The puzzle arrived just before the release of the film, and I was keen to get it reviewed before the entire country went Hobbit hyper, however, it wasn’t that easy…
I began putting the outside edge together (how I always begin a puzzle) and quickly realised that it would not fit in the puzzle store, it is a panoramic shot, meaning long and narrow, that’s OK I just put it together on the kitchen table!
After completing the outside edge I began working on the distinct colours, the scroll pattern around the edge and then Gandalfs Sword and Galadriels face.
After that it became much more challenging, and I really started to struggle, the evenings passed and I found myself still doing the jigsaw on Christmas Eve, much to my husbands disbelief, I could see him shaking his head and uttering about needing the table for Christmas Dinner!!
The hardest part was the large amount of similar coloured pieces that were needed to complete the puzzle, they all looked black, but if you looked at them from a different angle, some were in fact dark purple, others dark grey.
Eventually on Christmas Morning, two hours before everyone arrived for dinner I completed the puzzle, hooray.
It is an amazing puzzle and I enjoyed doing it immensely, although if you are short of time, then please leave it until you have a little longer, but Christmas 2012 will be remembered for Mandi and her crazy puzzle obsession!!
As usual the standard is excellent and I am sure the older children will be redoing this very shortly.