h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: How to do a Jigsaw - A42279753
Author: Cyzaki - U223973

Can you tell I'm doing a jigsaw right now? It's a CSI one and you get an ALS (blacklight) to hunt for clues with once you've finished it!

Hearing the howls from VV in the bedroom!


Please ensure all pets, especially are kept away, or they will walk all over the pieces

This is good

Perhaps a brief note that some harder jigsaws come without edge pieces and may even have red herring pieces that don't fit in with the rest of the puzzle.

I am also a jigsaw nut, all my old ones are providing a thermal layer in my loft
Those cushion-backed/lap-tray things are good for sorting your edge pieces on, and when you put back the pieces in the box secure with an elastic band or string (wrap like a parcel).

I keep looking at that *impossible puzzle* when I go through a certain local shop but I have resisted buying it so far, it would drive me

The last few puzzles I have bought have been "time lapse" ones, where you get a picture on the box cover from the past, but your jigsaw is future to it, so you haven't a clue what your finished puzzle is going to look like, ingenious who thought that up

One nitpick: entry = Entry

Thanks Cyzaki

GB

I used to love doing jigsaws, but I got really good at them, and people kept on giving me bigger and bigger ones. The 5,000 piece jigsaw takes up so much space that I've only barely room on the sitting room floor for it and Mrs G doesn't like me leaving it there for weeks at a time, so I have to roll it up in my felt jigroll. And the so-called "impossible" puzzles are nearly always a disappointment - they turn out to be pretty easy.

Enough about me.

Something you could add to the entry:

When you've finished the jigsaw, if you find that there are a few pieces missing, and they genuinely are gone, you have the choice of (a) dumping the jigsaw or (b) putting it back in its box for another time. If you opt for (b), then write on the lid the number of pieces that are missing, so that you are not disappointed the next time you do the jigsaw. You could even draw the outlines of the missing pieces onto the cover picture just so that you don't spend hours looking for that missing piece.

You also might want to say something about the technique for filling in vast amounts of sky, which happens in many jigsaws which are photographs. You need to sort the pieces by colour, as sky is nearly always whiter near the horizon than at the top edge of the jigsaw, where it will be bluer.

I'll add those points, thanks.

I've got a baked beans puzzle. I'm not the world's best jigsaw-er so I spent hours and hours putting the edge together through trial and error. Then my sister took one look, bent over it for a few minutes, and said 'You did it wrong, I've put it right for you'... My sister is so good at jigsaws it's scary.

Worth including something about the felt jigroll that Gnomon mentioned. These handy things enable you to put the jigsaw away after a session and not occupy space or risk getting your hard work undone

Will do.

This is a lovely Entry you have here. However, there are a few little things that could be worked on.

I feel there is repetition of ‘trial and error’.

Tricksy please remove the ‘s’.

If you don’t want to glue the puzzle straight onto the wall, you could always mount it in a frame.

One of the things I do when creating a puzzle is look at the pieces and put the similar shaped ones together, thus when it comes to finding a piece for a hole it’s easier.

I also like to challenge myself and on swapping holiday homes have often found a puzzle and done it during the holiday.

Good entry, Cyzaki.

I love doing jigsaws, I'm doing lots and lots of them online. I can even create my own ones. I don't need space, there is no mess, it's perfect for those who don't have the room for it and/or whose family complain about the 'mess' of a jigsaw in progress.

What could I use instead of trial and error?

I prefer the word 'tricksy' to 'tricky' - tricky means difficult, but tricksy means something that is trying to trick you. What do others think?

I think tricksy is perfectly fine in the context.

I'm happy with "tricksy" too.

I'm glad - I like the word tricksy, makes me think of hobbitses it does, my precioussss...

I can't believe this wasn't already in the Edited Guide - well done for filling the gap.

I would prefer you called it 'Jigsaw Puzzle' in the title. It just sounds silly when you try to 'do' the other jigsaw.

Icy

OK!

I would like to see mention of Jan van Haasteren in here

Who?

http://www.passionforpuzzles.com/blog/2008/03/jan-van-haasteren-jigsaw-puzzles.html

Does he have anything to do with doing the puzzle, or does he just make puzzles? Because this isn't about jigsaws, it's about how to do them.