The Colonel's Puzzles

… and Mr. Winkle, being greatly puzzled by their manifold windings and twistings, …
—Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers

Geometric Cutout Puzzles

  • The Foxagon Puzzle. With only four pieces, how hard can it be? . . . Heh heh heh.
  • The Hexicator Puzzle. This one has nine pieces!
  • The Poolazoid Puzzle. And this one has ten, all the same shape.
  • The Con Ed Puzzle. This is another four-piece puzzle, and it's a good one to start with.
  • Triple Play Puzzle. This pentomino puzzle was inspired by the start of baseball season.
  • Livio Puzzle. This puzzle honors Livio Zucca, a great pioneer of recreational geometry.
  • N. W. D. Puzzle. A custom cutout puzzle with nine pieces.
  • The Martian Diamond. Fit the six spaceships onto the diamond.
  • Twice As Nice Puzzle. Four pieces, two easy puzzles in one.
  • Thrice As Nice Puzzle. A harder version of Twice As Nice.
  • Angel Wings. Seven symmetry puzzles in one.
  • Super Taco Chips. Seventy-seven puzzles in one.
  • Snowfall. A covering puzzle inspired by nostalgia for my days in Buffalo.
  • Shardinaires-9™. Kadon's versatile set of nine pieces.
  • Balancing Act I and Balancing Act II. Two symmetry puzzles, simple but not so easy.
  • Earth and Sky. A covering puzzle with just six pieces.
  • Corner the Market. Your stock will rise if you solve it!
  • Ring the Changes. A multiple enclosure puzzle.
  • Baby Huey. A symmetry puzzle with just three pieces.
  • Autumn Leaves. Another symmetry puzzle with just three pieces.
  • Texas Puzzles. Three symmetry puzzles from International Puzzle Party 41.
  • Green Tea. A simple covering puzzle.
  • Body Double. A puzzle using the four pentiamonds.
  • Eel Fishing. A symmetry puzzle with four pieces.
  • Where Has Polly Gone? A polygon puzzle with three pieces.
  • Rock Garden. A symmetry puzzle with four pieces.
  • New Year Puzzles. [2025] [2024] [2023] [2022] [2021] [2020] [2019] [2018] [2017]

    • Geometric 3D Puzzles

  • W's Dilemma. Fit the 15 W-shaped pieces into the box.
  • The Telegraph Puzzle. Join three identical pieces to make a prism.
  • Colonel's Bouquet. Join any two of the four hexacubes to make a symmetric shape.
  • Colonel's Forest. This is like Colonel's Bouquet but with one hexacube and three heptacubes.
  • Hide the Gold. A popular puzzle, and probably my prettiest!
  • Kaleidoscope Cube. Fit nine nested symmetric pieces together to form a cube with a hole inside.
  • Wood's Hole. Fit the six pieces together to form a cube.
  • Triple Check. Fit 12 checkered solid pentominoes together to make each of three shapes.
  • Cover Up. My second hiding puzzle, and an easy one to play with.
  • The Blue Bird of Happiness. My third hiding puzzle, and an easy one to solve.
  • Stable Boy. A miniature anti-slide puzzle in the style of Vladimir Krasnoukhov.
  • Box of Ziti. A new wrinkle on pentacube box puzzles.
  • Fraternal Twins. A symmetry puzzle with just two pieces, exactly alike.
  • Clog Dance. An anti-slide puzzle that uses polyiamonds instead of polyominoes.
  • Cubey Doo, Where Are You? Arrange six pieces to form a cube.
  • Cover Girl. A pentacube hiding puzzle, a sequel to Cover Up.
  • Vow of Silence. A sequel to Box of Ziti.
  • Heroics. Arrange two pentacubes to make a variety of symmetric shapes.
  • Pajama Party. Arrange two pentacubes to make a variety of symmetric shapes. A sequel to Heroics.

    • Non-Geometric Puzzles

  • Crossword-Sudoku Puzzles. First fill in the answers to the clues, then solve the sudoku.
  • Bottle Imp. A puzzle about a popular card game.
  • Flotte Krabbe. A puzzle about an old board game.
  • Miscellaneous Puzzles.
  • Solutions to Lewis Carroll's Four Riddles.
    • Col. George Sicherman [ HOME | MAIL ]