Month: September 2024
Mandala Effect, Loubud
My second Loubud Puzzle, “Mandala Effect” (labeled Mandela on the box). A fast, pleasant solve. Such a beautiful image! We loved the cattiness of the mandala, and the multi-piece dog and unicorn whimsies. (Plus the little seahorse.)
World of Bridgerton, Manjit Thapp, Laurence King
Wow, this was so fun. Like a collage puzzle, with many discrete elements, but in a scene. Also, very interesting for the perspective — since it’s a three-dimensional room using classical perspective, there were ways to assemble the architectural elements based on size, angle, etc. This was my first Laurence King (that I remember) and […]
Sprung by Coral Bourgeois, from AreYouGame
“Sprung” was one of two puzzles in a pack from AreYouGame — both by Coral Bourgeois. I really liked this image!
Shroom Town, Kristian Adam (Artifact)
When I saw this puzzle, “Shroom Town” (art by Kristian Adam), it reminded me so much of Ash’s little sculptural mushroom villages, that I had to get it. We had fun assembling it today — I was more challenging than one would expect from a 211-piece puzzle. The irregular edge really added to the challenge! […]
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I Moose Be Dreaming, StandOut Puzzles
I loved this artwork & grabbed his “StandOut Puzzles” (their website is down but their instagram is live) 750-piece puzzle, “I Moose Be Dreaming“, with art by Erin Brekke Conn …. and man it was hard. The entire painting is pointillism! With that difficulty, the seven extra pieces that they threw in — that appear […]
Banned Books, Re-Marks Puzzle
In keeping with Banned Books Week (which in 2024 is this week, Sept. 23 – 27), my department finished the Banned Books puzzle from Re-Marks. Puzzle quality was fine, but I was disheartened to see a missing piece! Casualty of the work environment? or a manufacturing error? sigh.
Ravensburger Fiesta Time
Ash and I did a 500-piece Ravensburger “Fiesta Time“, which we learned about from the 2024 US speed puzzling. No guacamole, sadly!
Alala Love, New York Puzzle Company
While on a wooden jigsaw kick, I haven’t been doing my backlog of cardboard puzzles …. so I did one that I’ve been wanting to do for a while — “ʻAlalā Love”, a 500-piece puzzle illustrated by Caren Loebel-Fried, from the New York Puzzle Company‘s “Cornell Lab of Ornithology” series. It doesn’t look like the […]
Coral Bourgeois, “Elephants”, from AreYouGame
Ash and I enjoyed this — it was a little more challenging than you would think from a grid image — but it was beautiful, a nice laser-cut feel. And elephants! Coral Bourgeois is the artist — I wonder if she’s a relation to Louise Bourgeois? and the puzzle maker is “Are You Game“, which […]
Samuel Hayward “Cat in Garden”, Artifact
We three did this nicely cat-whimsy-filled “Cat in Garden” puzzle from Artifact today, with art from Samuel Hayward. Please note that Zeniba is in a very similar pose and attitude as the titular “Cat in Garden”. Artifact’s description:
Brawlin’ Betties from LouBud Puzzles
I learned about LouBud from Rebecca Tushnet, of course, and was immediately drawn to this “Brawlin’ Betties” benefit puzzle — benefiting the Brawlin’ Betties, a Santa Barbara-area roller derby team. LOVED this puzzle — so cute with the cut-outs for the roller skate eyelets, and the quite elegant “BB” logo. A keeper! Not hard, at […]
Karla Gerard Night Song, from Artifact
A beautiful puzzle loaned to us by my neighbor Yael; Ash and I did some of it, then I finished it off. I really enjoyed this puzzle — kind of a riff on “traditional” style pieces, with quite a few fun and interacting whimsies. Looking at the back, the almost radial symmetry was well done, […]
Robert Burns’ The Hunt from Liberty
Hoefnagel sent me an amazing pack, with this puzzle from Liberty, and “Happily Ever Aftering” from Elms. This puzzle features “Diana and Her Nymphs” by Robert Burns (the painter, 1869-1941, not the poet of the same name, 1759-1796). “Diana and Her Nymphs” is a circa 1926 mural painted at the Crawford’s tearoom in Edinburgh. Lots […]
Louis Wain’s Fiddling Cat, from Artifact
I really loved Artifact‘s contribution to the Puzzle Parley 2024 — the speed puzzle, Louis Wain’s “Fiddling Cat“. So I picked it up, and Ash and I did it, speed-style (that is, with a timer) and I feel pretty good about our time! Which to be clear was more than double the time that the […]
