If you are the kind of puzzler who sorts every piece into little colour trays before placing a single one, and you know exactly who you are, Patchwork Rainbow was made with you in mind.
This is a 1,000 piece design from House of Puzzles, illustrated by Jane Tattersfield, and the name tells you the game.
The image is a patchwork of bold squares, each with its own patterns, textures and tones. One patch is all dazzling motifs, the next is rich decorative flourishes, and tipping the box out turns your table into a paint chart. The sorting stage, which some puzzlers rush through to get to the real work, is half the fun here.
The patchwork format changes how the whole puzzle plays. Every section is a small puzzle with its own logic, so you finish a patch, enjoy the little win, and move on to the next.
Progress never stalls the way it can in the last stretch of a conventional image. House of Puzzles pitches this design as suiting newcomers and experienced puzzlers alike, and for once the both-audiences claim holds up: the clear colour boundaries give a beginner somewhere obvious to start, while the fine detail inside each patch keeps a veteran from getting bored.
It is a lovely thing to watch grow, too. If there is a quilter, a knitter or a lover of pattern in your life, this design speaks their language, and it makes an inspired gift for exactly that person.
The finished puzzle measures 48 x 69 cm and suits framing, which is worth deciding before you start, because this is the sort of image people cannot bring themselves to break up once it is done.
The practical details: $34.99, in stock now, printed on sustainably sourced FSC certified premium board with precision-cut pieces that fit the way they should. Keep the box either way. House of Puzzles designs get re-done and passed around puzzle friends more than most.
Patchwork Rainbow is at jigsawsaustralia.com.au. Fair warning: it photographs beautifully half-finished, and your household will have opinions about which patch you should be working on.