CISRA Puzzle Competition 2008 - Solutions

This is the archive of the 2008 Puzzle Competition. Please visit the current competition site for information about the latest Puzzle Competition.

C.4 Plastic Man

The objects represented resemble a popular type of building block toy. As the first step, the pieces must be assembled to produce an object for each panel.

The key is to join blocks of the same colour to each other, making a straight join wherever possible. Each of the six panels produces an object which is two layers of bricks deep all over. Additionally, every construction on the bottom row fits snugly in an area 5 brick-widths high by 4 brick-widths wide. This is a clue to their orientations, and resolves a lingering ambiguity in the construction for the second panel of the bottom row. A little fiddling should produce shapes that resemble the letters C, H, E, R.

The top left panel also produces a figure which fits the 5×4 rectangle, but there is a leftover blue "dot" - this can be positioned to make the figure into a question mark.

The top right panel produces a small x or +. Aligning it with the grid makes it a plus sign, rather than a multiplication style cross.

The figures spell out "? + CHER". Cher's singing partner, and the answer to the puzzle, is SONNY. (The puzzle title is a Sonny & Cher song title.)