I think that a lot of us have been doing jigsaw puzzles during this strange time of self-isolation and lockdown. Purely by good luck I bought a box containing four jigsaws a couple of months ago so we had a choice of ‘doing’ Venice, London, New York or Moscow. I opted to visit Venice first.
Maybe I should have been a wee bit choosier because it was an absolute swine of a puzzle and it almost beat us. Truly I suppose it did beat me as after leaving it alone for a few days then going back to it thinking I would be able to solve it just like that – as sometimes happens with difficult cryptic crossword puzzles, I was sorely disappointed – it was still a swine.
It was the sky that almost defeated us, there are just no clues to go by, the blue being all one shade. I gave up and went out to weed the garden, and Jack continued. At one point he got down to just three pieces – BUT THEY DIDN’T FIT IN ANYWHERE! Careful scrutiny revealed some possible mistakes and eventually after picking out some likely pieces the puzzle was completed by Jack. I was still weeding.
He thinks that there are some parts of the water and sky which might not be correct but it’ll have to do, towards the end this one was definitely not good for my mental health so it might be a few weeks before we tackle another puzzle!
Sorry it was frustrating, Venice of all places should have been a serene picture to work on.
Glad you got all the bits to fit together! Is that a thousand-piece one? I have one which I’ve partly assembled several times, it’s the sea-horizon and the sky, even the edge-pieces, that defeat me.
Valerie,
Yes it is a thousand piece puzzle. The edges of this one defeated us too, at the top where it’s just blue sky, we ended up leaving that bit to the end when normally we would do all the edges first. I’m not surprised that you’ve had trouble doing a sea-horizon and sky, it sounds like a nightmare to do!
We are working on a frustrating jigsaw puzzle at my house too. It’s a thin gold chain zigging and zagging around with gems on it and the gems all go in a particular pattern except when they get interrupted by a crystal that changes everything. Plus the whole picture isn’t on the box, just wicked hints enough to make us crazy!
Haha, yes, all that blue must have been frustrating! I don’t mind that if I’m in the mood – going by shape alone and trying piece after piece to find an exact fit can be quite soothing sometimes. Then at other times it drives me insane and I just want to throw the whole thing up in the air and see where it lands! Well done to Jack for persevering!
FictionFan,
Yes it all got a wee bit too much for me, the weeding was much more therapeutic!
Katrina,
Of course it’s correct! Just keep telling yourselves that. It looks perfectly fine to me. A thorny jigsaw puzzle is just the thing right now. As well as weeding.
And, by the way, it’s so hard for us to believe you have weeds right now. None of ours have come up, except for a few tendrils of dandelion. As usual, spring doesn’t really get going until May, although in these times I would welcome it much sooner. It’s really a beautiful puzzle.
Judith,
Well we’ve just tidied it away and are now doing Moscow, so far so much easier!
It seems that our weeds never stop growing, I have just about every weed known in the UK – or so it seems anyway, even the dreaded ground ivy and hogweed. It’s very dry here at the moment, after such a wet winter we needed that but as you can imagine it is making it even worse for people who are cooped up in flats as they can see the sunshine from their windows but can’t get out to enjoy it, well not for long anyway.
It’s always the blue in a jigsaw puzzle my Nan used to say.
I have just finished one and am now patiently waiting for the ones I ordered to arrive. I can’t bring myself to start a Christmas one which is all I have left.
Jo,
Your Nan was correct! At the moment we’re doing one of Moscow and we still have London and New York to go after that one. It seems everyone is doing them.