Mystery Puzzle SPOILER #11

Warning!  This post contains spoilers to a mystery puzzle.

This week's puzzle is "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego" jigsaw puzzle. It's a 300 piece puzzle that comes with a crime clue book.

Yes, you are chasing the most classic Carmen Sandiego's Henchmen from V.I.L.E. (Villain's International League of Evil) after they have stolen the worlds' most unique natural treasures.

After putting together the puzzle of the world.  The front cover of the box is the solution to the puzzle.  Asia goes where you think Asia should go.  There are close-ups of the artic region and Antarctica.

Following and reading along in the crime book you realize that certain letters of countries; areas of the ocean; or native animal names are bolded.  You take these bolded letters in order and form the names of the items that were stollen and by whom.

 Puzzle box, clue book, and completed puzzle.

 The completed puzzle. 

Clue book for chasing down V.I.L.E. Henchmen.  

Example of bolded letters and Vic, the Slick is hiding in New Orleans. 

Thanks for reading,

Dr. Alex

Mystery Puzzle SPOILER #10

Warning!  This post contains spoilers to a mystery puzzle.

This week's puzzle is "Crossword Jigsaw" 2017 edition.  It's a 550 piece puzzle that is actually a two-part puzzle.  First, you solve an actual crossword and then you put together the jigsaw puzzle of what you just solved.  The puzzle is made by Babalu Inc.

The puzzle box comes with 1 large copy of the crossword but you can download others from their website (hint: the web link is on the bottom of the inside box:  http://crosswordjigsaw.com/2017.)

The crossword part of this puzzle is more fun than the actual jigsaw.

On the plus side, the font for each letter is the same. Meaning that all the "O" all look alike and the hard part is just finding which "O" fits into what area. 

I solved this puzzle with my mom while she was visiting.  We solved this puzzle by dividing the pieces among three groupings:  Edge pieces, Crossword clue pieces, and "number" in the crossword to show the start of each clue word.

There are really only two or three all-white pieces close to the clue side, between the Across and Down lists.  The black pieces were placed last, as they could only be placed based on the shape and minor area of white that were cut off.

Box and completed puzzle. 

Completed Puzzle

Clues don't quite line up as on the pdf print out.  See how #44D has no 2nd line on the completed puzzle but it does have an extra line on the pdf sheet. 

Thanks for reading,

Dr. Alex

List of Kiwi Cos

My daughters have received Kiwi Co Boxes for the past 10-12 months a gift and I am now starting to see Kiwi Co boxes at thrift stores. Opened, but with all the pieces.  These boxes have been great fun for the kids and for myself.  They are unique, creative, and at a good fine motor skill level for different age ranges.

However, I have had a hard time finding a list of Kiwi Co box names for each age group.  So, I figured I would start my own list.  I'm not sure if Kiwi Co has a limited number of boxes for each age range that cycle over the years, or if they are producing just new ones and old boxes are retired.

I'll list the ones we have
Competed:

Tadpole (Ages 0-36 months)
Neighborhood Fun
Ocean Games
Kitchen Play
Color Making
Mail Delivery
Space Search

Koala (Ages 3-4)
Farm
Playground
Music
Garden
Bugs
Wind
Reptiles
Numbers
Little Artist
Transportation
Storytime
Color Mixing
Daily Activities


Kiwi (Ages 5-8)
Modern Art
Music Machines
Printing Press
Science of Color
Lemonaid Stand
Growing Gardens
Wild West
Arcade Claw
Solar System
Secret Agent
Kaleidoscope Puzzles
My body & Me
Polarized Light
Rainbow Optics
Graduation Box
Fun With Flight
Glowing Animals
Race Day
Around the World
Gravity Car
My Wind Car
Rock and Roll Ramps
Probability Machine

Atlas (Ages 6-11)
World
Morocco
Japan
Peru


Doodle (Ages 9-16+)
Woden Clock
Sumi-e Ink Wash Painting
Color-Blocked Candles
Zipper pulls
Faux Leather Portfolio 
Handcrafted paper Bowles
Paper Lanterns

Tinker (Ages 9-16+)
Glowing Pendulum
Buzzing Circuits
Light-up Planetarium
Walking Robot
Wooden Automation
Biomechanical Hand
Bottle Rocket
Sewable Circuits
Color-mixing LED Crystal
Wooden Crane
Paper Circuits
Hydraulic Claw
Trebuchet
Fiber Optic Stars
Shake Table
Vacuum Chamber


Eureka (Ages 14-104)
Mechanical Lock Box
Articulated Desk Lamp
Pinball Machine
Perpetual Calendar
Wooden Ukulele
Stereo Headphones
Electric Pencil Sharpener

If you have other box names, please post them in the comments.

Thanks for reading,

Dr. Alex

Mystery Puzzle SPOILER #9

Warning!  This post contains spoilers to a mystery puzzle.

This week's puzzle is "Time's Up!" with a story by Al Carusone and produced by BePuzzled in 1996.  It's a 250 piece puzzle.

The story follows a kid who is trapped in a time loop and need to escape before he runs into himself.

[Marty and Doc notice the cops taking an unconscious Jennifer away]

Doc: They're taking her home, to your future home! We'll arrive shortly thereafter, get her out of there, and go back to 1985.

Marty: You mean, I'm gonna see where I live? I'm gonna see myself as an old man?

Doc: No, no, no, Marty. That could result in a [gasps] Great Scott! Jennifer could conceivably encounter her future self! The consequences of that could be disastrous!

Marty: Doc, what do you mean?

Doc: I foresee two possibilities. 1: coming face to face with herself 30 years older would put her into shock and she'd simply pass out. Or 2: the encounter could create a time paradox, the result of which could cause a chain reaction that would unravel the very fabric of the spacetime continuum and destroy the entire universe! Granted, that's a worst-case scenario. The destruction might, in fact, be very localized, limited to merely our own galaxy.

Marty: Well, that's a relief.

This is the first Spider Tales puzzle that I actually found the bonus hidden spider!

Completed puzzle and box. 

Completed puzzle.

Hidden spider (grey and just under the green light bulb.)

Thanks for reading,

Dr. Alex

Mystery Puzzle SPOILER #8

Warning!  This post contains spoilers to a mystery puzzle.

This week's puzzle is "The Mummy's Crypt" with story by Robin Allen and produced by Golden.  It's a 200 piece puzzle.

The artwork on the cover of the box is done by RL Allen for Universal Studios.

The story follows two kids playing a video game and unlocking levels in the game and having several ancient Egyptian objects magically appear in their room.

My version of the puzzle was missing a single edge piece.  So, after completion, I made the piece and colored it in with colored pencils.

Full image from 1932, renewed 1960

Box and "completed" puzzle.

Tilt your head to read the secret message on the papyrus.  Sorry for the glare. 

Bonus advertisement in the box!  A mom's endorsement is a pretty good way of advertising for 91 Reasons Podcast. 

Comment card filled out!  Sinister Smorgasbord is another Golden mystery puzzle that I will need to track down now! 

Thanks for reading,

Dr. Alex

Mystery Puzzle SPOILER #7

Warning!  This post contains spoilers to a mystery puzzle.

This week's puzzle is "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone 260 piece Family Puzzle."

The Family Puzzle design means that there are two main sizes of pieces.  Eighty pieces are three to four times larger than the rest of the 180 pieces to make it easier for smaller hands to work on their side of the board.  The entire left side of the puzzle is made up of the 80 larger pieces, where the right side is all small pieces.  The border between the large and smaller pieces was fun to find and figure out.

The added bonus mystery is a polarized decoder lens that you wave over the board to find several hidden objects.  My puzzle was missing the sheet of objects to find, but I believe there are 8-12 objects hidden in the puzzle.  The images are what you would expect from the Harry Potter world - an owl, a badger, a snake, etc. 

Looking closely at the puzzle board there are areas that have very small parallel lines that are hidden polarized images.  

Overall, the polarized images were hard to actually make out and any small adjustment with the lens/decoder and the image would be a blob.

Puzzle box.

 Puzzle image with the right side of puzzle with small pieces compared to the left side. 

A hidden image of a Griffin? 

Thanks for reading!

Dr. Alex