... Scion of the Tesseract?

 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, the Strijbos masterpiece that is many people's ultimate unicorn, that sells for obscene amounts in rare auctions, that other reviewers have rated as one of the best puzzles ever, just wasn't my cup of tea.  

I think it comes down to steps. If a puzzle has one 5-star step, then it's a 5-star puzzle. If it has one 5-star step, one 3-star step and a 1-star step, then it's a 3 or maybe a 2.5-star puzzle. 

Even something that I should love, a Karakuri. Horse with a Warrior has an amazing central step, surprising, whimsical, on-theme, delightful. But all the other bits around it undermine that moment and leave it as less than the sum of its parts. 

Obviously, most people disagree with me. 

There are some SDs that I love, ones that have an internal consistency and one clear idea running through all the steps. Unsafe Deposit and it's sequels might be the best example of this. 


Can an idiot solve Scion of the Tesseract? 

Almost certainly not.

The first third of the solve I actually really like, very satisfying and surprising movements.
The middle third is full of fairly obvious moves designed to easily give you more tools. 
The last third is mainly about poking those tools in random holes until you find the right hole for the right tool in the right order. 

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