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White Puzzle in the Movie “Sleuth” (1972)

The Japanese brand Beverly started producing not long ago some puzzles with no pattern at all. Just a solid black or a solid white puzzle. They first commercialized small 100 pieces puzzles of this type. Then they got bolder and published 150, 300, and 1000 pieces versions. Finally, they came up with a 2000 pieces version. If the level of difficulty can be measured as difficult, very difficult, and extremely difficult, this puzzle defies classification and it is defined as Torture. In fact, there is a warning in the box: For masochists only. Users refer to it as white torture, white hell, pure hell, or pure white hell. There are some people that have completed the 1000 piece version, but not many brave enough to attempt the 2000 piece version. I wonder whether it is more difficult than the 5000 piece version by Ravensburger of The Night Watch. One day, talking about puzzles and movies, @aschenbach13 pointed out that there was an old movie where such puzzle appeared: Sleuth, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz in 1972. That means that they came up with the idea of a white puzzle 40 years before the Japanese manufacturer. A white puzzle and other games Andrew Wyke (Laurence Olivier) is a...

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1500, Art, MB

1500, MB, It’s a Doge’s Life on the Grand Canal, Clarke

This puzzle is very unusual, and it is not just because it only has two corners. It is an illustration of the Grand Canal in Venice with a lot of really minute details. Although the title in the box is simply Venice, the complete title of the illustration is It's a Doge's Life on the Grand Canal, by Graham Clarke. MB produced it in 1992. When I verified the puzzle, I got 1504 pieces. However, due to the very particular shape, there was no way to know whether the puzzle was complete or incomplete. For that reason, I put it together eventually, and I'm glad I did. The pieces have a very snug fit that I liked, although they seemed slightly different to other MB puzzles. I found the puzzle more challenging than I had expected. Buildings, boats, ships, inscriptions, text... There are a lot of details that are difficult to distinguish unless you have very good eyesight or you look very, very close. This puzzle would probably have been more enjoyable in 3000 pieces. In any case, it was very fun and it was luckily complete. I listed it later in the online store and the puzzle went to new hands...

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