-AXES, and my favorite clues (I’m limiting myself to two) were “Hefty alternative” for GLAD and “House-monitoring network?” for C-SPAN.

[Tournament directors and constructors
Brian Cimmet and Patrick Blindauer]

Puzzle 2: Flipping Out by Patrick Blindauer

The next puzzle split a 16×15 grid down the middle into two 8×15 grids, each on its own page. The curious construction definitely slowed me down, even if the cluing and grid entries (including four different entries clued “FLIP OUT”) weren’t all that difficult.

This was easily the weirdest solve of the tournament. Amazing how one little change in presentation can throw you off.

Interesting grid entries included GI JOE, NO SIR, AMADEUS, and NADAL, and my favorite clues were “Writer Rice whose characters suck” for ANNE and the surprisingly intimate “Irish singer who my wife can’t stand” for ENYA.

[Image courtesy of The Odyssey Online.]

Puzzle 3: What Happened? by Doug Peterson

The difficulty of each puzzle’s theme began to ramp up here, as we had common words or phrases where the letter H had been replaced with either a T or a Y, and this was revealed with the highlighted entry HISTORY (literally spelling out “H IS T OR Y”).

Doug is a cleverboots, to be sure, and this 21×21 grid was a great test of wordplay and puzzly knowhow.

Interesting grid entries included HOLY GRAIL, ASIAGO, YUGI-OH, and ADORBS, and my favorite clues were “Leader of Ancient Troy?” for TAU and “Co. for surfers” for ISP.

[Image courtesy of Domestiphobia.net.]

Puzzle 4: Down in Front! by Evan Birnholz

We’re halfway through the tournament puzzles now, and the toughest puzzle in the set shows up, completing a one-two punch of really solid construction and crafty cluing. Six entries in this puzzle were missing letters, creating real words that were shorter than the actual words clued. (For instance, the clue “Person conjuring up spirits?” points to BARTENDER, but BENDER is all that fits into the grid. So each entry lost two or three letters after the first letter.)

This one had me skunked for a bit, I must admit, so it was immensely satisfying to crack the theme and complete the puzzle. Nicely done, Evan.

Interesting grid entries included HOBART, CARPS AT, ECOCAR, and CASSIO, and my favorite clues were “Places to see plays?” for ARENAS and “Delivery recipients” for PARENTS.

Puzzle 5: Quote Boxes by Francis Heaney

Heaney has five 2×2 boxes shaded with different shapes, and each of the four cells in those 2×2 boxes contains a word from a famous four-word movie quote.

For instance, in the upper left corner, there’s a shaded circle filling in a 2×2 box, and each of those four cells contains one of the words “snap,” “out,” “of,” and “it,’ which are incorporated into the across and down entries intersecting those individual boxes. (SNAP is part of OH SNAP and UNSNAP, OUT is part of STOUT and OUTRO, OF is part of POOF and OFFER, and IT is part of IT’S PAT and iTUNES. And SNAP OUT OF IT reads out on the line beside a shaded circle at the bottom of the page.)

This was a super-impressive grid that jammed a lot of entries into an 18×18 grid but never felt oversaturated, and it all flows nicely. This was the puzzle of the night for me.

Interesting grid entries included DELANO, ROBERT E LEE, HERE’S HOW, and HAVE-NOT, and my favorite clues were “Hillary’s claim to fame” for EVEREST and “Ball girl?” for DEB. (Though I must mention one more, simply for the confidence it betrays: “Garment a well-dressed man always wears and slovenly cretins do not (I may be biased here)” for TIE.)

[Image courtesy of Wikipedia.org.]

Puzzle 6: Finals by Samuel A. Donaldson

This was the capper to a strong night of solving, and after Puzzle 5, it had a tough act to follow. There were two sets of clues: the Local for newcomers and the Express for established tournament puzzlers, and both had their stumbling blocks. Tight grid construction and some unexpected entries made for a pretty tough wrap-up puzzle, but one that challenged the solver rather than frustrating.

Interesting grid entries included MANSPLAIN, PUSS N BOOTS, SCAR-JO, TOOTSIES, and TESSERA, and my favorite clues from the Local set were “It covers all the bases” for TARP and “Present day visitor in France?” for PERE NOEL. My favorite clues from the Express set were “Sporty colleague” for POSH and “It can come between two friends” for OF A.

Overall, I thought this year’s Lollapuzzoola puzzles were very clever, and although some of the themes were tough to suss out, they provided a worthy challenge to solvers and plenty of outside-the-box thinking in both themes and cluing to keep your mind engaged.

There were so many great clues and all the personality and panache I’ve come to expect from the event and its constructors. Nine years in, and they’re only getting better.

I look forward to its return, and hopefully some of you will join me in accepting the Lollapuzzoola challenge. (Also, I really hope I can attend next year, or Patti might kill me for missing the tournament AGAIN. *laughs*)

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It’s Follow-Up Friday: Murder Mystery edition!

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Welcome to Follow-Up Friday!

By this time, you know the drill. Follow-Up Friday is a chance for us to revisit the subjects of previous posts and bring the PuzzleNation audience up to speed on all things puzzly.

And in today’s post, I’d like to follow up on last week’s murder mystery post.

In the previous post, I gave you some of the backstory and logistics of our in-office murder-mystery event, and today, I wanted to discuss the event itself.

Our murder happened Monday night — the fictional J. Augustus Milverton Puzzlenationo would breathe his last breath near the photocopier — so Tuesday morning marked the official start of the game.

And since we’re an office full of puzzlers, the morning began with something of a logic puzzle, as the players were given a list of passcodes used to enter the building, but they needed to figure out who had used them and at what time.

You see, someone’s passcode being used at a certain time didn’t necessary mean that person was actually entering the building at that time. Someone could’ve used another player’s code. (Information involving times and identities was scattered throughout emails to all 10 participants, so it would take a fair amount of cooperation to unravel this.)

But since all of the players were suspicious of each other — which was wise, given that several “solvers” were actually following my orders throughout the event to fulfill certain tasks — the first day didn’t involve as much cooperative solving as I’d hoped. (That would come the next day out of necessity, as alliances began to form and more information was shared.)

As I fielded questions from players asking for further details — and several clues were discovered and analyzed — the first of several complications for the players was revealed: a fellow player was “killed.”

This not only upped the stakes for the players, but led to one of my favorite moments in the game. You see, when a fellow player stumbled upon the body, he wasn’t sad that his coworker was dead…he was sad because he couldn’t ask him any questions. (Though, intrepid solver that he was, he asked if a Ouija board was out of the question.)

For the rest of the day, I was fielding all sorts of instant messages and emails from players, asking for information, cashing in Holmes Tickets, clarifying things, and trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle into place. Early theories emerged. Some were wild guesses, and some were surprisingly close to the truth.

Our event played out in real time, so the players were aware that things could happen outside the workday that would impact the game. People seemed reluctant to leave, just in case they missed a clue.

Day Two opened with another red herring — punny threats sent to three of the players, delivered in envelopes that pointed to another player (a gambit by the killer to put the spotlight on someone else) — and a few secrets had already come out.

Players openly offered information to each other in a group email, which helped resolve some red herrings and put other pieces into place. More clues were uncovered, but the murder weapon remained elusive.

Lunchtime was orchestrated to be a tipping point. Not only would another murder occur, but other plans and clues would come together. I gave one of my collaborators two missions to accomplish while the players were away from their desks. Hopefully, she’d be able to accomplish both, but at the very least, she had to accomplish one of the tasks.

There were a few of these open-ended narrative moments written into the story where the players had the chance to surprise me with what happened and what didn’t. Not only did those moments make the game more fun for me to run, but it gave other players chances to really inhabit their characters and get into the performance side of the gameplay.

Lunchtime allowed for more group theorizing — something that the workday hampered, as you might expect — but the real fireworks awaited players upon their return.

A trap was sprung, and another player died unexpectedly. Although some chaos did ensue, most of the players realized this latest death was the work of another party, and several of the players solved it quickly before returning their attention to the first two murders.

In the midst of all this, two real-world complications arose on Day Two.

The first involved a player dropping out due to a mix of time constraints (she felt the game was distracting her too much from work) and general frustration with the format of the game (which, for someone unfamiliar with immersive storytelling like this, is totally understandable). I was sad to see her go, and adjusted the story accordingly, recovering a clue from her and redistributing it to an active player.

The second involved the pace of the game itself. I’d hoped to run it over the course of Tuesday and Wednesday and have it wrapped up that second day. But between the elaborate unfolding plot and the difficulty in balancing gameplay with, you know, actually getting our work done, things were progressing more slowly than expected.

That darn workday. Such a nuisance.

So the game rolled into Day Three, and players could sense the end was near. Most of the puzzle pieces were there for the taking, and several compelling theories emerged. (Honestly, one of them was better than the story I’d actually written, which was both funny and a little humbling.)

To add a bit of drama, I set a deadline of mid-afternoon. If the murders hadn’t been solved by then, the killer would escape scot-free.

Things finally steamrolled to their conclusion when the murder weapon was revealed — in the hands of a thief who had been woven into the plot — and one of the players came close enough to cracking all three murders that I declared the mystery solved. (And our ace detective did so before the deadline, so no escape for our dastardly murderer.)

It was different from any murder-mystery event I’d run before, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. There were certainly flaws in execution, as there are in any first attempt, but I learned some valuable lessons in this play-through that will make other such events in the future smoother, more satisfying, and more engaging.

Although…I hadn’t considered the potential consequences of the event on workdays going forward; everyone seems a bit more wary of each other. (And there are a few vengeful “spirits” lurking about, hoping to avenge themselves in future games.)

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