Stuff of Legends

Excalibur

Excalibur by Philip Black

Trying something new here:

Excalibur Puzzle Box and Mystical One Cocktail: A Royal Pairing

Hail, fellow knights and noble ladies! As King Arthur, I have a special treat for all of you today. I have come across a most splendid puzzle, the Excalibur puzzle box from PB Puzzles. It is a true work of art, inspired by my own legendary sword and featuring intricate details and hidden compartments. It is made from the finest quality wood and measures approximately 5.5 inches by 3.5 inches, making it the perfect size for display or for storing small treasures.

But that is not all. I have also discovered a most enchanting beverage, the Mystical One cocktail. It is a magical blend of gin, absinthe, and blue curaçao, with a hint of sweet and sour to balance it all out. It is the perfect drink to enjoy while solving the Excalibur puzzle or while relaxing with friends. The blue curaçao gives it a beautiful and otherworldly color, while the absinthe adds a touch of mystery and intrigue. The gin and sweet and sour balance out the flavors and give the drink a refreshing and delicious taste.

To open the Excalibur puzzle box, one must solve a series of challenges and riddles, making it a great activity for puzzle enthusiasts or for anyone seeking a bit of brain exercise. I personally enjoy the challenge and find it a welcome distraction from the duties of ruling a kingdom.

In conclusion, the Excalibur puzzle box and Mystical One cocktail make for a royal pairing that will bring a touch of magic and mystery to any occasion. I highly recommend them to all of my loyal subjects. Go forth and enjoy, my friends!

You may, or hopefully for my own sake of pride, may not, be surprised to hear that what you just read was generated entirely by the AI ChatGPT chatbot. Despite the fact that it doesn’t really get me … yet … and that it got a few minor details wrong, such as the entire material this puzzle is made from, and the entire cocktail recipe (do NOT let ChatGPT be your bartender, I beg you), it DID make me smile a little. Well, I suppose I’ll still need to interview folks and write these myself, for now ….

And … welcome to a new year! I wonder what wonders await us – perhaps, we shall see. Let’s start with something truly legendary.

fancy a quest?

The historical record of King Arthur can be traced back fifteen hundred years to the latin text De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae (On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain) by British cleric St. Gildas in the sixth century, which recounts the battle of Mount Badon, in which the Britons were victorious against the Saxon invaders. Arthur has long been associated with the victory (reportedly having killed 960 men single handedly), but the details and circumstances are heavily influenced by the legend which became King Arthur much later in time. He is only first mentioned by name, as a military leader (not king), in the Historia Brittonum (The History of the Brittons), attributed to Nennius, 828 AD. Most modern scholars consider him to be a fiction.

The magic and mysticism we now associate with his mythology began in the twelfth century with the “imaginative and fanciful” Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the British Kings) by Welsh cleric Geoffrey of Monmouth, which recounts the essential legends of Arthur’s story. Arthur was an illegitimate child, conceived when his father Uther Pendragon (disguised by Merlin’s magic) slept with the Duke of Cornwall’s wife at Tintagel Castle. He pulled the sword Caliburnus (Caledfwlch) from the anvil on the stone, which Merlin had enchanted, so none but the future king could free it. This sword was technically not the famous sword which eventually took on a French name (from the original Welsh), Escaliburnus. Rather, the iconic sword we now call Excalibur was provided to Arthur by the mystical, deity-like Lady of the Lake, another amalgamation of Celtic folklore, whose home is thought to have been in Dozmary Pool, a small lake near Cornwall.

will you choose … wisely?

So sets the stage to start this new year off on an incredible adventure. Philip Black, a brilliant puzzle maker and possible descendant of the Knights of the Round Table (who knows?) has added to the mythology with his newest creation, Excalibur, a tour de force puzzle box / story quest experience in which you will find and free the King, discover and retrieve Excalibur from Dozmary Pool, and finally, escape. The extremely high quality PLA print has been engineered to allow mechanisms which would be impossible in other media, or perhaps Philip Black has merely harnessed some of Merlin’s magic here. Along the journey there are many mysteries you will need to solve to continue your quest, with dynamic surprises in store that add richly to the tale, and you may well find yourself exclaiming AHA with chivalrous dignity once and future times. Excalibur is a thrilling and wonderfully enjoyable experience that is not to be missed if you have the opportunity. Philip was kind enough to share his own story of this legendary creation.

From Philip Black: “I'm a sculptor and painter and a retired software engineer and technology salesman. I've always loved making and creating physical stuff; pulled apart every toy I ever had to find out how it worked and how it was made. Good engineering and clean beautiful production of elegant engineering solutions have always intrigued me. Then I fell in love with Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore. And I'm lucky enough to spend a lot of time in Cornwall in the UK where I have a deep love for the countryside and coast and how they live with and fight the sea; how the whole intricate coastline is a constantly changing puzzle of rock and sand and ocean, all interacting, moving and changing how they fit together, unlocking amazing rock formations and caves and valleys as time slowly ticks forward.

So puzzle boxes have always excited me. The mix of physical form with a controlled story of discovery, something beautiful to hold and physically interact with, which, at the same time has sophisticated engineered mechanisms that are at once hidden and elegant in how they unfold. They become a fantastic middle ground between art and engineering - that's my home.

you should cave in for this

Excalibur came about as a progression from the Black Jack puzzle box.  Black Jack is all about completely hiding the mechanisms and the journey to take, from the solver. Having seen people solve it with some criticism about how difficult it was to figure out what came next, I thought it would be fun to have a puzzle where the possible paths to follow were obvious and explicit in the physical mechanics of the puzzle. So Excalibur wears its challenges on the outside; it is inside-out if you like, with the paths and choices and interaction points proudly displayed for all to see. Naturally that had to have a main character to embody that journey, and who better to make a quest across challenging terrain than a brave knight; and so Arthur clearly had to be on his quest for Excalibur.

Interestingly, Arthur is believed to have received the sword from the lady in the lake at Dozmary Pool in Cornwall, not far from Tintagel, and the lake in the Excalibur puzzle is actually an accurate representation of Dozmary Pool.

illuminating mysteries

The rise of accessible 3D modelling software and affordable 3D printers has completely set me free to create and produce puzzles.  Without 3D printing I wouldn't make puzzle boxes. People frequently comment about how they'd love one of my puzzles made from wood or machined metal, but this would just not be possible - 3D printing allows me to create forms that are just not possible to machine from metal or cut from wood. I'm sure a craftsman could create a wooden Excalibur puzzle box but it would take many many hundreds of hours to make.

Having said that, there are lots of challenges with making good functional 3D prints. I learn a lot from each model I make, designing structures so they can be printed cleanly without support material yet still looking and functioning as intended. Excalibur has many tiny features that are just to make it printable, and I learn to make these better, cleaner, quicker with each new model.

And that is the really happy place for me with these creations; battling to bring together the extravagant, beautiful, exciting mechanisms with functional, practical engineering that actually works: that is really why I make them.

original schematic, courtesy of Philip Black

The initial design for Excalibur took several months, purely on paper; drawing out the possible routes and challenges to include at each point. I'd mapped it all out on six pieces of paper (one per side of the box) and got through 12 iterations before I started the actual 3D modelling.  And I had to source the knight figure that sits at the heart of it before anything, because the entire journey, all the corners and channels and caves that he goes through are minimised to fit to his size.

Producing Excalibur is quite a chore - it takes over 100 hours to print the components for a single box, and then still it takes a day of effort to fettle and finish the parts and assemble the box. I'd really like that to be quicker, but that comes down to the compromises of delivering really complex mechanisms in an aesthetically pleasing finished product. Removing 3D print supports is the bane of my life.

...and what's next? Probably something completely different; not sure what yet, but possibly something centred around my sculptures; but I've another instalment of Arthurian legend in mind too...

...oh, since you ask, a slightly dirty Dry Martini, cheapest gin possible, two olives, no lemon...

or failing that, a pokey Negroni :-)”

The Mystical One by Natasha David

I’ll be sure to enjoy that delightful martini with Philip one day, or, failing that, the pokey Negroni. I’ll need to determine what he means by pokey, exactly, unless he is suggesting we will end up in jail. I’m sure he can find us the way out, knowing how good he is with puzzles.

a wise choice

I’m raising my chalice (or shall we say, grail?) in awe of the mystical with this one by New York’s Natasha David, proprietress of the sadly defunct Nitecap bar. She shared a few words of wisdom (which is also the name of another of her sage cocktails) with me about her drink. “The sage is definitely the element of surprise in this otherwise pretty classic sour. Sage has this wonderful earthy, comforting element that I love.” A sagely seasonal whiskey sour to start the new year – that sounds like a wise decision. Cheers!

a legendary pair

The Mystical One by Natasha David

2 oz bourbon

¾ oz lime

½ oz cinnamon syrup

3 sage leaves

Small egg white, optional

Muddle sage and syrup in a tin, add other ingredients and shake vigorously with ice. Strain into a coup and garnish with a sage leaf.

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A huge thank you as well to all who joined in this year’s holiday treasure hunt. The detailed solution and conclusions are now posted on the hunt page here.