Winter at Neuschwanstein Castle

Winter at Neuschwanstein Castle
Size:  500 pieces
Dimensions: 48 cm x 36 cm
Manufacturer: TCG, #58805-23
Author: Hans Peter Huber
Puzzle: Another beautiful rendition of Neuschwanstein Castle, this one has a magical feel to it, with the sky in sunset colours and grounds sleeping under the snow.

The easiest place to start is the sky with its many gradients and islands of colour. The castle can come next. The trees and the grounds are a bit more tricky, since there are only shades of blue and black, yet as the puzzle is not big, the challenge is not great.

This puzzle came as part of a package of five 500-piece puzzles.

Puzzle: Country Christmas

 Country Christmas, med

Size:  1000 pieces
Dimensions: 76.2 cm x 61 cm
Producer: Springbok, Hallmark, 2004, 1JIG10501

Puzzle: A beautiful, fairy-tale style puzzle depicting a cozy house, snugly wrapped in snow, surrounded by festive evergreens. This puzzle was a very calming one to assemble. Good places to start are the brown walls and white roof of the house, the lit-up windows and the staircase, the boundary with the sky, and the red and yellow decorated trees. The darker green trees can be next, followed by the snow-outlined tree in the top right and the snow at the bottom. The sky can come last.

Puzzle: Shangri-La Winter by Ciro Marchetti

Ciro Marchetti - Shangri-La Winter, med

Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 51cm x 68cm
ProducerLPF Ltd., Holographic puzzle
Ciro Marchetti has had a successful graphic design career that has spanned working in Europe, South America and the US. He is a five-time recipient of the distinguished Photoshop GURU award, and three time winner of the Worldwide Photoshop Competition presented by the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. The current content and style of recent illustrations directly reflect his sources of interest and inspiration, allowing him to create richly detailed images that conjure up retro- tech worlds of fantasy and imagination. [Puzzle box]

Puzzle: I have found this puzzle on the Bits and Pieces site. It is by Ciro Marchetti, from the same series as City of Wands, Above the Clouds, and City of Coins.

Not a trivial puzzle, yet such a beautiful fantasy scene – a pleasure to assemble. I have started with the purple sails in the top left, the foxes and the owl, the red berries, the green polar bear, and the larger fish. The gazebo with the figure in a blue cape, the yellow area of the background, the rest of the ship, the swans, the submarine vessel, the castle, and the tree limbs came next. The mountains, water, small fish, and evergreens completed the picture.

Puzzle: Dürnstein, Austria

Durnstein, Austria, med

Size: 1000 pieces, 1 missing
Dimensions: 73 cm x 48.57 cm
Producer: Sure-Lox, The Canadian Group

Puzzle: Not a completely trivial puzzle to complete, due to the snow and trees on the mountains forming a somewhat-uniform pattern. It is simple to start from the more prominent regions, such as the bright buildings, the river/snow border, the snow on the roofs, and the steps going up into the mountains. Once that is done, the top mountain range is separated into mostly blue and mostly black regions, and the central blue tower serves as a vertical guide to assist the completion. The Sure-Lox pieces fit together well and simplify the process that would have been harder with more loosely-fitting pieces.


The town gained its name from the medieval castle, Burgruine Dürnstein, which overlooked it. The castle was called “Duerrstein” or “Dürrstein”, from the German duerr/dürr meaning “dry” and Stein, “stone”. The castle was dry because it was situated on a rocky hill, high above the damp conditions of the Danube at the base of the hill, and it was built of stone. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Winter

Winter, med

Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 43 cm x 27.5 cm
Producer: I no longer have the box for this puzzle, so I would much appreciate any information on its name and maker.

Puzzle: Not a hard puzzle to do, since even with its similar colours it’s rather small and the pieces are distinct. Good places to start are the mountain/sky border, the houses, and the brighter patches of the sky and the snow. The rest takes a bit more time, but is quite pleasant to assemble as the pieces fit together well.

Puzzle: Fire Sunset on Mount Rainier

Fire Sunset on Mount Rainier, med
: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 67.95 cm x 48.1 cm
: Mega Puzzles, Vibrant series, 2013, No. 50420AAN, A 29073 LP
Artist: Kevin McNeal
Original: Last Bit Of Light – Paradise Area, Mount Rainier National Park, Washington

Puzzle: A beautiful puzzle that I managed to complete within a span of a single day, so easily the flow of piece placement continued. I have started with the sun, the orange and red regions of the sky, mountains, and snow, and the clouds, continuing to the pink highlights on the trees and the snow, the multiple colours of the sky, and finishing up with the purple of the snow and the bright blue of the sky at the top. A vibrant, peaceful, entrancing puzzle.

Notes: Mount Rainier is a massive stratovolcano located 87 km southeast of Seattle in the state of Washington, United States. It is the most topographically prominent mountain in the contiguous United States and the Cascade Volcanic Arc.

Typically, up to five earthquakes are recorded monthly near the summit. Swarms of five to ten shallow earthquakes over two or three days take place from time to time, predominantly in the region of 4 km below the summit. These earthquakes are thought to be caused by the circulation of hot fluids beneath Mount Rainier. Presumably, hot springs and steam vents within Mount Rainier National Park are generated by such fluids.


Puzzle: Winter Worship

Winter worship, med
: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 48.5 cm x 35.5 cm
Producer: Sure-Lox, The Canadian Group

Puzzle: A simple puzzle to do due to its small size. The orange of the buildings, and the flowing green of the river are good places to start, and the bridge railing serves as a horizontal guide separating the picture into two regions. The borders of snow-laden trees, the building, and the sky makes the top easy to assemble, and the rest of the puzzle shapes itself around the bridge and the river. Festive and pleasant to the eye.

Notes: Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. The word is derived from the Old English weorþscipe, meaning worship, honour shown to an object, which has been etymologised as “worthiness or worth-ship”—to give, at its simplest, worth to something. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Evergreen Basket by Marjolein Bastin

Christmas bird evergreen basket, med

Size:  500 pieces, 1 missing
Dimensions:  cm x  cm
Artist: Marjolein Bastin
Producer: Unknown (please let me know if you have this information).

Puzzle: A bright winter puzzle, with pieces not exactly fitting together well, but due to their varying shapes, fitting unambiguously. Red regions, birds, flower centres, and the baskets are the easiest places to start, followed by colour border regions. The rest of the puzzle fits together easily. Not the greatest make of a puzzle, but not exceptionally bad.

Notes: Nothing on the box except for the artist’s name.

Puzzle: Thatched Cottage

Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 73cm x 48.5cm
: The Canadian Group, Sure-Lox, Photo Gallery 10 puzzle pack, #42610-72
Notes: Once more, no location is indicated by the puzzle producer.

In modern usage, a cottage is usually a modest, often cozy dwelling, typically in a rural or semi-rural location. However there are cottage-style dwellings in cities, and in places such as Canada the term exists with no connotations of size at all. In the United Kingdom the term cottage also tends to denote rural dwellings of traditional build, although it can also be applied to dwellings of modern construction which are designed to resemble traditional ones (“mock cottages”).

In certain places (e.g. Eastern Canada, Scandinavia and Russia) the term “cottage” can refer to a vacation/summer home, often located near a body of water. However, in the USA generally this is more commonly called a “cabin”, “chalet”, or even “camp”. [Wiki]

Puzzle: The Pleasures of Winter by Wendy Edelson

: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 40.64cm x 40.64cm
Producer:  Hasbro, MB Puzzle, Big Ben series
Wendy EdelsonA completely self-taught artist, Wendy creates warm and joyful multi-media pictures bursting with details. She has illustrated over 35 children’s flat and pop-up books. [Morgan Gaynin site]
Painting: photo
“Jay Ungar and Molly Mason, musicians extraordinaire, have just come out with a brand new CD, Pleasures of Winter , music for Winter and the Holiday Season featuring Jay & Molly’s live performances from their annual Public Radio program with a variety of great musicians making guest appearances in the house band including: Harry Aceto, David Bromberg, Peter Davis, Peter Ecklund, Laurel Masse, Brian Melick, Michael Merenda, Ruth Ungar Merenda, Steve Rust, Butch Thompson, Tony Trischka and Sam Zucchini.

I was so delighted when they decided to use a painting of mine for the cover, I think ( hope! ) the spirit of the painting matches the spirit of the music really well.” [Wendy Edelson on Eleven Lemons blog]