Liberty, 541 pieces. Relatively challenging because most of the picture is trees. Lots of overlap between image and animal whimsy, though the placement is easiest to see on the dragonfly (it also exists on the bear and deer as well as elsewhere, but is much harder to see from the front). Birds alighting on the geometric-ish standard leaf and branch whimsies: also cool. 3/5
About my ratings
Tuesday, August 17, 2021
Iris Scott, Tiger Fire
Monday, August 16, 2021
Sergey Adeev, Good Morning
DaVici, 170 pieces. A nice little DaVici with some charming outdoor/rural whimsies, like the scarecrow that's repeated on the front of the box.
Rachel Pedder-Smith, Abandoned Garden
Artifact, 296 pieces. I really like the way these geometric pieces break up the image, creating a difficult challenge. 4/5
Blessing of the Tuna Fleet at Groix, Paul Signac
Liberty, 533 pieces. The image is complex with a fair amount of difficulty because the colors are scattered throughout (with some clear areas of sky and water), but the real standout is the enormous tuna that can be made from pieces taken from different parts of the puzzle. Note that the bones are from the sky and the flesh from the water! 4/5
large multipiece ship with fish swimming by and smaller ships in the sails |
fishing; may have caught more than he can reel in |
finding the last piece for this was surprisingly difficult |
Thursday, August 12, 2021
Weekend Relaxation
Stave, 265 pieces. This is an early 80s Stave with some distinctions from current practices. First, the cutting is not quite where it will be--there are some pieces so fragile that they broke (one of the palm trees, two of the cursive names). Second, "in the world of mules there are no rules--Ogden Nash" is written across the back, though I suppose that could have been added later. Third, there is a "logograph"--a word made of letters scattered through the puzzle that is supposed to spell a word related to the puzzle, though I was defeated by it (and I tried Scrabble aids!). Suggestions welcome. It's still a Stave and gets the Stave scale, but it is not today's Stave. 5/10
enlarged silhouette |
The left indicates the number of words in the logograph, the right the number of letters |
interacting hammock whimsy |
rebus: bear + foot + in + d + P + ark = barefoot in the park, though that doesn't look much like a bear to me; it's my best guess |
I have no idea! Since the ES were together in the puzzle, the instructions say, they're in that order in the word |