Wednesday, 2 December 2015

Here's A Sharp Looking Puzzle!

If there was an award at IPP35 for an Exchange Puzzle with the most original design, I think it should go to David Litwin's "Straight Up".



The "Straight Up" looks just like a real traditional shaving razor and comes nicely packaged in an attractive box too. Its made of laser cut acrylic and David has chosen a pearlescent finish for the handle to give it an authentic look. Very nicely made indeed!



As you might guess, the object is to unfold the "razor" and expose the "blade". Not that simple, because the blade is restrained in its handle by a locking mechanism. To unlock the blade fully, you need to navigate a" maze" (forming the words IPP) cut into the blade. This took me a couple of minutes of trying before I got it out; because you can't really see clearly all that's happening within, although you know what's there and needs to be done.


Notice anything special about the maze?
To return the blade to its folded position, its the reverse but I found this step a tad harder even though now all is exposed and you can see how the blade is to be locked back into position and what goes where. A bit of dexterity here and there is also required.

Overall, not that difficult to solve with some trying, and certainly not as challenging as David's previous (IPP33) Exchange Puzzle, a packing puzzle called City Block. But very unusual, neat idea and a "sharp" looker!

2 comments:

  1. I agree! I also liked this puzzle. My only concern is that it could break, if you pull too vigorously and it is locked. I treat it gently.

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