Puzzles

Puzzle: House in Wales


Size: 500 pieces
Notes: Not depicted on the puzzle, Simon Dale has built a house fit for hobbits in Wales. “Some of the characteristics of the wooden house are that it’s dug inside a hillside for shelter, lime plaster and mud are used to keep the walls sticking together, straw balls are used in floor, roof and walls, solar panels are installed for lightning, music and computers, and skylight on the roof gives natural light.” There are a few photos on the site, and it does look like a fairy tale dwelling. [Planet Oddity site]

I do not have a record of the producer of the 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.

Puzzle: Italian Feast


Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 35.56 cm x 45.72 cm
Producer: PuzzleMakers International
Box: photo
Notes: An Italian feast opens with antipasti (literally, “before the meal”), or appetizers. The antipasti is followed by the primi, consisting of a light pasta or soup. The main dish, secondi, is a meat or a fish platter. Some recipes will call for braciole, which means cutlets with the bone. The secondi is served with the fourth course in an Italian feast, the contomi, a side dish of vegetables. The Italian meal ends with dolce, equivalent to dessert: pastries like zeppole, served on St. Joseph’s day; doily-like cookies called pizelle; biscottis (twice-baked cookies that give an interesting crunch). Coffee is usually served after the meal. [See Italia site]

There is a book by Antonio Carpuccio called “Italian Feast” that features “a collection of over 100 recipes by Antonio Carluccio, Italian food’s greatest champion, that take the best of the old and the most delicious of the modern to create food that is as full of passion as it is flavour.” [Italian Feast book site]

Puzzle: Taste of Tuscany, Cucina Allegra


Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 48.26cm x 35.56cm
Producer: The Canadian Group, Sure-Lox, Taste of Tuscany series
Notes: “Cucina allegra” according to Google translates to “Happy kitchen”. If anyone speaks Italian, please correct this if it is wrong.

As I could not find anything online with this name, I assume it is the artistic description of the painting. And so, I found a site in the UK called “Happy Kitchen” and browsed around. It seems, the kitchen is ran by two women making wheat-free, sugar-free, dairy-free organic dishes. Would be interesting to try, although I could not tell from their contact page where they are based. [Happy Kitchen site]

Puzzle: Taste of Tuscany, Bella Piazza



Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 48.26cm x 35.56cm
Producer: The Canadian Group, Sure-Lox, Taste of Tuscany series
Notes: A piazza is a city square in Italy, Malta, along the Dalmatian coast and in surrounding regions. The term is roughly equivalent to the Spanish plaza. In Ethiopia, it is used to refer to a part of a city. [Wiki]

Plaza is a Spanish word related to “field” which describes an open urban public space, such as a city square.[1] All through Spanish America, the plaza mayor of each center of administration held three closely related institutions: the cathedral, the cabildo or administrative center, which might be incorporated in a wing of a governor’s palace, and the audiencia or law court. The plaza might be large enough to serve as a military parade ground. At times of crisis or fiesta, it was the space where a large crowd might gather. Like the Italian piazza, the plaza remains a center of community life that is only equaled by the market-place. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Rustic home


Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 40.64cm x 40.64cm
Producer:  Hasbro, MB Puzzle
Notes: rus·tic
–adjective
1. of, pertaining to, or living in the country, as distinguished from towns or cities; rural.
2. simple, artless, or unsophisticated.
3. uncouth, rude, or boorish.
4. made of roughly dressed limbs or roots of trees, as garden seats.
5. (of stonework) having the surfaces rough or irregular and the joints sunken or beveled. [Dictionary.com]

Puzzle: Lighthouse Scene by Wendy Schaefer-Miles and Kevin D. Miles


Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 99.06 cm wide
Producer: Panorific, Sure-Lox
Artists: Wendy Schaefer-Miles and Kevin D. Miles
Box: photo
Notes: A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for pilots at sea or on inland waterways.

Lighthouses are used to mark dangerous coastlines, hazardous shoals and reefs, and safe entries to harbors, and can also assist in aerial navigation. Once widely used, the number of operational lighthouses has declined due to the expense of maintenance and replacement by modern electronic navigational aids. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Summer Fruits by W. Hammer


Size: 1000 pieces
Producer: Jumbo
Artist: W. Hammer (1821-1889)
Painting: photo
Notes: In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.

The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state, such as apples, oranges, grapes, strawberries, juniper berries and bananas. Seed-associated structures that do not fit these informal criteria are usually called by other names, such as vegetables, pods, nut, ears and cones.

Fruits are the means by which many plants disseminate seeds. Most plants bearing edible fruits, in particular, coevolved with animals in a symbiotic relationship as a means for seed dispersal and nutrition, respectively; in fact, many animals (including humans to some extent) have become dependent on fruits as a source of food. Fruits account for a substantial fraction of world’s agricultural output, and some (such as the apple and the pomegranate) have acquired extensive cultural and symbolic meanings. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Marigold


Size: 500 pieces
Producer: Mega
Notes: Calendula officinalis (pot marigold) is a plant in the genus Calendula, in the family Asteraceae. It is probably native to southern Europe  though its long history of cultivation makes its precise origin unknown, and may possibly be of garden origin. It is also widely naturalised further north in Europe (north to southern England) and elsewhere in warm temperate regions of the world.

Plant pharmacological studies have suggested that Calendula extracts have anti-viral, anti-genotoxic and anti-inflammatory properties. Calendula in suspension or in tincture is used topically to treat acne, reducing inflammation, controlling bleeding and soothing irritated tissue. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Japanese House


Size: 2000 pieces
Notes: Japanese architecture has a long history much like any other aspect of Japanese culture. Originally heavily influenced by Chinese architecture from the Tang Dynasty, it has also developed many unique differences and aspects indigenous to Japan as a result of dynamic changes throughout its long history. [Wiki]

A pagoda is the general term in the English language for a tiered tower with multiple eaves common in China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Nepal and other parts of Asia. Some pagodas are used as Taoist houses of worship. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most commonly Buddhist, and were often located in or near temples. This term may refer to other religious structures in some countries. [Wiki]

I brought this puzzle from Russia in 2007. The picture on the box differs from that on the puzzle – the clouds present in the puzzle are shown on the box as blue-purple gradient of the clear sky, and the water reflection differs accordingly.

I do not have a record of the producer of the 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.

Puzzle: Venice


Size: 750 pieces
Dimensions: 86.36cm x 30.48cm
Producer: The Canadian Group, Sure-Lox, Panorific series
Notes: Venice (Italian: Venezia) is a city in northern Italy known both for tourism and for industry, and is the capital of the region Veneto, with a population of about 270,660 (census estimate 30 April 2009).

The name is derived from the ancient people of Veneti that inhabited the region as of 10th century B.C. The city historically was the capital of the Venetian Republic. Venice has been known as the “La Dominante”, “Serenissima”, “Queen of the Adriatic”, “City of Water”, “City of Masks”, “City of Bridges”, “The Floating City”, and “City of Canals”. Luigi Barzini, writing in The New York Times, described it as “undoubtedly the most beautiful city built by man”.

The city stretches across 117 small islands in the marshy Venetian Lagoon along the Adriatic Sea in northeast Italy. The saltwater lagoon stretches along the shoreline between the mouths of the Po (south) and the Piave (north) Rivers. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Manicured Gardens, San Diego


Size: 750 pieces
Dimensions: 39cm x 60cm
Producer: Impressions, Sure-lox
Notes: San Diego, named after Saint Didacus (Spanish: Diego de Alcalá), is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California, after Los Angeles, with a population of 1,307,402 (2010 Census) within its administrative limits on a land area of 963.7 km2. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California. The urban area of San Diego extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 2,880,000, making it the third-largest urban area in California. San Diego is the 33rd richest city in the world. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Normandy Harbour


Size: 500 pieces, 1 missing
Producer: Puzzle World
Notes: Normandy (French: Normandie, Norman: Nourmaundie, from Old French Normanz, plural of Normand, originally from the word for “northman” in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is situated along the English Channel coast of Northern France between Brittany (to the west) and Picardy (to the east) and comprises territory in northern France and the Channel Islands. The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France.

Parts of Normandy consist of rolling countryside typified by pasture for dairy cattle and apple orchards. A wide range of dairy products are produced and exported. Norman cheeses include Camembert, Livarot, Pont l’Évêque, Brillat-Savarin, Neufchâtel, Petit Suisse and Boursin. Normandy butter and Normandy cream are lavishly used in gastronomic specialties.

Normandy is a major cider-producing region (very little wine is produced). Perry is also produced, but in less significant quantities. Apple brandy, of which the most famous variety is calvados, is also popular. The mealtime trou normand, or “Norman hole”, is a pause between meal courses in which diners partake of a glassful of calvados in order to improve the appetite and make room for the next course, and this is still observed in many homes and restaurants. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Bellingrath Gardens, Alabama


Size: 500 pieces
Producer: MB Puzzle, Little Big Ben series
Notes: Bellingrath Gardens and Home is a 26 ha botanical garden and mansion located on the Fowl River in Theodore, a suburb of Mobile, Alabama. The gardens include a bridal garden, a conservatory, a great lawn, a nature walk, an Oriental garden, a rose garden, a chapel, the Mermaid Pool, Mirror Lake, an observation tower, and a river pavilion where river cruises are provided on the Southern Belle and the “Kingfisher”.

The garden pathways are composed of flagstone that had been obtained from the old city sidewalks in Mobile, where they had been in place since arriving as ballast in sailing vessels collecting loads of cotton for the mills at Manchester, England.

The gardens feature live oaks, camellias, azaleas, roses, and chrysanthemums year round. Plants featured in winter are tulips, snapdragons, pansies, ornamental cabbage and kale, daffodils, poppies, primroses, and many varieties of narcissus. Plants featured in spring include the more than 250,000 azaleas, hydrangeas, Easter lilies, impatiens, salvia, fuchsia, and Pelargonium geraniums. Plants featured in summer are the more than 2000 roses, allamandas, hibiscus, copper plants, begonias, ornamental peppers, bougainvillea, caladiums, coleus, vinca, and marigolds. Plants featured in fall are over 8,000 bedded, potted and cascading chrysanthemums, hibiscus, and copper plants. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Passage to San Marco by Bob Pejman


Size: 300 pieces
Dimensions: 67cm x 48cm
Producer: Hasbro, EZ Grasp
Painting: photo
Artist: Bob Pejman – “In his works, Pejman creates idyllic, tranquil worlds. “There are no people in my paintings, so you can imagine yourself in the scenes”, explains the artist. “The scenes are already romantic, but my idea is to make them even more so”. In doing so, he pushes the colors to make them more intense and exaggerates the sunlight. “I don’t simplify the shapes. You get into the cracks and feel the structures and the stones”, he says, considering them to be marks of cultivated wisdom rather than declination. There is romance in history, and Pejman reminds the viewer of classic beauty and emotions that transcend time, all inherent to such places as the Mediterranean.” [Bob Pejman bio]
Notes: “I was inspired to paint this oil painting of Venice in July of 2000, when I was visiting Italy.

On a sunny afternoon on my way to the San Marco Square, I passed through a narrow passage way by the Grand Canal. There was a trattoria on the corner and a gandola tied to a post in the narrow canal. This quiet and romantic spot captivated me to the extent that I stopped for a short while to do a rough sketch of this site, as I knew that I would paint a large scale oil painting of this location upon my return to the States.” [Bob Pejman site]

Puzzle: Forest Fisherman by James C. Christensen


Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 40.64cm x 50.8cm
Producer: Ceaco
Painting: photo
Artist: James C. Christensen – Inspired by the world’s myths, fables and tales of imagination, James C. Christensen wants his work to add up to more than a beautiful – if sometimes “curious” looking work of art. Having taught art professionally for over 20 years, he likes to think of the world as his classroom. His hope is that through whatever he creates-be it a porcelain, fine art print or book-he can convey a message, inspiration or a simple laugh. He believes that teaching people to use their imagination helps us find solutions to sooth the stresses of everyday life-or get a little lift to help us keep going. In short: all things are possible when you share Christensen’s philosophy that “Believing is Seeing.”

Christensen was born in 1942 and raised in Culver City, California. He studied painting at Brigham Young University and, for a while, the University of California at Los Angeles before finishing his formal education at BYU. Since then, he has had one-man shows in the West and the Northeast and his work is prized in collections throughout the U.S. and Europe. [Greenwich Workshop site]

Puzzle: The Great Garibaldi by James C. Christensen


Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 40.64cm x 50.8cm
Producer: Ceaco
Artist: James C. Christensen
Painting: photo
Notes: “Paintings grow out of many things, and this one is from my love of things not being what they seem. The inside scoop is that the Great Garibaldi is the fish (the gold perch is called a “garibaldi”), not the impressive-looking mountebank or the little sycophant. – JCC” [Gallery One site]

Puzzle: The long road ahead


Size: 750 pieces
Dimensions: 86.36cm x 30.48cm
Producer: Sure-Lox, Panorific series
Notes: When you’ve fallen
on the highway
and you’re lying
in the rain,
and they ask you
how you’re doing
of course you’ll say
you can’t complain –
If you’re squeezed
for information,
that’s when you’ve got to
play it dumb:
You just say
you’re out there waiting
for the miracle,
for the miracle to come…

[Leonard Cohen]

Puzzle: Field of Dreams


Size: 750 pieces
Dimensions: 86.36cm x 30.48cm
Producer: Sure-Lox, Panorific series
Notes: A meadow is a field vegetated primarily by grass and other non-woody plants (grassland). It may be naturally occurring or artificially cleared. It may be cut for hay or grazed by livestock such as cattle, sheep or goats.

A transitional meadow occurs when a field, pasture, farmland, or other cleared land is no longer farmed or heavily grazed  and starts to overgrow. Once meadow conditions are achieved, however, the condition is only temporary because the early colonizers will be shaded out when woody plants become well-established.

In North America prior to European colonization, Algonquian, Iroquois and other Native American people regularly cleared areas of forest to create transitional meadows where deer could find nutrition and be hunted. Many places named “Deerfield” are located at sites where Native Americans once practised this form of land management. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Floral Vista


Size: 750 pieces
Dimensions: 86.36cm x 30.48cm
Producer: Sure-Lox, Panorific series
Notes: The tulip is a perennial, bulbous plant with showy flowers in the genus Tulipa, which comprises 109 species and belongs to the family Liliaceae. The genus’s native range extends from as far west as Southern Europe, North Africa, Anatolia, and Iran to the Northwest of China. The tulip’s centre of diversity is in the Pamir, Hindu Kush, and Tien Shan mountains. A number of species and many hybrid cultivars are grown in gardens, as potted plants, or to display as fresh-cut flowers. Most cultivars of tulip are derived from Tulipa gesneriana. [Wiki]