2016 piece puzzle, "Achala Mandala" by Epoch, Japan.
Progress after 5 hrs.
I am enjoying the bright colors I was craving after Night Watch but not much of a let-up in difficulty. The quirks of this two-sided puzzle are numerous.
The pieces are cut in two directions, in parallel lines. So, throughout the puzzle, the vertical axis is cut from one side, and the horizontal axis is cut from the opposite side.
This makes the pieces not lay perfectly flat, and to be extremely prone to breaking up by the most casual contact, almost worse than a push-fit puzzle. (The small gap between leaves in the table, for example, has already caused several mishaps.) And Japanese pieces tend not to fit snugly to begin with.
The different cuts on axis would make this puzzle considerably easier if the pieces could easily be oriented by axis - i.e., a vertical or horizontal bias. Alas, this does not exist in Japanese puzzles. If I hadn't mentioned it already, the pieces are half the size of a normal piece, this is a 2016 piecer that's the size of a standard 1000.
The lines framing the outside of the mandala and the symmetrical nature of mandalas generally does make this puzzle a bit easier than it might otherwise be if it were a more random composition, such as a collage of marbles. When I turn a piece over the opposite side often looks quite similar. I have yet to figure out if the reverse side is upside-down or right-side up.
I'm trying to get the red pieces in just to get them out of the way. There will be, I expect, some easier areas where a less mechanical approach can be adopted. The remaining red pieces are aligned with the knobs pointing along the vertical axis, and the "cut from below" side all up and down. I can tell whether it's an above or below piece by feel. The two L-shaped ends are both right-side up, so I will only need to rotate them to put them together. When trying a red piece, I know that the way I have them laid out, the vertical ones will be the right side, and the opposite horizontal ones will be rotated 90 degrees and reversed, so I have to think along those lines.
2016 piece puzzle, "Achala Mandala" by Epoch, Japan.
Progress after 5 hrs.
I am enjoying the bright colors I was craving after Night Watch but not much of a let-up in difficulty. The quirks of this two-sided puzzle are numerous.
The pieces are cut in two directions, in parallel lines. So, throughout the puzzle, the vertical axis is cut from one side, and the horizontal axis is cut from the opposite side.
This makes the pieces not lay perfectly flat, and to be extremely prone to breaking up by the most casual contact, almost worse than a push-fit puzzle. (The small gap between leaves in the table, for example, has already caused several mishaps.) And Japanese pieces tend not to fit snugly to begin with.
The different cuts on axis would make this puzzle considerably easier if the pieces could easily be oriented by axis - i.e., a vertical or horizontal bias. Alas, this does not exist in Japanese puzzles. If I hadn't mentioned it already, the pieces are half the size of a normal piece, this is a 2016 piecer that's the size of a standard 1000.
The lines framing the outside of the mandala and the symmetrical nature of mandalas generally does make this puzzle a bit easier than it might otherwise be if it were a more random composition, such as a collage of marbles. When I turn a piece over the opposite side often looks quite similar. I have yet to figure out if the reverse side is upside-down or right-side up.
I'm trying to get the red pieces in just to get them out of the way. There will be, I expect, some easier areas where a less mechanical approach can be adopted. The remaining red pieces are aligned with the knobs pointing along the vertical axis, and the "cut from below" side all up and down. I can tell whether it's an above or below piece by feel. The two L-shaped ends are both right-side up, so I will only need to rotate them to put them together. When trying a red piece, I know that the way I have them laid out, the vertical ones will be the right side, and the opposite horizontal ones will be rotated 90 degrees and reversed, so I have to think along those lines.