Welcome!

This is the companion page for Puzzled: A History of Jigsaw Puzzles and Expert Tips to Get Them Solved. You can buy the book at our store page.

There were so many things that could have gone into the book, but we just couldn’t fit them all – so we have included them here for you.

Scroll Right hand-cut jigsaw puzzles

One of the final chapters in the book features Steven Van Dyke. Steven is keeping a rare art alive, hand-cutting exquisite wooden jigsaw puzzles. Having spent 30 years as a software engineer, Steven began cutting puzzles a few years ago and now sells them online.

Our interview for the book was a fascinating glimpse into the process and truly demonstrates the appeal of jigsaw puzzles across generations. As Steven notes in our interview,

My background [in software engineering] probably helps me in puzzle-making because my standards for what is ‘tedious’ are very different from most people. When you’ve been writing systems with over 70,000 lines of code, spending two or three days cutting a puzzle isn’t as big a challenge as it is for some.

You should definitely check out Steven’s work at his website, and you can buy his one-of-a-kind puzzles in his online shop.

The “jig-saw puzzle craze”

In the book, we explore decades of newspaper coverage of jigsaw puzzles, capturing the evolution of a puzzling culture, the minutiae of the “jig-saw puzzle craze”, legislative change, and so much more! You can see some of the articles we talk about in the book below.