Waiting for Inspiration

Elm, 432 pieces. A very nice puzzle showing off Elm's strengths, including fake "edges." Pleasant, steady assembly. 6/10 Stave scale

Victor Molev, Tale of the Lost Space

Artifact, 252 pieces. Very hard puzzle! Similarly shaped hexagonal pieces, similar connectors, detailed but relatively uniform image = difficult assembly. Nice grace note in the 3D elements (houses/horses and carriages). 3/5

Happy Holidays, Kim Smith

Stumpcraft, 360 pieces. Imaginative piece shapes--evocative but not quite full whimsies, like the bunting encircling the Christmas tree here. My only complaint is that I wish Stumpcraft didn't cut quite so tight, but it continues to be a welcome change from the Liberty style (which I also love). 3/5

figure parts, some of which turn into multipiece whimsies and some don't, which I really like

holiday/animal themed whimsies

snowman

Elf pulling present laden sled

Santa's sleigh and one reindeer

another reindeer

another elf

A bit hard to see but this central swirl roughly corresponds to the image of the tree (see also the angel on bottom)

Falling, Mandy Budan

 Stumpcraft, 460 pieces. Stumpcraft has a number of puzzles that give the difficulty of a push-fit puzzle without the frustration of a non-interlocking puzzle. It's an impressive feat--you can see how the pieces track the individual colors in this painting--and the colors themselves are vivid. Highly Canadian-outdoors-themed (look for the camper being towed). 4/5

windsurfer, leaves, and camper being towed

canoe from below (or above)

backpacker

fish and another canoe

Furber Flower Engravings, September

 Optimago, 475 pieces. I like the simplicity of the Optimago flower engravings. I don't quite have a full set! 3/5

Hawaii Up Close

Maridale, 350 pieces. Hand-cut with thin wood and some delicate whimsies. Fairly colorful image with some areas of low contrast for a little difficulty. 3/5

Visions of the Future, NASA & JPL Artists

Nautilus, 522 pieces. Some fans might be offended by the promiscuous mixture of Star Trek and Star Wars in the whimsies here, but I am fine with it. Two different Enterprise silhouettes! Relatively easy assembly given high visual differences among areas of the puzzle. 3/5

Charles Wysocki, Snowed In

Sea Wings Jigsaw Puzzles, 166 pieces. Nice, relatively large, hand-cut pieces with one whimsy piece, the signature seagull. 3/5

Sergey Tyukanov, Uprising of the Sausages

Artifact, 360 pieces. Tons of little details in the Breughel-esque image here keep assembly a challenge all the way through. Also, some of the details on the whimsies are best viewed from the back, a bit unusual for Artifact though standard for Wentworth and many Russian laser cutters; note also the two-piece animal whimsies. 3/5

View Point

Par, 750 pieces. This one was very difficult--I wonder if some of that was fading of the colors, because though there were subtle differences overall the color range was quite limited. Had that old puzzle/old wood smell and some replaced/repaired pieces. Overall quite challenging and Par can certainly stand the test of time. 6/10

Carmel by the Sea, Jan Davidson

Liberty, 664 pieces. A lot of difficulty here sandwiched between blue water and blue sky. The very busy landscape was broken up by the piece shapes, including the whimsies (lots of people going about their business and a few dogs). 4/5

The water features--surfing, relaxing, swimming with mermaids, and some seabirds

golf and other pastimes

bicycling, hiking, painting (with big palette nearby)

yoga and dog escaping leash

dogs tugging in opposite directions

not sure if the flag is supposed to be tattered here