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.

A Note To the Past, 2020-08-09

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My third Art Puzzle, and this time the fit was good again. It was a bit off in my second one,  but this was excellent quality. The image wasn’t all that easy, of course, the colours aren’t exactly bright, but it was still a nice puzzle. There were a lot of white pieces, even bits of the table looked white. A few words on the paper would have been nice 🙂

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A Note To the Past, Art Puzzle, 1000 pieces. Completed on August 9, 2020.

I have fond memories of this type of storm lamp, we had a lot of them at our summer cottage. We did have electricity, but not all that much, so we kept that for essentials like fridge and TV in order not to overload the system.

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Venezia, 2020-10-20

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Venezia, Clementoni, 500 pieces. Completed on October 20, 2020.

This is part of a Clementoni series of puzzles with what they call a “wood-effect”, and on the box it even says “Wood Puzzle”. It’s not of wood, though, just ordinary cardboard, and the “wood effect” consists of the pieces having grooves that make it look like wood:

I know I’ve said many times that I’ve never met a 500-piece Clementoni that I didn’t like, but I’m afraid that run came to end with this one. The image (of Venice) was darker than on the box, and the grooves affected the fit, so that it was difficult to know whether a piece belongs or not. Good thing I got this cheap. It seems the series has been discontinued, and I won’t be getting any more of them in any case.

Ani in the Afterlife in Front of Osiris, 2020-10-01

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This was a great puzzle, definitely a genuine image from an Egyptian Book of the Dead. Ani has arrived in the afterlife and is now to be judged by Osiris. I have no idea what that thing on Ani’s head is, but it looks like the flash on a police car to me 🙂

Ani in the Afterlife in Front of Osiris, Grafika, 1000 pieces. Completed on October 1, 2020.

It was a fun as a puzzle, even though it’s not all that colourful, but there were a lot of different patterns. Loved it!

Ginger & Fred, 2020-08-23

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This is post number 500 on my blog! I missed my two-year anniversary at the end of October, despite WordPress reminding me, but here’s a dancing house to celebrate both post no 500 and two years 🙂

Funny image by RJ Crisp. I was surprised to find out that this house actually exists, in Prague. It’s usually called the Dancing House, althoug the American architect used the name Ginger and Fred as a working name (after Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, of course. More on wikipedia).

Ginger & Fred RJ Crisp, Heye, 1000 pieces. Completed on August 23, 2020.

Some boys are mooning the city from a tram.

Hippes get a surprise hair cut.

Not a neighbor I would choose…

Great fun!

Suomi – Finland, 2020-04-06

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Today is independence day in Finland, so here is an extra post with a puzzle to match.

A Ravensburger collage with images from Finland. Finland is called Suomi in Finnish. The bottom image on the left shows the tower of the National Museum, and on the left is Parliament House (it just looks like a grey block here). The top image on the right shows Olavinlinna, a 15th Century castle located in Savonlinna. Every summer it is the scene of an international opera festival. Underneath is an image of Helsinki seen from the sea, then a landscape from Lapland (I think), and on the bottom, I think there are fisherman’s huts.

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Suomi – Finland, Ravensburger, 1000 pieces. Completed on April 6, 2020.

I loved doing this, it was so much fun, and, of course, brilliant quality.

This is probably what many people think of when they think of Finland, a cottage in an isolated winter wonderland.

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Helsinki is definitely at its most beautiful when seen from the sea.

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This autumn landscape is probably from Lapland.

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I don’t usually do borders first, but it worked well with this puzzle.

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Coral Reef, 2020-06-19

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I think this is my first underwater image, and I wasn’t all that impressed. Strange, because I really like images of the sea, but apparently, I prefer the images to be above sea level. I did enjoy the panorama format, though.

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Coral Reef, Clementoni, 1000 pieces. Completed on June 19, 2020.

Gin Puzzle, 2020-11-25

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This is a wonderful puzzle from (new?) UK brand Talking Tables. I’ve never come across one of theirs before. It was expensive, but worth it. From the photo on Amazon I thought all the pieces would be of the same basic shape, but there was actually a good mix of piece shapes. The pieces were thick with a waxy finish. The best thing about this was of course the image. I happen to like gin 🙂

Gin Puzzle, Talking Tables, 500 pieces. Completed on November 25, 2020.

Political Map of Europe, 2020-11-07

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I’m a little late today, because I wanted to be able to report that I’ve safely arrived in Helsinki, and now I have. I took a ferry from Travemünde to Helsinki, and the ferry was late, but I’m here now, and I’ve finally got all of my stuff from the car into my flat. I’m not moving a finger anymore today :-).

Great little Ravensburger with a map of Europe. I like maps, as long as there isn’t too much water.

Political Map of Europe, Ravensburger, 500 pieces. Completed on November 7, 2020.

Lübeck-Helsinki, 2020-09-19

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Early next week, I will be returning to Helsinki with a ferry from Travemünde (a borough of Lübeck), and I found this puzzle that shows that the route has been popular for a long time 🙂

All of the city names are in Swedish or German (which is why it says Helsingfors instead of Helsinki, and Reval instead of Tallinn), and the text is in German. The puzzle is part of a Tactic series called Come to Finland, featuring old travel adverts for Finland.

Lübeck-Helsinki, Tactic, 1000 pieces. Completed on September 19, 2020.

I looked up some of the ships mentioned to try and date the poster, and it seems that the ships mentioned, Linnea and Storfursten (“The Grand Duke”), were both on this route from 1892 until the first world war. Interesting, and also lots of fun as a puzzle.