...MPP?

 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 know where he is today, maybe he's in jail. 

There's usually Mike, there's usually always Mike.

There are others; there's a Chris, there's a Brokenshire, there are a few people I don't know well.... and all of them brought puzzles! 

They're all lovely people really,and it's a very relaxed, fun atmosphere. For most of the day, we sit around, chat, drink tea and attempt to solve things. The failure rate is high, chatting is not conducive to concentration. The tea helps though. 

At one point, there was a group solve of Juno's massive Snub Star polyhedral that started out like an employer-mandated team-building exercise but quickly descended into a Christmas family argument. Entertaining to watch, but I'm slightly relieved I didn't participate. 

Can an idiot solve MPP? 

All idiots are warmly welcomed. 

Here is a list of every puzzle I attempted to solve... 

Succulents - yes

Little Kenny - YES! Took me about 2 hours though

Fafnir's Fortress - yes, but not correctly. This is another SD like I wrote about last week. I basically dismantled it rather than solved it

Who Dares Wins - not even close

Tetromino Island - nope, brains far bigger than mine had a tough time with this

Pause Square - yes. Lovely, lovely puzzle

Minima XIII - nah, I maybe should've tried Minimas I through XII first

Free Me 9 - I got a third of the way through, then got stuck, then gave up

BMSD - Couldn't even find the first move

Bumpy - hell no, that thing's just evil

3 Disks - yes. Very nice, feels like a hanayama 

Sly Burr - I could've taken it apart, but probably not get it back together again

A Doctor and His Friend - Yes, yes, yes. I desperately want this puzzle. It doesn't do any of the things I expected 

Microscope - yes, nice but not my favourite Karakuri 

A Perry McDaniel something, possibly Red Velvet Cake? - Yes, took a while though. Very, very excellent 

Rose - a million times yes, every time I come to Allard's, I have to re-solve this. One of the most beautiful puzzles ever made

Diamond Case - not quickly, and it's getting late. Time to go