Tag: 2020

Jyty – Union of the Century, 2020-08-06

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For some reason, I like promotional puzzles. This puzzle was released in honour of the 100th anniversary of a trade union representing local government workers in Finland (Jyty is the acronym in Finnish).

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Jyty – Union of the Century, 1000 pieces. Completed on August 6, 2020.

Below Jyty, it says “Union of the century”, and below that “impressive (or influential) past – bright future”. The first word conveys that the work of the union to improve working conditions has been successful, but I can’t quite find the right word in English.

There was no indication of who had produced the puzzle, but it says “Made in Finland” on the box, and the quality is very like Peliko, which means fair but not good. Pieces will fit where they don’t belong, but there’s a good mix of piece shapes. Only the dark area at the bottom was difficult, otherwise, it was quite a pleasant puzzle. I like the idea of having people in historical dress on the left and modern dress on the right. The building behind the 20th Century workers is Helsinki City Hall, but I don’t recognize the modern building on the right.

Eiffel Tower, Paris, 2020-06-15

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An image of the Eiffel Tower. It was OK, and since it’s a Jumbo, I was happy to have different colours in the sky (I find it’s easy to place pieces wrong with Jumbo). Probably would not have enjoyed this in a larger piece count.

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Eiffel Tower, Paris, Jumbo, 500 pieces. Completed on June 15, 2020.

More Exit Puzzles

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I started on my new Exit puzzles! The Unicorn in the middle is the ninth puzzle in the series, and so far the last with 759 pieces. The newest puzzles in the series have only 368 pieces, but the puzzles are as big as the ones with a larger piece count. The pieces must be huge, because the 759-piece puzzles already have pieces that are bigger than normal.

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I finished the Unicorn, and there is now a dedicated spoiler page for it. I managed to lose a piece, but otherwise, it was perhaps more enjoyable than I had expected. The backstory is that in an enchanted forest in Ireland, I come across a sad unicorn that has lost its magic after fighting an evil wizard. So, of course, I have to help the unicorn.

I haven’t started on the “smaller” ones yet, but I’ll be very intersted to see if they work the same way as the earlier puzzles in the series, or if there is something new. I can’t really go into details without spoilers 🙂

Sailing Ship, 2020-06-13

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Great, older Ravensburger from 1984. I bought this knowing there was one piece missing, but it was still a joy to put together. I just love the unique pieces where you always know if a piece belongs or not and the perfect fit.

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Sailing Ship by Roger Chapelet, Ravensburger, 1500 pieces. Completed on June 13, 2020.

There was no mention of the artist on the box (only of the photographer), but fortunately, the signature is very clear. The artist is French maritime painter Roger Chapelet, and the ship is called Terpsichore.

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I couldn’t find this painting online, but I found a similar one with a different ship by the same painter, and that was said to depict Hong Kong. I think this is also Hong Kong, it’s definitely in East Asia, as you can see from the Chinese junks in the harbour.

Great puzzle, I’m getting more and more fond of maritime images.

The Periodic Table of the Elements, 2020-06-03

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This is one of my all-time favourite puzzles. I’ve done it once before, but then it spent a lot of time in the library where I work and several other people did it, and I wanted to check that all the pieces are still there. They are! This will definitely not be the last time I do this puzzle.

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The Periodic Table of the Elements, Eurographics, 1000 pieces. Completed on June 3, 2020.

Sea of Blossom, 2020-06-02

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Another Rosina Wachtmeister image, this time just 500 pieces. Again, I had a feeling that this should have been more entertaining than it was. I love the image, but somehow, it wasn’t that great of a puzzle to me. I know others feel differently, as there are plenty of puzzles in this series.

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Sea of Blossom by Rosina Wachtmeister, Heye, 500 pieces. Completed on June 2, 2020.

Four pieces in the top row were damaged.

New Arcade, 2020-05-31

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This was the second time I’ve done this puzzle. The first time I found it really difficult, surprisingly so, and I was interested to see if it felt the same way the second time around. Also, I’m going to sell this and needed to check that all the pieces are still there 🙂

It did still feel more difficult than it should be, but not as bad the first time. I guess this is one of those images that I really like, but for some reason, it just isn’t as much fun as a puzzle as it should be. But that’s just me, there are probably lots of people who enjoyed this.

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New Arcade by Rosina Wachtmeister, Heye, 1000 pieces. Completed on May 31, 2020.

Bella Italia, 2020-07-04

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One great thing on my recent trip to Dortmund was getting to all the puzzles that I hadn’t seen for four months. I had forgotten so much of what was there that it was almost like getting 100+ new puzzles all at once 🙂 This is the first one I did, and it was lovely.

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Bella Italia by Gerold Como, Ravensburger, 500 pieces. Completed on July 4th, 2020.

At first, I thought Villa Como was a reference to the famous lake Como, but then I realized that the artist is called Como, so that’s probably the explanation.

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Catch a Wave, 2020-05-30

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I loved every minute of this! I like doing water, and there’s plenty of that here. Also, I like the panorama format.

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Catch a Wave by Scott Christensen, Ravensburger, 1000 pieces. Completed on May 30, 2020.

There were two extra pieces from some other puzzle(s). They look like Clementoni pieces. I got this puzzle in a large lot of about 40, and there are plenty of Clementonis in there, so perhaps I’ll be able to repatriate these two yet 🙂

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The Devil Is a Woman, 2020-05-26

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This is a poster from a 1935 Marlene Dietrich movie called The Devil is a Woman. I actually have the DVD and watched it while working on the puzzle. I didn’t like the movie the first time around, and it was no better now. I found the story misogynistic in the extreme, not because Dietrich played an unscrupulous woman who charmed men to get money out of them, but because it was portrayed as perfectly natural that an infatuated man would try to use his money to control her, and then beat her when it failed. I mean, that poor man, what else could he do? Bleh.

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The Devil Is a Woman, D-Toys, 1000 pieces. Completed on May 26, 2020.

Anyway, the puzzle was nice, although the fan-thing (the movie was set in Spain) behind her head was pretty hard. I’m glad it wasn’t any bigger 🙂 And yes, Marlene Dietrich was supposed to be Spanish.