One of a series of Wasgij Destiny puzzles, this one is the same as any other Wasgij in the sense that the finished picture is different from what you see on the box lid. With a Destiny puzzle, however, the completed puzzle is not a mirror image of the original, but an updated version instead. This means that the characters and setting (at least in this particular case) are the same; only the details have changed.
Sounds easy, doesn’t it? But don’t be fooled: this one took me a full week to finish, with mini breakthroughs gradually getting more regular until it was finally all done.
Sands of Time starts with a Victorian/Edwardian seaside scene. The finished pic is a modern-day version of the same. As you can imagine, beachwear is a bit different from how it used to be and a few other things have altered. In many ways, though, seaside holidays will always be the same — tawdry entertainments, screaming kids everywhere, no room anywhere to set up your deckchair, and sand in your ice-cream. Makes you want to head off to the coast right now, doesn’t it?
Only a 750-piece puzzle, this one, but as tough in its own way as a few 1000-piecers, mainly owing to the large number of leaves. (Now who’d've thunk an oak tree woulda had leaves on it, huh?)
I managed to identify most of the birds in the picture. The blue tit — if that’s what it is — on the left side is a bit of a mystery, though, since the blue tit doesn’t, as far as I know, have a black crown; it only has a black eye stripe. The blue tit on the right hand side is correct, as is the great tit nearby and all the other birds.
We’ve also had great fun pronouncing nuthatch as ‘new thatch’. (I know. It’s pathetic, isn’t it?) In summary, a nice colourful puzzle and a good challenge for its size. Enough said, so I think I’ll leaf it at that!
The choice was mine: if I’d wanted I could have spent half a week compiling a list of the 260 objects (ten for each letter of the alphabet) shown in this puzzle. I was, however, inexplicably overcome with a sudden attack of lazy-itis. Besides, the answer sheet came with the puzzle — not bad, considering this was another of our secondhand bargains; pre-owned puzzles have an alarming tendency to lose such treasures as answer sheets, not to mention crucial pieces.
A quick glance at the solution to this latest Gale Pitt brainteaser confirmed my suspicions: let’s just say I’d have been a while (understatement of the week, that) trying to name such obscurities as the zebu, the xyster and the yarmulke.
In any case, we were too busy trying to work out what had happened to the side panels and front end of the little white van behind the red car in the centre of the picture. It is possible, I suppose, that parts of the van are hidden by what could be a suitcase on the red car’s roof rack. This case is not among the listed alphabet items, though, and is also (if indeed it is a suitcase) very close in colour to the stallholder’s table behind the van. Was this picture subjected to some injudicious airbrush treatment during the production process — or is it finally time for me to get myself down to Specsavers?
Sid’s beauty salon might seem like an unassuming kind of place, but in reality it’s the salon from Hell. Trust me, you wouldn’t wanna go there. You’ll have to complete the puzzle to find out the full extent of the horrors that await, but, without giving too much away, I can say it’s pretty , erm, hair-raising.
Hate spoilers? Then don’t click on the thumbnail pics. You have been warned.
