Month: April 2019

The Temple Grounds, 2019-04-29

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UPDATE: There are now further details and spoilers about the series on the dedicated page. There is also an individual spoiler page for this puzzle.

My third from the Ravensburger Exit-series (apparently also known as the Escape-series). This time I’ve fallen down a hole in some ancient temple grounds, and need to climb out.

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Just the box again, as usual, no spoilers. Compared to the other puzzles in the series, I felt that there were relatively few changes from the image on the box. It’s also the most difficult of the three, with mostly green and brown.

Some colours from butterflies.

Somehow I wasn’t in the mood to work on the mysteries and used the online hints. Actually, the pieces that were part of the final solution were kind of obvious even while working on the puzzle. Also, the reality didn’t quite match the solution provided in the closed envelope – some of the printing looks to be wrong.

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Again, there was a pile of these extra pieces. I’ve kept them for all the puzzles, and they could be useful for someone who wants to make replacements for lost pieces. That’s definitely not me, though 🙂

With the two previous Exit-puzzles, I’ve noticed that the old posts get some traffic, and I even had a question about one of the puzzles, so I’m considering doing a separate spoiler page for the series, with photos of the completed puzzles.

Shopping in Dortmund

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I haven’t been puzzling much for the last week, and I’m in Dortmund again. I’m working on one of the Ravensburger Exit puzzles, and it’s really slow going.

Anyway, yesterday there was a huge flea market in Westfalenpark with lots and lots of puzzles, but I only bought two:

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Factory sealed spice collage and an interesting image of the Berlin wall from 1990. On the bottom there are the flags of Czechoslovakia (the same flag is now used by the Czech Republic) and East Germany, the year 1989 and the word “democracy” in German and Czech (I presume, I don’t understand Czech). It’s an MB puzzle, made in Holland. MB used to have production in Germany as well, but they’ve completely withdrawn from the  European market, unfortunately.

One thing I didn’t see yesterday was a single Heye puzzle. Not one, with hundreds of sellers and lots and lots of puzzles. Not a single Heye. Perhaps professional sellers are there first thing and buy all the Heyes? The only place you can reliably find used Heye puzzles is eBay, and they’re not cheap.

I hope to have the Exit puzzle finished tomorrow, otherwise, there will be another old photo.

1970s Sweet Memories, 2012-05-23

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I’m not a huge fan of Gibsons,  pieces fit where they don’t belong far too often, but they have some really great collages, and every now and then I cave and buy one anyway.

I know some of these, Mars looks exactly like it does now (although Bounty has changed dramatically), but most are unknown to me. Even with this image, I needed to stay alert so as not to place pieces wrong.

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1970s Sweet Memories, Gibsons, 1000 pieces. Completed on May 23rd, 2012.

Beer, 2009-12-03

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Beer, Piatnik, 1000 pieces. Completed on December 3rd, 2009.

A collage of beers by Austrian brand Piatnik, and amazingly, there’s a Finnish beer in there, last on the second row from the bottom (Lapin kulta).

So, I completed this in 2009, and then gave it away, but I just realized, I still have it. I bought another copy in 2017, so that I’ve now bought a new copy of this puzzle twice 😀 It’s happened with DVDs, I’ve bought the same twice by mistake sometimes, although never one that I had already watched. I like these collages, but clearly, it was not all that memorable. I’ve not completed the new one yet.

Lustratio, 2018-07-25

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This is the second puzzle with the same theme. The photo is not good (sorry!), but you can see additional characters to the right. Also, more of the border on the top and the bottom is visible.

As a puzzle, it wasn’t all that easy, but not too difficult either. Quite enjoyable.

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Lustratio, Ricordi Arte, 1500 pieces. Completed on July 7th, 2018.

Paradise Sunset (3)

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I decided to put numbers in the posts about this puzzle to keep up with how much I post about it.

I’ve continued with the lighter sky on the right, building upwards. You can also see the base of the temple.

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The older puzzle rolls by Ravensburger were white, but I’m really enjoying the black background. I guess you could argue that it eats up light, but I think it works well.

A couple of seagulls.

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Lustratio, 2011-11-20

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The puzzle shows part of a series of famous frescoes in the Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii. The frescos show some sort of religious ritual (perhaps an initiation), but there are many interpretations. The title, Lustratio, denotes an ancient purification ritual.

I have another puzzle of the same fresco with a slightly different perspective, where the two people on the left of the image are missing but instead, there are others visible to the right of the seated woman.

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Lustratio, Ricordi Arte, 1500 pieces. Completed on November 11th, 2011.

Candy Classics, 2019-04-21

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My local puzzle shop, lautapelit.fi, also have their own puzzle brand. I’ve done candy collages before, but for once, I know almost all of the candies and what they taste like 🙂

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Candy Classics, Lautapeli.fi, 1000 pieces. Completed on April 21st, 2019.

The quality was not the best, unfortunately. Pieces sometimes fit where they don’t belong, although with an image like this that’s not a problem. There was some variations in basic piece shape, but the large majority of the pieces were of the two-tabs-opposite type. The finish was waxy, and all in all, it reminds me of Gibson puzzles.

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The box has far too much stuff obscuring the image – the title goes on the side of the box, not on top!

I can’t resist presenting some of the candies:

Da-Capo is dark chocolate with a dash of rum, and it’s been around since 1916. Tsinuskitoffee is cream toffee, and while it’s probably not as old as Da-Capo, I can’t remember a time without it.

Two types of salmiak, often described as salty liquorice. Salmiak is available in the Nordic countries, Holland, Belgium, and in the north of Germany (I even saw Finnish salmiak in a supermarket in Dortmund), but it’s unknown in much of the world. It contains ammonium chloride and is not good for your blood pressure, but it’s soooo good! Finns love salmiak, and it’s one of the things many Finns living abroad miss the most. There’s even an association for salmiak fans, The Finnish Salty Liquorice Association. Salmiak is a bit of an acquired taste, many foreigners find it hard to get into 🙂

This is what you might call granny candy. Pectus (“chest” in Latin) are mints (the text on the box promises that they will refresh your mouth and breath), and Pax (“peace” in Latin) are a kind of liquorice pastilles (drops?). Both of these could reliably be found at my grandmother’s, and I would be surprised to hear from anyone my age whose Finnish grandmother did not provide these essentials.

Leijona (lion) drops with tar flavour have been around since 1933. “Sisu” is a Finnish word denoting grit and resilience, supposedly a national trait for Finns. The candy called Sisu (written in Gothic script) is similar to the Pax drops, and it has been in production since 1928.

This could only end one way: with a trip to the supermarket 🙂

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