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 Haywain Triptych, 2022-08-28

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This is a painting from ca. 1516 by Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch. If I didn’t know how old this painting actually is , I would find it very hard to date, there is something ageless about Bosch.

I was quite pleased with myself for recognizing the scenes on the left (Adam and Eve being thrown out of Paradise), but then I assumed the central piece was some sort of harvest festival. I should have known better, it actually depicts people engaging in various sins, and on the right there is hell, where all the sinning leads to.

The Haywain Triptych by Hieronymus Bosch, Bluebird, 1000 pieces. Completed on August 27, 2022.

By the way, a haywain is a hay wagon – I had to look it up.

Buttons, 2022-08-22

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After a slightly disappointing puzzle, I chose one that is pretty much disappointment proof. Lots of text, food, and silly word games. I loved it!

Buttons by David Olenick, Cobble Hill, 1000 pieces. Completed on August 22, 2022.

It seems almost impossible to choose a favourite, but that stack of pancakes with “I regret nothing” really resonates with me 🙂

Say Cheese!, 2022-08-18

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Doro Göber and Peter Knorr have done several cartoon cities for Heye, but this is the first I’ve done. This is definitely a Dutch city, and most likely Amsterdam. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy this as much as I expected to. It wasn’t the puzzle, it was me, the puzzle is fine, and has lots of interesting details.

Say Cheese! by Doro Göber & Peter Knorr, Heye, 1500 pieces. Completed on August 19, 2022.

I also found a football reference: on the newspaper boat, it says “Oranje in de finale”, The Orange in the final. Oranje usually means the Dutch national football team, and they were in the world cup final in South Africa in 2010 (they lost to Spain). On the larger boat you can also see fans dressed in orange.

Plan 9 From Outer Space, 2022-08-12

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This was my first Zee puzzle, and I was not optimistic about the quality, but it turned out out to be all right. There’s a good mix of piece shapes and I had no problems with false fits. The pieces are a bit on the thin side, but OK. Overall, it reminds me of Trefl. The box was big enough to hold 2000 pieces.

Plan 9 From Outer Space, Zee, 500 pieces. Completed on August 12, 2022.

This was easier than I expected. I did the text first, then everything that wasn’t blue, and finally the sky, progressing from light to darker blue. Great fun!

I must say, the quality of the poster seems to match the quality of the movie. Especially poor Vampira looks off:

Incidentally, Vampira was portrayed by Maila Nurmi, whose family had emigrated to the US from Finland.

Off On Holiday!, 2022-08-08

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As it happens, I do have the next three weeks off, and I have no plans, which is the best kind of holiday.

This great image by Loup is part of this year’s releases, but I’m pretty sure it’s not the first release of this image as puzzle. Great fun, of course!

Off On Holiday! by Loup, Heye, 500 pieces. Completed on August 8, 2022.

Kirppu-Thor, 2022-08-10

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The title is a play on words, because flea market in Finnish is “kirpputori”, but here the last part “tori” (market) has been replaced by Thor, a god in Norse mythology. The image is from a children’s book in the Tatu and Patu series (I wrote about Tatu and Patu here).

Kirppu-Thor by Aino Havukainen & Sami Toivonen, Peliko, 1000 pieces. Completed on August 10.

Busy images often lead to me spending too much time looking at the box, but here it was more “Ooh, I just saw the other half of this lamp”, followed by a happy reunion. This was a perfect image, and I enjoyed it immensely despite crappy Peliko quality with false fits.

[Old Ads], 2022-08-08

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Prisma is a chain of hypermarkets in Finland, belonging to the S-group. They’ve recently put out a series of puzzles manufactured by Tactic. This is absolutely the best of the images, the others are black and white. The quality was also much better than I have seen from Tactic lately, no risk of placing a piece wrong, and the finish is very pleasant. I really don’t understand why Tactic keeps putting out subpar puzzles, they are clearly capable of doing much better.

[Old Ads], Tactic, 1000 pieces. Completed on August 8, 2022.

Unfortunately, I had to cancel my trip to Freiburg, because I got sick. Probably not Corona, the two tests I’ve done were negative, but still really annoying.

Matcha Tea, 2022-08-07

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This was fun! Sometimes, I like to do puzzles, where I never have to think about what to do next. With this it was really obvious, I did the fluid first, then the powder, then the utensils. After that, I filled in the black parts, then finally the green background. Loved it!

Matcha Tea, Clementoni, 1000 pieces. Completed on August 7, 2022.