The Jigsaw Gallery

 

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.

 

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?

 

Danny Burn (or Byrne, if you prefer the spelling on his own website to that on the box lid of our centuries-old Waddingtons puzzle) is an excellent cartoonist. His work has appeared in numerous newspapers and he was accepted into the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in 2008.