Puzzle within a puzzle

 

I am a puzzle nerd, and my favorite puzzles are those made by a company called Liberty Puzzles.  These puzzles are made of wood and rather than the standard cardboard shapes you see in the puzzles you'd buy at say Barnes and Nobles - these puzzles have 'whimseys'.  Pieces shaped like animals, objects and people.  And they also have whimseys that require multiple pieces to put together.  Some of the Liberty puzzles have really elaborate internal whimseys - basically puzzles within the puzzle. 

Such was the case in one of the last puzzles I completed.  It had a flying owl (above) and also a wreath with 2 birds.  When I start a puzzle I first sort my puzzle pieces by whimseys and also by pieces that look like they may be part of a bigger whimsey.  I also sort somewhat by color, edge pieces etc (see bottom photo). I do all this before I start putting the puzzle together. And then when I do start on the puzzle I put all multiple piece whimseys together first.

Anyway, on this puzzle I created 2 big wings and an owl but could not get them together.  I'm embarrassed to admit I then went to the Liberty Website (click here for link) and checked out the puzzle on line.  It showed how they were put together.  What had confused me is that the owl and wings are not together in the finished puzzle.  The wings and body fit together, but then you got to break them up again to finish the puzzle.

The wreath I did not need to break apart.  And after finishing both the wreath and owl I found all the pieces that fit into these distinctive shapes, and then moved on and finished the puzzle.  It is actually one of the only puzzles I have ever done where color mattered very little.  I probably could have started with all the pieces turned wood side up!

And finally, this puzzle was a Christmas present from my mom - Thank You mom!

Patrick