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.

Himmel, 2022-04-02

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I managed to finish Himmel. This was so much more difficult than I expected it to be. It became more entertaining towards the end, but somehow, I also expected this to be more fun than it actually was. The image is a painting from 1914-1915 by American modernist Marsden Hartley, who was in Berlin at the time. The title, “Himmel”, is also present in the image, and it’s German for sky or heaven. In this case, it’s should probably be translated as heaven, as there is another word in the painting, Hölle, which is German for hell.

Himmel by Marsden Hartley, Grafika, 1500 pieces. Completed on April 2, 2022.

Motoring Memorabilia, 2022-03-30

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For some reason, I really enjoy puzzling vehicles, not just cars, but trains and ships as well. Otherwise, I’ve never been that interested in cars, but I love them in puzzles. Add some signs with text, and I’m pretty much guaranteed to love a puzzle – and I did!

Motoring Memorabilia by Janice Daughters, Gibsons, 1000 pieces. Completed on March 30, 2022.

Colosseo (Roma), 2022-03-28

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My second puzzle of the Colosseum in Rome, I think, and I still one in my to-do pile. Not an exciting image, but it was an entertaining puzzle nonetheless. I did the sky first (not really hard, the Clementoni cut is excellent), and the dark trees last.

Colosseo (Roma), Clementoni, 1000 pieces. Completed on March 28, 2022.

Chupa Chups, 2022-03-27

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This was a lovely puzzle, even though lollipops aren’t really my favourite kind of candy. Vintage ads are always fun!

Chupa Chups, Ravensburger, 1000 pieces. Completed on March 27, 2022.

This one with the old TV is my favourite:

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a vending machine just for lollipops 🙂

Towards the Captain’s Table, 2022-03-26

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I finished it! Most of the time I prefer to do much easier puzzles, but I actually really enjoyed this. While the large majority of pieces were of the basic two tabs opposite-type, the actual cut was distinct enough to be a big help. There were tabs and holes of all sizes and shapes, and if there hadn’t been, this puzzle would not have been very enjoyable, brute-forcing 700 pieces isn’t much fun. Also, the pieces only fit where they belong, and many times I didn’t even need two points of contact. Of course, I was also prepared for it to be pretty slow, but still I was surprised how much I enjoyed this. There was a lot of fist-pumping and triumphant shouts while I was doing it 🙂 Next, I’m definitely going to do something easy and colourful!

Towards the Captain’s Table by Kaj Stenvall, Tactic, 1000 pieces. Completed on March 26, 2022.

Towards the Captain’s Table, In Progress & Shopping

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I’ve now done all of the bits that are not 100% white. It’s slow, but not too frustrating. I might decide to take a break and do something a bit more colourful before I’m finished with this.

I recently found a new Finnish online toy store, Lelukatti, with a pretty good selection of puzzles, and since they had a sale on, I went a bit wild:

They also sent me some chocolate with the puzzles, a very nice touch!

Towards the Captain’s Table, Starting

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There are two puzzles in the Kaj Stenvall collection that are mostly white, and this is the easier one of those two. I pulled the edge pieces, and I’ll start with that. Usually I save the edges for when I’m unsure what to do next (or for the very end if there’s a border), but that point came really early with this one. Wish me luck, and don’t expect to hear from me for a while!

The Lord Sleeps, 2022-03-21

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Back to the Kaj Stenvall puzzles. I only noticed that there are two ducks in the bed when I started on the puzzle – the smaller one has no pillow, so I expect the bigger duck is the lord.

The Lord Sleeps by Kaj Stenvall, Tactic, 1000 pieces. Completed on March 21, 2022.

The puzzle is one of the better quality Tactics, and there was enough variations in colour to make it reasonably easy. I bought it second hand, and it has clearly been assembled a few times, there was a bit of lift, but I was happy to find all pieces present.

Himmel, In Progress

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Here’s another typical example of a puzzle that I expected to be much easier than it turned out. I actually thought I would be able to finish it before leaving Dortmund, but that definitely didn’t happen. My next visit will be a short weekend trip, so I may even have to wait until Easter until it’s finished.

The image is a painting by American modernist Marsden Hartley.