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Twisted Wire Puzzles

© Copyright 2001, Jim Loy

You may have seen this simple puzzle. The object is to disconnect the two nails from each other (and then put them back together again). There are essentially two solutions. Here I put the left nail head through the gap between the other head and point (twisting it as I go), as shown by the red arrow. This is the equivalent of doing the same with the right nail head. The X formed by one nail ends up next to the X formed by the other nail. Then the two nails can be slid apart, as in the second part of the diagram. An alternative method is to do the same thing with either point. But then the two nails may not slide apart, if either head is too large to fit through the hole. This puzzle is surprisingly difficult to put back together, if you have forgotten the symmetrical way that it came apart.

There are several variations of this puzzle, with extended wires and extra bends. These normally prevent one solution. And they may have been assembled in a non-symmetric way (in the above puzzle, with one head and one point going through the two loops). A few of the variations are easier to take apart, but still difficult to put back together. Others are simple to put back together.

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