Jigsaw 14, Series 2

A 'tower press fully interlocking jigsaw puzzle on qualitex board' sold under the name of 'Viscount', new to me from Oxfam at 99p. I think Tower Press must the name of the company operating the jigsaw press, rather than the name of the jigsaw press itself, which was my first thought.

A rather shabby puzzle, rather faded and the pieces rather worn, so one suspects that it has been around for a while. Perhaps a chuck out from some deceased relative's attic, or the further recesses of some cupboard or other.

Despite the circularity, apart from a few exotic pieces around the perimeter, a regular puzzle, pretty much laid out on a rectangular grid. Most pieces of the prong-hole-prong-hole configuration. None of the prong-prong-hole-hole. A small number of prong-prong-prong-hole's paired with prong-hole-hole-hole's. A very small number of 4 prongs (small) and a very small number of 4 holes (large). Most of the time four pieces met at a vertex, although the cutting was a little sloppy so a little out quite a lot of the time.

Due to the age, the fit was a bit sloppy too, and on a number of occasions I fitted a piece to the wrong place and had to back track later. Fair amount of time spent in this way, especially at the end where I ended up with three pieces, three places and no fits.

Colour was interesting in that as individual peices the greens, especially the dark greens, were very nondescript, but once assembled the colour advertised on the box shone further through.

Sky line first, then the church tower, then the white buildings. White  mountains just below the horizon. Then rather slowly finished off the buildings, the roofs and the interplanted trees. Field at the bottom. Field middle right. This then left most of the top half of the puzzle.

And it all got a bit scrappy. The right hand hills finished first and eventually would up with a hole in the dark green and a hole in the sky. Knocked off the former first then the latter, with the issue mentioned above. A fair bit of sorting, trial and error involved during this closing chapter of the puzzle.

Took quite a long time to do this one, perhaps slowed down by the puzzle - as opposed to the puzzler - being a bit tired. But satisfying in the end.

PS: Professor Google reveals quite a lot of interest in qualitex, not least from Waddingtons, who were big into it for their puzzles. But I did not spot a company making the stuff, although I did come across http://www.qualitex.ee/, a chuck out from the demise of the USSR.