Month: August 2020

Sacred and Profane Love, 2020-05-16

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A panorama puzzle from Ricordi Arte with an image by renaissance painter Titian (Tiziano Vecelli). The painting is known as Sacred and Profane Love, although the name is first mentioned about 180 years after it was painted and may not be correct.

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Sacred and Profane Love by Titian, Ricordi Arte, 1000 pieces. Completed on May 16, 2020.

I don’t usually mind missing pieces, but I would very much have preferred the missing piece to be from the dark areas of the puzzle and not from the face of a major character. To add insult to injury, I found the piece after I had already passed on the puzzle marked it “one piece missing”. I took the puzzle to the recycling room in our building, and about 10 days later I found the piece. I did post a message in our building Facebook group hoping to reunite the piece with the puzzle, but whoever took it didn’t see it. I’m so sorry I ruined this puzzle 😦

It’s a long time since I’ve done a Ricordi Arte, and the pieces were thinner than I remember, but good quality, and a very good mix of piece shapes. There were some differences in shades in the darker parts, too, and it was quite enjoyable and not too difficult as a puzzle.

Escape / Exit Update

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I’ve now finished the two 368-piece Exit-puzzles, Greenhouse and the Toy Factory. Turns out, they are exactly like the 759-piece ones …

… only with really big pieces. Below my car key as a measuring stick.

I actually preferred the larger piece count, there was more puzzling and less math in those. I also decided I won’t be making indicidual spoiler pages for these puzzles, but I’m still happy to send out photos of the booklet and the solution in the envelope, if someone happened to buy the puzzles used and they’re missing.

The puzzles as such are still nice, and I actually liked the backstories in both of these. The Toy Factory puzzles even featured some demonic toys:

There are actually three more of the 368-piece puzzles already available for preorder, and I will probably be getting those as well.

Jyty – Union of the Century, 2020-08-06

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For some reason, I like promotional puzzles. This puzzle was released in honour of the 100th anniversary of a trade union representing local government workers in Finland (Jyty is the acronym in Finnish).

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Jyty – Union of the Century, 1000 pieces. Completed on August 6, 2020.

Below Jyty, it says “Union of the century”, and below that “impressive (or influential) past – bright future”. The first word conveys that the work of the union to improve working conditions has been successful, but I can’t quite find the right word in English.

There was no indication of who had produced the puzzle, but it says “Made in Finland” on the box, and the quality is very like Peliko, which means fair but not good. Pieces will fit where they don’t belong, but there’s a good mix of piece shapes. Only the dark area at the bottom was difficult, otherwise, it was quite a pleasant puzzle. I like the idea of having people in historical dress on the left and modern dress on the right. The building behind the 20th Century workers is Helsinki City Hall, but I don’t recognize the modern building on the right.

More Exit Puzzles

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I started on my new Exit puzzles! The Unicorn in the middle is the ninth puzzle in the series, and so far the last with 759 pieces. The newest puzzles in the series have only 368 pieces, but the puzzles are as big as the ones with a larger piece count. The pieces must be huge, because the 759-piece puzzles already have pieces that are bigger than normal.

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I finished the Unicorn, and there is now a dedicated spoiler page for it. I managed to lose a piece, but otherwise, it was perhaps more enjoyable than I had expected. The backstory is that in an enchanted forest in Ireland, I come across a sad unicorn that has lost its magic after fighting an evil wizard. So, of course, I have to help the unicorn.

I haven’t started on the “smaller” ones yet, but I’ll be very intersted to see if they work the same way as the earlier puzzles in the series, or if there is something new. I can’t really go into details without spoilers 🙂

Sailing Ship, 2020-06-13

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Great, older Ravensburger from 1984. I bought this knowing there was one piece missing, but it was still a joy to put together. I just love the unique pieces where you always know if a piece belongs or not and the perfect fit.

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Sailing Ship by Roger Chapelet, Ravensburger, 1500 pieces. Completed on June 13, 2020.

There was no mention of the artist on the box (only of the photographer), but fortunately, the signature is very clear. The artist is French maritime painter Roger Chapelet, and the ship is called Terpsichore.

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I couldn’t find this painting online, but I found a similar one with a different ship by the same painter, and that was said to depict Hong Kong. I think this is also Hong Kong, it’s definitely in East Asia, as you can see from the Chinese junks in the harbour.

Great puzzle, I’m getting more and more fond of maritime images.

The Periodic Table of the Elements, 2020-06-03

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This is one of my all-time favourite puzzles. I’ve done it once before, but then it spent a lot of time in the library where I work and several other people did it, and I wanted to check that all the pieces are still there. They are! This will definitely not be the last time I do this puzzle.

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The Periodic Table of the Elements, Eurographics, 1000 pieces. Completed on June 3, 2020.

Sea of Blossom, 2020-06-02

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Another Rosina Wachtmeister image, this time just 500 pieces. Again, I had a feeling that this should have been more entertaining than it was. I love the image, but somehow, it wasn’t that great of a puzzle to me. I know others feel differently, as there are plenty of puzzles in this series.

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Sea of Blossom by Rosina Wachtmeister, Heye, 500 pieces. Completed on June 2, 2020.

Four pieces in the top row were damaged.

New Arcade, 2020-05-31

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This was the second time I’ve done this puzzle. The first time I found it really difficult, surprisingly so, and I was interested to see if it felt the same way the second time around. Also, I’m going to sell this and needed to check that all the pieces are still there 🙂

It did still feel more difficult than it should be, but not as bad the first time. I guess this is one of those images that I really like, but for some reason, it just isn’t as much fun as a puzzle as it should be. But that’s just me, there are probably lots of people who enjoyed this.

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New Arcade by Rosina Wachtmeister, Heye, 1000 pieces. Completed on May 31, 2020.