Michelle Morin, Hummingbirds

Artifact, 287 pieces. Very difficult for its size--a lot of similar coloring in the birds interacts with the spiral cut, which really breaks up the underlying image in ways that make it hard to identify a lot of the connections without sedulous attention.  I think I got it right side up in the last picture! 3/5

Schweiz politisch (Swiss cantons)

Penelope, 400 pieces. Classic jigsaw puzzle from a map; I really like the rounded Penelope cut, and this one had a nice degree of difficulty because of the similar colors but varied landscape.  3/5

Hawaiian Archipelago

Optimago, 308 pieces. And then on this one I forgot to take a picture of the finished puzzle! Several other puzzlers have asked me what I see in Optimago--they're so basic. For me that's the pleasure--they're like the Platonic ideal of a strip-cut puzzle; you can actually tell when a piece is in right by feel even though they are loosely cut. Anyway, this image was very faded and also a jarring reminder of American imperial history--the map shows bomb disposal zones and submarine lanes even as it warns people not to use it as a navigational aid. The map lines provided just enough guidance to make the puzzle doable. 3/5

Allen Gilbert Cram, Fisherman's Cottages

Ecru (Artifact), 158 pieces. First things first: there was a piece missing! I've had this happen with one other Artifact, also ordered from Amazon. I am pretty sure that this is not operator error--not that I don't ever drop pieces, but that at this point my puzzle area is pretty well set up to expose a dropped piece. 

Second, letting that go: this is a very well-done puzzle for the size. The similar cut for most of the pieces, whimsies aside, increases difficulty a lot by breaking up the visual information on the pieces.  The colors were nice.  When complete, would recommend.  3/5

Milky Way at Night

Bewilderness, 330 pieces. Geometric cut but circular, which created challenges while also providing a little guide to assembly: it was possible to orient most pieces relative to the center, at least within some range, by their curvature.  Picture could've used a bit more color but I didn't make as many false moves as I'd expected given the geometric cut + chunks of color; the exact shapes often provided a fair amount of guidance.  3/5

Sisters

Puzzlemonk, 341 pieces. Very busy, colorful picture--sometimes lots of color variation can make assembly more challenging, when there's a lot in each piece. Lovely cut, as usual. I don't think Puzzlemonk's style needs whimsies, but there's a poem quote in here nonetheless, shown in full after the assembled picture. 5/5

Cactus and Cactus Wren

Waterford (used to be Elm), 615 pieces. The Elm puzzle club has relaunched as Waterford with all new puzzles. The cutting style is still the same as Elm--traditional, with whimsies.  A good solid hand-cut puzzle, very nicely colored.  6/10

interacting multipiece whimsy: man resting by cactus