CUBI 12

Designer: Frederic Boucher

This puzzle measures: 65 mm x 65 mm x 63 mm

Material: Ash/Wenge

Frederic Boucher wrote about it:
“The goal is simply to pack the four identical pieces into the box. Despite it sounding easy, the solution is a bit counterintuitive, and you’ll probably have to think outside the box a little :)”

Kevin Sadler wrote about it:
“This initial slightly easier “taster” puzzle for the series consists of a box with a rotational symmetry to the interior. and four identical Wenge pieces made from 3 offset cubies. They need to be placed inside without anything protruding above the top surface (it will obviously not be completely filled when solved). I started with the 4 pieces and worked to create a cubic shape that would interlock enough to be reduced to a 3x3x3 cube. This part of the challenge was actually not that difficult. There are 58 ways to create a shape that fits in a 3x3x3 box but most of them are not symmetrical or pleasing to the eye. Searching through them to find something that would fit amongst the pieces stuck to the walls of the box was a fun exercise and quickly revealed a rather beautiful shape. Now time to place it inside the box. At this point I realised I had a problem. Burrtools will not solve this one – rotations are required. However, once I had realised this I quickly saw what was needed and managed my assembly. This is really very clever and definitely possible by any decent puzzler. I suspect the rest will be MUCH more difficult!”