This bottle puzzle is another puzzle from the Dutch designer Wil Strijbos. This one is composed of a lock
attached to a metal chain. Keys are provided but it's difficult to use
them as you can see from the pictures below. The funny thing is that this puzzle looks like an impossible bottle, but I assure you that it is solvable..with tears, blood and sweat of course...
You need to find out how to take the
lock out of the bottle and the small metal piece above the lock.
Again, it's hard...
Even if external tool are officialy not useful, they are more than welcome because the official solution is very very fetched and you will likely not use it (I did not) either because you did "wrong" things or because it would have never happened in your mind to use it.
But you and me don't know what's happening in the mind of puzzle designers when they're designing their puzzles :-)
So I used an external tool to open it, it
is much easier. But it seems that you can open it just using all what
is provided to you. So keep everything that comes with the bottle when it arrives if you want to use the official solution...
For this puzzle you will need quite an
amount of dexterity and even more when you will reassemble the puzzle (for this, don't be a fool, come on, use external tools^^!!).
 |
| Finally solved!!! |
An unusual bottle puzzle that will fit well in your collection I think.
But this is not my favourite bottle puzzle and I was a bit disappointed by the "official" solution that I don't really like!
And you, what do you think about it? Leave your comments :-)
I have this puzzle in my collection.... but have not got round to playing with it yet
ReplyDeleteHey, really? What? Humm, you should have a try and let me know what you think :-)
DeleteWhat is your favourite bottle so far?
See you!
The puzzle is to put the bottle together again. To take apart is not the problem.
ReplyDeleteWilliam Strijbos
If you used external tools then you cheated!
ReplyDeleteIt is a dexterity puzzle as well as a puzzle of thought! Don't encourage people to cheat - that just means they and you haven't solved it!
Kevin
Puzzlemad
I must agree that the solution if fetched...and I also used external tools. What's the problem?!
DeleteAnd I would also say that solving a puzzle is not related on how you solved it
On that basis you can solve disentanglements with a pair of pliers and unwind the wire!
DeleteIf you didn't do it correctly then you didn't solve it - you cheated!!!
Kevin
Puzzlemad
You're totally wrong: if you use pliers then you modifiy the shape of the puzzle. Using external tools for this bottle does not modify the puzzle !!!
DeleteThat's not the same thing at all !
Excuses! You used something that was not part of the puzzle and was not provided with the puzzle! This means you cheated! It is a puzzle by Wil Strijbos and THE RULES are no tools not provided! Wil would call you a cheat and you know it!
DeleteThat's good to see that there is some discussion !
ReplyDeleteHas anybody already cheated with any puzzles? Don't be shy and recognize your sins ;-))
I'm really late to this heated debate, but i just finished Bottle 4 so now I feel I can legitimately contribute. No cheating from me. As Wil says, "opening" the bottle is not overly difficulty (not exactly easy either). But "closing" the bottle is a significant challenge. Its a physics problem. How do you create the compressive force necessary to close the lock? Dexterity is required, but not excessively so. Remember that Wil had to close up dozens of these to create the puzzles. Obviously he didn't spend hour and hours fiddling with each one. That should be encouragement enough. There is, in fact, an elegant solution and it can be done efficiently with only a little practice.
ReplyDeleteOn the external tool issue, I would have to side with Kevin's position, which I think in the puzzling world is nearly (but apparently not totally) a consensus view. A better example than cutting the wire puzzle would be using an x-ray to solve a hidden maze. In what sense is that solving the puzzle? If you expand the definition of 'solving' that broadly, what then does it even mean. I do understand the position that too many "rules" about how to approach and solve a puzzle probably indicates a questionable design. But in the final analysis, the puzzle is the puzzle, and your external tool is something else. The only external tool you should ever need is the one in your head.