Venice, 2025-01-18

A strangely muted image of Venice, possibly taken very early in the morning. There are almost no people about. I did the sky first, then the houses and most of the bridge. The tables and chairs on the right turned out to be the most difficult part, and I did them last.

Venice, Clementoni, 1500 pieces. Completed on January 18, 2025.

For the puzzle challenge, this is No. 29, 2 puzzles of the same city. The first puzzle with Venice.

Hang Loose, 2025-01-12

Nice and easy, I did this in one sitting. Sky first and sand last.

Hang Loose, Ravensburger, 500 pieces. Completed on January 12, 2025.

The puzzle challenge I’m doing also has a monthly bonus challenge, and this year, apparently, they are expressed as songs (last year it was emojis / icons). The song for January is by Finnish musician Jukka Poika (whom I had never heard of), and translated the song title means “From cold to warm”. I couldn’t be bothered to listen to it, but had a look at the lyrics, and it’s about a holiday romance where the singer wants to go back to the girl and the warm place, presumably from cold Finland. Anyway, I did this for the monthly challenge.

Mandala World, 2025-01-12

Well I didn’t have to wait long to find out if I would find a puzzle with several pieces missing (No. 9 of the puzzle challenge). This puzzle is missing a whopping 7 pieces, 5 edge pieces and 2 pieces that would have been connected to the edges. Since the border meant that this was very much an edges last puzzle, I didn’t realize there were pieces missing before I was close to the end.

Despite the missing pieces, this was a lovely puzzle, and easier than I was expecting. I started with the small circles, then filled in the large circle in the middle. The edges were the trickiest part, and I did them last, of course. Loved it!

Mandala World by Paul Heussenstamm, Pomegranate, 1000 pieces. Completed on January 12, 2025.

Venice, 2025-01-10

My second puzzle in the Golden Cities series (I’ve previously done Rome), and this was much the same as the first. I did the sky first, then the water and finally the buildings. Nice if very traditional. I was again reminded that you really have to watch out for false fits with Trefl, but with no large areas of the same colour, it was all right.

Venice, Trefl, 1000 pieces. Completed on January 10, 2025.

For the puzzle challenge, I’m probably going to use this for No. 28, first of two puzzles of the same city. For this item, I could do Venice, Paris, Dortmund, or New York, but I think I’ll do Venice. I actually have at least three puzzles with an image of Venice, so I won’t even need them all for this challenge.

Take a Trip! With Marino Degano, 2025-01-06

Take a Trip! is a new series by Heye where you can place the completed puzzles in a row and they will fit (the road and river will always be in the same place). There is a similar series called Funky Zoo, but in that series all of the entries are by Marino Degano. In this series, the different segments will be done by different artists, but so far I only have this one.

Take a Trip! With Marino Degano, Heye, 500 pieces. Completed on January 6, 2025.

For my puzzle challenge, this will be No. 14, “frog”: