Tag Archives: puzzle

Puzzle: Mount Rainier, Washington State, USA

Mount Rainier, Washington State, USA, med
Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 51.12cm x 66.52cm
Producer: MB Puzzles, Big Ben
Notes: Mount Rainier National Park is a United States National Park located in Washington state. It was one of the US’s earliest National Parks, having been established on March 2, 1899 as the fifth national park in the United States. The park contains 950 km2 including all of Mount Rainier, a 4,392 m stratovolcano. The highest point in the Cascade Range, around it are valleys, waterfalls, subalpine wildflower meadows, old growth forest and more than 26 glaciers. The volcano is often shrouded in clouds that dump enormous amounts of rain and snow on the peak every year. [Wiki]

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Puzzle: At the top, Havasu Falls



Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 48.26cm x 35.56cm
Producer: Sure-Lox
Notes: The falls were called “Bridal Veil Falls” before the flood of 1910 because they fell from the entire width of the now dry travertine cliffs north and south of the present falls.

The falls are known for their natural pools, created by mineralization, although most of these pools were damaged and/or destroyed in the early 1990s by large floods that washed through the area. A small man-made dam was constructed to help restore the pools and to preserve what is left. It is possible to swim behind the falls and enter a small rock shelter behind it. [Wiki]

Puzzle: The Falls of Havasu

Havasu Falls, med
Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 48.26cm x 35.56cm
Producer: Sure-Lox
Notes: Havasu Falls is a waterfall in the Grand Canyon. It is accessed from a trail on the right side (left side when heading upstream) of the main trail. The side trail leads across a small plateau and drops into the main pool. Havasu is arguably the most famous and most visited of all the falls, and is considered one of the most photographed waterfalls in the world. The falls consist of one main chute that drops over a 120-foot (37 m) vertical cliff (due to the high mineral content of the water, the falls are ever-changing and sometimes break into two separate chutes of water) into a large pool.  [Wiki]

Puzzle: Places of Interest – United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland


Size: 100 pieces
Dimensions: 38.2cm x 61cm
Producer: Early Learning Centre
Notes: 100 piece board jigsaw with outline guide featuring the United Kingdoms. [Puzzle box]

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK, or Britain) is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of continental Europe. It spans an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of the island of Ireland, and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK with a land border with another sovereign state, sharing it with the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel, and the Irish Sea.

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy and unitary state. It is a country consisting of four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. [Wiki]

Ireland, described as the Republic of Ireland, is a state in Western Europe. It encompasses approximately five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned into two jurisdictions in 1921. The country is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the Irish Sea to the east, St George’s Channel to the southeast, and the Celtic Sea to the south. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Lost in a Jigsaw II – Survival of the Fittest


Size: 515 pieces
Dimensions: 47cm x 44cm
Artist: Kristin D. Fundalinski
Producer: Buffalo Games
Instructions: PDF from the manufacturer
Notes: Danger at every turn! Danger and beauty strike an uneasy truce in Lost in a Jigsaw II = Survival of the Fittest. One wrong move can unleash the predator, upset a delicate balance. One wrong turn and you could become the prey. Created by a devious unknown keeper, your safari adventure will take you through fabulous habitat, a tour of beasts both friendly and fierce and an intricate maze with only one way through. Your wits are your only weapons and logic is your only guide through this primal jigsaw puzzle labyrinth.

Your maze consists of a 515 piece diagonally cut jigsaw puzzle, with more than 60 separate scenes, some combining to form individual habitats, and others comprising the one and only route to completion. Lost in a Jigsaw II is o unique that its inner workings are patented. Patent 5,351,957 describes a process by which puzzle scenes are connected by logic and not just simply by color or fit. Each piece is identically shaped and the puzzle can be correctly assembled only by figuring out the devious maze! A complete solution and hints to get you started are included inside. Good luck! [Puzzle box]

Puzzle: La Santorini, Greece


Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 51.12cm x 66.52cm
Producer: MB Puzzles, Big Ben
Notes: Santorini (Greek: Σαντορίνη) is a volcanic island located in the southern Aegean Sea, about 200 km southeast from Greece’s mainland. A giant central lagoon, more or less rectangular, and measuring about 12 by 7 km, is surrounded by 300 m high steep cliffs on three sides. The island slopes downward from the cliffs to the surrounding Aegean Sea. On the fourth side, the lagoon is separated from the sea by another much smaller island called Therasia; the lagoon merges with the sea in two places, in the northwest and southwest. The water in the centre of the lagoon is nearly 400 m deep, thus making it a safe harbour for all kinds of shipping. The island’s harbours all lie in the lagoon and there are no ports on the outer perimeter of the island; the capital, Fira, clings to the top of the cliff looking down on the lagoon. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Plaza de España, Spain

Plaza de Espana, med
Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 73cm x 48.6cm
Producer: Impressions, Sure-Lox
Notes: The Plaza de España is a building in Maria Luisa Park, in Seville, Spain built in 1928 for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. It is a landmark example of the Renaissance Revival style in Spanish architecture. The Plaza de España, designed by Aníbal González, was a principal building built on the Maria Luisa Park’s edge to showcase Spain’s industry and technology exhibits. González combined a mix of 1920s Art Deco and ‘mock Mudejar’, and Neo-Mudéjar styles. The Plaza de España  complex is a huge half-circle with buildings continually running around the edge accessible over the moat by numerous beautiful bridges. In the centre is a large fountain. By the walls of the Plaza are many tiled alcoves, each representing a different province of Spain. [Wiki]

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Puzzle: Fresh Bouquet


Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 58cm x 74cm
Producer: American Publishing, LJN Toys
Notes: A flower bouquet is a collection of flowers in a creative arrangement. There are different kinds including nosegay, crescent, and cascading bouquets. Even before flower bouquets were used by brides in wedding they were used in a different form of art. They appeared as early as the 17th century and possibly earlier. Flower bouquets were captured in paintings and on pottery as decorations.

The art of arranging flowers was first documented in the 17th century, when the Dutch, in particular, painted wonderful informal arrangements of flowers. In the 18th century, arrangements were used to decorate the houses of the wealthy families and the aristocracy.

In years past, as a matter of tradition, an upper class bride was required to hold a bouquet of roses or flowers as she walked down the aisle to prevent body odor from spreading and to drive away evil spirits. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Architecture, Puri, India by Jim Zuckerman


Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 73cm x 48.5cm
Producer: Sure-Lox
Painting: photo
Artist: Jim Zuckerman left his medical studies in 1970 to pursue his love of photography and turn it into a career. He has taught creative photography at many universities and private schools… The work of Jim Zuckerman has been used for packaging, advertising and editorial layouts in more than forty countries. He has been published in calendars, posters, greeting cards and corporate brochures and annual reports, and his work is also sold as fine art prints in scores of furniture store outlets across the United States. [Jim Zuckerman site]

Notes: Puri is a city situated about 60 kilometres south of state capital Bhubaneswar, on the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal in the Indian state of Odisha. It is also known as Jagannath Puri after the Jagannath Temple (built in the late eleventh century). It is a holy city of the Hindus as a part of the Char Dham pilgrimages. It is considered that a pilgrimage of the temples of India is not complete without making the journey to Puri. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Catherine Palace, Pushkin, Russia


Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 51.12cm x 66.52cm
Producer: MB Puzzles, Big Ben
Notes: The Catherine Palace (Russian: Екатерининский дворец) was the Rococo summer residence of the Russian tsars, located in the town of Tsarskoye Selo (Pushkin), 25 km south-east of St. Petersburg, Russia.

The residence originated in 1717, when Catherine I of Russia engaged the German architect Johann-Friedrich Braunstein to construct a summer palace for her pleasure. In 1733, Empress Anna commissioned Mikhail Zemtsov and Andrei Kvasov to expand the Catherine Palace. Empress Elizabeth, however, found her mother’s residence outdated and incommodious and in May 1752 asked her court architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli to demolish the old structure and replace it with a much grander edifice in a flamboyant Rococo  style. Construction lasted for four years and on 30 July 1756 the architect presented the brand-new 325-meter-long palace to the Empress, her dazed courtiers and stupefied foreign ambassadors. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Le passage by Vadik Suljakov

Le passage, med
Size: 750 pieces
Dimensions: 59.70cm x 39.37cm
Producer: Sure-Lox
Painting: photo
Notes: Since arriving in the United States over a decade ago, master Russian artist Vadik Suljakov (pronounced Shul-ya-kov) has established himself as one of the most distinguished young impressionists in the country. Suljakov, born in the cultural center of Moscow in 1960, comes from an intellectual family with many generations of artists and writers. [Monsoon Gallery]

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Puzzle: Tuscany, Italy


Size: 750 pieces
Dimensions: 39cm x 60cm
Producer: Impressions, Sure-lox
Notes: Winemaking, or vinification, is the production of wine, starting with selection of the grapes  or other produce and ending with bottling the finished wine. Although most wine is made from grapes, it may also be made from other fruit or non-toxic plant material. Mead is a wine that is made with honey being the primary ingredient after water.

Winemaking can be divided into two general categories: still wine production (without carbonation) and sparkling wine production (with carbonation).

The science of wine and winemaking is known as oenology (in American English, enology) and the oldest known winemaking operation, estimated to be 6,100 years old, was discovered in a cave in Armenia. [Wiki]

Puzzle: L’Avoset by Vadik Suljakov

Lavoset, med
Size: 750 pieces
Dimensions: 59.70cm x 39.37cm
Producer: Sure-Lox
Painting: photo
Notes: While in college Vadik Suljakov was given the opportunity to visit Italy and France, thus enchanted by the awe-inspiring cities and towns steeped in history. He began to paint the beautiful landscapes and city scenes that he admired on his travels. [Wiki]

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Puzzle: Garden Bluebird


Size: 300 pieces (oversized)
Dimensions: 38cm x 54cm
Producer: Buffalo Games
Artist: Joe Hautman
Notes: The bluebirds are a group of medium-sized, mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the genus Sialia of the thrush family (Turdidae). Bluebirds are one of the few thrush genera in the Americas. They have blue, or blue and red, plumage. Female birds are less brightly colored than males, although color patterns are similar and there is no noticeable difference in size between sexes.

Bluebirds are territorial, prefer open grassland with scattered trees and are cavity nesters (similar to many species of woodpecker). Bluebirds can typically produce between two and four broods during the spring and summer (March through August in the Northeastern United States). Males identify potential nest sites and try to attract prospective female mates to those nesting sites with special behaviors that include singing and flapping wings, and then placing some material in a nesting box or cavity. If the female accepts the male and the nesting site, she alone builds the nest and incubates the eggs. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Bremen, Germany


Size: 500 pieces, 3 missing
Dimensions: 35cm x 48cm
Producer: Canada Games, Windsor
Location: The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area (2.4 million people). Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.

Bremen is connected with a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, the Town Musicians of Bremen, although they never actually reach Bremen in the tale. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Mooney Falls, Havasu Canyon, Arizona


Size: 500 pieces
Producer: Kodacolor
Notes: Mooney Falls is named after James Mooney, who died here while attempting to rescue an injured friend by climbing back to the top with his friend tied onto his back.

Mooney Falls is about 1 mile past Havasu Falls, just past the campground. It is a towering and breathtaking waterfall of about 200 ft. in height. There is a really nice view of the falls from the top, looking down on the enticing pool into which the waterfall drops. The fun part (and scary part) of this waterfall, though, is getting to its base. From the top of the falls, the trail continues down to a warning sign, indicating to proceed at your own risk, and not to try descending in inclement weather. From here, you have to squeeze through two narrow tunnels built into the cliff. When you emerge from the tunnels, you are looking straight down the cliff to the pool at the base of the falls, and wondering if you are crazy enough to proceed. It is a steep descent. [Waterfalls of Arizona]

Puzzle: Maroon Park, Colorado, USA


Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 51.12cm x 66.52cm
Producer: Big Ben, MB Puzzles
Notes: This is a very beautiful park above Aspen. The bell shaped mountains in the background glow a reddish colour in the sunlight & they are reflected on the lake, hence the mountains called Maroon Bells and the lake Maroon Lake. [TravelPod site]

Maroon is a dark red color. Maroon is derived from French marron (“chestnut”). The first recorded use of Maroon as a color name in English was in 1789. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Alabama Hills, California, USA

Alabama Hills, California, USA, med
Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 51.12cm x 66.52cm
Producer: Big Ben, MB Puzzles
Notes: Alabama Hills are a “range of hills” and rock formations near the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the Owens Valley, west of Lone Pine in Inyo County, California.

Though geographically considered a range of hills, geologically they are a part of the Sierra Nevada mountains.

The Alabama Hills were named for CSS Alabama. When news of the Confederate warship’s exploits reached prospectors in California sympathetic to the American Civil War Confederates, they named many mining claims after the ship, and then the name came to be applied to the entire range. [Wiki]

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Puzzle: Chambord Château


Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 73cm x 48.5cm
Producer: Sure-Lox
Notes: The royal Château de Chambord at Chambord, Loir-et-Cher, France is one of the most recognizable châteaux in the world because of its very distinct French Renaissance architecture that blends traditional French medieval forms with classical Italian structures.

The building, which was never completed, was constructed by King François I in part to be near to his mistress the Comtesse de Thoury, Claude Rohan, wife of Julien de Clermont, a member of a very important family of France, whose domaine, the château de Muides, was adjacent. Her arms figure in the carved decor of the château. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Machu Picchu, Peru


Size: 750 pieces
Dimensions: 86.36 cm x 30.48 cm
Producer: Panorific, Sure-Lox
Box: photo
Notes: Machu Picchu is a pre-Columbian 15th-century Inca site located 2,430 metres  above sea level. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is 80 kilometres northwest of Cusco and through which the Urubamba River flows. Most archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti (1438–1472). Often referred to as “The Lost City of the Incas”, it is perhaps the most familiar icon of the Inca World.

The Incas started building the “estate” around AD 1400 but abandoned it as an official site for the Inca rulers a century later at the time of the Spanish Conquest. Although known locally, it was unknown to the outside world before being brought to international attention in 1911 by the American historian Hiram Bingham. [Wiki]