Milestone

“There are plenty of metaphors to be had at the expense of booze and boxes, and fear not, we will open them all.” – Boxes and Booze

I’ve gotten into the habit of including an amusing or interesting quote (or two), more often than not, with my weekly offerings, hopefully having something or other to do with the theme of the day. I readily admit that my writing is a bit self-indulgent in this way at times, and often draws the reader into a discussion of things unrelated-ly related to the main events. Even so this little adventure of mine has grown in readership over the past five years, so I do hope that means a few people are enjoying it as much as I do. This week’s quote is embarrassingly self-referential, but I have an excuse. What you are reading represents a milestone of sorts. I started this journey exactly five years ago, and have been offering up a puzzle and potion pair every week without fail since then. I actually have a constant reminder of this, subtly integrated into most of the photos taken with both the box and booze – typically the final photo of the post. The pair is usually stationed atop a silver tray. Look carefully and you will see the name “Boxes and Booze” engraved on it. What is not visible in most photos is the date, May 3, 2015, also engraved there – the date of the inaugural post, from which the quote above is taken. The tray was an anniversary gift from my wife that year, and I use it every week.

Milestone Puzzle Book by Robert Yarger

To celebrate the occasion I’d like to present a rather auspicious creation from someone whose work I have featured here more than any other, my friend Robert Yarger. The “Stickman No. 25 Puzzlebook”, also known as the Milestone Book, was Robert’s 25th official Stickman design, and marked his tenth year as a professional puzzle maker with over 1000 works produced. It was an incredible accomplishment considering the delicate and finicky nature of his chosen medium, and well worth the fanfare he gave it with such a magnificent work of art. The piece has multiple layers, with a very special book locked up at its heart. On the outside, it is a gorgeous mechanical cage which encloses the book, designed with a riotous “carnival” theme in mind. There are multiple hinges, gears, levers, chains, knobs and spindles crafted from colorful Ambrosia Maple, Purpleheart, Padauk, and Jatoba woods. Mechanically, there are numerous spindle and gear interactions that can be activated once internal components are properly lined up, and somehow coordinating all of these movements is essential to unlocking the main compartment. Once the book can be accessed, another layer of defense is revealed – the book is still encased in a second puzzle cage.

This box is being cagey

The inner cage is a simpler affair that still poses a decent challenge of at least four well hidden moves to release the contents. Inside is a very special prize, the Stickman Milestone Puzzle Book book, a fifty page chronicle of the prior decade of Stickman boxes. The book includes a biography, descriptions and details of all of Roberts prior creations, including those not sold publicly, and never before seen descriptions of mechanisms for future creations or never to be made flights of fancy. An often overlooked and mysterious fact is that the pages of the book contain a hidden cipher, which Robert claims to date has never been solved. One of the pages is even a self-contained puzzle, requiring a few clever manipulations in order for it to be readable. The book cover itself is also unique. Rob had originally attempted to make the covers out of wood veneer, but could not get the printing to work on the wood. He even tried to make his own paper that resembled wood. Ultimately, he outsourced this step, and had special paper for the covers made. The wood-like paper would still not take ink from his laser printer, so he resorted to modifying his old ink jet printer for the final effect, which finally worked. Rob sold about fifty copies of these stand alone books without the larger “Milestone Edition” enclosure, making them slightly more accessible than the larger version.

A book that's a difficult read

The internal book almost did not come to be. Robert’s friend Matt Dawson had been trying to convince him for years that such a book would be a welcome addition, and finally Matt’s persistence paid off. Robert compiled the information and sent it off to Matt, who curated, fact checked and edited the whole book. The collaboration worked so well that Robert subsequently adopted the descriptive style for his puzzles into his website and continues to use the format today. Rob also relates some highlights from the Milestone archives. He had learned how to create hand-chased threads on his lathe from his friend and fellow puzzle maker Stephen Chin for his Lighthouse puzzle. He recreated this system for the helical and threaded rods found in the Milestone puzzle. He also specifically sought out a very special wood for the main frame, Ambrosia Maple. This rare wood has blue veins rippling and running through it, an effect caused by wood-boring ambrosia beetles that carry a particular fungus. The fungus spreads via the beetle holes as well as along the tree sap routes to create a beautiful visual effect on the wood, producing the blue color that can not be found otherwise in natural wood. Rob cut through a tremendous amount of Maple to find and select only the few pieces with this effect for the project. Ironically, many collectors later saw this as a flaw and requested a copy with no discolorations or defects in the wood.

Chapter One: Open the Book

A fun fact many will not know is that Stickman has a connection to “American Ninja Warrior”, the Japanese turned American modern gladiator style fitness obstacle course challenge. It turns out that the show’s host, former NFL defensive end Akbar Gbaja-Biamila, is also a puzzle lover.

After writing his inspirational book “Everyone Can be a Ninja”, Akbar commissioned Rob to create a special “book lock puzzle”, a puzzling cage to hold his book inside. He presented these special books to the ninja warriors, challenging them to be as nimble with their brains as with their bodies. Rob fashioned these after the internal Milestone Book cages.

Rob did not make many of these very special Milestone edition puzzles. Each had to be hand calibrated despite having identical components, in order to function properly. Excessive force on certain areas that are not meant to move or are not in the correct positions can cause the mechanism to slip. This leads to a miscalibration that at times makes the puzzle unsolvable until it has been recalibrated properly again. I like the metaphor here that each Milestone is unique, requiring individual care and dedication to achieve, each it's own cause for celebration.

Norwegian Wood by Jeff Morgenthaler

I’d like to raise my glass now to you all for your interest and support, reading my writing each week. It is certainly much more enjoyable for me, knowing you appreciate these pairings. This anniversary toast, to commemorate my five year milestone, appropriately comes from one of my favorite bartenders as well. The traditional five year anniversary gift is, rather fittingly, wood. The cocktail comes from Jeff Morgenthaler, an influential and celebrated barman from Portland, Oregon. His recipes and instructional books set the standard for high quality with no nonsense. He writes on his helpful blog about a cocktail he created using aquavit, the Scandinavian caraway spirit that is somewhat similar to gin.

An elegant drink for the occasion

The story goes that he was challenged by a liquor company representative who was selling aquavit to come up with a tasty cocktail on the spot using that ingredient. Perhaps the rep knew of Morgenthaler’s reputation (likely) as a drinks wizard and was trying to stump him, or perhaps he knew that Jeff hated to work under pressure and wanted to annoy him (dumb). Whatever he was thinking, he was lucky, and maybe smart. It’s not easy to make a great drink with aquavit, and it wasn’t a well known spirit in the US ten years ago. Morgenthaler rose to the challenge and made what some said was the best drink he had created up to then. He simply admitted that he thought it was delicious. Here’s a really nice cocktail, a little gift of “wood”, to celebrate these milestones. I wish you all the best in life and happiness for your own milestones, each one unique and special. Cheers!

A pair of milestones

Norwegian Wood by Jeff Morgenthaler, 2009

1 oz aquavit

1 oz applejack

¾ oz sweet vermouth

¼ oz yellow Chartreuse

1 dash Angostura bitters (I substituted Stickman Sapele Bitters for another nice touch of wood)

Stir ingredient with ice and strain into a favorite glass. Lemon peel garnish.

For more from Robert Yarger: