A Sunny Afternoon

Joseph K. Straus, over 200 pieces.  Nice vintage puzzle, in good condition.  3/5

Yanapuma, Karen Williams-Brusubardis

Liberty, 501 pieces.  Here's something that I like in Stumpcraft showing up in Liberty--pieces that look like they ought to be part of a larger whimsy but are in fact free-floating.  In this puzzle, the pieces are limbs from a big cat, which is a little disturbing but also fun.  There are also various interacting whimsies with people holding/dragging parcels.  Very entertaining.  5/5

woman with vessel

woman with bag

free-floating limbs

Job Cigarettes, Alfonse Mucha

Mr. Gogo, 409 pieces.  Another nice Mucha puzzle, even if I'm not fond of cigarettes.  6/10.

WPA Poster, Let Them Grow

CobbPodgery, 430 pieces.  A new cutter for me (via Etsy). Came in a lovely painted box matching the picture. Cutting style was random, similar to many vintage puzzles, but with a very shiny finish to the picture for a modern feel.  Colors were bright and the large patches of color made piece shape important; fortunately, the pieces were good guides to assembly.  A nice challenge.  4/5

Zodiac, by Alfonse Mucha

464 pieces, Mr. Gogo. Another nice puzzle, with subtle colors--figuring out the zodiac bits around the central figure was particularly challenging.  6/10 Stave scale.

The Battle of the Granicus, 17th C. tapestry by Jean Jans the Younger

Liberty, 608 pieces.  This is an old puzzle, old enough that Liberty doesn't seem to be making it anymore.  Very unusually for a Liberty, the edges are irregular--merely straight-ish--and that's by design, tracking the shape of the tapestry.  In addition, there are a number of large multi-piece whimsies, knights on horses (and a dragon).  The colors are muted and sometimes challenging.  The pieces were old enough for some chips to have occurred but that didn't interfere with the puzzling experience.  3/5

knights and the dragon

Jim Flora, Tenement K

Artifact, 436 pieces.  I admit, I liked this one a bit less than others, including Flora puzzles, because of all the Picasso-esque female nudity.  I didn't notice it in the picture before purchase, which is on me! It wasn't hidden! But I neither like the style nor the gratuitousness of the female nudity (which I understand is like thinking the food is so bad and the portions so small, but there is a point to that complaint too).  Anyway, as a technical matter it's a perfectly solid Artifact puzzle with a number of larger pieces but a few tinier ones as well, and some laser cutting to do detail on some of the figural pieces, many of which pick up the Picasso-esque theme.  (There are also a number of letter whimsies, which I didn't quite understand, and a multi-piece guitar.)  3/5 on points.

Sevila, Alcazar, Salon de Embajadores

Snowflake Puzzles, 350 pieces.  Beautiful colors and nicely shaped, relatively large hand-cut pieces with no whimsies other than the signature piece.  Very pleasant to do and very competitively priced, even compared to Liberty.  3/5

The Prairie Fire

Hammond's Leisure Hour, 200 pieces. Antique puzzle with relatively thick wood and unusual, swirling cutting style.  I quite enjoyed putting it together and it was a bit harder than it looked.  3/5

Berga: Auf offener See Chalutiers au grande large

Penelope, 1500 pieces. This translates as "on the open sea" and it is by far the largest Penelope I've done, though I have another similarly sized one on deck.  This puzzle had a very high "this must be incomplete; I've looked through the whole table and I can't find this distinctively shaped and colored piece ... oh wait" factor.  Subtle shade differences kept it from being completely overwhelming, but it was not for the faint of heart.  7/10 Stave scale (it was complete after all)

Fish teaser

Bert Nuckols, Woodworker on Wheels (Etsy seller), 28 pieces.  Hand-cut puzzle (I did it without the frame) that would make a nice housewarming/guest gift for a puzzle fan.  3/5 quick and fun

Animals of the World

Keystone, 836 pieces.  Lots of multipiece animal whimsies, some parts of which remained mysterious until the end, so kudos there.  Muted colors increased the difficulty, as did some color-line cutting around the outlines of the animals.  Very challenging.  8/10 Stave scale.

polar bear

elephant

giraffe

lion

ram

rabbit (in one piece)

stork (blurry)

lioness

wolf

deer

eagle