I haven’t solved too many puzzle locks. They are usually fairly expensive and they’ve just not been on my radar as things to collect or solve. But, realizing this void in my collection I’ve been making a recent effort to buy and solve some of the more popular designs.
A while back, I bought Picolock, supposedly one of the easier puzzle locks out there. Well, the package arrived and I excitedly began my solve. Like most of these trick locks, everything appears normal on the outside. There is a lock with a key attached and that’s about it.
When examining the lock, I noticed a few anomalies – namely, there is a hole on one side of the lock and a hole with what looks like a plug on the other side. I don’t know if these things play a role in the solve, but they do stand out to me as something not usually found on locks.
Initially, I started working on the lock and was stumped. What the heck. What was I supposed to do. The key goes in the lock, the key turns, the lock doesn’t open.
I eventually figured out a step in the right direction but then hit a dead end. The solve would go no further and despite my best efforts, I was unable to progress and so after an hour or so, I put the lock on the shelf. Occasionally, I’d fiddle with it, but always had the same empty results.
Fast forward to today, I have recently been cataloging my collection on puzz.buzz, which you can find here: https://puzz.buzz/users/puzzlepusher
But anyway, I was adding this puzzle, when I realized, hey! I’ve never even solved this thing.
So, I decided to have another crack at it and this time, I found another step forward. Sneaky, sneaky. I was finally able to use a certain tool and yes indeed, it made me smile.
With the new found step forward, I had something to work with and an idea brewing. I started trying something, was it working? Yes! it was working and soon I had the puzzle open. Ha! It always feels good to solve a puzzle and add another notch to the belt.
Picolock, I had fun, you are a clever little thing. I think the lock addiction has begun and looks like I’ll have to go back to puzzlocks.com to purchase another one – or two – or three, or heck maybe even the full bundle!
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