Home Archive by category "Puzzles" (Page 14)

Category: Puzzles

Puzzle: Thatched Cottage

Size: 750 pieces
Dimensions: 59.7 cm x 39.4 cm
Producer:  The Canadian Group, Sure-Lox, Photo Gallery 10 puzzle pack, #42510-57
Notes: The puzzle producer has not once again indicated the location of the cottage.

Although thatch is popular in Germany, The Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium and Ireland, there are more thatched roofs in the United Kingdom than in any other European country. Good quality straw thatch can last for more than 45–50 years when applied by a skilled thatcher.

Over 250 roofs in Southern England have base coats of thatch that were applied over 500 years ago, providing direct evidence of the types of materials that were used for thatching in the medieval period.  Almost all of these roofs are thatched with wheat, rye, or a ‘maslin’ mixture of both. Medieval wheat grew to almost 1.8m tall in very poor soils and produced durable straw for the roof and grain for baking bread. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Neuschwanstein Castle

Neuschwanstein Castle 2, med

Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 73cm x 48.5cm
Producer: The Canadian Group, Sure-Lox, Photo Gallery 10 puzzle pack, #40617-13
Notes: I have put together another puzzle of the Neuschwanstein Castle before, 500 pieces.

The inspiration for the construction of Neuschwanstein came from two journeys [of Ludwig II] in 1867: one in May to the reconstructed Wartburg near Eisenach, another in July to the Chateau de Pierrefonds, which Eugene Viollet-le-Duc was transforming from a ruined castle into a historistic palace.

The king saw both buildings as representatives of a romantic interpretation of the Middle Ages as well as the musical mythology of his friend Richard Wagner. Wagner’s operas Tannhauser and Lohengrin had made a lasting impression on him.

In February 1868, Ludwig’s grandfather Ludwig I died, freeing the considerable sums that were previously spent on the abdicated king’s appanage. This allowed him to start the architectural project of building a private refuge in the familiar landscape far from the capital Munich, so that he could live his idea of the Middle Ages. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Castle Mespelbrunn

Size: 750 pieces
Dimensions: 59.7 cm x 39.4 cm
Producer:  The Canadian Group, Sure-Lox, Photo Gallery 10 puzzle pack, #43550-26
Notes: Mespelbrunn Castle is a medieval moated castle on the territory of the town of Mespelbrunn, between Frankfurt and Wurzburg, built in a remote tributary valley of the Elsava valley, within the Spessart forest. One of the most visited water castles in Germany, it is frequently featured in tourist books.

In 1957 Mespelbrunn Castle was one of the locations of the German film Das Wirtshaus im Spessart (The Spessart Inn, 1958), based on a fairy tale by Wilhelm Hauff. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Madrid, Spain

Size: 500 pieces, 1 missing
Dimensions: 37 cm x 52 cm
Producer:  GPC Puzzles, Regency Collection, #1550-08
Notes: The Plaza de Cibeles is a square with a neo-classical complex of marble sculptures with fountains that has become an iconic symbol for the city of Madrid. It sits at the intersection of Calle de Alcala (running from east to west), Paseo de Recoletos (to the North) and Paseo del Prado (to the south). Plaza de Cibeles was originally named Plaza de Madrid, but in 1900, the City Council named it Plaza de Castelar, which was eventually replaced by its current name.

The most prominent of the buildings at the Plaza de Cibeles is the Cibeles Palace (formerly named Communications Palace). The cathedral-like landmark was built in 1909 by Antonio Palacios as the headquarters of the postal service. This impressive building was home to the Postal and Telegraphic Museum until 2007 when the landmark building became the Madrid City Hall. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Windsor Castle, Britain

Size: 750 pieces
Dimensions: 59.7 cm x 39.4 cm
Producer:  The Canadian Group, Sure-Lox, Photo Gallery 10 puzzle pack
Notes: Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and for its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it has been used by a succession of monarchs and is the longest-occupied palace in Europe. The castle’s lavish, early 19th-century State Apartments are architecturally significant, described by art historian Hugh Roberts as “a superb and unrivalled sequence of rooms widely regarded as the finest and most complete expression of later Georgian taste”. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Springtime at Chambord

Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 48.26cm x 35.56cm
Producer:  The Canadian Group, Sure-Lox, Photo Gallery 10 puzzle pack
Notes: I have previously put together another puzzle of Chamboard Château, 1000: http://fingeringzen.com/puzzles/puzzle-chambord-chateau.

Chambord is the largest château in the Loire Valley; it was built to serve as a hunting lodge for François I, who maintained his royal residences at Château de Blois and Château d’Amboise. The original design of the Château de Chambord is attributed, though with several doubts, to Domenico da Cortona. Some authors claim that the French Renaissance architect Philibert Delorme had a considerable role in the château’s design, and others have suggested that Leonardo da Vinci may have designed it.  [Wiki]

Puzzle: Butchart Gardens, Victoria

Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 48.26cm x 35.56cm
Producer:  The Canadian Group, Sure-Lox, Photo Gallery 10 puzzle pack
Notes: The Butchart Gardens is a group of floral display gardens in Brentwood Bay, British Columbia, Canada, located near Victoria on Vancouver Island. The gardens receive more than a million visitors each year. The gardens have been designated a National Historic Site of Canada due to their international renown. [Wiki]

According to the official site, the Butchart Gardens also have “One of only two known [Wollemi Pine] specimens in Canada to be planted outdoors, and at 10 feet it is likely the largest.” Each year over 1,000,000 bedding plants in some 700 varieties are used throughout the Gardens to ensure uninterrupted bloom from March through October. [Official Butchard Gardens site]

 

Puzzle: Coombe Cottage, England

Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 48.26cm x 35.56cm
Producer:  The Canadian Group, Sure-Lox, Photo Gallery 10 puzzle pack
Notes: The only site containing any information about the Coombe Cottage that I could find, is the marketing site for the accommodations at the cottage itself:

Coombe Cottage is a delightful, 200 year-old traditional, end-terraced cottage with exposed beams and updated extensions overlooking farmland views. It is situated in the picturesque village of Goodleigh, to the east of the market town of Barnstaple, … in North Devon. [Coombe Cottage site]

Puzzle: Thatched cottage, England

Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 48.26cm x 35.56cm
Producer:  The Canadian Group, Sure-Lox, Photo Gallery 10 puzzle pack
Notes: Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (Cladium mariscus), rushes, or heather, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. It is a very old roofing method and has been used in both tropical and temperate climates.

Thatching methods have traditionally been passed down from generation to generation, and numerous descriptions of the materials and methods used in England over the past three centuries survive in archives and early publications.

In most of Europe and the UK, thatch remained the only roofing material available to the bulk of the population in the countryside, in many towns and villages, until the late 1800s. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Castle, Germany

Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 48.26cm x 35.56cm
Producer:  The Canadian Group, Sure-Lox, Photo Gallery 10 puzzle pack
Notes:  Thanks to JLuecking’s comment below, I now know that this castle is the Castle of the Teutonic Order, and it is located on the Mainau Island, Lake Constance (Bodensee).

Mainau is an island in Lake Constance (on the south shore of the Überlinger See near the city of Konstanz, Baden-Württemberg, Germany). It is maintained as a garden island and a model of excellent environmental practices. [Wiki]

The Castle of the Teutonic Order is the architectural focal point on the island and a splendid setting for various occasions. It is the heart of the Mainau island and where the Bernadotte family lives. The Castle of the Teutonic Order was designed by Johann Caspar Bagnato and built under his supervision (1739 – 1746). Despite limited finances, he created an architecturally well-balanced, symmetrical harmonious castle. The arms of the two wings open out in the shape of a horse-shoe towards the mainland; whilst the back of the building faces the lake. [Mainau site]

A castle (from Latin castellum) is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. This is distinct from a palace, which is not fortified; from a fortress, which was not always a residence for nobility; and from a fortified settlement, which was a public defence – though there are many similarities among these types of construction. Usage of the term has varied over time and has been applied to structures as diverse as hill forts and country houses. Over the approximately 900 years that castles were built they took on a great many forms with many different features, although some, such as curtain walls and arrowslits, were commonplace. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Violin by Victoria Francés (from Favole book)

Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 48.26cm x 68.58cm
Producer: Heye, #29197
Artist: Victoria Francés
Notes: Victoria Francés was born on October 25th, 1982. From her early childhood she was fascinated by the beauty of the forest in Galicia, where she spent much of her infancy. After traveling to cities like London and Paris she was hypnotized by the atmosphere there, the same that brought to life legendary masterpieces of Gothic literature. Her illustrations and sketches recall the dreamlike world of Gothic Romanticism.

Influenced by pre-Raphaelite paintings, she chooses subjects that take us to a symbolic, magical and ancient world. All the sufferings of the outcast of this world is shown in dark castles and mansions with flickering lights, with the distinct influence of Goethe, Edgar Allan Poe, Baudelaire and even Bram Stoker. [Fan site, since the official site is currently in Spanish only]

[Victoria’s] first illustrated book, Favole, a remembrance of Verona, Venice and Genoa, was first released on 23 April 2003. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Paris, France

Size: 100 pieces
Dimensions: 23.17cm x 26.35cm
Producer: RoseArt, National Geographic series
Notes: The Eiffel Tower (French: La Tour Eiffel, nickname La dame de fer, the iron lady) is a wrought iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris. Built in 1889 as the entrance arch to the 1889 World’s Fair, it has become both a global cultural icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world. The tower is the tallest building in Paris and the most-visited paid monument in the world; millions of people ascend it every year. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower.

The tower stands 320 metres tall, about the same height as an 81-story building. During its construction, the Eiffel Tower surpassed the Washington Monument to assume the title of the tallest man-made structure in the world, a title it held for 41 years, until the Chrysler Building in New York City was built in 1930. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Easter Island, Chile

Size: 100 pieces
Dimensions: 23.17cm x 26.35cm
Producer: RoseArt, National Geographic series
Notes: Easter Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people.

The name “Easter Island” was given by the island’s first recorded European visitor, the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen, who encountered it on Easter Sunday 1722, while searching for Davis or David’s island. [Wiki]

Moai are monolithic human figures carved from rock on the Chilean Polynesian island of Easter Island between the years 1250 and 1500. Nearly half are still at Rano Raraku, the main moai quarry, but hundreds were transported from there and set on stone platforms called ahu around the island’s perimeter. Almost all moai have overly large heads three-fifths the size of their bodies. The moai are chiefly the living faces of deified ancestors. The statues still gazed inland across their clan lands when Europeans first visited the island, but most would be cast down during later conflicts between clans. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Cairo, Egypt

Size: 100 pieces
Dimensions: 23.17cm x 26.35cm
Producer: RoseArt, National Geographic series
Notes: Cairo (literally “The Vanquisher” or “The Conqueror”), is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Located near the Nile Delta, it was founded in the year 969 A.D. making it 1,042 years old. Nicknamed “The City of a Thousand Minarets” for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region’s political and cultural life. Cairo was founded by the Fatimid dynasty in the 10th century AD.; but the land composing the present-day city was the site of national capitals whose remnants remain visible in parts of Old Cairo. Cairo is also associated with Ancient Egypt due to its proximity to the ancient cities of Memphis, Giza and Fustat which are nearby to the Great Sphinx and the pyramids of Giza.

The area around present-day Cairo, especially Memphis, had long been a focal point of Ancient Egypt due to its strategic location just upstream from the Nile Delta. However, the origins of the modern city are generally traced back to a series of settlements in the first millennium. Around the turn of the 4th century, as Memphis was continuing to decline in importance, the Romans established a fortress town along the east bank of the Nile. This fortress, known as Babylon, remains the oldest structure in the city. It is also situated at the nucleus of Egypt’s Coptic Christian community, which separated from the Roman and Byzantine church in the late 4th century. Many of Cairo’s oldest Coptic churches, including The Hanging Church, are located along the fortress walls in a section of the city known as Coptic Cairo. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Country Living by Thomas Kinkade

Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 69cm x 51cm
Producer: Ceaco
Artist: Thomas Kinkade
Notes: “In the country, wildflowers grow in profusion. To me, these bluebonnets, scotch broom and wild poppies symbolize the abundant blessings of Country Living; these are the tangible pleasures that surround you day in and day out where the air is pure and the sun is bright. This scene might be found any place where the hills and valleys are alive with nature’s harmony – the Texas hill country, the Smoky Mountains, the rolling Cascades, or even my native Sierra foothills.” [Thomas Kinkade, on the puzzle box]

Puzzle: Faery by Nadia Strelkina

Size: 750 pieces
Dimensions: 51cm x 68cm
Producer: Lafayette Puzzle Factory, Goldenline Fairies series, #3921
Artist: Nadia Strelkina
Painting: photo
Box: photo
Notes:  A fairy (also faery, faerie, fay, fae; euphemistically wee folk, good folk, people of peace, fair folk, etc.) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural or preternatural.

Fairies resemble various beings of other mythologies, though even folklore that uses the term fairy offers many definitions. Sometimes the term describes any magical creature, including goblins or gnomes: at other times, the term only describes a specific type of more ethereal creature.

Much of the folklore about fairies revolves around protection from their malice, by such means as cold iron (iron is like poison to fairies, and they will not go near it) or charms of rowan and herbs, or avoiding offense by shunning locations known to be theirs. In particular, folklore describes how to prevent the fairies from stealing babies and substituting changelings, and abducting older people as well. Many folktales are told of fairies, and they appear as characters in stories from medieval tales of chivalry, to Victorian fairy tales, and up to the present day in modern literature. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Pisa in Motion by Robert J. Crisp

Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 48.26cm x 68.58cm
Producer: Heye, #29121
Artist: Robert J. Crisp
Notes: Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower (the bell tower of the city’s cathedral), the city … contains more than 20 other historic churches, several palaces and various bridges across the River Arno. [Wiki]

The Leaning Tower of Pisa (Italian: Torre pendente di Pisa) … is situated behind the Cathedral and is the third oldest structure in Pisa’s Cathedral Square (Piazza del Duomo) after the Cathedral and the Baptistry.

The height of the tower is 55.86 m from the ground on the low side and 56.70 m on the high side. The width of the walls at the base is 4.09 m and at the top 2.48 m. Its weight is estimated at 14,500 metric tons. The tower has 296 or 294 steps; the seventh floor has two fewer steps on the north-facing staircase. Prior to restoration work performed between 1990 and 2001, the tower leaned at an angle of 5.5 degrees, but the tower now leans at about 3.99 degrees. This means that the top of the tower is displaced horizontally 3.9 metres from where it would be if the structure were perfectly vertical. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Lilac and Pear Still Life

Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 40.64cm x 40.64cm
Producer: Hasbro, MB Puzzle, Big Ben series
Notes: Syringa (Lilac) is a genus of about 20–25 species of flowering woody plants in the olive family (Oleaceae), native to woodland and scrub from southeastern Europe to eastern Asia, and widely and commonly cultivated in temperate areas elsewhere.

The usual flower colour is a shade of purple (often a light purple or lilac), but white, pale yellow and pink, and even a dark burgundy color are also found. The flowers grow in large panicles, and in several species have a strong fragrance. Flowering varies between mid spring to early summer, depending on the species. The fruit is a dry, brown capsule, splitting in two at maturity to release the two winged seeds.

Lilacs are popular shrubs in parks and gardens throughout the temperate zone. In addition to the species listed above, several hybrids and numerous cultivars have been developed. The term French lilac is often used to refer to modern double-flowered cultivars, thanks to the work of prolific breeder Victor Lemoine. Lilacs will grow in a wide variety of soil types and prefer neutral to slightly acidic soil. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Feeding the Geese by Nicky Boehme

Size: 1000 pieces, 1 missing
Dimensions: 73cm x 48.57cm
Producer: The Canadian Group, Sure-Lox, #44714-2
Artist: Nicky Boehme
Notes: There are three living genera of true geese: Anser, grey geese, including the domesticated goose and the Swan Goose; Chen, white geese (often included in Anser); and Branta, black geese, such as the Canada goose.

The term goose applies to the female in particular while gander applies to the male in particular. Young birds before fledging are called goslings. The collective noun for group of geese on the ground is a gaggle; when in flight, they are called a skein, a team or a wedge; when flying close together, they are called a plump.

Geese are monogamous, living in permanent pairs throughout the year; however, unlike most other permanently monogamous animals, they are territorial only during the short nesting season. Paired geese are more dominant and feed more, two factors that result in more young. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Fruit – Pears, Apples, Grapes, Oranges, Kiwi

Size: 1000 pieces
Notes: I do not have a record of the dimensions or the producer of this puzzle as I do not have the box anymore. A clarification is welcome – if you have any clue as to the details regarding this puzzle, I would much appreciate that information.

The pear is any of several tree species of genus Pyrus and also the name of the pomaceous fruit of these trees. Several species of pear are valued by humans for their edible fruit, but the fruit of other species is small, hard, and astringent.

The genus Pyrus is classified in subtribe Pyrinae within tribe Pyreae. The apple (Malus domestica), which it resembles in floral structure, is also a member of this subcategory.

Pears grow in the sublime orchard of Alcinous, in Odyssey vii: “Therein grow trees, tall and luxuriant, pears and pomegranates and apple-trees with their bright fruit, and sweet figs, and luxuriant olives. Of these the fruit perishes not nor fails in winter or in summer, but lasts throughout the year.”

The pear was also cultivated by the Romans, who did not eat them raw: Pliny’s Natural History recommended stewing them with honey and noted three dozen varieties. The Roman cookbook attributed to Apicius, De re coquinaria, has a recipe for a spiced, stewed-pear patina, or soufflé. [Wiki]