Traffic Lights - Disentanglement Puzzle

Traffic Lights wood and rope disentanglement puzzle

This puzzle was brought to IPP20 in Los Angeles in 2000 by Lambert Bright. The story goes that it was given to him by a local farmer from Lincoln, Nebraska who did not know it’s origins but liked to bring it out and stump people.

Mr Puzzle has redesigned the original to make it TWO PUZZLES IN ONE.

1. The objective is to remove the rope with the long bar from the part with the 3 traffic light holes.  The rope remains attached to the long bar.

2. Once the long bar is off you can use it as a completely different puzzle, the well known ‘Buttonhole Puzzle’.  The wooden peg is threaded through an unsuspecting friend's buttonhole. The person must then remove the puzzle from their shirt. If they can't remove it, then they must walk around all day with the peg hanging from their shirt. Solving it is more difficult than you would think!

Solution to BOTH the Traffic Lights and the Buttonhole Puzzles are provided.