Ravensburger puzzles are always top quality and this was no exception.

Knowing little of London and having been there only once, doing this puzzle encouraged me to do some research about all those Trafalgar Square statues. Turns out that two of them are largely forgotten Generals (Napier and Havelock, if you must know) in India at the time of the British Empire — yes, that long ago! At the National Gallery end of the square stands King George IV. Oh, and the Invisible Man is on the fourth plinth. Did I mention Nelson? Well, Nelson’s there too. (Oops, ’scuse temporary oversight.)

I also spotted a political demonstrator holding a sign saying ‘Free Tibet Now’, which got me thinking: Ravensburger sell their puzzles all over the world — including China. Do they, I wonder, delete the little fellow with the Tibet placard? It would, presumably, be easy enough to do, so I’m assuming that’s what happens. Maybe there should be another demonstrator inserted in his place, with a sign reading ‘Free the tiny puzzle protestor now!’ Could it be time to start a petition, do you think?

Unfortunately, it also means we sometimes see faces when they aren’t really there. This tendency is called pareidolia.

Jigsaw pareidolia is a problem we puzzlers often encounter. It happened to me this morning. I picked up this piece and was convinced it was a face. A long face with arched eyebrows, a thin nose, a weak chin and a long neck; rather a haughty expression, I thought. Here’s a photo of the piece next to my sketch of it.

This time I was lucky. I quickly discovered what the ‘face’ really was. It was part of this picture of Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf, from James Christensen’s ‘Fairytales’ puzzle.

Sometimes, though, you can’t figure out such a piece quite so fast. It’s like telling someone not to think of the colour blue; once they have heard the word ‘blue’, they can do nothing but think of it. With jigsaw pieces, once you’re convinced something is a face, it can lead you astray for ages.

To save you from turning your head (gosh, aren’t we thoughtful) here’s that picture of the wolf rotated. I’ve put a circle round the bit I originally thought was a face. Just shows what a paw judge I was, doesn’t it?