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, May 31, 2019

On the Chase

unknown, 192 pieces. Vintage hand-cut puzzle with good interlocks and decently retained color.  3/5



Mad Tea Party, Tania Deshkovets

DaVici, 350 pieces.  Larger than the others I've done, also features multipiece whimsies and interacting whimsies--the stack of teacups is very cute in theory, but in assembly is kind of just a bunch of curved pieces, but otherwise it was quite successful.  Alice in Wonderland offers some great whimsy possibilities; a little sad that this one had a Cheshire Cat with a grin but no grin without a cat.  3/5


Alice and giant teapot

multipiece Alice


stack of teacups

multipiece mad hatter


Tuesday, May 28, 2019

untitled (vintage car)

Ambassador, 400 pieces.  Strip cut, but a bit lazy--a lot of wavy edges instead of connectors.  Reminded me of why I like Optimago for strip cuts!  2/5



A Map View of the City of London

Optimago, 300 pieces.  I don't quite know why I find Optimago to be so cheerful. Maybe it's the highly consistent strip cut with good hand feel--you can tell when a piece fits despite the relative looseness of the cut.  Maybe it's the brightness of the white borders.  This one's pieces seemed a tad bigger than usual, though maybe it's just been a while.  Imagine London being this size!  3/5



Thursday, May 23, 2019

Exeter Village

GoAnywhere, 180 pieces.  I'm actually a bit surprised more laser cutters haven't done this--the puzzle-in-a-puzzle idea that involves pieces that fit in two different places for purposes of the main puzzle and a mini-puzzle. This one involved an outline created by negative space within a fame of pieces rather than a solid figure, which is probably easier to create but confused me until I figured out they were serious about it being an outline.  Anyway, it ramped up the challenge by a lot.  I hope someone has a bunch of these in a garage somewhere and puts them on the market--they're quite distinctive and challenging despite their small size.  3/5





Trippy

Nautilus, 250 pieces.  A fine puzzle with much visual interest, but I was intensely disappointed that it's the exact same cut as the other Nautilus brightly colored puzzle I've done, rather than being customized for the image.  Lesson learned: I should only get Nautilus puzzles with different piece counts or where the image of the pieces discloses a unique cut.  3/5 (I really did like the colors)




Monday, May 20, 2019

100 Famous Views of Edo #1

Mr. Gogo, 473 pieces.  A nice classical piece of art--you can really see how the colors match (at least in this print) in sky and water.  4/5



Grand Canyon of the Colorado

GoAnywhere, 180 pieces.  Tiny pieces with some good hidden connectors.  3/5




Friday, May 17, 2019

Land and Sea, Sergei Adeev

175 pieces, DaVici.  "Big Fish" appears in whimsies twice in the puzzle, along with other nautical/fishing whimsies.  Very cute! 3/5


big fish top (that little fish is about to form the top of the "f")

big fish bottom


Asparagus Island

GoAnywhere, 154 pieces.  Another small laser-cut puzzle, this time without a puzzle-in-puzzle feature.  Some nice cutting to produce spaces for connectors that are not obvious until two other pieces are put together.  3/5




Friday, May 10, 2019

Dream Tree

Da Vici, 193 pieces.  Once again I'm showing the beautiful packaging as well.  The three cats show up in the puzzle, as well as a few other interacting whimsies--the castle is nice and the moon/cat/fish cute if a little hard to imagine in practice.  3/5 recommended for Artifact fans.


three cats visible at the bottom middle along with other feline and fish whimsies

moon, cat, fish

maybe a manor not a castle



Fractal

475 pieces, Mr. Gogo. Another delightful hand-cut puzzle.  I really like the curvy piece style and the bright colors. This one was challenging because of the slowly changing image.  5/5