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, February 25, 2021

Balancing Act

 Stave, 322 pieces. Surprisingly difficult for its piece count because of all the dropouts. Wonderful bright colors. 8/10





Pontresina

 Liberty, 458 pieces. A nice image with some good color variety.



spent some time thinking that backpack was a turtle



picnic

camping and dancing

line of feathers across the top



Randal Spangler, Some Enchanted Evening

 Artifact, 422 pieces. Super pretty image; I love the focus on architecture. Relatively difficult because of large areas of similarity and the intricate borders, which took me until the very end. 3/5





Wednesday, February 24, 2021

Best in Show

 Liberty, 553 pieces. Dogs, dogs, dogs! I like it when connections are created by the lines between pieces, and we have several of those here as dogs tug on various leashes. 3/5



chasing a bike

begging in the park

flying a kite

more kite flying and what I think is a pumpkin

central image: multiple dogs on leashes around fire hydrant


Vincent van Gogh, Café Terrace at Night

 Mosaic, 500 pieces. I liked this one better than the first Mosaic puzzle I did; I enjoyed the multiple couples eating together as well as the coffee swirl whimsies (Instagram-ready!). Anyone who wants really high numbers of whimsies is likely to enjoy this. 3/5




the center with lots of foam designs








Randal Spangler, Fireside Fairytales

Artifact, 364 pieces. Intricate image, on the darker side overall but with plenty of variation. Angular pieces at the bottom, more curves at the top, in echo of the image. Books and fairy whimsies! 3/5





Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Moon and Dragon

Unknown, 320 pieces. Another eBay purchase; darker and sootier than it should have been, but the right size and with decent whimsies. I wiped as much of the soot off as I could but unfortunately the moon looks a bit dingy instead of just yellowy.




The Koi Pond

Mosaic, 500 pieces. New-to-me cutter, reasonably priced for laser-cut. The selling point is lots of whimsies, and there very certainly are. A decent not-quite-Liberty alternative, and only a bit more than half the price. The cuts are a bit tighter than Liberty, somewhere in between Liberty and Whimsy Wood. My biggest complaint: the pieces only fit into the box when they arrived; I could not possibly get them back in without crunching some whimsies. Larger box, please! 3/5




some interacting like mother and baby orca above

some whimsies with lines/inclusions, like the squid and whale above


Van Gogh, Bridge in the Rain

 Artifact, 267 pieces. Standard Artifact, with octopus! I think there's whimsy convergence for this image, which I've done from a few different cutters. 3/5






Monday, February 22, 2021

Wolf

 Unknown Chinese manufacturer, 103 pieces. Another eBay trifle--ok color, cut was incomplete in some places. 


animal whimsies 

Yoda at the bottom for some reason?


Fanciful Fish, Peter Barrett

 TurtleTeasers, 251 pieces. Delightful hand-cut puzzle with fun image. The soccer fish was my favorite. 4/5

multiple turtle whimsies



soccer fish closeup