Double Cible and NOLO (Chomine)

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Pio2001
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Double Cible and NOLO (Chomine)

Post by Pio2001 » May 9th, 2014, 12:07 am

Image

I got these two puzzles from Stéphane Chomine at the 2014 french puzzle meeting. He made them himself, and though he hasn't got the necessary tools to reach a high quality level, the finish is very clean and they look great. They are quite large : 9x9x6 cm each.

They both consist in three pieces held captive inside two flat frames. They come assembled, and the goal is to disassemble them. If you are scared by the number of moves (26+15+7+2 for the Double Cible and 20+3+4+4 for the NOLO), forget about using Burrtools : some rotations are necessary.

They remind of many of Osanori Yamamoto's designs, but they are one order of magniture more difficult. Most of Yamamoto's puzzles have only one frame instead of two.

I started to disassemble them, and indeed many many rotations are possible, even for one frame relative to the other. The original orientation of the pieces and frame is quickly lost.

But the real challenge is not to disassemble them. It is to reassemble them ! I didn't take any note during the disassembling and started from scratch.
I began with the Double Cible. I inserted the two brackets with the two bars on the same side and was quickly lost in a maze of configurations involving tens of rotations, mostly illegal from a strictly mathematical point of view, but the inaccuracy of the puzzle allows to perform them without even noticing. In fact, these kind of rotation are physically possible even in puzzles manufactured with a greater accuracy. I kept going for two hours. It was a miracle that I managed to get everything apart again, because I was stuck several times in positions not knowing how on earth I managed to get into ! I then tried with the bracket in the other configuration and the puzzle is now assembled again. However, I have no clue if my solution is the same as the one originally intended by Stéphane. With all these rotations, we can never know.
It was more difficult to reassemble the NOLO. It took me several hours. I tried many different configurations, but eventually, I succeeded thanks to a methodic approach. Each piece of trial giving me a new clue about what could be possible or not, and what I should pay attention to in order not to loose my time with useless trials. This time, however, I am sure that my solution is not the original one, because it features 11 moves only, rotations included, instead of 20.

My mother found the Double Cible very beautiful. She says it's very "Bauhaus".

These puzzles don't feel very much like high level burrs. In fact, they rather remind me of the Cast Vortex. If I had to use the difficulty rating of Hanayama, I would rate them one star higher than the Vortex. The Vortex is rated 5/6, but most puzzlers agree that it rather deserves a 6/6. Thus Double Cible and NOLO would be 7/6.

Though they may not work as intended by the author, they are very enjoyable, and a nice challenge for expert puzzlists.


Double Cible
Designer : Stéphane Chomine
Maker : Stéphane Chomine
Type : Interlocking 3 sticks / 2 boards
Pieces : http://puzzlewillbeplayed.com/664Ring/DoubleCible/
Estimated solving time (disassembling) :
Casual puzzlist : 2 hours
Expert puzzlist : 30 minutes
Estimated solving time (assembling) :
Beginner : too difficult
Casual puzzlist : 4 hours
Expert puzzlist : 1 hour
The + : Nice look. Fair challenge. Use of rotations. No cheating possible.
The - : No written solution to my knowledge.

NOLO
Designer : Stéphane Chomine
Maker : Stéphane Chomine
Type : Interlocking 3 sticks / 2 boards
Pieces : http://puzzlewillbeplayed.com/664Ring/NOLO/
Estimated solving time (disassembling) :
Casual puzzlist : 2 hours
Expert puzzlist : 30 minutes
Estimated solving time (assembling) :
Beginner : too difficult
Casual puzzlist : too difficult ?
Expert puzzlist : 4 hours
The + : Nice look. Fair challenge. Use of rotations. No cheating possible.
The - : No written solution to my knowledge.

TheJuggler
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Re: Double Cible and NOLO (Chomine)

Post by TheJuggler » May 9th, 2014, 4:35 pm

Both look very interesting. Is it possible to post pictures of the pieces, and any frame restrictions? No idea if Stephane would mind reproductions or not, but given that you enjoyed them, it would be good to play with, for those of us with the skills to make copies.

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Pio2001
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Re: Double Cible and NOLO (Chomine)

Post by Pio2001 » May 9th, 2014, 5:33 pm

Hi !
You can see the details following the links "Pieces" at the bottom of my post :

http://puzzlewillbeplayed.com/664Ring/DoubleCible/
http://puzzlewillbeplayed.com/664Ring/NOLO/

If I had to choose between the two designs, I would keep the NOLO.

TheJuggler
Posts: 120
Joined: April 25th, 2011, 10:19 pm
Location: California, USA
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Re: Double Cible and NOLO (Chomine)

Post by TheJuggler » May 9th, 2014, 8:41 pm

Great, thanks.

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