About my ratings

Perhaps because of my day job, I'm a tough rater. Everything 3/5 and above I consider worth the time and money. If I purchase on Etsy or a similar platform and the puzzle is as expected, I will give a top rating on the platform because of how seller ratings work, but here "as expected" is probably a 3/5 in most cases.

Friday, April 21, 2023

A Winter's Day, Konstantin Ivanovich Gorbatov

 Liberty, 527 pieces. A really stunning multipiece whimsy construction here, well-chosen for the limited-color image to create challenge without frustration. I took multiple overlapping pictures of the back to get more detail of the swirls and snowflakes. 4/5



wow








APAK, Fruit of Dreams & Eric Joyner, Tiger Mountain

Artifact: Fruit of Dreams, 175 pieces & Tiger Mountain, 189 pieces. Both small and charming Artifacts, the former with heavily oval pieces and the latter triangular. Both feature art typical of other puzzles from the same artists; I prefer Joyner's whimsical melding of robots and frosted treats but they're both good examples of their type. 3/5





The Green Mountain State

 Stave, 60 pieces. Another charming entry into their states series. If I manage to collect a whole set, I wonder if I'll be brave enough to mix them all up? 60 x 50 would be 3000 pieces, though they haven't released all 50 yet--and also I'd need DC to make it real. 6/10





Thursday, April 20, 2023

Christmas Cheer & The Christmas Crew

 Joyful Nook, 228 & 201 pieces respectively. Part of the Hoefnagel club is that you take what you get, subject to your preferences (mine are: more puzzles!). I'm not the biggest fan of Joyful Nook because at the piece count I prefer they often get too push-fitty for my taste, but these were cute morsels. Not push-fit, but a couple of these did have the other, related problem of having teeny tiny pieces from cutouts; I'd rather go without an elaborate whimsy than have a pencil-eraser-sized piece, but that's my personal preference.  Still, cute and shareable. 3/5

standalone piece



my favorite of the trees




Psychedelizard, Rebecca Wang

 Waterford, 627 pieces. Very challenging puzzle because of the repeating colors throughout, even as areas of distinction slowly emerged. Lots of false internal edges too! 7/10




note that this one has a similar one in an entirely different place--tricky

false edges and more similar pieces, but no star

star at the actual edge


Nadiah Bremer, Coronium & Nebulium

Artifact: Coronium, 172 pieces, and Nebulium, 147 pieces. Irregular edges and irregular piece shapes, different for each image--nice bright colors and fun assembly. 3/5






Monday, April 3, 2023

La Primavera, Galileo Chini

 Nautilus, 367 pieces. One really huge whimsy, then a bunch of Nautilus complex floral/leaves type whimsies. The busy pattern does keep you guessing even though there are also some clear areas that group together. 3/5

huge female figure in the middle of the right side of the pieces--that's one piece!



Four small Wentworths

 Teeny tiny--40 pieces! 

Christmas Cats



London in Snow



Cats Selfie



Festive Bookshelf