Bill Carman, Narwhal Rain

Artifact, 373 pieces.  I liked the multi-piece whimsies that were people with umbrellas; the image was also nice, with more color variation than it might first have seemed.  3/5

The Puzzle that Ruined Christmas

245 pieces, Wentworth. Repeating tree shapes to match the theme--the colors pool nicely, making it hard especially at the bottom but not too hard.  3/5

On the West Bank

Autograph, 85 pieces. A lovely little hand-cut puzzle with a bit of trickiness at the edges.

The Covered Bridge

130 pieces, unknown cutter. A very nice hand-cut puzzle for its size.  I've been reading a book on jigsaw puzzles and it made me try again with vintage puzzles--I've had the experiences I wanted with the big makers, but there are still a bunch of little ones out there worth trying.  6/10

Marquetry dragon (head of a dragon)

Hélène Meder-Thauvin, 33 pieces. Marquetry is inlaid wood--a very unusual puzzle type, this one with pieces that are several times thicker than normal, about half an inch.  This small puzzle is a lovely example and was made a bit more challenging by irregular, puzzle-piece-shaped edges. Unrated because it's so small.

Ayer's Cherry Pectoral

Ayers Puzzles, 199 pieces. This is hand-cut in a very spiky style. The production method uses high pressure water jets, which produces a very tight cut--the pieces stay together when lifted even when they don't have much in the way of interlocking going on.  The details were very fine--so fine I'd worry about preserving all the protruding bits. Loved the whimsy cat, though.  6/10

A little bit of spikiness at one corner

Confetti

Bewilderness, 326 pieces. A new laser cutter--some of the puzzles were strip-cut, but others had a geometric cut that I enjoy. This image added a bunch to the challenge because the colors were almost but not quite randomly distributed. The one disadvantage of the geometric cut is that the puzzle behaves like it's push-fit--nothing hangs together and it has to be moved carefully.  3/5

Australia

Liberty, 505 pieces. Such a great run of puzzles lately!  This one struck me from the beginning because it had a lot of coral-themed whimsies, including around essentially the entire border, as well as some multi-piece coral & fish and a great shark in the center.  Really fun, relatively unusual Liberty.  5/5

Hypnosis

Mr. Gogo Puzzles, 525 pieces. I coveted this as soon as I saw the picture, and I was not disappointed. The motion effect exists in person, even when the puzzle is only partially completed.  I love the cutting style, which sometimes hides connectors in places I wasn't expecting.  Super difficult, super enjoyable.  8/10

Incidentally, Boston-area puzzlers, if anyone is interested in a puzzle club drop me a note--I'm in Cambridge enough to make that feasible too.

Alistair, Rex Ray

Liberty, 550 pieces. The abstractness of the images meant that this assembled in chunks, which I enjoyed, and the shape is a little different from a standard Liberty. The whimsies suggested dancing, which seemed appropriate to the feel of the puzzle. 3/5

Tom Thomson, Soft Maple in Autumn

Stumpcraft, 408 pieces.  Another nicely colored Stumpcraft. This one had a few production difficulties--I think it may have been put in the box with the varnish not quite dry, because some pieces stuck to each other, resulting in some tiny chips when separated (visible in close ups of the interacting whimsies).  3/5 loved the moose

The headless guy at the bottom middle is actually carrying a canoe, which is a cool effect when joined

multi piece wolf

whirling maple seed(s)

moose

assembled guy with canoe at top left

Otto Knirsh, The Road--Winter

Optimago, 308 pieces.  I realize that my affection for Optimago may seem odd given how much I normally like complicated puzzles, and Optimago (with the partial exception of their Gold Box line that has some whimsies) is strip-cut.  All I can say is that, while at first I found the relatively loose cut jarring and the strip-cut offputting, I have come to appreciate the classic picture selection and homey feel of the pieces.  It all seems so British.  Laser-cut strip-cut puzzles seem kind of pointless to me--why take the affordances of lasers and just make ordinary old pieces?  But the fact that these were all hand-cut, apparently in stacks of more than one based on the pinholes to be found around the edges, makes a difference in my enjoyment.  I even smile at the relatively high number of non-interlocking sides, because I imagine a cutter who is tired of the effort involved in creating the interlocks. 3/5

BTW, if there are other puzzlers in the greater DC area who'd be interested in some sort of puzzle club, I'd be delighted to hear from you.

Stave, tidbit and twentieth anniversary present

Twenty, 210 pieces.  Commissioned by my husband for our twentieth anniversary, using a picture of our ketubah (wedding contract). The whimsies include figures representing us and our children holding hands--just amazing.  The cutting shows off all that hand-cutting can do, including dropouts that pick up on the pressed-fern background of the ketubah and incised words that spell out the Hebrew phrase "I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine." 13/10 would marry again.

doves and heart

wedding bells/ribbon

family in place

family holding hands

 Also, a summer tidbit. An anticlimax, I know, but it didn't really merit a separate post.