Unexpected Puzzle Mashups at the Warehouse

Hello there! I had to take a break from puzzling to “be a parent,” but now I’m back to regular puzzling and my never-ending search of the Puzzle Warehouse catalog for the perfect practice puzzles for my upcoming trip to the world jigsaw puzzle contest.

But I want to take a moment to acknowledge some puzzle mash-ups at the Warehouse that are unexpected and some that are just unexplainable. Never fear! I’ll take a shot at explaining them anyway.

Eggs with Pictures of Non-Egg-Related Things on Them

What is the first thing you think of when you think of eggs? Cartoons from The New Yorker,” of course! We all know those two things are in no way related, but, counterpoint: Maybe they are? This puzzle bridges the gap. 

As a bonus, the box image also shows exactly how the last piece of a puzzle is supposed to work, minus the part where you chase your sister around the house to tackle her and pry it from her sweaty fingers to put in the puzzle yourself.

Unless I’m mistaken and these came straight from the chicken, this next puzzle features paintings by Vincent Van Gogh that have been painted onto eggs that have then been arranged painting side up and photographed.

Certainly, they are lovely and delicate. But despite the many layers of artistry that have gone into this puzzle, the box contains no depiction of how to work the last piece.

This next puzzle is my favorite of this bunch. 

I think it’s because I, too, like order and organization and patterns and colors and lines and eggs. And there are several flags that I don’t find particularly offensive. The only downside of this puzzle is that I found the title “More Colorful Egg Patterns to Go For” confusing after I spent way too much time looking for Some Colorful Egg Patterns to Go For but couldn’t find them.

Balloons and, Like, Everything Else

I know it’s going to seem like I can’t let this topic go, and I’m sure Mr. Ambassador would agree that, from some angles, I can be a bit of a ruminator. Let me assure you that I WAS ready to let it go until I was innocently perusing the Puzzle Warehouse site only to find that waaaay more balloon puzzles appear to have been added recently. 

Since I just warned you all about the balloon invasion a mere few months ago, I suppose that technically that makes this an expected puzzle mash-up. But there are some unexpected combos in there.

For starters, we’ve got balloons over the whole world. 

Simple enough, since we’ve already established this. Though this image certainly paints a rosy picture of the situation.

Then we have balloons over time. 

OK. We knew that.

Then there are balloons over the real life version of Mario Kart’s Rainbow Road. 

I did not know this place existed in real life! And even though I’m strangely drawn to this puzzle, I can’t shake the stomach clench of a feeling that I’m Yoshi and I’m about to careen wildly off the edge while trumpeting a wail into the abyss. 

Then there are balloons and some dog named Doug, whose owner dresses him up in cake-shaped hats he has knitted. 

I’m assuming, based on Doug’s world-weary expression, that this is either a punishment for sitting on the table or it’s just a day ending in the letter “y”. But let’s face it, since Doug’s owner apparently gets a kick out of eating things that smile back at him, it’s probably the latter.

Next, we have balloons and antigravity wells. Plural. Antigravity wells.
 

It’s either that or this pig has exceptional core strength and almost no mass.

 And here you can tell from the rollerskating robot’s face that it has seen something and now wants to say something, but that concept hasn’t been invented yet.

 Finally, we have balloons and Richard Simmons. Yes.

I mean, yes. Just, yesssssss! Now here is a non-threatening upbeat puzzle where Richard Simmons emerges triumphantly from an avalanche of balloons. And he’s happy! Or wait. Is it a trick?

Then we have our last unexpected puzzle mash-up.

Animals and Food Preparation and Service 

When I look at this adorable holiday puzzle, I’m reminded of two memories of things that happened to me, and I want to warn Santa to stay far, far away from here. 

The first was in late December years ago when I found a tray of home-made Christmas cookies on my parents’ counter with a corner ripped out of the plastic wrap. Being me, I stuck my fingers where the wrap was torn away, pulled out a cookie and ate it, only to discover later that neighbors had left the tray on my parents’ front porch and mice had chewed open that very corner of the plastic wrap and eaten cookie bites from there. I’ll never know why the tray ended up on the kitchen counter. Though I suspect my dad thought he would be able to talk my mom into salvaging some of the cookies. But to my dad’s credit, both this theory and all my evidence for this theory are purely circumstantial and would not hold up in court.

And the other memory this puzzle brings to mind was the night I hosted a “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” finale viewing party, and I served a roomful of my closest friends tacos with fixings. Everyone had made their plates up and gathered in the living room on time for the show to begin. And just as the opening sequence started, my cat paused in front of the television (and thus also in front of all the viewers) to projectile vomit a LOT of white stuff on the burgundy carpet. Turns out I shouldn’t have left sour cream (or any taco ingredients or taco fixings) out on the kitchen counter for any period of time unguarded. Also turns out that cat was lactose intolerant. 

Next in our animals-committing-food-preparation journey is this Cat Cook puzzle. 

There is not a hairnet in the world that makes this situation acceptable. And if my above-mentioned experience is any indication, this cat both can’t be trusted on the counter and will at some point projectile vomit before the end of the evening.

Then we have this Birthday Party puzzle. This one just makes me feel bad about myself. 

I recently took what can safely be considered a plethora of photos of groups of family and friends at my son’s graduation, and not one has everyone looking at the camera at the same time. But this combination of barn animals and wild geese manage to pull it off while also baking, hand lettering signage, and decorating for a party in a way I can only aspire to? Just…ugh.

Then we have this outdoor scene. This was a great puzzle to put together, albeit a bit unsettling.

Here we have a Cinderella-esque situation where the chickadees are helpfully mending while also possibly creating the moment where the next avian flu crosses over from birds into humans.

And finally, we have this Chef Mania puzzle, and it couldn’t be more aptly named because this situation is incredibly manic.

The bears are pawing this four-layer cake, which will certainly ruin it – and fast. But that’s not the worst thing that is happening to this cake. The toucan is getting his tail all over it, yet presumably it will be served…to guests??? One of the chefs is eating the utensils. A cat and turtle are sharing the same 2-inch top edge of a door. There are so many species of animals here that I can’t even tell what this biome is. And let’s not forget that someone has invited predator and prey to the same party, as well as created a situation where some of the guests can come in to the party and others have to look on from outside the glass-less windows. This seems like a recipe for chaos and even carnage. Or maybe I’m looking at it all wrong, and that cheetah keeps her distance because all her friends have gathered for a big party and she knows she’s lactose intolerant but just can’t help herself around buttercream.

- Robin