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.

Thursday, April 30, 2020

Sweet Sensation

Wentworth, 242 pieces. Extra difficult cut. This was a very nice Wentworth; the repeating piece shapes were simple but evocative and the colors, though scattered over the image, also worked very well to guide assembly because they were all curves.  4/5



Schoenhut's Humpty Dumpty Circus

Liberty, 479 pieces. This one was difficult in part because it wasn't always clear at first glance whether a piece was face up, given all the beige in the image! Nice, simple whimsies, including some chess ones I'd never seen before. 3/5



elephants doing tricks

jumprope and some chess pieces

acrobat


Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Scaling New Heights

Wentworth, 250 pieces. Some unusual-for-Wentworth connectors, including themed fish tails, in this shaped puzzle.  3/5



A Pictorial Map of New York City, Ernest Dudley Chase

Liberty, 743 pieces. Very hard but rewarding: the size and the limited color range make for difficult assembly, although eventually one starts to be able to distinguish between the tiny pictures of buildings surrounding Manhattan and the bird's eye view of Manhattan, at least. 4/5 Love the hot dog cart--very NYC!




hot dog cart and vendor!

urban beetle

cawfee

breakfast with cat

car, bridge, bench scene, etc

taxi being chased

airplane and some musicians and a scooter

Lady Liberty with clouds and birds

Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Peacock of India, Rosalind Solomon

Wentworth, 250 pieces. Shaped Wentworth with bird/peacock and flower whimsies. Nice bright colors and lots of different sizes of peacock feathers in the image. 3/5



Three Dances, Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Liberty, 793 pieces. The complicated border here is a love or hate thing: there are multiple repeating & mirrored pieces and there's only one right way to do it, with no color cues. I loved it! The three dances are just different enough to make careful distinction possible, and there are some nice multi-piece whimsies as well. 5/5 peak Liberty




horse on one side, carriage on the other

dancing couples

more dancers

piano player and dancers

park bench flirtation

bench reading

cafe lunch

Monday, April 27, 2020

Explosion of Color

BCB Puzzles, 350 pieces.  This image worked really well with the BCB cutting style, with the busy colors obscuring many of the potential connections even without real color line cutting. Very nice--and still active on Etsy! 5/5



Joseph Katz and His Coat of Many Colors, Dr. Seuss

Liberty, 418 pieces.  Instantly recognizable Seussian image, with some Seussian whimsies and a lot of dark around the main figure for a bit of a challenge. 3/5





biker with cat

monkey carried by balloon

bicyclist

cat, jester, Seussian anteater

musicians

twins