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, October 30, 2020

Edward Henry Potthast, Brighton Beach

Artifact, 170 pieces. I'll admit to feeling some betrayal: other than the edge pieces which interlock, and some whimsies among the edges, this is push-fit! Why would you use a laser to make a push-fit puzzle? (I presume the answer is: for variety.) I'm not a fan of push-fit, but I did it because it was there!


so there


Bonnie White, Gently Down the Stream

 Waterford, 791 pieces. A nicely challenging Waterford (successor to Elm) puzzle with thick wood and fairly consistent difficulty. 4/5




interacting/hand holding whimsies

thematically appropriate horse and carriage



Thursday, October 29, 2020

Valeriane Le Blonde, Mis Mai

 Artifact, 238 pieces. A nice image with moderate difficulty. 3/5





Ring of Fire

 Stave, 215 pieces. A delightful Treat puzzle with lots of difficulty but fairly consistent assembly. 8/10





Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Deepit Agrawal Mittal, Majestic III

Bewilderness, 326 pieces. I like the geometric cut here; it breaks up the image in ways that make it a fair amount harder despite what seem like discrete areas of different colors. 3/5




Scott Gustafson, Belling the Cat

Artifact, 364 pieces. Hard for its size because of the very limited colors; details emerge slowly on assembly. Cat and mouse themed whimsies, including a girl interacting with a rodent of unusual size, and cat themed edging on top and bottom. 3/5

note the cheese whimsy


girl on chair confronting ROUS






Friday, October 16, 2020

Awesome Blossom

 Stave, 195 pieces. Very nice--a mix of Treat-like flourishes (the big peonies in the outfit) and difficult Teaser flowers. 8/10





Edward Binkley, Village

Artifact, 309 pieces. A ton of detail here rendering it reasonably hard; the supernatural creatures made it fun to do while listening to Discworld books. 3/5



blurry multipiece dragon



Thursday, October 15, 2020

Allie Sudberg, Let's Dance

 Artifact, 367 pieces. Whimsical images with a lot of white space to add to the difficulty. Multiple interacting dancer whimsies, with an overall swirling cut to evoke the music--nice! 3/5










Gold Rush

 Stave, 385 pieces. Beautiful image with nice near-color-line cutting. 7/10




interacting whimsy: mermaid and fish
frog on flower


koi outline
twin fish


girl on turtle for some reason

circle of bugs/bees

"made in the shade"/maid + hen + D + shade


Wednesday, October 14, 2020

Josephine Joy, Irish Cottage

 Artifact/Ecru, 181 pieces. Relatively hard for its size with lots of detail in the foliage. 3/5





Cherries on Top

 Stave, 160 pieces. Incredibly hard, frameless Teaser. 9/10 what a killer