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.

Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Iko Jakuchu, Plum Blossoms

Artifact, 311 pieces. Super, super hard! Limited colors, similar piece shapes, just a very difficult challenge. Nice curvy pieces to match the image. 3/5





Utagawa Hiroshige, A Cool Summer at Ryugoku Bridge

 Sr. B Puzzles Workshop, 308 pieces. Etsy seller, moderately priced for hand-cut, no whimsies. Small pieces (comparable in size but not configuration to Turtleteaser), well done. 4/5




Monday, November 23, 2020

Rachell Sumpter, Old Friend

 Artifact, 290 pieces. Pre-pandemic, I ordered this on Amazon ... but turns out it was a fake that didn't even arrive for months! (The seller listed a standard particleboard strip cut puzzle as an Artifact.) Fortunately, the Artifact puzzle club came through. This is a really hard puzzle because of the limited, dark colors and blobby shapes. The spider (lower left of first picture), appropriately, is the only whimsy. 4/5




Red Lillies, Zhang Meili

 Wentworth, 1000 pieces. This is probably larger than ideal for a Wentworth given my puzzling environment (it doesn't fit onto my table except sideways). But it's a good image and a fine standard Wentworth. 3/5




Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Kathryn Freeman, Lullaby for Lions

 Artifact, 363 pieces. Nice symmetry here that looks like a large lion face (couldn't flip it over because my daughter needed the space for distance learning, and I like to get these Artifact rentals out to the next puzzler as soon as possible). 3/5




Trinity

 DaVici, 1000 pieces. A huge puzzle--one side has particularly angular connectors, but I couldn't see much distinctive about the other side. The three parts do in fact interlock, but to flip them over I had to separate them. Lots of whimsies, of course. 5/5


elephant inside an elephant


angular side

side with big organ?

center with lots of spirals



Tuesday, November 17, 2020

Jill Bennett, Fantastic Mr. Fox

 Artifact, 267 pieces. Unusually detailed whimsies to get the features of the animals, with elements from the story in the whimsies. 3/5






overall wavy feel

fox hunting

heavy equipment


Yorkie Still

 Stave, 470 pieces. I continue to enjoy the RAR rentals, though they're not always images I would have chosen for myself. I'm not exactly a dog person. This one has good difficulty and a muted color palette. 7/10




dogs surrounding ball (which is in the image)

linked flowers

bookworm?

dog and rope

spill

dog and toy

rebus: piping hot (pipe+pea heart)


Wednesday, November 11, 2020

Angie Rees, Boobie Trapped

 Artifact, 340 pieces. Nice dropout in the top left corner with duelling moose. 3/5






Linda Israel, The Heart of a Bear

 Liberty, 514 pieces. Nice deep colors with fairly steady assembly and lots of animal whimsies, unsurprisingly. 3/5



circle of bears around honeycomb


hikers encountering moose and dragonfly



Tuesday, November 10, 2020

Alex Beard, The Louisiana Tree of Life

Liberty, 555 pieces. Relatively high difficulty with limited colors and lots of elaborate animal whimsies. 3/5