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.
Showing posts with label foxsmartbox. Show all posts
Showing posts with label foxsmartbox. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 20, 2026

Fairy City

 FoxSmartBox, 425 pieces. It's been a while since I've done a puzzle with a lot of engraved whimsies, and the break let me appreciate the fun things about them! This one has an elaborate edge and a nice multipiece Ferris wheel. 3/5








Monday, November 17, 2025

Majestic Harvest

 Foxsmartbox, 487 pieces. Image looks dark but had sufficient guidance; paper peeling from a lot of corners. 3/5





Monday, November 10, 2025

Yury Namestnikoff, Dali's Clocks

 FoxSmartBox, 305 pieces. Clock- and Dali-themed whimsies, including a multipiece whimsy around the female figure that evokes the Dali painting "Sleep" (Reddit kindly informed me). 3/5



whimsy recreation of Persistence of Memory, L; Sleep, R

Closeup on Sleep whimsies


Monday, June 17, 2024

Amusing House

 FoxSmartBox, 366 pieces. Nice enough puzzle, but they don't have the teaser thing figured out the way Fathom is doing--I have no idea whether my solution was right, but it was possible. 3/5




Thursday, March 21, 2024

Cat Among the Flowers

 FoxSmartBox, 240 pieces. Another fine offering with a cat theme. 3/5





Thursday, March 14, 2024

Circus

 FoxSmartBox, 159 pieces. A somewhat less successful "Teaser" style laser-cut puzzle; I am not sure that I got the solution right. Still, nice colors and some fun assembling the frame. 3/5





Thursday, June 8, 2023

Smart Fox

 FoxSmartBox, 170 pieces. The folks at FoxSmartBox are trying good things to compete; here they highlight how much further Fathom Puzzles has gotten in laser cut teaser-style puzzles. This puzzle has cute fox-head connectors for the frame, then relatively easy fitting for the first layer of whimsies inside the frame, and then things get a bit loosey-goosey. I prefer my cluster puzzles to allow clear fit/don't fit judgments in most cases, though sometimes that's impossible, and there was more wiggle room here than I would prefer/more than Fathom has. Nonetheless, it's an impressive technical achievement and I look forward to further improvements. 3/5

the teaser pieces





Tuesday, June 6, 2023

Yellow-Red-Blue, Wassily Kandinsky

 FoxSmartBox, 300 pieces. I love geometric cuts and this is a good addition, though I think they might have used the same geometric cut on multiple images. 3/5




Monday, December 19, 2022

The Swan Princess, Mikhail Vrubel

 FoxSmartBox, 400 pieces. This maker continues to impress with unique cuts for each image. Slightly darker image than my personal ideal, but the piece variety allows steady assembly nonetheless. 3/5




swan swan (no hummingbird)

many more princess swans


Friday, December 2, 2022

Sea World

 FoxSmartBox, 333 pieces. This strikes me as somewhat less sophisticated in its whimsies than the other puzzles from them I've done--just the basic sea creatures--but the colors are fine. 3/5




Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Alice's Fantasies

 FoxSmartBox, 439 pieces. Nicely detailed themed whimsies, which are very much FoxSmartBox's strength, though prices are drifting up so it's not much of a deal v. Liberty. Still I'll probably keep buying them for the variety. 3/5




These were supposed to be flipped but I guess it's an upside down tea party








Thursday, November 10, 2022

A Sea-Spell, Dante Gabriel Rosetti

 FoxSmartBox, 300 pieces. Another heavily individualized design that is a fun, steady build. It's nice to see newer makers putting in effort to create enough variation that each puzzle has something different. 3/5





Tuesday, September 20, 2022

Orpheus Charming the Animals, Jacob Hoefnagel

 FoxSmartBox, 390 pieces. Nice multipiece animal whimsies and themed connectors, grouped in areas of the puzzle. 3/5

deer head themed connectors

a lion




multipiece and upside down

multipiece and right side up

horse

more two-piece--I like the hair on the possum (?)