This is a Stave Limited Edition wooden jigsaw puzzle by artist Andrea Farnham. The puzzle only advertises four main tricks on the tableau but getting the rings together is an undocumented fifth trick. This is a gorgeous hand painted puzzle (no longer painted by Andrea but by other Stave Artists) and the tricks are clever and well thought out. The three-dimensionality of the puzzle is top notch and the extra little notes like the ribbons for the trapeze artists add to the puzzle. Purposefully a small image so as not to provide too many spoilers.

Well, a year late but I should also give Andrea Farnham of Thingamajigsaw a positive review of an amazing jigsaw puzzle that any Sherlock Holmes fan simply must own. Using Larry Elliott’s artwork (http://www.thingamajigsaw.com/traditional.html#elliott) she has created an incredible puzzle that requires knowledge of Sherlock Holmes stories to complete.

Here’s a picture of the completed puzzle with the silhouette figural pieces removed:

Those figural pieces you will notice are arranged in a spiral… So you need to link each figural with a story (the complete works of Sherlock Holmes are provided). For example, if you said the Rosary figural was associated with the “The Sign of Four” you would write that figural down next to the story name. The Rosary is positioned as “O” starting from “A” at the outside of the spiral. Knowing that the Rosary is O will let you decode a secret message which is indexed by letter, e.g. “O6” so the 6th letter in “The Sign of Four” is “G” write that down, and continue.

Lots of fun, I brought my copy of this puzzle to a board game gathering and it took a group several hours to assemble and then another several hours to decipher the code. Very clever multi-layer design and guaranteed to entertain.

Definitely a keeper.

Thingamajigsaw’s Andrea Farnham has done it again with an outstanding complex jigsaw and word puzzle based on Artist Larry Elliott’s work “Tower of Babel” (http://www.thingamajigsaw.com/traditional.html#elliott)

When you buy the puzzle you actually get two wooden jigsaw puzzles, a five-language dictionary, and a guide to solving the word puzzle once you’ve assembled the jigsaw.

Basically, once you solve the jigsaw, the figural pieces in the main puzzle have letters and numbers next to them, e.g. the octopus figural has a M6 next to it which on the small puzzle is in Spain. Time to use the dictionary to find the Spanish word for Octopus (pulpo).

When you have all of the translated words, you will be guided through a process to remove the letters from the border of the main puzzle and reveal a secret word (good for a 1-time 10% discount at Thingamajigsaw).

Fantastic work by Andrea and a very clever compliment to the Sherlock Holmes-themed puzzle she released last year also using Larry Elliot’s art. This is a must buy.