Loris

Maybe the reason was I did not publish any review recently was because I did like the loris, sleep a lot....?

Well, ok the name Loris is the name of a puzzle box made in corian bu Frank Chambers and exchanged at IPP 23.
This is a massive puzzle, big and heavy and probably the biggest Chambers'.

Pretty unusual to have the warning written on a puzzle. Here it's very clear: no banging/no force of any kind. Indeed you could break the mechanism!!!

Talking about the mechanism, this one is very unique. I have never seen it in any puzzle. It's not a trick at all, but a real mechanism. It's so clever that you cannot imagine what it's really unitil you've opened the puzzle (gently, of course!). Then you can deduce, this is a pretty difficult puzzle.

Patience is required and you should be able to open the box at some point. The name of the puzzle is (supposed?...) to be a hint.

If you see it somewhere, I really advise to buy it. It's not only a nice puzzle but also a nice mechanism.

Obviously I cannot show the solved state as it would completely spoil the puzzle....

The captive coin

Why captive? Just because you have to free it!

As you can notice, if you're a bit aware of this kind of material, this puzzle is made out of corian, which is not a natural material. It looks like stone.

The goal is easy, how to achieve it is a bit more complicated, especially because you cannot really see the mechanism. However, you can still have an idea of it.

What can you hear? Thing(s) ratling inside.
What can you do? You can depress the lid!

Now you understand that you need to depress it enough so that the coin reaches the same "level" as the hole to free it.

If you have ever played with this puzzle, I am sure you have managed to solve it several times, but not always on the first attempts. The hidden mechanism (simple, if I am right) is the roots of that.

A unique design, crafted by Frank Chambers, this puzzle is also pretty scarce.
The difficulty is not high but solving it is pleasant, and remember that usually with Frank Chambers' puzzles, don't expect to spend hours and hours on a single puzzle.

NANAB

Strange name for a trick bolt (even if some designers have used us to strange names as well), but actually NANAB means "Not Another Nut And Bolt". And indeed it's a different mechanism than for other trick bolts.

The bolt is initially packed in a small look-like pharmaceuticals container but I assure you, it will not heal your addiction to puzzles ;-)

So here we are with a bolt, a nut and a washer, and the goal is simply to free the washer.
It's clearly indicated not to use any force with the nut to avoid spoiling.

Indeed you cannot see (but guess pretty well the mechanism) and by using force to free the nut, then you will be able to see the mechanism and perhaps losing parts of the mechanism....

Definitely not a high challenge to solve it, but actually most trick bolts are not the most complicated puzzles and you usually solve them pretty quickly. However, a nice puzzle and highly collector puzzle, not only because the craftman deceased some time ago but also because Frank Chambers worked more with corian than metal.

The oriental toothpick safe

This pretty old puzzle (well it's from 2001, so 14 years ago!) was designed and made by Frank Chambers, with the usual material he used for puzzles: corian.

A pretty small puzzle and a quite heavy one regarding its size. The 3 colors of the puzzle are simple but well chosen in my opinion.

There are 2 goals: first one is to open the puzzle, second one is to make a shape with the toothpicks inside (thus the name of the puzzle).

As you can see on the lid is a black button, you can remove it if you want to see the mechanism. It should be glued but it's up to you if you want to glue it or not. I think better not so that you can admire the mechanism many times. And I feel always frustrated not to be able to see the mechanism for some puzzles.

I did not spend long time before managing to open the puzzle. Actually it's not a difficult puzzle and the mechanism is pretty simple, but well implemented.

For the second goal of the puzzle: making the shape with the toothpick is much more difficult.
Well, I would even say it's fetched, very fetched! And even the solution kept me thinking for some time why this was the solution!...It's a strange solution but yes in reality it would work...
You have to really think out of the box to understand it!

Would this hole give any clue?

Ring box

This small and cute puzzle was designed and crafted by Frank Chambers some time ago, with corian.

The goal is to open the ring box and to find the ring.

 

This would be more considered as a secret box rather than as a puzzle because it's more a hidden trick than really many steps to open the ring box.

Easy to repeat, not difficult at all to open, but it may take a bit of time (more than 10 seconds...) for a non puzzler because it's very well hidden!

So better to give to your other half tomorrow than to a puzzle collector ;-)
But of course the puzzle collector would appreciate it a lot in his collection!