Apotheca

Designer: Dr. Volker Latussek

This puzzle measures: 70 mm x 70 mm x 65 mm

Material: Am. Walnut/Limba Frake

Dr. Volker Latussek wrote about it: 
“When working with the usual v’s and developing FARMACIA, I had to learn that some very nice moves are not possible. However, from my experience with FILLING V, I know how powerful L’s are. So what could be more obvious than turning four v’s into three L’s and filling the 3x3x3 box together with the remaining five v’s? And suddenly, the previously impossible moves become possible. I really hope that you too will see that the price of losing the simple and clean construction principle of the 9 v’s of FARMACIA is not too high and that the beauty of the solution in the APOTHECA solution justifies the mixture of eight v’s and L’s. In fact, the mixture is so powerful that I can offer another puzzle with APTEEK. Perhaps Pelikan will once again show how perfectly crafted ideas in wood enrich the world of mechanical puzzles.”

Kevin Sadler wrote about it:
“The second puzzle in this release by Dr Latussek  is another one that reveals that he has a very devious mind!  It has been beautifully made using a lovely grained Limba Frake for the pieces and American Walnut for the box. The box is 7x7x6.5cm and, as always with Volker’s puzzles, it arrives in a special delievry configuration. This one looks solved when it arrives but notice that the pieces are protruding from the box by a couple of mm. Obviously when packed they will be flush with the surface. Taking the pieces out reveals the madness in his head! The pieces are really fairly simple with 3 and 4 voxel L-shapes to which shallow holes and dowels have been added as well as a single dowel on one wall of the box.  This one looks very similar to the Farmacia puzzle from April’s release but there are bound to be some special differences.
 
The intention is to create a 3x3x3 cube inside the box. The presence of the dowels means that this has got to be done in a certain order and only one orientation. Again, Burrtools is not useful for this puzzle which really adds to the difficulty. I have still not solved the Farmacia puzzle! I thought it was related to the Logical progression puzzle which ultimately took me a couple of years to solve. Whilst the Farmacia is solvable using Burrtools, the Apotheca has been deliberately designed such that “impossible moves” become possible and I suspect this one will forever be a nemesis. It will be fun to keep trying over many years!”