Merging of Cultures, Kim Wiggins, 1997

Liberty, 501 pieces. This might be an ur-Liberty: it shows off what Liberty does well, with lots of colors and visually interesting whimsies, including a multi-piece train. No people having tea, though! 4/5

Ocean Life, James Sommerville

Liberty, 769 pieces. Huge! There was basically no point trying to sort out the whimsies, they were so thick/repeated, especially in terms of the spirals.  The most impressive multi-piece whimsy was a large lobster at the corner, which I tried to get a good picture of but didn't really succeed.  5/5

rare Liberty whimsy using the picture

swordfish

shark

crab

conch shell

well hidden lobster

The One that Got Away

Puzzlemonk, 247 pieces. Very difficult because of the black/white/grey color scheme. The usual creative piece shapes. 6/10 Stave scale.

Purrsian Rug

Stave, 3-bolt Trick, 120 pieces. Trick puzzles have pieces that fit into more than one other piece, with that Stave construction that feels perfectly natural either way (how do they do it?). The Trick is not my favorite special Stave--that's the Teaser--but this one was indeed impressive. I am not putting up the complete picture (there's assembled puzzle underneath the layer of cat) to keep a bit of mystery involved. Hint: the picture might not be consistent across two pieces that nonetheless fit together.

Beautiful Fishes of the Deep

Liberty, 605 pieces.  An unusual Liberty in that a huge part of the puzzle is the border, which is full of symmetrically placed whimsies. Highlights include the hammerhead sharks and the lanterns at the top of the image. The changing color of the border provided some guidance, but it was still quite hard going! 4/5

tridents and hammerheads

lanterns at the top

Jim Flora, Chioggia

Artifact, 359 pieces. Random-cut with very few traditional whimsies (two people shapes, a bird and a fish) and a very ragged edge--a challenging Artifact. 4/5

bird

fish

Mount Corcoran, Albert Bierstadt

Liberty, 675 pieces. The large Liberty gives free rein to whimsy. This one has a group of train cars, prospectors charmingly disrupting the usual Liberty two-people-at-a-table setup, and several horse and rider multipiece whimsies. 4/5

horses and riders

one chair knocked over in surprise, another grabbed for a potential fight after a table-thumping?

train cars

I believe this fellow struck gold