Trevor Wood

These notes were written for the IPP Israel souvenir book by James Dalgety

It was a huge loss to the puzzle world when Trevor Wood gave up making puzzles around 2010 and more so to his friends when he died of cancer in 2021.

He had a technical education then, via technical drawing for a shot-blast machinery manufacturer, Royal Air Force Radio Technician, and Deep-sea fishing on a North sea trawler, he ended up qualifying in 1967 as a State Registered General Nurse. He was Clinical Nurse Supervisor on night duty for15 years at his local hospital. In his tiny basement workshop, he made a few toys for sale at local craft fairs and decided he would like to become a puzzle designer and make his fortune.

It was in 1989 that Trevor Wood sent me his first Teaser Tiles puzzle to see if Pentangle would like to manufacture it. I told him it was so beautifully made that he should make them himself for collectors. I bought about eight copies and sent them to fellow collectors together with Trevor's contact details. Edward Hordern became his second customer and Trevor's career changed course. Advised by Edward Hordern, Jerry Slocum, Alan Boardman and Nob Yoshigahara he learnt what were the best puzzles and soon was in touch with most of the world's leading designers.

One extraordinary thing about Trevor's puzzles was that he only ever made them one at a time. For some mysterious reason he never made a batch of puzzles. Regardless if he planned 5 or 50 puzzles he only made them one at a time. This meant every single puzzle was slightly different - Each used slightly different exotic woods, or their boxes or display stands had different style of construction. Sometimes these variations were a collaboration between his customer and himself, sometimes on his own whim.

Most of his puzzles were packing or assembly puzzles. I complained to him that as they were usually very difficult, it was annoying that they could not be packed away unsolved. His solution was to design the Double Sake for me which had two compartments: one with one solution and one with two solutions and of course there was room to put the unsolved puzzle randomly between the two compartments.

I remember the occasion around 1996 when a small group of us puzzler met at Edward Hordern's home and he showed us a wonderful antique coffin puzzle he had just bought.

I suggested to Trevor that he should make copies of it for his collector friends. He said nobody would be able to afford the cost and I suggested that he should make it 50% bigger which would increase the perceived value, and incidentally make it a bit easier to make. He was very doubtful but went ahead when we all expressed interest. He ended up making about 30 which all sold for around £300 each as soon as they were offered.

For my version he left the interior undecorated and told me to do as I wished with the inside.

Edward Hordern's antique RIP part solved.

Trevor's RIP, also part solved.

Whilst most of his puzzles were polycubes, he went on to design some very remarkable opening puzzles. Trevor would find it hard to believe the extraordinary high re-sale prices that his puzzles now sell for on the internet.

Trevor retired from puzzle making when he and Tricia separated in 2012. He then parted with his timber collection and woodworking tools and moved to a more manageable house near Ilkley.

In 2013 he travelled to Kenya and Cuba in pursuit of one of his other great interests - photography. He started selling cards etcetera with his great photos from a shop in Ilkley, but sadly the business did not support itself.

Tricia and Trevor were such a lovely couple. During the puzzling years they attended 9 IPPs.

He was such a nice gentle man with time for everyone.

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2026 June. I have now tried to rescue much of Trevor's website as a wonderful research document. It as he updated it in 2010 and was left by him until he died in 2021. I have not updated any of the links.

Trevor Wood

Trevor Wood Website Archive