The designer is Rick Eason of USA. Designed in 1999. He wanted a puzzle that would appears simple to solve at first, but will actually prove very difficult, very deceiving. Rick definitely named it after US President Nixon. The puzzle has been in production here at Mr Puzzle Australia since 2000.
The riddle is called "The Tricky Dick" in reference to a nickname used to refer to former US President Nixon - he gained the nickname because of the dirty tricks he liked to use to gain an advantage. Since the riddle keeps putting us in situations that seem like we're not doing the right thing, over and over again, I find that it's actually a very fitting name. :)
"I see why they call it tricky but i dont understand why its called dick." "This is realy hard" "Look at this wood" "I let some guys play with it" "It feels so wrong but its right" "I have to pull it out" Still dont get it 😏😏😏
@@fsq2185 I don’t think it was missing a piece. His expert solved it with only the two present. Maybe there’s an alternate easier version they sell with a varied piece, but that version was definitely the more difficult two-piece variant. I have the 4-piece variant in my collection, I’d rate it a 1 out of 5. But even after seeing his expert’s solution, I think the moves are too complex for me to understand the state it must be in to begin solving it.
After having some unexpected difficulty that eventually led to frustration, I was ready to give up and found this video. However I appreciate your honesty when saying that you found this to be quite challenging. Knowing that even you had some trouble solving this has given me the inspiration to keep trying and have stopped the video at the spoiler break. Thanks again
I bought one and avoided watching the solution for 3 weeks until it arrived. I managed to slip it through the loop but thought it was a glitch or I was breaking it. I succumbed to seeing the solution and now I wish they would've put in a disclaimer about the tight tolerances. thank you.
wow! a 5/5 puzzle that you said actually stumped you for a little bit. Lol I don't know wether or not I'm impressed or intimidated, but definitely liked the video 😃.
OH NOOOOO. MY FAVORIT RU-vidR STARTS WITH CLICKBAITING !!! ....... ..... .... .. wait what? Oh its not Clickbait at all ^^ Great Job and a great Video. Keep going !! Have a nice Day Best Regrads Marvin
Tricky Dick is what they used to call President Nixon. I don't know if it relates to the puzzle, but that's what immediately comes to mind when I hear it. Probably because I'm old. ;-D
You can't move the cord through both sticks? It looks like you should be able to pull the loop out and all the way around the ball, and thereby releasing the sticks from each other making room for the ring to slide off.
Richard Eason has another starting position for that puzzle. I would love to see you revisit this puzzle to show the solution to the alternative starting position as well as show common tangles of the puzzle and how to get back to the solved state after getting hopelessly lost. I have two of these puzzles and I have one in a totally hopeless state.
I am commenting before I watch the video, after years of experience as a fisherman I have become an expert at knots what u do is expand the loop by pushing the stick and rope through then pulling the rest of the rope through, I’m probably wrong but hey it’s my guess!!!
I purchased a Belgian copy of this puzzle whose tolerances were beyond tight. You would never imagine these moves to be possible due to the metal ring being *almost* too large
Oh man, I really like this solution, seeing this, I now found the means to solve a different wood/rope and ring puzzle that is a little different but in some ways the same. I was bumping into the same issues and now I see the solution! Thanks a lot :D I've been struggling with that one for years and none of my friends could solve it either.
could you possibly extend the rope by pushing it throw to let the smaller cylinder go above the bigger cylinder so the are one long line and let the wring go over bother and out
I want to know what happens if you try to give more slack to the looped part of the string, it *seems* like you could get the loop over the cup at the end and then see the puzzle from another perspective. It might not give a solution, but I would have still liked to see what happens.
"Tricky Dick" did not originate as a nickname for Richard Nixon, although it was applied to him of course. It's a very old-timey expression in English from a time where "Dick" was used as a generic man's name (i.e. "every Tom, Dick and Harry"), and "tricky Dick" was used to refer generally to sly tricksters or untrustworthy individuals who could get themselves out of any crime or punishment. A similar expression is "clever Dick". I was born in 1985 in Ireland; both these expressions survived in general use in Ireland and the UK until well into my childhood, being used without irony quite broadly. I remember various children's books I had which used characters named Dick or Tricky Dick quite normally. Another notable use was in an episode of "The Animals of Farthing Wood" animated TV series, where a farm dog gets outwitted by the fox and exclaims in confusion, "You've got me tied up in knots, you clever Dick." That show ran from 1992-95. So it really is very recently that that word became primarily associated with....you know. Until not so long ago, it really was primarily a name and the nickname for the body part was in secondary use.
I've also heard Tricky Dick was the nickname for a 1930s comic book detective named Dick Tracy. Kinda fits considering it would take a detective to solve this one quickly!
I have a friend who's middle name is Richard. When he went into the military, that was a closely guarded secret. Until one day when one of his comrades walked up to him and said "how's your day Dick?" It was all downhill from there.
Question does that loop pull out & if so, can you feed back along the string through the ring over the the half sphere back down the string to release the ring or is the loop stocked or glued in the wood dowel ? thank you
You said at 3:10 that you struggle pushing the ring over the top of the wood. Well you apparently you CAN push the ring over at 5:25 and it even has a tad bit less space because of the cord that was through it. Um..? ._.
After having my Tricky Dick for a few years and refusing to look at the solution, I finally gave up and looked today... I found that move 1 was something I tried before, but my rope is literally too tight to fit the ring through making it impossible
@@Mr.Puzzle simple, take the puzzle, pull the long rod through the hoop of rope so that the hoop of rope and the long rope are together,, and line up the long rod behind the short rod, the ring should just slide right off now
This puzzle is very difficult. What detracts from the enjoyment is how tight the tolerances are. It should NOT hurt your fingers to work the puzzle. One would think that the tight tolerances would prevent the puzzle from becoming a complete tangle but that is NOT the case. The version that is available in the US via Amazon has a green wooden ring on the end of the long cord. But the cord is not tied to it. It's glued into a small hole that's for in it. I'd recommend cutting the cord and screwing in a small eyelet. That way, you can reset it WHEN you get it tangled beyond ALL hope. You may want to get two as there is another starting state that you may want to try out. It's shown here - www.mechanicalpuzzles.org/puzzles/tricky.html
I somehow found this easier as a kid than I did the Knot to be Knotted disentanglement puzzle on the Mr Puzzle Australia site :-\ I think it was because I got the Knot to be Knotted first and after that I knew not to approach these in any obvious way.
It's so hard to find these in Canada! And shipping is so expensive!! I wish I could just make them but I dont know all the dimensions and measurements:(
mr puzzle, thank you for your vid. it was great i have a question are the wooden sticks hollow ? or are they permanently in that position ..do they slide for slack?
