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.

Not a Drop, 2023-06-10

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Here it’s pretty clear what is happening: the duck wants a bath, but there is no water. The title in Finnish is “Ei pisaraakaan”, which (for once) has exactly the same meaning as the English title.

Not a Drop by Kaj Stenvall, Tactic, 1000 pieces. Completed on June 10, 2023.

There are no dates on the puzzles, I only know what year the paintings are from, but the older puzzles have normal sized boxes, and the newer smaller boxes. This was one of the newer ones (just so we’re clear, they have all been out of print for years), and unfortunately, the quality is not as good as with the older puzzles. I’m pretty sure that there is still an error in the white wall, because I had to use force to get the last piece in. I did try to find the wrongly placed piece, but couldn’t see it, so I’m calling it done. I had a few other problems with false fits, but managed to sort them out. This was the worst quality duck puzzle so far.

In a Certain Phase, 2023-06-06

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When I left for Dortmund on May 11, I also left this puzzle almost finished, there were maybe 150-200 pieces to go. In fact, it was going really well, and I was sorry to leave it, but finally I just had to go. It would be too stupid to miss a flight because of a puzzle. I was expecting it to be hard to get back into the puzzle, but actually, I finished it pretty fast. This was the best kind of Tactic, with very distinct piece shapes and a really good fit. This puzzle looks a lot harder than it is, it was actually fairly easy, and very entertaining.

In a Certain Phase by Kaj Stenvall, Tactic, 1000 pieces. Completed on June 6, 2023.

Again, I have no idea what the title is supposed to mean. It’s called “Jossain vaiheessa” in Finnish, and if I were asked to translate that, I would probably say “At some point”, but the provided translation is definitely not incorrect.

Surrender, 2023-06-04

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I’m back in Helsinki now, but before I left Dortmund, I managed to finish one more puzzle. It’s a nice image by Mordillo, but it’s not a Heye puzzle, but a Clementoni. Up until the artist’s death in 2019, I am only aware of Heye puzzles with images by Mordillo, but since then, Clementoni also has them. This was my first Clementoni with a Mordillo image.

Surrender by Mordillo, Surrender, Clementoni, 500 pieces. Completed on June 4, 2023.

I’ve actually done a very similar image before. There, the animals seem to be angry at person relieving himself against a tree, and here, it’s a hunter. Many of the animals look the same, or at least very similar. This was a fun, and fairly quick puzzle.

Ulysses and the Sirens, 2023-06-03

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I got my act together and finished it! The image is a scene from Greek mythology. Ulysses (now usually known as Odysseus) is going to pass a place where Sirens (birds with the head of a woman) lure ships onto the rocks. They do this by singing, and their song is irresistible to men. Odysseus wanted to hear the song and survive, so he sealed the ears of his men with wax and had himself tied to the mast (instructing the men they should under no circumstances free him until they were clear of the Sirens), and so Odysseus became the only man to hear the Siren song and live.

Ulysses and the Sirens by John William Waterhouse, D-Toys, 2000 pieces. Completed on June 3, 2023.

While I really like the image, and especially the colours, much of the puzzle wasn’t all that pleasant, and it was mostly to do with the quality. I had quite a few false fits, and overall the fit wasn’t great. I was often unsure whether a piece really belonged where I’d placed it. I’ve done a few 1000-piece D-Toys puzzles, and those were definitely better. I probably won’t be doing any more 2K D-Toys puzzles.

New Arrivals

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I’m trying to buy less puzzles this year (last year I again bought many more puzzles than I completed), but some puzzles are impossible to resist:

Yes, you are reading that correctly, a wooden Ravenburger puzzle! It’s manufactured in Poland, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out to be very similar to the Trefl wooden puzzles. It’s interesting that some brands known for cardboard puzzles are looking to get in on the wooden puzzle market.

The mushrooms I’ve had my eye on for some time now. It was really more than I like to pay for a 1000-piece puzzle (22 EUR), but since the price just won’t come down, I finally caved.

Ulysses and the Sirens, In Progress

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I’ve been working on this 2000-piece puzzle for almost two weeks, and it’s not going that well. In fact, I almost certainly won’t be able to finish before I leave for Helsinki in a week, so it will probably have to wait until July. (One reason that it’s taking so long is that I’ve been playing a lot of computer games lately.) The image is a scene from Greek mythology by John William Waterhouse, and the pieces that are left are mostly shades of grey and brown. This is my first 2000-piece D-Toys puzzle, and it’s likely to be my last. I already knew that the fit can be ambiguous, but I think this is worse than the 1000-piece puzzles I’ve done before.

Fun Park Trip, 2023-05-16

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This was my second puzzle with an image by Swedish artist Anders Lyon, and while I enjoyed it, I liked Cruise a lot more. I started with the sky and the water, but after that I kept putting in pieces here and there.

Fun Park Trip by Anders Lyon, Heye, 1000 pieces. Completed on May 16, 2023.

Loved the rollercoasters:

The police are following a car with a chest of money on the roof:

[Life Magazine Covers], 2023-05-14

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This turned out to be even more fun than expected, I thought having the same word (“LIFE”) in the same font and colours over and over would be annoying, but it really wasn’t. Also, the background red is not always the same, there were variations, but even so, this was a rare case where I didn’t try to do the text first.

There is no title on the box, but all of the images are covers of Life magazine from the 1930s to the 1960s.

[Life Magazine Covers], Clementoni, 1000 pieces. Completed on May 14, 2023.

Here are some of my favourites:

I loved all of the space themed images (as usual), and the virus was so much fun (as a puzzle!). I was also surprised how much I liked the images with large crowds of people (it says Dodger rookies on this one).

Great puzzle!

Hampton Court, 2023-05-07

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Hampton Court is a Royal Palace in the southwest of London, originally built in the 16th Century, althoug some parts were added in the 18th Century. The castle was a favourite of Henry VIII. No royals currently live there, and it’s open to the public.

As a puzzle, it was very entertaining and fairly easy. It seems to be part of a series called Historic Royal Palaces, but I’ve never seen another puzzle in the series, unfortunately.

Hampton Court, Ravensburger, 1000 pieces. Completed on May 7, 2023.

The astronomical clock was my favourite part:

Popeda, kaasua…, 2023-05-06

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This is the cover of a 1983 album called “kaasua…” (“gas”) by Finnish band Popeda. It’s part of the Tactic Rock Legends series, where you get a 300-piece puzzle of the original album cover, as well as a CD with the album.

I had this album as an LP back in the day, and as it happens, the title track was played last week at our Mayday-celebration in the library. Still liked it 🤘

Popeda, kaasua…, Tactic, 300 pieces. Completed on May 6, 2023.