Author: puzzler1909

I share my time between my native Helsinki (Finland) and Dortmund (Germany), where my football team Borussia Dortmund lives. This blog is about my puzzling actvities in these cities.

The Last Supper, 2024-03-08

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This was not as difficult as it looks. I did the people early, and then did the white / lighter areas first and the darkest bits last. There were three pieces missing, but I got this cheap at a recycling center, so that’s ok.

The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, Clementoni, 1000 pieces. Completed on March 8, 2024.

The monthly bonus challenge for March was Easter, and this was the closest I could find. The last supper was on Maundy Thursday, marking the start of Easter. (Strictly speaking the monthly challenges are expressed with images, and this time it was a hatching chicken. You are then free to interpret it as you wish, and some have Easter images, others have images with chickens that have nothing to do with Easter.)

Dessert Tour of Italy, 2024-03-04

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As you can probably guess, I loved this puzzle. Cake and desserts are some of my favourite subjects to puzzle, so this was great. I did the map of Italy first, then the light green non-Italian countries, and of course, the edges were last. With this kind of border it would be quite frustrating to start with the edges.

Dessert Tour of Italy by Silvia Sponza, Ravensburger, 1000 pieces. Completed on March 4, 2024.

I actually haven’t tried many of the desserts here, but I often eat Tiramisù, and even make it myself. I don’t think I’ve ever had Sicilian Cannoli, but they played a part in the Godfather III, so I certainly know of them.

There all look delicious, and I would love to try them:

For the puzzle challenge, this was #30, a puzzle published in 2024. Ravensburger has some nice ones this year!

Canvas, 2024-03-02

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This was fun and easy, only filling in the last white parts took a bit of time. The puzzle was produced in the Netherlands, and the quality is exactly the same as with Jumbo’s Wasgij and JVH-series, so I suspect they’ve used the same manufacturer. It even has the same waxy finish as the Jumbo puzzles have.

Canvas, Cloudberries, 1000 pieces, 1000 pieces. Completed on March 2, 2024.

For the puzzle challenge, this was #4, gradient.

Grande Amore, 2024-02-29

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I finished it! And in the end, it wasn’t as bad as I feared it would be, I actually enjoyed most of it. I worked the puzzle from the bottom upwards, and it really helped that the background on the bottom was first green, then a lot lighter than higher up. About 2/3 in I sorted the rest of the pieces according to shape, but only two or three times did I resort to trying all theoretically possible pieces in a spot. It also helped that the fit was perfect, probably the best I’ve ever had with a Heye puzzle.

Grande Amore by Mordillo, Heye, 1000 pieces. Completed on February 29, 2024.

As I wrote earlier, for the puzzle challenge this is #23, out of the comfort zone.

Paradise, 2024-02-24

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I started this puzzle in Dortmund back in December, but I’ve had very little time here since then (none in January and a few weekends in February), so I’m actually quite surprised to see it finished already.

Paradise by Ryba, Heye, 2000 pieces. Completed on February 24, 2024.

On the left, it’s winter, and the people (all with halos) are doing winter sports and partying, while the on the right, they seem only to be partying.

At the table on the right, I think the man in the top hat is supposed to be Elvis, and the woman with the pink glasses Marilyn Monroe. On one of the trees, someone has carved Marilyn ❤️ Elvis.

There are some other familiar characters as well: poor Donald is about to be eaten by a snow man, but on the winter side, Goofy looks quite happy.

As a puzzle, this was quite challenging, especially the summer half, but there were lots of funny details to keep me entertained. I finished the winter half much earlier, and the last things I did were the two green trees.

I got this in 2017, and currently, the image is available as two separate 1000-piece puzzles (also by Heye).

Grande Amore, In Progress

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I’m in Dortmund for the weekend, but before I left, I started on what will be #23 in the puzzle challenge, “out of the comfort zone”.

I happened to find two factory sealed, vintage Heyes (they’re from around 2000) for a very good price, and that is the kind of situation where I tend to buy fast and repent at leisure. The swirling branches in this puzzle are no help in deciding where a piece belongs, and to me, this is much worse than just an area with the same colour. The only good thing I can say about it is that as long as you keep your eyes open there is virtually no risk of false fits.

Grande Amore by Mordillo, Heye, 1000 pieces.

There is a small part on the bottom that was easy, and I’ve done that:

I’ll get back to the rest of this on Tuesday. Wish me luck!

Alice in Wonderland, 2024-02-20

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This is easily the most fun of all the Disney puzzles I’ve done. Lovely colours, and the details are not too small, or too big, but just right 🙂 I think I may be keeping this to do again.

Alice in Wonderland, Ravensburger, 1000 pieces. Completed on February 20, 2024.

For the puzzle challenge, this is #17, Disney / fantasy.

Lekking, 2024-02-17

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Lekking is a mating ritual where male animals (often birds) show off. I had to look up the English word for this. The title of the puzzle is given only in Swedish, and it’s “Orrspel”, which is specifically the lekking of black grouse, a bird that is found mostly in Northern Europe.

The puzzle is wooden and probably from the 50’s. It was quite difficult, as there was no image on the box (as is usual for the period and brand). The sky, ice and snow mostly looked the same, and there was a lot of it.

Lekking, Nyckelpussel, 600 pieces. Completed on February 17, 2024.

As you can see, the bottom right corner piece is missing, but that happened while I was working on the puzzle. It was there, and then I noticed it was gone, and I can’t find it anywhere. I’m usually pretty chill about missing pieces, but knowing it’s in the flat and not being able to find it is much more annoying then just having a missing piece.

For the puzzle challenge, this is #9, done without looking at the image.

Krypt Silver, 2024-02-16

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One of the more difficult items on the puzzle challenge list is #24, “fits no item on the list”. That means a long list of things that are not allowed to be in the puzzle, including letters, fruit or a forest. Especially letters ruled out a lot of puzzles. Some would count this as #23, “out of the comfort zone”, but large areas with the same colour don’t really scare me, I have something much worse in mind for #23… For me, this is #24, “fits no other item on the list”.

Krypt Silver, Ravensburger, 654 pieces. Completed on February 16, 2024.

I did the edges and the innermost part of the circle first. After that I started using the map where you can see the exact cut (so that you always know exactly what piece shape you’re looking for ), and I also sorted the pieces by shape at that point. Then I started filling in the corners, and finally I did the circle from the outside in. At first, I found it a bit boring, but in the end I couldn’t stop and stayed up way past my bedtime to finish it.

Fruits, 2024-02-14

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Lovely collage from the Eurographics Seed Catalogue Collection. It was a good mix of colourful fruit and text. Loved it!

Fruits, Eurographics, 1000 pieces. Completed on February 14, 2024.

For the puzzle challenge, this is #6, fruit.