I’m about to shake things up here at Boxes and Booze – figuratively, literally and otherwise. Next week I’ll be launching a new site which will allow for some much needed functionality. Some folks come for the boxes, and some for the booze, so to speak, and I’ll finally be able to offer some proper hospitality around these parts. Getting the new site shipshape will take some time but I think, and hope, it will be worth the effort. I’d love your feedback and support, so once it’s live please sign up and follow along. I’ll also be launching a new series featuring something really special, so sta ..read more

 “I still have my feet on the ground, I just wear better shoes.” – Oprah Winfrey Things are afoot here at Boxes and Booze, and there’s no time to loaf(er) around. Fresh off the heels of the brass beer stein from Rocky Chiarro comes the next step in this series, surely a shoe-in for a favorite. Lo-Fer by Rocky Chiarro Rocky may have created his first interlocking puzzle in brass while in the Navy seventy years ago, but that puzzle would not stay together. It would be another thirty years before he created a version with a central locking pin.  Around that time that he chance ..read more

 “Beer, if drunk in moderation, softens the temper, cheers the spirit and promotes health.” – Thomas Jefferson Beer-Stein by Rocky Chiarro I’m preparing for a few interesting events coming soon here at Boxes and Booze. In preparation, over the next few weeks I’ll be featuring a mini-series of a few works by everyone’s favorite brass puzzle artist, Rocky Chiarro. Rocky likes to keep his conversations short and sweet (he is a very wise man) and who am I to argue with that wisdom? Rocky, who is still making puzzles in his garage workshop in Pueblo, Colorado, got his start as a mach ..read more

Joe Turner comes from a big family – eight brothers and three sisters - and Christmas was always a challenge. He relates the origin of his gift giving solution: “I started making puzzles in the early 1990’s. While looking through Jerry Slocum – Jack Botermans book, “Puzzles – Old & New, How to make and solve them”, I decided to try to make the “T” puzzle, a very simple puzzle. Using my table saw, I made a jig to help cut pieces to the correct length and angle. After successfully making my puzzle, I realized, hey, I could make several more with very little effort. So, I made another 15-20 o ..read more

  A drowsy, dreamy influence seems to hang over the land, and to pervade the very atmosphere. — Washington Irving, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"   The Dormouse Box by Ray Sylvester and Lynn Hazell One afternoon in 1995 while visiting New York City from their home in Britain, Ray Sylvester and his wife Kathy strolled up to a shop on 7th Avenue at 52nd Street. That fortuitous stop at “An American Craftsman” which culminated three hours later with Ray carrying his first ever “bandsaw box”, changed his life. He calls it his “Epiphany on 7th Avenue” – it was when he realized wh ..read more

Should the east winds blow, Carry to me the fragrance Of apricot bloom; And though your master is gone, Never forget the springtime. - Sugawara no Michizane The Apricot II In the year 901 CE, famed Japanese scholar, poet and lover of “ume” (Japanese apricot) Sugawara no Michizane whispered this love poem to his garden’s apricot tree before he left from Kyoto to take his position in the Emperor’s court. Michizane exemplified the waka style of classical Japanese poetry, which, although there were many forms, typically refers to a 5-7-5-7-7 meter. The poem evokes a powerful nostalgia fo ..read more

The Champion by Eric Stevens I’m unlocking a new edition of “Locks and Libations” this week to feature another fantastic creation from magician and inventor Eric Stevens. You will recall just a few weeks ago I presented his “Tumbler” box, the first puzzle box I have ever seen that is made completely from playing cards. Now let’s look at another one of his unusual, innovative and original ideas – a puzzle lock made entirely from playing cards. Stevens explains the evolution of these puzzles: “Since playing card puzzles don't exist (and have never existed, at least according to my rese ..read more

What a long strange trip it's been. - Grateful Dead, Truckin' Have pants, will party Sometimes you get invited to the party, but you just can’t find your pants. So begins the premise for one of the most surprising (and good) puzzles of what has been one of the most surprising (and bad) years in recent memory. This puzzle is so good it will make you forget about 2020, for a little while. It’s a trip worth taking. Well I ain't often right, but I've never been wrong. - Grateful Dead, Scarlet Begonias Turtle Trip by Gerard Hudson “Turtle Trip”, a 3D printed puzzle box, emerged ..read more

 “arbitrage - the simultaneous buying and selling of securities, currency, or commodities in different markets or in derivative forms in order to take advantage of differing prices for the same asset” - https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/ Arbitrage Box by Ryan Hughbanks Also a 2012 crime drama starring Richard Gere, "Arbitrage" is now a puzzle box, too. Hot off the heels of his debut creation, the Sideswiper Box, comes a new item from Hughbanks Puzzleboxes that is sure to raise interest rates. The Sideswiper is a small chest of wonderful secrets and colorful discover ..read more

I'm "mixing it up" here at Boxes and Booze this week, with a surprise "Special Edition" of "Packing and Potions" in honor of that legend of logic, the duke of dissection, the grand poobah of puzzles, his royal highness of hi-jinks, yes, the one and only, Nick Baxter. Many of you are well familiar with Dr. Volker Latussek, the brilliant award winning and prolific puzzle designer who recently invented the "Euklid" and Euklid for Kids" set of seemingly simple yet deviously difficult packing puzzles. Euklid defeated many great puzzlers who couldn't manage to get all of the pieces packed neatly ins ..read more