Andrew Crowell

Andrew Crowell is the designer who put Turning Interlocking Cubes (TICs) on the map. He's the modern designer who has pushed the genre into dozens of variations, each one a clean cube on the outside hiding a rotation puzzle inside that you almost certainly won't see coming.

His TICs are reproduced in wood by Brian Menold at Wood Wonders and other premium makers, and in 3D-printed plastic right here. His line is one of the largest single-designer collections in my store.

Why I love Andrew's work

I got my first few TICs straight from Andrew back in 2020. I was hooked immediately.

The thing about a Crowell TIC is that it looks like just a cube. There's nothing flashy on the outside - no protrusions, no mechanical theatrics. But the rotations inside are insane, and the ways the pieces interact - the way one rotation unlocks the next, and the next, and the next - are honestly miraculous to me. You can hold a TIC for an hour convinced there's no way the pieces are moving, then find the trick and watch the whole thing unfold.

Andrew is great to work with too. We communicate efficiently, and that's how this collection ended up as deep as it is.

What the puzzle community says

Andrew's TICs are some of the most reviewed mechanical puzzles in the modern era. Puzzle Pusher has reviewed dozens of his designs and consistently calls him a "TIC master." ZenPuzzler has reviewed his entire catalog over the years, occasionally calling his harder TICs "spirit-crushing" - which in the puzzle world is a compliment. Wood Wonders produces premium wooden editions of his work for collectors who want the original wooden runs.

If you're new to the TIC genre, Andrew is the name you start with. If you're deep into it, Andrew is the name you stay with.

Where to start in his catalog

Crowell's TICs span a full difficulty curve, from gentle introductions to puzzles that take serious solvers days to crack.

Start with EcstaTIC. It's a 2-piece TIC and a perfect gateway - small enough to fit in a coat pocket, friendly enough that non-puzzlers can usually find the trick on their first sitting, but elegant enough that you immediately understand what makes Crowell's designs special. It's the TIC I hand to people when they ask "what's a TIC?"

From there, climb the ladder: GeneTIC, TripTIC (a 9-move classic that takes most solvers around 3 hours), TriTIC (14 moves, harder still), and DecTIC. Once you've done a few, grab TIC Bundle 1 - 7 puzzles, get the 8th free.

FAQ

Who is Andrew Crowell?

Andrew Crowell is a puzzle designer best known for inventing and popularizing the modern Turning Interlocking Cube (TIC) genre. He's designed dozens of TICs, ranging from 2-piece beginner puzzles to massive 5x5x5 expert designs. His work is reproduced in wood by Brian Menold at Wood Wonders, and in 3D-printed plastic in my store.

What is a TIC puzzle?

A Turning Interlocking Cube (TIC) is a cube-shaped assembly puzzle where the pieces need to rotate during the solve, not just slide. From the outside it looks like a clean cube. Inside, the rotations are what make it work, and what make it impossible to solve by intuition alone.

Which Crowell TIC should I buy first?

EcstaTIC. Two pieces, friendly difficulty, perfect introduction to how TICs feel. From there, GeneTIC and TripTIC are the natural next steps.

Do you sell the wooden versions?

No, we produce them in 3D printing, since we aim to make great designs as available as possible. Wooden editions are produced in small runs by makers like Wood Wonders for collectors. Andrew has given us his blessing to make the plastic versions you see here.

How hard are Andrew's TICs?

The range is genuinely huge. EcstaTIC can be solved in an evening. TripTIC takes hours. The 5x5x5 expert TICs can take days, sometimes weeks of returning to them. Every puzzle page lists an expected solve time so you can pick your level.

If you enjoy Andrew's work, also explore puzzles by Stewart Coffin, Frederic Boucher, and Osanori Yamamoto - some of the other modern designers whose puzzles I'm honored to carry.