Tag: 2021

Ballooning, 2021-08-08

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Great image by Loup. This came together much faster than I expected. Unfortunately, the quality wasn’t great. The pieces are thin, and the puzzle won’t lie flat, just like Rocket Launch, 2020-01-13. There was also a block of four pieces that were stuck together, because the cardboard had not been cut all the way through. Not what I expect from Heye. Like Rocket Launch, this puzzle is also from 2016, so Heye was definitely experimenting with lowering quality then. Fortunately, they seem to have got over it now. Unfortunately, there’s no easy way of telling which puzzles are like this, there are also versions of Rocket Launch that are perfectly fine. Quality may wary in different runs.

Ballooning by Loup, Heye, 1000 pieces. Completed on August 8, 2021.

This was my last puzzle in Helsinki for quite some time. On Wednesday, I’m finally beginning my vacation, and me and my car will again take a ferry to Travemünde, from where I will drive to Dortmund, where I’m planning to remain for about two months. I might have something to post in about a week.

Viivi and Wagner, 2021-08-07

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Viivi and Wagner is a Finnish comic strip by Jussi Tuomola. It features a couple consisting of a woman called Viivi, and a pig called Wagner. Wagner is a pig in more ways than one. The first strips came out in 1992, and it’s still ongoing.

Viivi and Wagner, Tactic, 1000 pieces. Completed on August 7, 2021.

The puzzle is one of the better Tactics, the newer ones are unfortunately of lesser quality (and often ribbon cut). The older ones are grid cut, with a good mix of piece shapes and sturdy pieces. The quality here reminded me of Piatnik. The green background took a while, but it wasn’t too bad.

By the way, I found the lost piece from my previous puzzle, the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. It was in the laundry and was lucky it didn’t end up in the washing machine. I think it’s the first time a find a piece in the laundry.

Helsinki Olympic Stadium, 2021-08-04

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A puzzle from 2005 with the Helsinki Olympic Stadium, on honour of the Athletics World Championships. I bought this for the princely sum of 1 EUR at a flea market that had a bunch of these puzzles, all factory sealed. One piece missing (edge piece in top row).

Helsinki Olympic Stadium,1000 pieces. Completed on August 4, 2021.

The puzzle itself was much better than I expected, reasonably sturdy pieces, good mix of piece shape and OK fit. No indication where or by whom the puzzle was produced on the box. The image was a bit blurry, it wasn’t quite good enough to blow up to puzzle size.

The stadium was originally built in 1938 for the 1940 Olympics, but those games never took place, of course, and the stadium was finally used for its intended purpose in 1952. It recently went through extensive renovations, lasting several years. Unlike in this photo, all of the seating is now covered. When the original benches were taken out, anyone who wanted to could go and get a piece for themselves. That was a nice idea, and I’m sure much appreciated by people who have fond memories of the stadium. There was also a funny incident when they found an old wallet. The owner was eventually found and the girl who lost the wallet in 1990, when she was 13, got it back 27 years later. Here’s the story in Finnish.

UPDATE 8.8.: I found the little bastard! It was in my laundry, lucky it didn’t end up in the washing machine.

The Hallucinogenic Toreador, 2021-08-01

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Another Dalí painting, they really make great puzzles. I thought this might be difficult, and after doing the red and green cloth (?) I did have a moment of not quite knowing what to do next. I ended up completing the edges, and after that I just put a few pieces in here and there with no real plan, which is my favourite way of puzzling.

The Hallucinogenic Toreador by Salvador Dalí, Piatnik, 1000 pieces. Completed on August 1, 2021.

Wondrous Journey, 2021-07-30

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Wonderful image in the Inner Mystic series by Andy Kehoe. Like the first Inner Mystic puzzle I did, this wasn’t half as hard as it looks. I did the middle without trees first, then I finshed the edges, and finally the trees.

Wondrous Journey by Andy Kehoe, Heye, 1000 pieces. Completed on July 30, 2021.

I absolutely loved this, the image is great, and the quality is fantastic. I had a bad experience with a recent Heye last year, but since then, every Heye I’ve done has been excellent. Interestingly, the quality of Heye is now better than 20 years ago when they had a very loose fit. I bet not many brands can say that they’re better now than 20 years ago 🙂

There are currently four puzzles in the Inner Mystic series and I have them all, but I’ve only done two.

Howe Bicycles, 2021-07-28

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Great puzzle in the D-Toy Vintage Posters-series. The vehicle pictured is actually a tricycle, of course. Not sure if “Glascow” is misspelled, or if this was correct in French in the 19th Century. It could even refer to some other place, not Glasgow, as I’m assuming.

Howe Bicycles, D-Toys, 1000 pieces. Completed on July 28, 2021.

I started from the bottom and worked upwards. The cut is great, I especially like having the two-tabs-opposite type pieces being a minority. It’s also good in the sense that it’s precise, although where the image is no help you do need two points of contact.

Transylvanian Habitat, 2021-07-25

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Another puzzle in the Funky Zoo series by Marino Degano, and perhaps my favourite of the ones I’ve done so far. (I have all nine Funky Zoo puzzles, but I’ve only done 5.) The date on the bag says May 2021, so a very fresh puzzle.

Transylvanian Habitat by Marino Degano, Heye, 1000 pieces. Completed on July 25, 2021.

This puzzle somehow had the perfect balance of having lots of funny details, but not being too busy. It came together really quickly.

The only way to arrive in Transylvania:

You can (probably should) buy some garlic before you enter. Nearby, some rabbits are making their friends pass out from garlic breath.

A blind vampire meets a blind man. Also notice the little vampire fish.

The tireless cleaning woman present in all Funky Zoo puzzles has her work cut out for her with a blood fountain.

Someone has put a puzzle in the trash! I can actually make out what puzzle it is, it’s Dog’s Life, also by Marino Degano, and in a triangular box by Heye. I’ve done it, and still have it. I’m also happy that there will be more Funky Zoo puzzles, they are great!

The Laboratory, 2021-07-24

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I did the Laboratory Escape Puzzle. You can see a photo pf the finished puzzle here, but I won’t show it in the post. This time, there weren’t many differences betwee the box and the finished puzzle. Unlike most puzzles in the series, this isn’t too dark, which is nice. Since it was only 368 pieces it wasn’t that much of a challenge as a jigsaw puzzle.

The backstory in the booklet is different in English than in the other languages. In the English backstory, you’re working late trying to develop a vaccine against a deadly disease (very topical), and accidentally inject yourself with the disease. Now you really need to finalize the vaccine to use it on yourself.

Apart from the last bit where you want a vaccine although you’re already infected (I don’t think a vaccine helps at that point), this is a pretty good backstory, as Escape / Exit puzzle backstories go. The same can’t be said for the story provided in German, French and Italian, and probably all other languages except English. In this story, you’re seriously ill, but you don’t trust doctors (!). Except, there’s this one slightly weird doctor you knew years ago, who cooked up his own medicines. This is the only doctor you can imagine entrusting your life to. Unfortunately, his phone number is no longer active, so of course, you pop over to his laboratory, where the doctor is nowhere to be found. The only logical solution is to develop the medicine you need yourself (WTF!). There’s even a handy book to help you:

Virology for dummies

This is the kind of nonsensical backstory I’ve come to expect, but apparently, the English translator couldn’t handle the idiocy anymore, and decided to make up his own story :-D.

There were six puzzles to solve, and I couldn’t do any of them without the Ravensburger hints, and the last one I didn’t understand at all.

A Wasgij and New Exit Puzzles

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I finished the Wasgij-puzzle Uproar at the Vets. I won’t post the whole image here, but you can see it by clicking here.

A bird with tooth ache?

I also finally received two new Exit Puzzles that I ordered back in January:

They were originally both listed as 759-piece puzzles, but sadly, the Laboratory is only 368 pieces. The artist’s studio has the full 5 difficulty points for the clues, so I don’t expect I’ll be able to understand all of them 😊

At the Moulin Rouge, The Dance, 2021-07-20

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Nice little puzzle with a funny cut. Loved the image by Toulouse-Lautrec. Even the dark parts had some variations in shade, which helped.

At the Moulin Rouge by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, D-Toys, 515 pieces. Completed on July 20, 2021.

I think I was almost a third in when it struck me that all the pieces have the same basic shape. Usually I find this annoying, and I would probably get tired of this, too, in the end, but I found it a lot better than having only the usual two-tabs-oppsite pieces. The cut was advertised as difficult on the box, but it didn’t seem like that to me. If anything, it was easier than doing a puzzle with exclusively two-tabs-opposite pieces, because there was always just one way the pieces could fit together.