Puzzle Challenge 2025

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I’m doing the puzzle challenge in my Finnish FB group again this year, and here are the items for 2025:

Puzzle Challenge 2025
1. Selfie
2. Bridge
3. Upside Down/reflection
4. A peek inside
5. A puzzle that I no longer understand why I bought
6. Delicacy
7. North America
8. Winter Sport
9. Several pieces missing
10. Uneven number of pieces
11. Recognizable breed of dog
12. A brand I don’t like
13. Campfire
14. Frog
15. Statue
16. Edges last
17. Makes me laugh
18. Library / book case
19. White
20. (Cartoon) Hero
21. (Cartoon) Villain
22. No people or animals
23. Borrowed
24. Fits at least 4 items on the list
25. Minipuzzle (less than 100 pieces)
26. Panorama
27. Mountain
28. 2 puzzles of the same city (1)
29. 2 puzzles of the same city (2)
30. Puzzle published in 2025

I think I have a puzzle for most of the items, although “several pieces missing” is, of course, out of my control, since I won’t be throwing any pieces out to cross this off my list 🙂 It might be tricky to find a puzzle that fits four items, and my hero / villain probably won’t be from a cartoon, but I won’t have to shop much for the challenge.

Stats

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A bit late, but here’s my stats for 2024. I completed 129 puzzles, and placed 115 448 pieces, down from the previous year’s 130 puzzles and 120 000 pieces. The largest puzzle I did was 3000 pieces, but I’m counting it as two 1500 pieces here, because that’s the way I completed it. Here’s the breakdown according to piece count:

No changes here, it’s still mostly 1000 and 500 piece puzzles. Next the breakdown by brand:

Ravensburger continues to increase (it was at 27% for 2023), and Clementoni and Heye are tied in second place. The only reason Tactic made fourth place is that I finished the Stenvall duck puzzles, and I’m not forseeing many Tactic puzzles in 2025.

As for my continuing struggle to place more pieces than I bring in, I failed again. I placed 115 448 pieces and acquired 141 499 pieces. Oh well, I’ll try again this year.

Ferrari California, 2024-12-18

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Even though I have little interest in cars otherwise, I love puzzling them for some reason. I also like trains and boats, and pretty much any form of transport.

This was a lovely puzzle, and I did it pretty much top to bottom. The red bits turned out to be the most difficult, so I did that last. Two missing pieces, but they’re quite hard to spot, because they’re both mostly black.

Ferrari California, Clementoni, 1000 pieces. Completed on December 18, 2024.

Heye 2025 Catalogue

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The Heye catalogue for 2025 is out, and you can download it here! Looks like it might be an expensive year… There’s a new Funky Zoo puzzle (Desert Habitat), and also a new similar series of a street where the different puzzles fit together. The concept is by Marino Degano, but the puzzles are by different artists. I’m definitely getting the Degano section:

There are some nice new puzzles in the Home series by Norman O’Flynn, and a new puzzle in the Inner Mystic series by Andy Kehoe, and I will probably have to get all of these.

I also like the look of the new series Fly High! by Nathalie Bräutigam:

There are also a few new Zozoville puzzles, and the Wanted series has been resurrected (you are supposed to locate a criminal in the puzzle, missing on the box, of course; I wrote about it here).

All in all a very impressive line-up!

Yogaland, 2024-11-06

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After many years of intensive puzzling, I’ve now eased up a bit, and spent more time watching movies. I still puzzle, and whatever I do put together will end up here eventually.

This is one of the 2024 Heye puzzles by my favourite artist Marino Degano.

Yogaland by Marino Degano, Heye, 1500 pieces. Completed on November 6, 2024.

No phones allowed in Yogaland:

There’s a very qualified instructor for the cobra pose:

As usual, there’s a puzzle, but I can’t make out which one this time:

Even in Yogaland there are murders, it seems:

There is a performance by Lady Yogaga to look forward to:

Unsurprisingly, I loved this puzzle and all the funny details!