Jack in the Box
Jack of All Trades
I’ve made the analogy before that puzzle boxes are a metaphor for our lives, and for all of our searches for meaning and solutions. Each one is unique, and beautiful, and different, each with a story to tell. Some are simple, some complex, some have never been opened, some are damaged, some stuck. Some are so familiar and we know just how to move them. And some we simply marvel at and admire the way they work.
Jack-in-the-Box by Jack Krijnen
Perhaps it is no surprise then that a puzzle box can serve as a biography of a life as well. It seems perfectly fitting that someone who has spent a lifetime with puzzles should write their own autobiography into the wood. Such a memoir is “Jack-in-the-Box”, the creation of mathematician Jack Krijnen from the Netherlands. Jack studied at the Eindhoven University of Technology, where he first fell in love with mechanical puzzles. He was naturally drawn to the mathematical nature of complex interlocking burr designs, and the first puzzle he ever made was Van der Poel's 18-piece burr, with a small saw and old chisel. The appeal for him truly lay in thinking about the design, in how to create something with interesting logical movements and in mastering that complexity. His first personal design was an interlocking cube which required nine moves of the same piece before it could be removed. But he would return to that 18-piece burr time and again. Many years later he designed “Tipperary”, an 18-piece burr which requires the key piece to be manipulated 7 times before it can be removed. Each move of that piece requires another set of 6 moves, forward then back, as well, for a total of 43 moves before the first piece is removed. He regards this as an even more satisfying achievement than his later work with Alfons Eyckman on “Supernova”, a burr that requires 166 moves to remove the first piece, because he did it without aid from computers and software. Speaking of which, he wrote his own computer program for Supernova, a design he doubts will be improved upon any time soon.
True to its name, there's a surprise inside!
Jack has also done significant research into n-ary sequence burrs with the inventor and designer Goh Pit Khiam. These are puzzles with a variable number of key pieces (“k”) which can each be in a variable number of “states” (“n”). Solving such a puzzle requires cycling through every possible combination of states for each key piece. The number of moves required to solve this can be expressed mathematically as n^k. Jack’s achievement in n-ary design came with his breakthrough “Power Tower”, in which the n-ary sequences are synchronized by the key pieces themselves, with no other included pieces for stability. As if that wasn’t enough, he felt certain the design could also be realized in a circular version using interlocking discs.
Jack-in-the-Box Cocktail
Which at last brings us to his Jack-in-the-Box. Crafted from Maple and Walnut, with Tulip wood inside, Jack-in-the-Box is a delicate and lovely little rectangular box with raised border edges all around and decorative hexagons on all sides. It hides many, many secrets, and has at least four distinct sections to conquer. Jack provides a bit of cryptic guidance with the box, which is to “find and use the tools, solve a riddle on the way, master the ternary wheels, and when you think you’re finally done, there’s a new challenge waiting.” It seems fair to confirm from that description that there is much more than meets the eye waiting inside this box. Much more. He spent half a year crafting twenty-five of these masterpieces, which involved over 7000 parts in varying shapes and sizes and over 20 separate jigs for some pieces as small as a few millimeters. Indeed, Jack has put himself in these boxes as well, in so many clever ways, right down to the name itself. It’s his autobiography in wood.
Calva-uno, Calva-dos
I’ll make a toast to Jack and his box with a classic cocktail that’s perfectly paired. Although it doesn’t contain Scotch or Irish whiskey, Jack’s preferred potions, these spirits could easily be substituted for the Calvados in the original, giving the final drink a new flavor. Calvados is a fine apple brandy from the Normandy region of France, where the spirit has been made for over five hundred years. There are over two hundred varieties of apples used, with bitter and bitter-sweet apples comprising 70% of the mix, and sweeter apples or pears making up the rest. A fine barrel aged calvados is similar to a fine cognac, scotch or whiskey in complexity and enjoyment, with its own unique characteristics. The Jack-in-the-Box cocktail first appears in the original “Old Mr. Boston Deluxe Official Bartender’s Guide” from 1935, a classic tome that was first published shortly after the repeal of Prohibition. The recipes were compiled by Leo Cotton, a purchaser for the Mr. Boston liqueur brand, who sourced the classics from the memories of well-known old bartenders of that era. In the original, equal parts Calvados and pineapple were used, but a more spirit forward and less sweet version works better. The origin story and inventor of the Jack-in-the-Box cocktail is otherwise lost to history, but no matter. We can add to the story now with a new page, a puzzle box biography written in wood. Cheers!
A pair of Jacks I'd bet on
Jack in the Box c. 1935 (updated Difford’s Guide version)
2 oz Calvados
1 ½ oz fresh pineapple
¼ oz simple syrup
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Shake together with ice and strain into a favorite glass. Turn glass around and around until surprising garnish pops up.
For more from Jack Krijnen see: