The puzzle arrived in Seaford on the coast of southeast England on Saturday. It looks and turns great and I gave it a scramble and solve last night. Today it stopped raining long enough for me to take a couple of photos at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, the former residence of King George IV:



I am hoping for a sunny day to do some more photos in Brighton and Seaford.

My interest in twisty puzzles was reawakened when I found a few in a box after moving home in 2007. That prompted to me to search "5x5x5" on the Internet, and of course I found that not only had such a puzzle been around for many years, but a 6x6x6 and 7x7x7 were months away from release. A few days later I stumbled upon mefferts.com and ordered a Skewb, and I was hooked. The following summer I discovered the wonderful Gelatinbrain puzzle simulator and was very pleased to manage to solve a puzzle known there as 1.1.7, but more commonly known to us as the Pentultimate. I have always had an affection for this puzzle and so it gives me great pleasure to play with such a fine physical version. I do not have much time for solving nowadays, but I still visit this forum regularly and love catching up with all the creativity and ingenuity shared here. Thanks PAW Team!

Reminds me of my student days at Sussex Uni! Would be nice to see some pictures on campus...

I will be at a choir rehearsal at the Uni of Sussex tomorrow evening, so I shall try to get there early with the puzzle and take a few pics.

I'm so glad the puzzle is alive and well and finally made it through all of the complications of customs!

Don't feel bad about the overcast weather in the photos -- that's just the UK is living up to its reputation! Also, I have a nearly identical sweater

When Nan (schuma) and I met up to kick the project off we discussed how many times we thought the puzzle would be solved on its trip around the world. My guess was "only a few" but so far it seems most participants have solved it!

For the remaining participants, yes we're behind schedule. Shipping and coordination has been much more difficult that originally anticipated. I will draw up new estimated schedule this week.

Cool, the Meeting House Chapel looks beautiful at night.

Glad the puzzle arrived! I'll get my post of the puzzle up sometime this week.

It's great to see PAW again! It's finally in another continent.

Julian, we have known each other for years because of Gelatinbrain's puzzles, and this is the first time I see you!

@schuma/Nan: Yes, it has been a long time!

@Kelvin: Yesterday evening the PAW Pentultimate visited the Meeting House Chapel at the University of Sussex:


And this morning there was some sun so I took it to the start of a popular coastal walk from Seaford; the chalk cliff is typical of southeast England:

And you claim to be here in England? I call shenanigans!

Nice photos and nice to see you in person.
I always admired you as one of the brilliant solvers at the TP forum. Probably an inside joke? I have never seen this word.

Thanks! I have such great memories of my time at uni there. Since you set off my student nostalgia I visited the campus last night on google streetview and, my how it has expanded with so many new buildings!

The UrbanDictionary comes to the rescue:
In common use no carnival stand operators are required, and it means generally trickery or deception.

Dave

Now I had to learn what "carnival stand operators" are.
I'm improving my English every day
Thanks Dave

Brighton Pier opened in 1899 as the Palace Pier and has featured in several films, most famously in the final scene of Brighton Rock (1947), based on the Graham Greene novel and starring Richard Attenborough. PAW paid a visit to the pier on Saturday:

About a mile away is the West Pier, which was nearly destroyed by a severe fire in 2003. Maybe one day it will be restored, but for now it is a cultural icon and tourist attraction as the rusted shell we see today. The turquoise labels on the puzzle match the railings along Brighton's seafront:

A few months ago Landon (GuiltyBystander) in Vancouver posted a picture of himself holding the puzzle with his legs behind his head. I can't do that, but my partner's daughter can. Charlie, you are now famous on the Internet :

And here is Finn the Irish Wolfhound. At 16 months old he is still growing, but he is quite big already, as you can see:

lol, awesome

Any April fools day prank about PAW?

No, but I'm sure we could make some eggcelent puns about easter !

Stop yolk-ing about RubixFreakGrEGG, its not runny!

What's a yoak?

Edited; made such a silly mistake after being so proud of my joke

Well I guess now is as good a day as any to admit that the whole PAW project is actually a scam modeled after the moon landing. I figured if NASA could put men on the moon with little more than a Hollywood set, I could send a puzzle around the world with Photoshop and some hush money. I pay forum members to send pictures of themselves holding a MF8 dodecahedron and then I use photoshop to put the PAW in the picture and send the photos back to them to post.

The only difference between the PAW and the Puzzle Around the Solar System project is funding. It takes a lot of money to pay forum members for high quality photos and posts and when you cut back funding production quality suffers.

Aah, may I kindly remind you that I'm still waiting for my checkue?

I have recieved the PAW this morning and it took a trip with me down to the Las Vegas Strip!

Outside the Riviera hotel/casino, the location of many cubing competitions in the past:

It also took a trip down to Caesar's Palace:

Some unusual things about this whole ordeal:
I had no idea I was one of the recipients of this puzzle, especially since it was coming all the way from Europe
I was quite shocked and pleased when it came in the mail. The quality is amazing and it turns very well.
Secondly, my hands are apparently very big

April Fools everyone, i had to do it!