The Yes Puzzle Blog
Every article on the site, newest first: mechanical puzzles, jigsaws, brain teasers, puzzle boxes, and the science of solving. New articles publish on a rolling schedule; subscribe to the RSS feed to catch them.
Finishing Wooden Puzzles: Oils, Waxes, and What to Avoid
A puzzle running a few thousandths of an inch of clearance cannot afford a film finish. Here is why penetrating finishes are the standard ch…
Puzzle Mats, Boards, and Sorting Trays Compared
Roll-up mats, rigid boards, and sorting trays each solve a different problem, and one of them quietly creates a new one. What matters is whe…
Building a Beginner-to-Expert Metal Puzzle Progression
Metal puzzling is four separable skills, not one. Here is the order to build them in, why jumping difficulty levels stalls progress, and a l…
Round, Shaped, and Double-Sided Jigsaws: Changing the Rules
Take away the corners, the straight edges, or the single-sided assumption and most of a standard jigsaw method stops working. Each variant r…
Fine Art Puzzles and the Licensing Behind the Image
The same handful of paintings appear on puzzles from a dozen different brands, and copyright duration explains why. Here is how works enter …
Lateral Thinking Puzzles: Why Your First Answer Is Usually Wrong
Lateral thinking puzzles work by exploiting assumptions you never noticed you were making. Here is what separates a fair one from a cheap tr…
Piece Shape and Cut Style: Ribbon Cut vs. Random Cut
Cut style is the single most important thing about a puzzle that never appears on the box. Ribbon and random cuts change how much informatio…
Pentominoes: The Puzzle That Became a Field of Math
Twelve shapes made of five squares each, a combined area of sixty, and a set of rectangle puzzles with wildly different solution counts. Pen…
Frustration Tolerance: Why Getting Stuck Is Part of the Point
Difficulty that feels bad during learning often produces better retention afterwards. The catch is that persistence has a documented failure…
Cast Puzzles Explained: How the Difficulty Ratings Work
Printed difficulty ratings on cast metal puzzles compress several incompatible measures into one number. Here is what they encode, what they…
A Systematic Method for Sorting Jigsaw Puzzle Pieces
Sorting a jigsaw is not about neatness. It is about shrinking the pile you have to scan every time you pick up a piece, and the research on …
Teaching Brain Teasers to Kids Without Killing the Fun
Struggle helps children learn, but only up to a point, and how you respond matters more than the puzzle you choose. What the research says a…