PuzzleMaster

Cast Diamond

Posted on Oct 24, 2017 by Gabriel | 0 comments
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(Click to Enlarge)

The most simple answer is sometimes staring you in the face - This is a statement that truly describes my feelings for the Cast Diamond, a beautiful and elegant puzzle designed by American Scott Elliott.

The Cast Diamond consist of two identical parts, albeit in contrasting colors and, when solved, the two pieces interlock perfectly to show a diamond shape. It is one of the smallest in the Cast Puzzle family, at just 5.1cm x 3.9cm in diameter (2" x 1.5").

This one was a pleasant surprise in many ways, starting by the way it was packaged. As you know, most Cast Puzzles are presented in their finished or solved state, and your task is to figure out how to take it apart. There is no solution provided with the puzzle, so you're on your own. After you finally take it apart, only half of the puzzle is now solved, as you need to find a way to put it back together. The Cast Diamond, however, turns the whole concept around and starts by asking you how to put the two pieces together, since the puzzle is presented in its unsolved state. There's a reason for this, as you'll soon discover.

(Click to Enlarge) - The state in which it's packaged

Because the puzzle has a very simple solution, with basically one motion, having shown it in its solved state would be too easy to figure out the whole solving process. Instead, they cleverly packaged it so that you'll have to really discover how it works. And the solution couldn't be more deceiving.

I believe this puzzle will have many dividing opinions in terms of its actual difficulty. Hanayama classified it as one of the easiest on the entire Cast family (1/6), and I strongly disagree...as with many others in their collection, which I think are wrongly classified. Now, this may vary from person to person, and how good you are at solving puzzles, or how good you think you are... But the fact is, this puzzle is not that easy to solve, no matter how seasoned of a puzzler you are, simply because it requires an out-of-the-box thinking. It doesn't mean that it can't be solved quickly, it depends on how you look at it and think in terms of symmetry.

I felt quite stupid once I figured it out, because it really is a simple solution, a genius one I might add, and I wasn't able to see it for a good half an hour. You'll see immediately why they chose to package it in its unsolved state, because it's very easy to take it apart.

(Click to Enlarge) - In its solved state (Opposite side as top photo)
Closing Comments:

Reminiscent of the Cast Marble in terms of the solving process, the Cast Diamond has one of the most elegant solutions in the entire Cast Puzzle series. I really loved it. You can pass it around on family and friends to see how quickly they come up with the solution. Simply beautiful!

Availability: The Cast Diamond is available at PuzzleMaster for just $15.99 CAD. If you don't have any Cast Puzzle in your collection, you can get the entire series for just $799.99 CAD.

Solution: You can download the solution from here.


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