Category Archives: puzzles

Aug15

superior service.

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while recently at my friend’s lake house

we made this beautiful puzzle

of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

 she purchased during her recent visit to the northern regions

 beautifully made of wood, precision cut, and challenging

but together we managed to complete the puzzle

except

for one piece

that I tried to jam in

 I broke it

our ‘gluer’ didn’t put it back together quite right

so we accepted that it was finished without it

but I felt bad

so I wrote to the company

to see if they could possibly replace the piece

I took photos of it and where it was supposed to be

always worth a shot

the artist who made the puzzle

also the company owner

said she would replace it

(talk  about customer service!)

 I thanked her

 excitedly waited for the piece to arrive

within days it showed up at my house

 what should arrive at my house

all the way from the upper peninsula

but an entire puzzle

at no charge

from the artist herself

as her and her husband

are the small business owners

of their own family owned company

she is a Ukranian artist

who makes the puzzles

among many other things

 he is an American veteran

 I was so amazed by their kindness

that I’d like to publicly thank them here

by sharing a connection to their business

I will certainly buy puzzles from them myself

thank you again for reminding me

that there are wonderful people out there in the world

and for your beautiful work

(all links are below)

Artist, Kateryna Nelson

https://www.facebook.com/artfactorytwinportsWIMNMI

https://www.artfactorytwinports.com/shopall

https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtFactoryTwinPorts

artfactorytwinports.com

Gwinn, MI, United States
artfactorysuperior@Gmail.com

—

“customer service is an opportunity to exceed your customer’s expectations.”

-John Jantsch

*John Jantsch is an author, speaker, and marketing consultant who specializes in assisting small businesses. He is the author of Duct Tape Marketing, The Referral Engine, and The Commitment Engine.

Jan15

‘bring your peace to the table.’ – n. hoffman

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i finally tiptoed my way back  into doing jigsaw puzzles at home

with a planned delay after having pete the cat come to live with me

he’s a rowdy teenaged cat who loves to jump and play

i started out by trying a 100 piece puzzle sent by my friend

i could work quickly and cover it if needed

that went pretty well

he jumped up on the table 

laid down on it and grabbed a piece but put it back when i ‘suggested it’

this was the gateway opening wide for me

i knew a 1,000 piece puzzle

would take up too much space and time

so i went for a 500 piece

quietly got it out

sorted, made the frame

he jumped up to check it out

 suddenly i had an idea

he loves to play, especially laser chase games

i love to solve puzzles, especially jigsaw and crosswords

so i armed myself with a laser pointer in my left hand 

while i worked on the puzzle with my right hand

each time he jumped up

i aimed that pointer across the room and he took off running 

i had a couple of minutes to work on the puzzle again

then he would jump  back up and we did this all over again

i assumed he’d tire after 5 or 6 jumps

but no

pete the cat had energy to burn

 we must have repeated this close to 20 times

finally i finished by puzzle

 he went to take a nap 

a win for both of us

 while my team may have come in very last

in our recent jigsaw puzzle competition

i have taken it to a new challenge level

two-fisted gaming 

‘jig-laser-tag-puzzling.’

—

“let perseverance be your engine and hope your fuel.”

—j. jackson brown, jr.

 

.

Dec31

piecing it together.

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as a person who loves puzzles

since i learned

team puzzle competitions were a thing

i’ve wanted to compete in one

 finally the opportunity arose

the night of the event arrived

people in teams of four

would compete to finish the same unknown puzzle

in the shortest period of time

my team’s name was 

‘the last piece is under the table’

there were 12 competing teams

beverages and snacks and rules

a little friendly trash-talking

  giant timer on a screen counting the seconds, minutes, hours

each team had their own strategies, methods, plans

part of the challenge is working in a team itself

each person has their own way of solving puzzles

 with different levels of competitive spirit and ingenuity

but i consider that part of the puzzle too

trying to solve how to work together as one

to complete the puzzle on the table  

the judge started the clock

the buzzer went off

when we opened the wrapping

it was a circular, colorful, 500 piece

we threw everything on the floor 

dumped the pieces on the table

and were off

as expected, we all had different strengths and strategies

adapting as we went, changing spots, some stood, some sat

communication was key

‘who has the pink dots, is that a bird’s beak, what does that word say, look for purple…’

personalities were revealed

in an ebb and flow of emotions

we worked as fast as we could

 suddenly 

the team behind us

who all stayed seated and worked silently 

announced they were finished just 40 minutes in

mind blown

only motivated us more

i was literally sweating 

quite a workout

we kept working as fast as we could

while one team after another

completed their puzzles 

we did not stop

at one point it was clear we would be the last team

we had a good laugh

exhausted

but refused to give up

i asked how late they would be open

finally

at 1 hour and 50 minutes

we did it!

and it was fun!

i was just happy to finish 

i’ll be back to try again

when talking to the judge after 

he said the silent sitting team that won so quickly

go to the world championships each year

(what?! world championships?!)

they have not yet won at that level

but enter these competitions

to stay sharp and practice

makes good sense

now i feel

it’s may be only a matter of time 

 i’ll be writing about a puzzle competition from italy one day

but in the meantime

i had a blast

 we had no pieces under the table

and that’s something.

—

‘a group is a bunch of people in an elevator.

a team is a bunch of people in an elevator, but the elevator is broken.’ 

-bonnie edelstein, parade magazine

Jul30

re-solution.

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 dreamed that i was working on a jigsaw puzzle

happily sorting it out, putting the pieces into place

i love solving puzzles

what a peaceful enterprise

then a section appeared

all white pieces

not sure exactly where to begin with it

 a new challenge

so curious to see how i would solve it

but i woke up too soon.

i looked up dream analysis

about jigsaw puzzles

and the color white

 it made such sense.

solving jigsaws represents

putting the pieces of your life back together,

reorganizing,

perhaps in new ways, after a life change

white represents blank pages, waiting to be written.

what a perfect solution to my retirement puzzle.

‘the solution often turns out more beautiful than the puzzle.’

-richard dawkins

Jan29

hell level.

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today, on national puzzle day

i’m reminded of one of my most memorable puzzle-solving adventures

(sounds like an oxymoron, i know)

years ago, when in grad school

my sister sent me a very special puzzle

i’ve always been a huge fan of challenging jigsaw, crossword, and sudoku puzzles

after reading the description, i thought this would be right up my alley

the puzzle was all black, with a pale, delicate, and finely drawn vine winding through it

it had no straight edges, pieces were mostly all the same shape,

just slightly different sizes, and had no picture to use as a solution

i finally decided to tackle it one snowy day

that turned into three

as we were in the throng of what turned out to be a full-out blizzard

i cleared my large square coffee table, sat on a pillow on the floor,

put on some music, brought over a big cup of creamy coffee

and began

what turned out to be the most challenging puzzle of my lifetime

  determined to solve it

my back was hurting, my hands were hurting, my eyes were hurting

by the end of day one

 all the lights ablaze to detect any slight differentiation

only stopping for brief breaks or to sleep

at one point

i felt like jack nicholson in ‘the shining’

holed up, shut off from the world, snowed-in, and involved in an insane enterprise

but

solve it i did

with the gift of those three long days

when it was impossible to go anywhere

the local world pretty much shut down for the snow

 not going to let this puzzle beat me

after i put the last piece in place

 i tore it apart and put it back in the box

making a decision to never make this puzzle again

i passed it on to a friend at school, told her it was a gift not a loan, and wished her good luck.

—

about this item:

  • 🧩Black puzzles for adults – 1000 pcs. hell level difficulty jigsaw puzzles are made from premium quality materials, the size of each puzzle is different, each is precision made so that every piece fits perfectly, touch smooth, full of detail, Special surface film treatment. It’s a game to enlarge your brain capacity, a game to strengthen eye-hand coordination and your imagination. It’s not so easy to complete the black puzzle, but once finished, you will be proud of yourself.

—

puzzle history timeline:

2300 bc- early puzzles

before modern puzzles, labyrinth puzzles were popular in ancient egypt.

1767 – jigsaws

mapmaker, john spilsbury creates the first jigsaw puzzle

1908 – puzzle-mania

puzzles become a full-blown craze in the united states

1933 – peak popularity

during the great depression, puzzle sales soared to 10 million a week

—

“a puzzle with a solution is a game. a puzzle without a solution is a work of art.”
― marty rubin

Nov10

carry on.

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trying to piece the world back together

Warehouse giant Costco likes to do everything big, from super-sized bottles of ketchup to barrels full of Jack Daniel’s whiskey. Their latest exclusive offering: A jigsaw puzzle with 60,000 pieces that may take up an entire room when it’s finished.

The sprawling What a Wonderful World puzzle is actually 60 interconnected 1000-piece puzzles to make assembly (somewhat) feasible. Each features a painting from the Dowdle Art Studio of a fascinating landmark from different parts of the world, including The Great Wall of China and The Eiffel Tower.

Once each section is completed, it can be connected to the larger canvas. When finished, the puzzle measures 8 feet tall and 29 feet wide. An included legend helps you keep track of which puzzle goes where in the literal bigger picture of things. Costco has declared it the world’s largest jigsaw puzzle, and that’s likely to be true. The What a Wonderful World puzzle retails for $599.

—

“the world is like a dropped pie most of the time.

don’t kill yourself trying to put it back together.

just grab a fork and eat some of it off the floor. then carry on.” 

-elizabeth gilbert

 

—

credits: penn news, chris hopkins, jake rosin, mental floss,

Aug15

aha!

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yesterday was my favorite day of the week for crosswords

sunday paper delivered at home

weekend puzzle inside

waiting to challenge me

my personal process may include

a tiny bit (iota) of cursing (*&@^) at times

until that ‘aha’ (eureka moment) arrives.

—

word of the day:

cruciverbalist

cru-sih-Ver-be-list

part of speech: noun

origin: american english, mid 1970s

definition: a person who enjoys or is skilled at crosswords.

example in a sentence:

“my mother, the cruciverbalist, still receives the daily newspaper so she can solve the crossword with her pen.”

—

“just got excited at a crossword clue that was ‘cheese lovers’ and was like ooh,

there’s a name for people like me it turns out it was: mice.“

-word porn

one of my fav films

these are my people.

 

Nov28

cruciverbalist.

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 a wonderful surprise

from one cruciverbalist to another

this full-page spread crossword puzzle with 723 clues

what madness is this?

my dream come true. 

—

“our whole life is solving puzzles.”

-erno rubik

—

cru·ci·ver·bal·ist  (kro͞o′sə-vûr′bə-lĭst)

n.

1. A constructor of crosswords.

2. An enthusiast of word games, especially of crosswords.

Oct5

piece of my art.

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the cats have done it again

(the most likely suspects)

a long while after putting my latest puzzle away

without finding a missing piece 

they have left a piece at my feet

now all i have to do is find their secret lair

where i may discover a treasure trove

of all of my missing ‘one-pieces.’

 

—

“sometimes the hardest pieces of a puzzle to assemble, are the ones missing from the box.”

-dixie waters

Jun8

tohubohu.

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today, someone decided

to quietly dump every single puzzle out onto the floor

mix the pieces together

then head up to the loft to play.

it was left in a perfect state of tobubohu

but somehow i couldn’t think of that word

at the moment of discovery

 tomorrow we will work on it together

and with it will come a new word.

—

toh-hoo-BOH-hoo

part of speech: noun

origin: hebrew, unknown

—

1. a state of chaos, utter confusion

—

examples in a sentence:

“The mayor’s unexpected announcement left the press in a tohubohu.”

“After recess the students were always in a tohubohu.”

—

anyone else ever achieve this perfect state?