On the 3rd day of Christmas

On the third day of Christmas my true love sent to me,
3 Da Yan's
2 Brian Young's
And Stickman in a pine tree.

Da Yan as the world knows him

Anyone who has followed this blog or my posts over on Twisty Puzzles knows I rank Da Yan up there as one of the best puzzle makers around.  I also am pleased to count him as a good friend.  I first met Da Yan in 2010 and I've adored him since day one.

Da Yan as I know and love him

I have many of his puzzles on my shelves.  Not all, because that would just be greedy.  The ones I do have are mostly signed and have been gifts from him since the very beginning.  I've bought a complete set of his 3x3x3's over the years but to be honest, I can't tell them apart (no one tell on me please!)  The Gems I absolutely love.  They are a puzzle that I can solve without much confusion.  I would have to guess that these are the ones that started me liking Da Yan so much.  A naive little puzzler offered to have Uwe look at them...

He's been around making puzzles for quite some time now, but it seems that the west only learned of him around 2009.  In that (in)famous photo of his (top left) you can see a corn puzzle.  He made that from a kids toy. It now resides in Kowloon Bay in a puzzle shop I also greatly enjoy going to.  If I remember right (and I'm sure I don't) he made that around 2006 or 2007...

When out hunting for a photo of Da Yan, I came across his website.  It seems to be very recently opened.  here's hoping he keeps it up.

If you haven't heard of him, or haven't got one of his twisties in your collection, go climb out from under your rock and get one!

A few of my signed gifts