Tag: 2020

Banjo, 2020-06-06

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This is a new puzzle, very new, actually. Heye marks the production date on the bag, and this was made in April this year. It’s unusual to get puzzles so fast, but when it happens, it’s always from my local puzzle shop Lautapelit.fi in Helsinki. They often have German puzzles available here before even the German online stores do.

Anyway, the puzzle is from the Zozoville series. When the puzzles with adorable monsters first appeared, I wasn’t all that interested, but they’ve grown on me.

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Banjo, Heye, 1000 pieces. Completed on June 6, 2020.

This is probably not the easiest of the series. When I first spread out the pieces, they all looked the same, but after staring at them for a while I began to see the differences. There’s enough variation even in the background, it just takes a while to see it.

The quality was excellent again, which is good news. I had a Heye from 2016 with very thin pieces, but they seem to be back to their old, great quality again.

Broadway Musical Collection, 2020-04-18

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A collage of playbills for Broadway musicals. This was a great puzzle and my first from Endless Games. I’m happy to report that the quality was excellent and the cut random.

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Broadway Musical Collection, Endless Games, 1000 pieces. Completed on April 18, 2020.

Most of these musicals are known to me either through movies, or not at all. I think the only one I’ve seen as a live performance is Cats. It wasn’t on Broadway, of course, but in Helsinki, probably in the early ’80s. I wasn’t all that interested, but a friend wanted to go.

I think Mary Poppins is the best image. I’ve seen the movie, obviously. Also, it’s one of only two entries with the text showbill – most of them have playbill, and I have no idea if it’s the same thing or if there’s a difference.

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Dirty Rotten Scoundrels also has a good poster.

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I love Monty Python, I think I have all the movies and the TV series.

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No title? Seems a bit pretentious to me. Is it supposed to be the Phantom of the Opera?

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I’ve seen the movie Hair by Milos Foreman, and I was impressed as a teenager, but I rewatched it a few years ago, and it hasn’t aged well, at least not for me.

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I didn’t realize Grease was originally a Broadway musical but I guess I should have known. The movie was a big hit and I was a huge fan. I had a cassette with all the songs. While doing this puzzle I was listening to Christine by Stephen King, and there’s a mention that the movie version of Grease came out 🙂

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Another movie I really liked, Cabaret with Liza Minnelli. Seems like a bleak picture to represent Cabaret.

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It probably goes without saying that I loved this puzzle!

 

Wildlife, 2020-04-16

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This wasn’t all that easy, but I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to. It turned out to be one of my favourite Mordillo images. It’s a classic, the oldest edition I can find is a 2000-piece version from 1991, but this is from 2016 (it said October 2016 on the bag, but on the box, it says copyright 2017).  I managed to lose a piece.

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Wildlife by Mordillo, Heye, 1000 pieces. Completed on April 16, 2020.

The crocodile was the easiest to pick out the pieces for.

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Newspaper readers.

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Lion and sheep waltzing along 🙂

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The pieces were thinner than usual for a Heye, but not as bad as this. The fit was excellent, but I prefer a bit thicker pieces. Thankfully, it seems that the Heye releases from this year are back to the excellent, old quality 🙂

Potsdam, 2020-04-13

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My first Pelikan puzzle. I know Pelikan only as a maker of ink and pens, and I don’t think they make puzzles anymore. And that is a pity, as this was a very good quality puzzle with thick, sturdy pieces. Some of the pieces were a bit worn, this puzzle has been put together many times before, but I think it can go a few more rounds 🙂

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Potsdam, Pelikan, 500 pieces. Completed on April 13, 2020.

Colorful Marina, 2020-04-12

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Nice little Ravensburger puzzle. I did the sky first, the boats in the foreground next and the village last. Enjoyable, even though the image isn’t all that exciting 🙂

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Colorful Marina, Ravensburger, 500 pieces. Completed on April 12, 2020.

I recently put a bunch of puzzles up for sale, and within a few hours, no less than three people wanted to buy this. Makes me think I’ve missed something 🙂 Seriously though, I’ve sold puzzles before, but this time it was crazy. Within 16 hours there were only 4 puzzles of 27 left that were not sold or reserved. I guess it’s true a lot of people are getting into puzzles right now 🙂

 

Les Fêtes de Paris, 1886, 2020-04-11

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A poster for an opera “gala” in Paris in 1886 by Eugène Grasset. It made for a very enjoyable puzzle, and it was just the right amount of challenging. I loved it! I did the text with the yellow background first, that was easy to pick out, but as for the rest, I just picked a few pieces with the same colouring and got a few pieces in here and there.

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Les Fêtes de Paris, 1886 by Eugène Grasset

A funny thing happened at the start. I did the edges first and thought I was done, but pretty far into the puzzle I noticed that I had placed one of the edge pieces wrong and that I was still missing (at least) one edge piece. As soon as I knew I was missing an edge piece, I found it almost immediately, although I had gone over the pieces many times already and not seen the edge piece. Sometimes I think I always find the pieces I’m not looking for, but this time it worked like it’s supposed to 🙂

The coat of arms of Paris, which has actually already made an appearance on this blog:

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The Latin phrase Fluctuat nec mergitur means “It is tossed [by the waves] but does not sink”

Brilliant Blue, 2020-03-21

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Another colour collage from the Andrea Tilk Collection. I’ve done the yellow and the red before. They have all been really enjoyable, and not nearly as difficult as you might think with mostly shades of the same colour. The variation in texture is enough to distinguish the different objects, and the puzzles are actually quite easy. This is perhaps the easiest, there is even some text. Loved it!

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Brilliant Blue by Andrea Tilk, Heye, 500 pieces. Completed on March 21, 2020.

 

Clever Women Are Dangerous Too, 2020-02-23

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When I bought this online, I thought the image was a photograph, but it turns out, it’s an illustration. I love the image! It would have been challenging with a larger piece count, but with 500 pieces it was quite easy.

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Clever Women Are Dangerous Too by Joe de Mers, Clementoni, 500 pieces. Completed on February 23rd, 2020.

Googling the title I found out that both the title and the image are apparently from a magazine story by Jon Cleary, from 1950. “He was afraid of being trapped by some gorgeous birdbrain. He forgot that CLEVER WOMEN ARE DANGEROUS TOO“. I also found the name of the artist in the magazine, there is no mention of him on the box, and I couldn’t read the signature. Old magazine illustrations as puzzles is a great idea!

Blue Thoughts, 2020-03-25

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I really enjoyed this! It’s my second 350-piece Peliko with three different piece sizes, and I was expecting to have the big pieces on top like last time. What I didn’t think of was that the first puzzle was portrait format, whereas this is landscape, so instead, I have the big pieces on the left. I like the way the smallest pieces are in the bottom right-hand corner, and the further away you get from the large, sleeping goat, the larger the pieces become 🙂 Definitely more fun than I expected.

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Blue Thoughts, Peliko, 350 pieces. Completed on March 25, 2020.

 

Cordoba, 2020-03-21

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Another Clementoni 500-piecer, enjoyable as always. This is a bit older (no more than about 20 years, there’s a website address on the box), and the cardboard is thicker than with the newer puzzles. The top layer has separated on some of the tabs, this is something I’ve seen before with older Clementonis.

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Cordoba, Clementoni, 500 pieces. Completed on March 21, 2020.