A Man's Castle, J.K. Straus

500 pieces. Honestly I bought this because I liked the idea of illustrating my property materials with a picture of a jigsaw puzzle with a midcentury home titled "A Man's Castle" as it came together. Perfectly decent puzzle. 3/5

starting out

a little bit of house

more house

even more house and some sky

all done

The Kraken, Allen Douglas

Artifact, 213 pieces.  A little small for me but beautiful deep colors and the lack of a straight edge also increased the challenge a bit.  3.5/5

starting out

sky

closeup on penguin, fish, and shark whimsies

mostly done

finished

Winter Camouflage, Wentworth

1000 pieces.  The colors varied just enough for a challenge.  4/5

starting out

owl done (mostly)

getting closer

done

The Temple, Casey Withers

TurtleTeasers, 213 pieces.  Slightly small for my taste, though as usual the pieces are intricately tiny.  This kind of cut makes it harder to imagine how the image fits together by breaking it up into so many lines, which I like.  3/5

starting out: these pieces are smaller than dimes

some progress

all done

The Puzzle That Wrapped Up Christmas

558 pieces.  Repeating reindeers!  The visual pattern repeated at a larger scale than the individual elements did, and that made it relatively fun even though I'm not a fan of Christmas themes.  4/5

starting out

fragments assembled

larger chunks

all done

Country House on Lake Atter, Klimt

Wentworth, 400 pieces. Unusual size for a Wentworth; the subtle variations in color provided the bulk of the challenge.  4/5

starting out

lightest and darkest parts finished

all done

Confusing Purple, Mr. Gogo

216 pieces.  The challenge here comes from the cutouts.  As usual, the colors are brilliant and the pieces have substantial heft.  5/5

starting out

progress

all done

Wentworth, Puss in Books

1000 pieces.  Very cute.  My daughter pulled out all the whimsies, which seemed ... fall-themed?  Hard to tell.  The girl with the inside-out umbrella was probably the most unusual, and multipiece as well.  4/5

partially complete

everything but the cats

closeup on some whimsies, including inside-out umbrella girl

more whimsies--this pudding has no theme

upside down but finished

Wentworth, The Scream

253 pieces, repeating pattern of leaves (why?).  The lines of paint have an interesting interaction with the repeating pattern, making this a rhythmic sort of assembly.  3.5/5

starting out

partial progress

now rightside up

done

Wentworth, Snowy Owl

230 pieces.  Challenge mostly came from symmetry in pieces--almost the same on each side.  3/5

starting out

closeup on some of the key whimsies

partly done

finished

Infinity and Infinite Galaxy Puzzles

51 and 133 pieces--fun and relatively easy to put together--I'm tempted to try a couple extra sets for real challenge and ability to create new shapes.  The idea is that you can move pieces from one edge to the other and have them still fit, so there are a huge potential number of ways to put the puzzles together.

Infinity puzzle

complete in one shape

complete in a different shape

Infinite galazy puzzle starting out, with a few whimsies: there are pictures on both sides

progress

One view complete

another view complete

Suijin Shrine, Hiroshige

Liberty, 549 pieces.  Is it just me, or is Liberty changing it cutting style to include more multi-piece whimsies and near color-line cutting?  If it's competition forcing it to up its game, I'm all for it.  This was a lovely example of what Liberty does well.  4/5

beginning

closeup on flower clusters

all but the top

flower clusters in place

finished