Mischief Managed

“Because,” said Thor, “when something goes wrong, the first thing I always think is, it is Loki’s fault. It saves a lot of time.” ― Neil Gaiman, Norse Mythology

If one believes that the fate of human lives is subject to the whims of the gods, it seems only natural that there should be a god of mischief. Life is full of disappointments, unplanned detours, frustrations, and outright disasters. If we are looking for a higher purpose and someone to blame, Loki makes a lot of sense. It’s easy to see why he existed in the Norse mythology pantheon, and why his “appeal” has survived for a thousand years. Loki was known for his schemes and deceptions. He could shift his shape, and when he was around, appearances were never quite what they seemed.

Which brings us to the Loki puzzle lock by Boaz Feldman and another ephemeral edition of Locks and Libations. Boaz routinely visited the Nabob lock factory as a boy and was always playing around with locks as a result. He literally grew up around locks and lock parts, and even made his own set of lock picking tools, when such kits were not easily available for purchase. As the son of Dan Feldman, maker of what many consider to be the best puzzle lock of all time (the DanLock), Boaz admired the idea of puzzles and locks, but never had any plans to create one himself. Only when he realized he would need an International Puzzle Party (IPP) exchange puzzle as an adult did he set about to design something. He introduced his first lock puzzle, the B-Lock, in Paris at the 37th IPP, where it was an instant hit, and soon followed it up with the B-Lock II. But in his mind he recognized that these were both essentially single trick mechanism locks, and relatively simple compared to what he ultimately wanted to create now that he had started. He knew it was time to make a sequential discovery lock puzzle that could stand side by side with the DanLock, something that was original, challenging even for experienced solvers, and fun.

The design for Loki took him a year and a half to complete. Boaz started with a central idea about one of the main mechanisms, and spent the majority of that time determining how best to implement it. He built special tooling and equipment, spent a lot of money and created many prototypes (perhaps ten or so), but lost count. Because of his family’s relationship with the Nabob lock company in Israel, which over the years essentially became another family to him, Boaz could simply show up at the factory which is nearby his home and grab another handful of parts for a new prototype – which he did many times while designing the Loki. Boaz had also developed a relationship with an older lock maker in the north of Israel, a few hours away. When Boaz began remaking the DanLock, certain parts were no longer available, and Nabob had made slight changes to their lock as well. He found someone to the north who had the special milling equipment needed, and began working with him to manufacture new parts. The Loki lock saw Boaz traveling to this workshop many times again, as specific novel parts were created and prototyped to work inside the existing Nabob lock.

Production of the Loki saw a bit of unexpected mischief as well, which in hindsight should not be all that surprising. Boaz relates that literally 1 week prior to shipping out the first batch of final locks, he discovered an unintentional shortcut or cheat to the solution. He had to redesign one of the internal parts at the last minute and in the end, came up with something brilliant. There was also the matter of the keys – there was an error with the original keys and the entire first batch had to be remade. I guess this is what should be expected when you name your puzzle Loki. The puzzle lock is truly ingenious, and is full of original ideas and clever tricks. Everything is intentional, and intentionally mischievous. If you discover something sneaky, or well hidden, you might want to reconsider feeling satisfied. Don’t let down your guard with Loki, he always has another trick up his sleeve.

Loki was a family affair and a true labor of love for Boaz. “I'm so proud to be the son of the DanLock designer, but DanLock is only one minor reason for this. I'm mostly proud of the education he gave me, the ability to ask questions and seek for answers, and find solutions even to problems no one has, e.g. Loki! At my first IPP, I was shocked how many people admire him. I had to write a long list of people who asked me personally to send their regards.” Boaz’s children help assemble the locks (and the new DanLocks and B-Locks as well), a service he pays for in ice cream. He notes that he wanted this lock to be his homage to the DanLock legacy. It was important to him that it be as much fun to solve as the DanLock, full of challenging new tricks that would not be familiar or a copy of the same, with multiple steps and sequential discovery elements, and have a reset which poses a new puzzle, which most believe is the best part of the DanLock. Indeed, many have gotten definitively stuck on the reset of Loki, and Boaz has received many favorable comments and comparisons to DanLock, which has been gratifying to him.

Here’s a toast to the Loki lock with a deliciously devilish cocktail. In fact, Boaz Feldman suggested a drink called the “Devil’s Cocktail”, which is indeed a perfect pairing for this evil little lock. That drink is a vintage cocktail of unknown provenance that features tawny port, dry vermouth and a little lemon juice. But I’ll save it for another day (Armageddon?) because I had already crafted a cocktail before talking to Boaz. Instead, I created a variation on the classic Last Word, another vintage cocktail that traditionally features gin, lemon, green Chartreuse and maraschino liqueur in equal parts. It has a great template to play with, by simply interchanging any or all of the ingredients with something else within the same category. Instead of gin, try tequila, for example, or in place of maraschino, a sweet cherry liqueur, use a different flavor. It’s the ultimate shape-shifting cocktail, and so appealing it can be dangerous … sound familiar?

For a toast to Loki, we need particularly Scandinavian ingredients and flavors the Vikings of Olde might have recognized. Clearly we need to use the quintessential Scandinavian spirit, aqvavit, for the base here. Aqvavit (or aquavit) is similar to gin, and traditionally infused with prominent Scandinavian flavors like caraway, dill, fennel, anise and clove. Another historical Norwegian drink was mead, fermented honey “wine”, so our drink is sweetened with honey in place of the maraschino. Although mead can be traced back to ancient China and India, and made its way throughout the histories of ancient Greece, Wales and Ireland, there is an etymological link to Old Norse and a literary tie to Norse mythology. The Mead of Suttungr (Mead of Poetry) grants the drinker scholarly knowledge and the gift of poetry. There is a long tale of the potion’s provenance, telling of how it was created from the spit of the gods, the murder of a man, and the theft by deceit of the mead by the king of the gods, Odin himself. Odin brought this stolen wine of knowledge back to the other gods, but a little leaked out from his behind, and that is what we mortals get to drink. (Now you know that everything you think you know is just a bunch of … spit.) I can picture Loki, sipping on this cocktail at Ragnorak and laughing, as he always manages to get the last word. Cheers!

Loki’s Last Word

1 oz aquavit

1 oz green Chartreuse

1 oz lime

¾ oz honey syrup

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