William the Conqueror’s Antler Puzzle is a metal brain teaser from Professor Puzzle’s Great Minds collection, dedicated to William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy who seized the crown of England in 1066. As its name suggests, it is shaped like a set of antlers. It consists of two interlocked metal pieces that have to be separated and then joined again.

• BrandProfessor Puzzle
• CollectionGreat Minds
• TypeDisentanglement puzzle
• MaterialMetal
• Pieces2

The Great Minds collection

Great Minds is a Professor Puzzle collection that links each brain teaser to a historical figure; each box includes a short biography of the person and explains how they relate to the puzzle. The display it comes from brings together six models from the collection, three in metal and three in wood, dedicated to Benjamin Franklin, Galileo, William the Conqueror, Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton and William Shakespeare. The pieces have an aged finish that suits the historical theme.

How it works

It is a disentanglement puzzle: the two pieces have no catches or hidden mechanisms, but are linked in such a way that they only come apart with the right move. With irregular shapes like those of antlers, it is hard to predict where each piece can pass through, and linking them together again is usually as entertaining a challenge as separating them.

Professor Puzzle describes it as a challenging brain teaser, without giving it a numerical level. It calls for patience rather than force.