puzzle Archives – Page 12 of 29

Posts tagged "puzzle" (Page 12)

Puzzle: Yosemite Falls in Sierra Nevada Park in California, USA

Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 45.5 cm x 39.5 cm

Notes: I do not have a record of 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.

Yosemite Falls: Yosemite Falls is the highest measured waterfall in North America. Located in Yosemite National Park in the Sierra Nevada of California, it is a major attraction in the park, especially in late spring when the water flow is at its peak.

At the base of falls was located the main village of the native people of Yosemite Valley – Ahwahneechee people.

The Ahwahneechee people called the waterfall “Cholock” (“the fall”) and believed that the plunge pool at its base was inhabited by the spirits of several witches, called the Poloti. An Ahwaneechee folktale describes a woman going to fetch a pail of water from the pool, and drawing it out full of snakes. Later that night, after the woman had trespassed into their territory, the spirits caused the woman’s house to be sucked into the pool by a powerful wind, taking the woman and her newborn baby with it. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Perseverance by Thomas Kinkade

Size: 750 pieces
Dimensions: 60.96cm x 60.96cm
Producer: Ceaco, No.2943-6
Artist: Thomas Kinkade
Puzzle: This puzzle was a pleasure to do: the sunlit clouds and the boat are the logical starting points, as is the horizon. The foam on the waves separates the puzzle into several smaller regions, easy to complete. The waves just below the horizon are parallel to it, making that part of the puzzle trivial to complete.

Perseverance: Perseverance is the individual’s tendency to behave without being reinforced into the motivation purposes. In psychology, perseverance is related to a non-cognitive trait. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Ladies Night by Patricia Govezensky

Size: 500 pieces, 1 piece missing
Dimensions: 48.26cm x 35.56cm
Producer: Sure-Lox, The Canadian Group, Celebration of Women series, #44296-4, 2008
Artist: Patricia Govezensky – “For me painting is a means through which I find expression of life’s joy and fulfillment, and I believe art, more than merely being a means of expression itself, also serves as a medium to help us to make peace with our lives through positive and enthusiastic sentiments and regard for the brighter aspects of our existence, escaping form protest, cynicism and selfishness.”

Patricia Govezensky was born in Tel Aviv in 1961 and was raised in Jaffa, a picturesque quarter known for being the site of the oldest port in the world. Patricia, a sensitive artist, brings to her canvas the immortal effeminate women, combining her tender touch & simplicity with magic moments of beauty in delicate domain. [Puzzle box]

Puzzle: With so many distinct bright regions, this puzzle is trivial to do and is a pleasure for the eye.

Ladies Night: A ladies’ night is a promotional event, often at a bar or nightclub, where female patrons pay less than male patrons for the cover charge or drinks. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Fenced Flower Garden

Size: 550 pieces
Dimensions: 33cm x 48.3cm
Producer: RoseArt, 1997, No. 99999RA
Puzzle: Not a trivial puzzle due to the shape and fit of the pieces, but not significantly difficult as it is only 550 pieces. The most logical part to tackle first is the fence, providing vertical and horizontal guidelines to the variety of small flower patches behind it. Once the fence is done, yellow flowers and orange lillies are the easiest to complete. The bottom right purple batch of flowers and the fuchsia one above are equally good to take on next, and the few remaining green pieces can then easily be placed.

Fence: A fence is a freestanding structure designed to restrict or prevent movement across a boundary. Fences are generally distinguished from walls by the lightness of their construction and their purpose. Walls are usually barriers made from solid brick or concrete, blocking vision as well as passage, while fences are used more frequently to provide visual sectioning of spaces. [Wiki]

Puzzle: First frost

Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 45.72cm x 59.69cm
Producer: Springbok, by Hallmark, PZL4458
Puzzle: The most logical starting point is the stem of the branch that has a distinct colour and splits the puzzle into two regions giving a central guideline. The purple leaf regions followed by the dark green ones and the light-blue and white ones are the next areas to attack. Black and dark purple patches , and out-of-focus branches are distinct enough as well. The remainder is somewhat uniform white and blue, completing the outside small branches.

Frost: Frost is the solid deposition of water vapor from saturated air. It is formed when solid surfaces are cooled to below the dew point of the adjacent air as well as below the freezing point of water. Frost crystals’ size differs depending on time and water vapour available. Frost is also usually translucent in appearance. There are many types of frost, such as radiation and window frost. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Symphony in Red by Nava Grunfeld

Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 51.12cm x 66.52cm
Producer: Hasbro, MB Puzzles, Big Ben, Artist Series, Nava Grunfeld, 2008
Puzzle: This puzzle is not trivial, but not significantly difficult either. Large blue dish with white spirals and smaller blue dish give a good outline to the top half of the puzzle. Lemons can be filled in afterwards, as well as the lilac-coloured flowers. From that point on, green, yellow, orange, red, and brown patches are equally challenging: I ended up finishing with the tulips, but perhaps a reversal might have been easier.

Artist: Artist Nava Grunfeld was born in Sweden and grew up in Israel, where she began to closely observe nature. She is known for her bold watercolor paintings of still life objects, fruit and flowers. Her technique of layering multiple veils of transparent color onto each painting brings a luminous quality to her work. Like a stained glass window, the white of the paper acts as the light source that glows through the colors. [Puzzle box]

Puzzle: Columbia River Gorge

Size: 500 pieces, 1 missing
Dimensions: 35.24cm x 50.48cm
Producer: MB Puzzle, Croxley series, 1996, #4611-14
Puzzle: The waterfall and the tree are the logical places to start, followed by highlighted grass and leaves, the flowers, and finally by branch and leaf regions. Pleasant and not trivial.

Gorge: A canyon, or gorge, is a deep ravine between cliffs often carved from the landscape by a river. Rivers have a natural tendency to reach a baseline elevation, which is the same elevation as the body of water it will eventually drain into. This forms a canyon.

Canyons are much more common in arid areas than in wet areas because physical weathering has a greater effect in arid zones. The wind and water from the river combine to erode and cut away less resistant materials such as shales. The freezing and expansion of water also serves to help form canyons. Water seeps into cracks between the rocks and freezes, pushing the rocks apart and eventually causing large chunks to break off the canyon walls, in a process known as frost wedging. Canyon walls are often formed of resistant sandstones or granite. Submarine canyons form underwater, generally at the mouths of rivers. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Iris (1889) by Vincent van Gogh (Dutch 1853-1890)

Size: 63 pieces
Dimensions: 13cm x 18cm
Producer: Product Art Inc., Toronto, Mini-Puzzle series, No.113
Puzzle: Very small puzzle that can easily be done in 10 minutes. Pleasant lines, green leaves and the purple of the flower fall into place, and the rest is simple.

Iris: Iris is a genus of 260–300 species of flowering plants with showy flowers. It takes its name from the Greek word for a rainbow, referring to the wide variety of flower colors found among the many species. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Wild flowers & summer wine

Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 73cm x 48.57cm
Producer: Sure-Lox, The Canadian Group, Canvas Collection series, 2011, #44716-1
Artist: Stephen Darbishire/Rosenstiel

Puzzle: There are multiple regions of the puzzle that can be done independently: fruit, cheeses, yellow/green grass, blue cloudy patch of sky, wooden table parts, bottom of the window, and the chair cushion. From that point on, the window frame, the bright tablecloth top and plates, the lilac of the mountains, and the dark blue/purple of the tablecloth can be completed. The tree branches, the white of the sky, the remaining bouquet, and the dark curtain and bottom left corner remain. Very pleasant and calming puzzle to do, due to a variety of patterns, vivid colours, and serene imagery.

Wild flower: A wild flower is a flower that grows in the wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted. The term implies that the plant probably is neither a hybrid nor a selected cultivar that is in any way different from the way it appears in the wild as a native plant, even if it is growing where it would not naturally.

Puzzle: Pie baking day by Janet Kruskamp

Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 45.26cm x 35.56cm
Producer: Sure-Lox, The Canadian Group, Country Kitchen series, 2011, #42225-3
Artist: Janet Kruskamp

Puzzle: The orange curtains and the checkered parts are an easy place to start. Flowers on the window sill, apples, edge of the green table, sky, and tree can follow. The pipe, door frame, garden, and beige cupboard can be finished next, leaving the cans, dishes, and a few other small areas to complete. Very pleasant and staightforward puzzle. It also includes a shortbread cookies recipe and a red puzzle piece cookie cutter.

Baking: In ancient history, the first evidence of baking occurred when humans took wild grass grains, soaked them in water, and mixed everything together, mashing it into a kind of broth-like paste. The paste was cooked by pouring it onto a flat, hot rock, resulting in a bread-like substance. Later, this paste was roasted on hot embers, which made bread-making easier, as it could now be made anytime fire was created.

In ancient history, the first evidence of baking occurred when humans took wild grass grains, soaked them in water, and mixed everything together, mashing it into a kind of broth-like paste. The paste was cooked by pouring it onto a flat, hot rock, resulting in a bread-like substance. Later, this paste was roasted on hot embers, which made bread-making easier, as it could now be made anytime fire was created. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Blue Stove by Janet Kruskamp

Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 45.26cm x 35.56cm
Producer: Sure-Lox, The Canadian Group, Country Kitchen series, 2011, #42225-1
Artist: Janet Kruskamp

Puzzle: I have started this one with the blue regions: the door, the stove, the rug, and the chair. Window frame, white flowers in the vase, red apples, bowl on the table, the vase, the plaque on the stove, and the garden path are smaller self-contained regions. The flower garden and the light part of the floor easily fall into place, and the brown under the vase and all around and on the stove are the more subtle parts left over. Not a hard puzzle to do, it helps to have natural light at the end. The puzzle includes a shortbread cookies recipe and a red puzzle piece cookie cutter.

Stove: The Old English word stofa meant any individual enclosed space, such as a room, and ‘stove’ is still occasionally used in that sense, as in ‘stoved in’. Until well into the 19th century ‘stove’ was used to mean a single heated room, so that Joseph Bank’s assertion that he ‘placed his most precious plants in the stove’ or Rene Descarte’s observation that he got ‘his greatest philosophical inspiration while sitting inside a stove’ are not as odd as they first seem.

In its earliest attestation, cooking was done by roasting meat and tubers in an open fire. Pottery and other cooking vessels may be placed directly on an open fire, but setting the vessel on a support, as simple as a base of three stones, resulted in a stove. The three-stone stove is still widely used around the world. In some areas it developed into a U-shaped dried mud or brick enclosure with the opening in the front for fuel and air, sometimes with a second smaller hole at the rear. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Canning Day by Janet Kruskamp

Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 45.26cm x 35.56cm
Producer: Sure-Lox, The Canadian Group, Country Kitchen series, 2011, #42225-2
Artist: Janet Kruskamp

Puzzle: A logical starting point are the checkered curtains, followed by the yellow batches of colour and the stove. Floor boards, white table, garden path and flowers, the patches of sky, and the vegetables make stand-alone regions that are easy to put together. Door frame and window frame logically fall into place. The rug, corn, and places under the stove follow, to leave only the cupboards and a few dark areas. Easy and fast puzzle to do. It also includes a shortbread cookies recipe and a red puzzle piece cookie cutter.

Canning: Canning is a method of preserving food in which the food contents are processed and sealed in an airtight container. Canning provides a typical shelf life ranging from one to five years, although under specific circumstances a freeze-dried canned product, such as canned, dried lentils, can last as long as 30 years in an edible state. In 1795 the French military offered a cash prize of 12,000 francs for a new method to preserve food. Nicolas Appert suggested canning and the process was first proven in 1806 in test with the French navy and the prize awarded in 1809 or 1810. The packaging prevents microorganisms from entering and proliferating inside.

To prevent the food from being spoiled before and during containment, a number of methods are used: pasteurisation, boiling (and other applications of high temperature over a period of time), refrigeration, freezing, drying, vacuum treatment, antimicrobial agents that are natural to the recipe of the foods being preserved, a sufficient dose of ionizing radiation, submersion in a strong saline solution, acid, base, osmotically extreme (for example very sugary) or other microbially-challenging environments. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Milllies Kitchen

Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 73cm x 48.57cm
Producer: Sure-Lox, The Canadian Group, Canvas Collection series, 2011, #44716-5
Artist: H. Hargrove

Puzzle: A rather detailed puzzle with many small regions of colour. White sink and plate, garlic and the orange objects behind it are probably the easiest place to start. The metal watering can, the light fixture, and the dark yellow/orange on the top shelf and the book in the lower left are several groups of colour that are easy to do. The tree and the red of the shed outside, followed by the window sill, leaves mostly dark regions to complete the puzzle. I found it quite an engaging one.

Asparagus: Asparagus has been used as a vegetable and medicine, owing to its delicate flavour, diuretic properties, and more. It is pictured as an offering on an Egyptian frieze dating to 3000 BC. Still in ancient times, it was known in Syria and in Spain. Greeks and Romans ate it fresh when in season and dried the vegetable for use in winter; Romans would even freeze it high in the Alps, for the Feast of Epicurus. Emperor Augustus reserved the “Asparagus Fleet” for hauling the vegetable, and coined the expression “faster than cooking asparagus” for quick action. A recipe for cooking asparagus in the oldest surviving book of recipes, Apicius’s third-century AD De re coquinaria, Book III. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Autumn at seaside

Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 54.5cm x 70cm
Producer: Golden, Guild Puzzle, #4710-57
Puzzle: One of the logical ways of approaching this puzzle, is to put together the long white birch tree trunks first, giving a continuous vertical anchoring. The sea and the lighthouse are trivial to put together, and provide a line of horizon, so that the sky and top of the rocks fall into place. Orange and red leaves are the next logical choice, leaving the more uniform pieces of rocks and brush to the end. No name is provided on a box – it would have been nice to know where this photo was taken.

Birch tree: The bark of all birches is characteristically marked with long, horizontal lenticels, and often separates into thin, papery plates, especially upon the paper birch. It is resistant to decay, due to the resinous oil it contains. Its decided color gives the common names gray, white, black, silver and yellow birch to different species.

Birch trees are typically rather short-lived pioneer species widespread in the Northern Hemisphere particularly in northern temperate and boreal climates. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Tulip Rows, Mossyrock, WA

Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 51cm x 68.5cm
Producer: Lafayette Puzzle Factory, Colorluxe series, 2009, #1500
Puzzle: The sky, trees, and the horizon with narrow flower rows of different colours are the easy part of this puzzle. The yellow and red tulips, together with green leafy regions present more of a challenge. Not very hard to complete, but having good lighting is a bonus.

Mossyrock: Mossyrock is a city in Lewis County, Washington, United States. The population was 759 at the 2010 census. The city began as a trading post named Mossy Rock in 1852, after a 61 meter high moss-covered rock at the east end of Klickitat Prairie. The Indian name for the area of Mossyrock was Coulph. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Dragon Fire by David Penfound

Size: 550 pieces
Dimensions: 61cm x 46cm
Artist: David Penfound
Producer: Ceaco, Glow in the Dark series, #2333-43
Puzzle: The dragon’s wings, flames, the firepit, and the woman’s robes are distinct enough to allow for these regions to be filled first. Dragon’s neck, the smoke, and the rest of the figure follow, leaving a few black, dark blue, and dark leafy regions to complete the puzzle. Overall, as with most 550+piece Ceaco puzzles, the differing shapes of large pieces makes this puzzle easy to complete.

Dragon: A dragon is a mythological representation of a reptile. In antiquity, dragons were mostly envisaged as serpents, but since the Middle Ages, it has become common to depict them with legs, resembling a lizard.

Dragons are usually shown in modern times with a body like a huge lizard, or a snake with two pairs of lizard-type legs, and able to emit fire from their mouths. The European dragon has bat-like wings growing from its back. A dragon-like creature with wings but only a single pair of legs is known as a wyvern. [Wiki]

Puzzle: The 60s

Size: 750 pieces
Dimensions: 48.1cm x 68cm
Producer: Kodak, RoseArt, Decades series, No.21020
Puzzle: Enough different colours and textures to make the completion of this puzzle a breeze. Yellow cup and flowers, purple and white fabric, lava lamp, white fabric with red embroidery, the photograph, the straw hat are all sufficiently different to be easily assembled first, guiding the rest of the puzzle to completion.

The 60’s: The counterculture movement dominated the second half of the 1960s, its most famous moments being the Summer of Love in San Francisco in 1967, and the Woodstock Festival in upstate New York in 1969. Psychedelic drugs, especially LSD, were widely used medicinally, spiritually and recreationally throughout the late 1960s, and were popularized by Timothy Leary with his slogan “Turn on, tune in, drop out”. There was a growing interest in Eastern religions and philosophy, and many attempts were made to found communes, which varied from supporting free love to religious puritanism. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Top of the Rock – Lunchtime on a crossbeam

Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 48.3cm x 35.5cm
Producer: Top of the Rock, design by SBH Marketing, Inc., 2006, #1310302
Puzzle: Despite being black-and-white, this puzzle is easy to do: grey hazy sky is of a shade sufficiently different from the buildings below, people on the crossbeam are darker than the background, and their shoes provide enough of a contrast with the skyscrapers to guide the completion of the bottom part.

Photo: An historic picture now in a great puzzle! The Top of the Rock Observation Deck opened to the public in the summer of 1933 with its unparalleled views of New York City. The amazing craftsmanship of the Observation Deck is owed to these brave construction workers who routinely ate their lunches 800 heart-stopping feet above the city below. [Puzzle box]

Puzzle: Early summer produce

Size: 500 pieces, 1 missing
Dimensions: 35.24cm x 50.48cm
Producer: MB Puzzle, Croxley series, 1997, #4611-22
Puzzle: Pleasant puzzle, preferably done with good lighting. Lots of green, grey, and brown, but easy enough to assemble. Several bright regions (strawberries, onions, window, and walls) as well as the horizontal and vertical surfaces lay a good foundation to guide the completion of the puzzle.

Produce: Produce is a generalized term for a group of farm-produced crops and goods, and is not limited to fruits and vegetables (i.e. meats, grains, oats, etc. are sometimes considered as produce.) More specifically, the term “produce” often implies that the products are fresh and generally in the same state as where they were harvested. Produce is the main product sold by greengrocers, farmers’ markets, and fruit markets. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Verticalville

Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 69.85cm x 54.61cm
Producer: Hallmark, 1977
Notes:
Verticalville

There’s a town west of someplace and south of some other,
That isn’t like anyplace else anywhere.
It didn’t grow outward like all other cities;
It rose like a mountain straight up in the air.

The blocks of most towns lie beside one another,
And to get “there” from “here” you just go across town,
But this is a place where the blocks stack like pancakes,
Where uptown is up, and where downtown is down!

It has its own railroad that spirals up through it,
A Penny Arcade where the kids test their skill,
A bank for high finance, a pool for high diving,
They’re tops with the people in Verticalville.

The mayor, Mr. Height’s, running for re-election,
On a platform that calls for more vertical blocks,
Continued high spirits and low unemployment,
And a new baseball park for the Vertical Sox!

There’s a plane flying ’round saying, “Don’t eat at Joe’s,”
Which was rented, of course, by the owner of Bill’s.
And Bruce the Balloonist is ready to lift off
To give all the people some vertical thrills.

If you come to this town, you don’t need a compass;
It takes an altimeter to fill the bill.
But spirits are high and the living is lofty.
The folks live it up, up in Verticalville.

[Puzzle box]

Tag: puzzle