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.
Another duck on a bed. The cut was not quite as good as with the previous one, it’s not bad, but a bit off. Some of the duck puzzles are like that, unfortunately, and I’m doing the newest puzzles last, so it’s likely to become worse. Despite the less than excellent cut, I enjoyed the puzzle a lot.
!§#¤!! good morning by Kaj Stenvall, Tactic, 1000 pieces. Completed on February 8, 2024.
The Finnish title contains a non-censored swear word (Helvetin hyvää huomenta), and I might translate it as “Bloody good morning”.
For the puzzle challenge, #28-29 is two puzzles from the same series, and this is #29.
Back to the Stenvall duck puzzles. I hope to have them all finished this year. This was actually a really entertaining puzzle. Doing these duck puzzles, I’ve come to realize how much I enjoy puzzles with large areas of similar colour, where there is a gradual change in colour tone, like the wall (and some other parts as well) that goes from very light on the left to quite dark on the right. The quality was also excellent, and the puzzle was factory sealed.
Distance Between a Near and Dear Friend by Kaj Stenvall, Tactic, 1000 pieces. Completed on February 6, 2024.
For the puzzle challenge, #28-29 is two puzzles from the same series, and this is #28.
#5 on the puzzle challenge list is “a jewel in my collection”. I actually have many puzzles that would fit, but the one I most felt like doing again was this lovely Artifact wooden puzzle, gifted to my by Stacey at My Jigsaw Journal. It was just as much fun the second time around, thank you again, Stacey! You can find close-ups of the whimsies in my first post about this puzzle.
The Messenger by Kevin Sloan, Artifact, 313 pieces.
A really fun and easy puzzle. I don’t time myself puzzling, but this must be one of the fastest puzzles I ever did. Pretty much everything in the image looks familiar, although not everything is stuff that I would specifically connect with the 90’s (like cassettes, LPs and lava lamps).
The 90s, Ravensburger, 1000 pieces. Completed on February 3, 2024.
I chose to do this puzzle now because the bonus puzzle challenge for February is a ring (the kind you put on your finger), and there’s a yin yang ring in the image:
This is a vintage Ravensburger (it says copyright 1981 on the box), and the quality is fantastic. I was also happy to find the puzzle complete and in good condition.
Viking Line, Ravensburger, 1000 pieces. Completed on February 1, 2024.
Viking Line operates a ferry/cruise service between Helsinki and Stockholm (they have other routes as well, but especially in the 80’s, I’m pretty sure this was their main route). You would be hard pressed to find a Finn who has never been on one of these cruises, although nowadays the route to Tallinn in Estonia is probably more popular.
You can’t make out the name of the ship on the puzzle, but of the two ships that I’m aware of from this era (Viking Sally and Diana II), this looks a lot more like Viking Sally based on the images I was able to find.
Viking Sally has quite the history. Viking Line operated the ship from 1980-1990, and during that time, there were two murders on the ship. A Finnish business man was murdered in 1986, and in 1987, a German student was killed and his girlfriend severely injured in a brutal attack. The second murder is still unsolved, although a Danish man was tried for it just a few years ago, over 30 years after the crime. Unfortunately, there just wasn’t enough evidence for a conviction.
After Viking Line sold the ship, it finally ended up with Estonian shipping company Estline, and they named it Estonia. The Estonia sank in a storm en route from Tallinn to Stockholm on September 28, 1994, after the bow visor had been broken off in the rough seas. The sinking was very fast, and 852 people lost their lives. Only 137 survived. The closest rescue station was in Turku, Finland, and the survivors were also brought to Turku. While most of the passengers were Estonian or Swedish, the impact of the disaster was felt in Finland as well. Most people who were around then will be able to tell you when they first heard of the sinking. I may have been one of the last people to find out. In the morning, I left for the University Library without listening to any news (the sinking had happened around 1 am). I spent the day studying, and I didn’t really talk to anyone. On my way home, I wondered why so many flags were flying at half mast. When I got home I turned on the TV, and only then, late in the afternoon, did I hear about what had happened.
The ship in the puzzle may not be Viking Sally, but it looks very similar. You can also see the seam of the bow visor:
For the puzzle challenge, this will be #20, a vehicle that I’ve travelled in.
This turned out to be really enjoyable, proving that it really was just that I was in the wrong mood when doing Pink. There were enough slightly larger objects, and the text also helped to keep it interesting, but not too challenging.
Yellow, Cobble Hill, 1000 pieces. Completed on January 31, 2024.
For the puzzle challenge this will be #19, yellow.
I’ve done this puzzle once before, but that was another copy. I got this one when I bought about 60 puzzles at once (it worked out at less than 2 EUR / puzzle), and while most of them have been complete, this one wasn’t. There was actually a note in the box saying two pieces are missing, but it turned out to be three.
Dumbo, Ravensburger, 1000 pieces. Completed on January 29, 2024.
I had intended to use this as the Disney puzzle for the puzzle challenge, but I have other Disney puzzles, and this will instead be #25, at least one piece missing.
Puzzles with lots of tiny details are not usually my favourite type of puzzle, but this was quite fun, and it fits right in with the puzzle challge as #22, “there are letters in the puzzle”.
Awesome Alphabet: C & D by Colin Thompson, Ravensburger, 1000 pieces. Completed on Janury 28, 2024.
Another brand that is new to me, it’s called Djeco. I’m unlikely to get any more Djeco puzzles, because the pieces would fit pretty much anywhere, I had to look very carefully at the image to get it right. I bought it at the recycling center for 1 EUR, and there was a note on it that one piece may be missing. Turns out, it’s complete, but it was still a mostly infuriating puzzle
Puzz’ Art Bird, Djeco, 500 pieces. Completed on January 27, 2024.
For the puzzle challenge this is #26, a shaped puzzle.
Puzzler1909 