Hales Lock 1
All Hale
When I first wrote about this lock from Englishman Shane Hales, back in 2016, he had just released it - a clever little padlock puzzle with a few neat tricks. Shane was better known for his master carpenter skills at that time (he is now a master locksmith as well!). I stuck the lock inside another incredible puzzle box, the “How?” Box by Peter Hajek, and wrote about both in the same offering. However since then Shane has gone on to produce a whole set of puzzle locks, and I decided to reproduce the part about his lock here all in its own. Cheers!
The Hales Lock #1
This padlock is the creation of Shane Hales, another Englishman of many talents. He spends most of his time running his construction company in London, but he is also a master carpenter and joiner, a locksmith, and an ingenious puzzle designer. His extremely limited series of shape based puzzles (the block, the circle, the parallelogram and the pentagon) all reside with a few collectors as his personal gift to them. He has recently begun giving life to another passion of his, the “puzzle lock”. Puzzle locks have been around for centuries and can be found in many cultures, often with a distinct regional style. With a nod to Marcel Gillen’s modified puzzle locks, Shane has created his own design by modifying an existing padlock. The “Hale’s Lock #1” is an impressive little puzzle which presents the deceivingly straightforward challenge of unlocking the padlock. Shane has even provided you with an obvious key, unlike Peter Hajek – no need to wonder How? In this case! Unfortunately you can’t actually use the key since it’s shackled to the lock. So that’s not very helpful. There are some strange things going on with this little lock, and a few discoveries to be made, and besides all that you still need to figure out how to unlock it! Should you be so clever as to tackle this shackle, you will marvel at the brain in Shane. Whew, all this rhyming, and all the locks in this box make me need something on the rocks!
The Billionaire Cocktail from Employees Only
The “Millionaire Cocktail” is a Prohibition era classic with multiple personalities. There are quite a few different versions of this drink, all with the same name, and all extremely different. But all clearly intended to make the sophisticated sipper of the day feel like a lot of money. The Millionaire No. 1, from Harry Craddock’s Savoy Cocktail Book (1930), combined sloe gin, apricot brandy, lime, rum and grenadine. That, along with solving the Hale’s Lock #1, might make you, too, feel like number one. The masters of mixology at New York’s landmark Employee’s Only bar have taken their choice of the Millionaire (this time, bourbon, Grand Marnier, Ricard pastis, grenadine and lemon juice, from 1938) and given it their modern update. Their “Billionaire Cocktail” ups the ante with a richer, high proof bourbon and a special house made Absinthe bitters. This aint no dime store whiskey sour, folks. It’s a modern classic that will leave you wondering How? you never had one before, How? soon you might have another, and How? you got so lucky to enjoy such marvelous puzzles. Special thanks to Shane Hales, I raise my glass to you. Cheers!
The Billion dollar question - How?
The Billionaire Cocktail (adapted from “Speakeasy” by Jason Kosmas and Dushan Zaric)
2 oz high proof bourbon (I used Knob Creek Single Barrel Reserve)
1 oz fresh squeezed lemon juice
½ oz simple syrup
½ oz grenadine (craft or homemade preferable)
¼ oz Absinthe Bitters (homemade version from Employees Only is easy to make)
Lemon wheel garnish
Shake together over ice and strain into your favorite glass. Top with lemon wheel and count your fortunes.
For more information about Hale’s Puzzles: