I’m not a huge fan of Falcon, because even though the pieces are sturdy and there’s a good mix of piece shapes, it is prone to the odd false fit. But then again, I cannot resist vintage trams, and I’m not sorry I got this. It was a bit more difficult than expected, but enjoyable throughout.
Vintage Trams, Falcon, 1000 pieces. Completed on December 31, 2023.
Lovely little puzzle, and very fast to do. It says Made in the Czech Republic on the box, but the quality is the same as with Ravensburg produced in Germany.
Sushi, Ravensburger, 300 pieces. Completed on December 30, 2023.
The fit and cut is the same as with the previous Cherry Pazzi puzzle (that is to say excellent, except for the boring piece shapes), but there’s been a bit of a production snafu with this one – two pieces in the bottom left corner have doubles, and one piece is missing (on the left, between Neptune and Earth). I guess when you get a great quality puzzle for a very good price, some economies may have been made in production. I’ll still buy Cherry Pazzi puzzles, although perhaps not 500 piece puzzles (because of the boring cut).
I’m not sure if I’ve just been unlucky, of if there really are a lot more cases like this lately. Have you had more new puzzles with extra or missing pieces lately?
View from the Moon, Cherry Pazzi, 500 pieces. Completed on December 29, 2023.
The second of the Star Trek Clementonis I got was thankfully complete, and a lot of fun to do. It was more difficult than I anticipated to know which piece belonged to which face, but still a fairly easy puzzle.
Star Trek Universe Puzzle Collection 4, Clementoni, 500 pieces. Completed on December 29, 2023.
Clementoni has put out more 500 piece puzzles in VHS-type packaging, including some Star Trek images. This was otherwise lovely, but as you can see, there are 12 pieces missing in the bottom left corner. Looks like someone took a little bite out of the puzzle. I actually noticed that there are missing pieces really late, because I didn’t start with the edges, and got to the bottom left corner quite late. Oh well, these things happen.
Star Trek Universe Puzzle Collection 2, Clementoni, 500 pieces. Completed on December 28, 2023.
My second Cherry Pazzi puzzle. The fit is still excellent, and the cut is nice and precise (no false fits), but unfortunately, all the pieces have the basic shape with two tabs opposite. Too bad, but it was still an enjoyable puzzle.
Crazy Cake, Cherry Pazzi, 500 pieces. Completed on December 26, 2023.
Not my kind of image, and that’s putting it mildly. I’m glad to finally have this done, it’s been sitting in my pile for a few years. Even though I don’t like the image, it was actually nice enough to do.
Let’s Visit Santa!, Ravensburger, 1000 pieces. Completed on December 24, 2023.
This was one Christmas puzzle I really enjoyed (I’m not usually a fan). Not surprising, since I like pretty much anything kitchen-related as a puzzle image. I started with the Gelinis (except for the grey one, those pieces were impossible to pick out) and then started filling in the rest. Moderately challenging and great fun.
Gelini’s Christmas Bakery, Ravensburger, 1500 pieces. Completed on December 22, 2023.
Pieces&Peace is a new brand to me, and I usually don’t get puzzles of more than 1000 pieces from unknown brands, but I really liked the image and made an exception. The quality turned out to be fine, but no more than that. There was a grid cut with a good mix of piece shapes, but I did have some false fits, unfortunately. Otherwise, everyting was good.
On the box, it also says Alizé Group, and the puzzle is made in France. I though Alizé Group sounded familiar, and googled it. According to this, they also distribute Grafika and Bluebird puzzles, and have recently invested in a major production site in Behren-lès-Forbach (very close to the German border, as it happens), and the production of these brands, previously often oursourced to Turkish and Polish firms, will move to France. Interesting! I had a look at the last Bluebird puzzles that I bought, but that was back in early 2022, and they were still made in Turkey or Poland, but clearly, they have the French production running by now, if this puzzle is anything to go by.
London Cafe by Miranda Sofroniou, Pieces&Peace, 2000 pieces. Completed on December 16, 2023.
One thing that I really enjoyed was that the box was just big enough to hold the pieces – no more than that.