This is one of the best puzzles I’ve done this year, I absolutely loved it! Obviously, the image is appealing, but that doesn’t always result in a great puzzling experience, but this time, it absolutely did.
Magic Potions, 2022-06-22
Vintage Still Life, 2024-06-21
This was a bit more difficult than I was expecting, but still I nice puzzle.
Corto Maltese, 2024-06-21
Corto Maltese is a classic Italian adventure comic where the eponymous hero has various adventures in the early 20th Century. The first album was published in the late 60s. I’ve never read Corto Maltese, but a fried of mine is a fan, and after doing the puzzle, I think I might try one. I enjoyed the puzzle a lot, and I can see that Hugo Pratt was a very talented illustrator. Also, wikipedia tells me that Boris Karloff was his great uncle!
Little Sun: Engage, 2024-06-18
The seconf puzzle in the Little Sun series, this was also nice. By the way, unlike some other round Ravensburger puzzles, these do not have a poster. I wouldn’t have used it anyway, but I know some people like them.
Eames Design Classics, 2024-06-18
This puzzle with designs from American designer couple Charles and Ray Eames was so much fun! There are a couple of other puzzles in the series, and I’m definitely getting them as well. The lounge chair and ottoman in the middle definitely look familiar, although I’m not sure if I ever sat in one.
Little Sun: Feel, 2024-06-16
Little Sun is an organization whose vision is “Universal access to clean energy”, and Ravensburger has published three puzzles in this series. This was a very enjoyable and easy puzzle, loved it!
Footballissimo, 2024-06-15
Euro 2024 started on Friday, and I already finished my football puzzle for the tournament! A newer version of this image by Mordillo is currently available as a 4000 piece puzzle, but I’ve decided long ago that that’s more than my sanity can handle. This is an older version, and since it says 1982 on the box, it was probably produced for the 1982 World Cup in Spain. I don’t think I could handle more than 1500 pieces of this. The fit was, by the way, very loose, even for Heye. I started with the colourful text at the bottom, and then I completed the goals and the audience. The most difficult part was the playing field, and I relied on the image a lot.
There were lots of players that I’ve never heard of, but some old favourites as well. On the fence there’s a banner for Beckenbauer (Germany), who had already ended his career as a player by 1982. He died in January this year. Also on the fence is a banner for Platini (France), who was one of the stars of 1982. Roberto de Vicenzo is not a footballer, but an Argentinian golfer – Mordillo was also a fan of golf 🙂
Paolo Rossi (on the umbrella) turned out to be the tournament winner for Italy in 1982, and I had quite a few pictures of him on my wall.
I love the little guy in the middle!
Snow White, 2024-06-10
This is a puzzle from the Disney Castle Collection, where there’s Disney princess and a cross-section of her castle. I always thought they looked like they would be entertaining puzzles, and recently a Finnish discounter offered them all for a very good price. I ended up ordering all ten of them. Of the ten, I only know two of the princesses (Snow White and Cinderella). Anything by Disney produced after ca. 1980 is most likely unknown to me.
I ended up doing the rooms of the castle last, and I started with the sky.
The fateful mirror:
In the cellar, there was a room with magical potions (I assume), and with shackles and a skeleton in a corner.
Masquerade, 2024-06-07
When I was spreading out the pieces for this one, I was expecting it would be a bit of a chore, but I really liked it. With this kind of image, you do end up looking at the box image quite a lot, but I didn’t mind.
There are a surprising number of cats in the puzzle, and many masks were worn by cats, not by people:
Here are some of my favourites:
This puzzle was produced in 2016, just around the time that Heye had a bit of a drop in quality. Unfortunately, this puzzle is affected, and the pieces were on the thin side, and the puzzle feels uneven when you run your hand over it. Not too bad, but the current Heye puzzles are better.
The Picnic Party, 2024-06-03
I really enjoyed this, but in a larger piece count, it would have been difficult. In my puzzle group, the monthly bonus challenge for June is:
The monthly challenges are communicated like this, although I think I would prefer words. Anyway, I took it to mean a summery scene.
I found the missing piece (in my bed) , but only after I had taken the puzzle apart and marked the box. Oh well.
Puzzler1909 