No. 15 of the puzzle challenge is a minipuzzle (less than 100 pieces), and I only own one puzzle that fits the bill. I’ve done it once before, and it was still a lovely little puzzle. Took about ten minutes to put together.
Unfortunately, the year has not started well for Borussia Dortmund, and the manager had to go last week, but I’m not convinced that he was the problem. At least we managed the first win of the season on Wednesday, a 3-1 against Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk.
This was the last Sunsout puzzle in my to-do pile, and I don’t think I’ll be getting any more of them. The cut was, again, very mushy, and the pieces had to pushed very firmly into the places where they belong. A few times I had already tried a piece for a spot and thought it didn’t belong there, only to later find that I just wasn’t pushing hard enough. Very annoying. Too bad that most Susan Brabeau images available as puzzles are licensed by Sunsout – I would love to do more of her images, but the Sunsout quality is just too poor.
For the puzzle challenge, this is No. 15, a statue.
I had completely forgotten that I’d started this puzzle back in December, so it was a nice surprise when I got back to Dortmund yesterday for my first visit of the year. This was a lovely puzzle, although a bit more challenging than I was expecting.
It even fits in with the puzzle challenge, even though I started it long before I knew what would be included for 2025: this is No. 4, a peek inside.
Very enjoyable puzzle. I started with the man-made things, then the sky and the mountain, and last the grass in the foreground. Loved it!
For the puzzle challenge, I originally indended this for No. 11 (recognizable breed of dog, in this case a Flat-Coated Retriever on the jetty), but then I noticed I can use it for No. 24, fits four items. In addition to the dog (No. 11), there is also a mountain (No. 27), a reflection in the lake (No. 3) and a campfire (No. 13).
A strangely muted image of Venice, possibly taken very early in the morning. There are almost no people about. I did the sky first, then the houses and most of the bridge. The tables and chairs on the right turned out to be the most difficult part, and I did them last.
For the puzzle challenge, this is No. 29, 2 puzzles of the same city. The first puzzle with Venice.
Nice and easy, I did this in one sitting. Sky first and sand last.
The puzzle challenge I’m doing also has a monthly bonus challenge, and this year, apparently, they are expressed as songs (last year it was emojis / icons). The song for January is by Finnish musician Jukka Poika (whom I had never heard of), and translated the song title means “From cold to warm”. I couldn’t be bothered to listen to it, but had a look at the lyrics, and it’s about a holiday romance where the singer wants to go back to the girl and the warm place, presumably from cold Finland. Anyway, I did this for the monthly challenge.
Well I didn’t have to wait long to find out if I would find a puzzle with several pieces missing (No. 9 of the puzzle challenge). This puzzle is missing a whopping 7 pieces, 5 edge pieces and 2 pieces that would have been connected to the edges. Since the border meant that this was very much an edges last puzzle, I didn’t realize there were pieces missing before I was close to the end.
Despite the missing pieces, this was a lovely puzzle, and easier than I was expecting. I started with the small circles, then filled in the large circle in the middle. The edges were the trickiest part, and I did them last, of course. Loved it!
My second puzzle in the Golden Cities series (I’ve previously done Rome), and this was much the same as the first. I did the sky first, then the water and finally the buildings. Nice if very traditional. I was again reminded that you really have to watch out for false fits with Trefl, but with no large areas of the same colour, it was all right.
For the puzzle challenge, I’m probably going to use this for No. 28, first of two puzzles of the same city. For this item, I could do Venice, Paris, Dortmund, or New York, but I think I’ll do Venice. I actually have at least three puzzles with an image of Venice, so I won’t even need them all for this challenge.
Another new Heye puzzle, from the Inner Mystic series. I loved it, except for the top 6-7 rows, they were pretty hard.
For the puzzle challenge this is No. 3, upside down/reflection.
Take a Trip! is a new series by Heye where you can place the completed puzzles in a row and they will fit (the road and river will always be in the same place). There is a similar series called Funky Zoo, but in that series all of the entries are by Marino Degano. In this series, the different segments will be done by different artists, but so far I only have this one.
For my puzzle challenge, this will be No. 14, “frog”:
Puzzler1909 