Cast Twist

5 

It does deserve the Level 8 rating. When you first see it, the way to solve it is obvious. Twist and Turn it so the 'cut-away' parts of the pieces can slide by each other until - eventually - they separate. However knowing what to do and doing it right are two totally different things. There are some very clever, almost fiendish, moves to make which will have you thinking hard. Getting it back together isn't easy either, reversing your actions take as much concentration as solving it did. Although I would not advise getting this aa an entry level puzzle once you've done a few lesser levels then give it a go! My tip: When you get stuck (as you probably will) don't struggle, don't curse, just put it down, go have a cuppa, come back later and continue with a clear head.

5 

Much like other 4 star puzzles from Hanayama, this one has a couple tricks to it that will take some learning to figure out, but after that you can get it apart and back together fairly easily (also a beautiful design). I personally really enjoy puzzles like this and cylinder, they are a nice satisfying challenge, but not a potential headache like higher rated puzzles such as Quartet and Equa.

4 

Very nice. The basic idea is pretty clear at a glance, but the actual path of the solution is very tricky to discover. There are some clever dead ends. Don't be tempted to force any movements or you'll be on the wrong track.

5 

Like any Hanayama puzzle, this is a excellent piece of engineering. Good weight, tight tolerances, and the solution is not obvious. At first, I thought the pieces could only follow one path - the intended solution, but after a few minutes of going in circles, I realized there must be many different routes with only one solution. After a few weeks, I never did find the solution, so I downloaded the pdf from Puzzlemaster. There are a lot of moves required to solve this! I think that's why it has the difficulty rating that it does. This puzzle reminds me of Cast Key Ring, and if I could only choose one, I'd get the Key Ring, but only because it has its name written as an ambigram on it.

5 

Terrific! One can play all day long with this, without any success in taking it apart. That is because there is one special place where a different move should be done. I think the difficulty is properly set. And I like both the design and the solution.

4 

A lovely little puzzle that, like several other Hanayama puzzles requires "inverting" the pieces at one point during deconstruction/reconstruction. Nice smooth movement and very solid. The difficulty level of eight seems a bit high; I'd probably rate this one as a seven. Overall a very nice puzzle - attractive, solid, with smooth movements (no need for excess force at any point).