• The Big 30

    Updated: 2010-11-30 02:07:00
    : skip to main skip to sidebar Brian's Damn Puzzle Blog A chronicle of my descent into the realm of the . puzzle-obsessed November 29, 2010 The Big 30 The Big 30 is another puzzle sent to me by Puzzle Master to review . This puzzle was designed by Allan Stein and presented as Allan's exchange puzzle at IPP 30, hence the shape . Cute , eh I had seen this puzzle during the exchange but hadn't gotten a chance to try it , so I was interested to see how it . was The goal is to remove the zero from the three . As you can see in the photo , the zero is just looped around the three , with the gold chain and ball keeping it from being . removed After a few moments of playing with this one , I had a pretty good idea of what needed to be done . Of course , sometimes knowing what needs to be done is

  • NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 28, 2010): Name the Places

    Updated: 2010-11-28 10:53:00
    : Blaine's Puzzle Blog Weekly discussion on the NPR puzzler , Sudoku variations and . more Sunday , November 28, 2010 NPR Sunday Puzzle Nov 28, 2010 Name the Places NPR Sunday Puzzle Nov 28, 2010 Name the Places Q : Name the setting for an old television show that was also a series of popular movies . The answer consists of two words , with five letters in each word . The last three letters of the last word plus the first three letters of the first word , in that order , name a country . What country is it As long as I'm up and not sleeping , I might as well post the puzzle . The puzzle is so easy that I'm providing no hints you are on your own . Posted by Blaine at 2:53 AM Email This BlogThis Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz Labels : lists npr patterns 1 comment :

  • Panic Attack

    Updated: 2010-11-23 13:41:00
    : skip to main skip to sidebar Brian's Damn Puzzle Blog A chronicle of my descent into the realm of the . puzzle-obsessed November 23, 2010 Panic Attack Panic Attack is another puzzle that I received from Puzzle Master to review . This puzzle is designed by Kirill Grebnev and manufactured by PuzzleMaster . Kirill has also designed Harmony which won the Puzzler's Award and Jury First Prize at IPP30 in 2010, and Forest Puzzle which won an honorable mention at IPP27 in 2007. Like all of their wire puzzles , the quality is great . The wire is a thick enough guage to be sturdy , but no so much that it is heavy . It has a nice shine to it as . well The objective is pretty simple : remove the yellow loop from the heart . I like puzzles that appear simple like this one : only two pieces It

  • NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 21, 2010): Mixed-up Serial Number

    Updated: 2010-11-21 21:40:00
    : Blaine's Puzzle Blog Weekly discussion on the NPR puzzler , Sudoku variations and . more Sunday , November 21, 2010 NPR Sunday Puzzle Nov 21, 2010 Mixed-up Serial Number NPR Sunday Puzzle Nov 21, 2010 Mixed-up Serial Number Q : What two world capitals can be found by rearranging the letters in the phrase serial number . Since the NPR puzzle is rather easy , here's related puzzle for you . Take the oxymoronic phrase A kinetic zen Rearrange the letters to form the title of a well-known movie . Now figure out how it is related to this week's puzzle . Posted by Blaine at 3:09 AM Email This BlogThis Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz Labels : anagrams lists npr 6 comments : Blaine said . Here's my standard reminder . don't post the answer or any outright spoilers before

  • Meffert's Pyraminx

    Updated: 2010-11-16 04:18:00
    : skip to main skip to sidebar Brian's Damn Puzzle Blog A chronicle of my descent into the realm of the . puzzle-obsessed November 15, 2010 Meffert's Pyraminx I'm not typically a twisty puzzle fan , but recently Puzzle Master sent me some puzzles to review , and Pyraminx was one of them This was actually the first puzzle designed and produced by Uwe Meffert way back in the 1970's . The Pyraminx has so far sold over 90 million copies world wide , making it the second most popular puzzle in the world I had seen photos of it before , but I wasn't quite sure how it rotated , so I was interested to give it a try . It is actually one of the easier twisty puzzles out there , which also appealed to me since I'm not particularly good at them Each of the four corners rotates independently , so those

  • NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 14, 2010) : Tune into TNT

    Updated: 2010-11-14 16:50:08
    : Blaine's Puzzle Blog Weekly discussion on the NPR puzzler , Sudoku variations and . more Sunday , November 14, 2010 NPR Sunday Puzzle Nov 14, 2010 Tune into TNT NPR Sunday Puzzle Nov 14, 2010 Tune into TNT Q : What is the longest familiar phrase , title , or name in which the only consonants are N and T , repeated as often as necessary The other letters are . vowels On the air , Will mentioned he had an answer with 18 letters . I've matched 18 letters but have a feeling we can do better than that . Posted by Blaine at 8:14 AM Email This BlogThis Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz Labels : names npr patterns phrases 2 comments : Blaine said . Here's my standard reminder . don't post the answer or any outright spoilers before the deadline of Thursday at 3pm ET . If you

  • Six Piece Cross and Icosahedron

    Updated: 2010-11-14 03:26:00
    : skip to main skip to sidebar Brian's Damn Puzzle Blog A chronicle of my descent into the realm of the . puzzle-obsessed November 13, 2010 Six Piece Cross and Icosahedron I recently borrowed a number 2010 Puzzle Exchange puzzles from George Bell one of was Six Piece Cross by Vaclav Obsivac a.k.a . Vinco It was presented by Patrick Major in the puzzle exchange at IPP 30. I don't see it on Vinco's website , but you can purchase it at Puzzle Master if you are . interested Vinco makes some interesting puzzles , many of which operate on similar principals but have different appearances . This one has a similar operation to his Flattrick puzzle , though the appearance and mechanism are quite . different There are six pieces , like the one shown here , that all slide together at the same time

  • Cast Rattle

    Updated: 2010-11-08 04:10:00
    : skip to main skip to sidebar Brian's Damn Puzzle Blog A chronicle of my descent into the realm of the . puzzle-obsessed November 7, 2010 Cast Rattle I had actually tried Hanayama's Cast Rattle about three months ago during July , since it was an entry into this year's puzzle design competition in which it won an honorable mention . I had only spent about ten minutes or so on it at the time , since I figured it would be available soon and I wanted to spend my time at the competition trying out puzzles that I wouldn't have the chance to try again . I just had the chance to try it out again , courtesy of Puzzle Master It is an interesting design by Bram Cohen that consists of four pieces that rattle around , hence the name , but stubbornly refuse to come apart . The pieces appeared

  • NPR Sunday Puzzle (Nov 7, 2010): Alphabet Soup?

    Updated: 2010-11-07 11:19:15
    : Blaine's Puzzle Blog Weekly discussion on the NPR puzzler , Sudoku variations and . more Saturday , November 06, 2010 NPR Sunday Puzzle Nov 7, 2010 Alphabet Soup NPR Sunday Puzzle Nov 7, 2010 Alphabet Soup Q : Write out the 26 letters of the alphabet . Take a sequence of seven letters , change one letter in that sequence to a U , and rearrange the result to name something you might find in your refrigerator . Hint : The answer is a two-word . phrase Don't forget to set your clocks back an hour . But don't set your clocks back too far or you won't be able to get the answer at all . say 1963 Posted by Blaine at 9:48 PM Email This BlogThis Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz Labels : anagrams npr 4 comments : Blaine said . Here's my standard reminder . don't post the

  • Introducing Twuzzles: Puzzles on Twitter

    Updated: 2010-11-04 00:10:16
    Nowadays, everyone seems to be on the Sudoku or the Kakuro bandwagon. Yes, they are fun and give immense satisfaction when you complete one, but it is the same thought process which goes into each and every one of them. I have always liked the non-traditional ones be it the word based ones or the [...] No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

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