Can an Idiot Solve...?

 It has recently come to my attention that my wife thinks she is the titular idiot of this blog. She doesn't read it because she's a big poopy-head, (except if she ever does, then she's a beautiful, delightful princess)  Occasionally, I will hand her a puzzle just to show it off. Usually it's new, usually it's a Karakuri because they're the only one's she thinks are pretty. Sometimes it's something I designed, usually she breaks it. Apparently, she's got it into her head that this is me testing whether or not 'an idiot' can solve the puzzle. This is wrong.  Now, it's plainly and obviously true that my darling wife is, in fact, an idiot. She married me. Other than that sizeable misstep however, she's usually pretty smart. She was smart enough to be a straight-A student. Smart enough for a Big Important Career and then she was smart enough to walk away from it and get a job hugging dogs all day. Smart enough to realise what's import...

 IPP is a wondrous place. A mysterious land flowing with milk and honey puzzles. An enigmatic Xanadu where puzzlers frolic in bucolic glades, exotic wood grows with only the finest grain patterns, animated birds deliver your own personal unicorn along with breakfast in bed and solution sheets implanted directly into your brain so that you can feel smart and not like a filthy, filthy cheater. All the people there are 10-20% smarter, cooler and, yes, sexier than regular people. And the walls are decorated with the heads of scalpers on spikes At least that's what I imagine, I've never been.  I am learning though, that the next best thing is to go to the next MPP after IPP, because loads of people will chuck free exchange puzzles at you Can an idiot solve these IPP exchange puzzles?  PIL Box - designed and exchanged by Richard Williams - YES One sneaky little move, but even a half-brain can figure it out eventually.  Boarin' Burr - D&E by Steve Nicholls - YES At its ...

 One of the things I wanted to do when I started this blog was to occasionally review bad puzzles. Most bloggers understandably, for very good reasons, concentrate on puzzles they enjoy and want other people to enjoy too. There are very few resources to warn people away from things that just suck. And there are plenty of puzzles out there that suck, I should know, I made some of them. Even accounting for personal taste, whatever objective criteria we use to define what makes a good puzzle, there are some that fall short and still, somehow, get released into world for an unsuspecting idiot to buy. There are some with poor build quality, some with unforeseen shortcuts, some that can be bricked through no fault of the solver. Worst of all, there are some that are just dull, unoriginal and feel like a slog to solve.  Which brings me to Kuchenstuck...  I LOVE THIS PUZZLE!  Ok, fine, I'll talk about a bad puzzle next time. Maybe.  If I feel like it.  You can't ma...

 Oh God. Oh God, there's people here. I don't solve puzzles around people, I solve puzzles on my own. But here they are, with their eyes and their mouths and their looking and their talking. They're expecting me to talk as well, they think I have a brain. Some of them are wearing corduroy. Some of them smell like Mr Kipling's Fondant Fancies.  There's Allard, the grand Poobah with his massive collection like a generous Smaug. 'Sure you can borrow the Arkenstone, just reset it and put it back where you found it.' There's Dan, with whom I spend a certain amount of time plotting things. There's Amy, who has a habit of quietly singing children's songs when she's concentrating.  There's Tamsin, who struggles with hedgehogs.  There's the monkeys Ali & Steve, who gift me a teeny tiny pile of brass and a pig roll.  There's usually Kyle, who trusted me with the prototype of his first puzzle and is also, therefore, an idiot. I don't...

 First post in almost three months, must do better. I don't buy many SDs, which is why this puzzle (designed & made by whatshisname) was such an excellent gift to receive from MPD's Secret Santa (which is brilliant, I'm in my fourth year of it now) . I really am very grateful, even if I now go into details of why I don't like it overly much. I'm very appreciative of the chance to discover why I don't like it, and it has helped clarify some of my issues with SDs which I shall attempt to put down here in no doubt a rambling and barely-coherent manner. I like puzzles to be a neat, elegant, self-contained challenge. I dislike puzzles that split into a hundred pieces and a thousand tools. My most disliked tool to find in a puzzle is a hex key or a screwdriver. If you find one of them, you pretty much know what else you're going to find soon after  I'm going to say perhaps the most controversial thing I've said here - I did not care for Angel Box. Yes,...

 End of an era.  I am very thankful that I never set out to post once a week here. I honestly don't know how those other guys keep churning out quality content. It's been a month since my last post.  The discord group have a rule (quite rightly) to refrain from any spoilers regarding the Karakuri Christmas presents until after Christmas itself. Some people like to wait and open them on Christmas day, I rip open the box like a maniac the first chance I get. So I had the idea back in early December to write a 'spoiler-free' review but just treat it as a joke. It would've been full of things like -  Kawashima's - ▇▇▇▇ it was so▇▇▇▇▇▇windy ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ saw a ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ chicken ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ lay the same ▇▇▇▇▇▇ egg twice ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ But then the Epstein files thing happened and suddenly there were redacted jokes all over the internet, and then I got the flu and then it was Christmas and then it was 2nd Christmas and then it was hogmanay and then I was so. Very. Very. Ti...