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Puzzle Answers
Puzzle Questions, Answered
This is the index. Every question below is one we have actually been asked, by a customer, in an email, or in the comments on our Facebook page.
The rule we set for this section is simple: answer the question in the first paragraph. No throat-clearing, no build-up, no "great question". If the honest answer is a range rather than a number, we give the range and then explain what moves it.
Start here: the brand guides
The long-form references. If you want everything about a brand in one place, these are the pages.
Cornerstone
The Complete Guide to Wasgij
The puzzle where the box image is not the picture you build. Every series explained and ranked by difficulty, plus the Jumbo versus Holdson question that only matters here.
Cornerstone
The Complete Guide to Gibsons Puzzles
Founded 1919, bombed out in 1940, still family run. The full history, the recycled board, the 636 piece panoramas, and how they compare to Ravensburger.
Choosing a puzzle
How long does a 1000 piece puzzle take?
Three to ten hours of building time for most adults, usually across two or three sittings. Artwork matters more than piece count: a field of wheat will beat a busy street scene every time.
What does Wasgij mean, and how do you say it?
It is "jigsaw" spelt backwards, pronounced "Woz-gidge". The backwards name describes a backwards puzzle: what is on the box is not what you build.
Which piece count should I buy?
1000 is the standard adult format and where the widest choice of artwork lives. Go to 500 if you want to finish in one evening, to 1500 or more if you can leave a table occupied for a week, and to an extra large piece format if standard cuts are fiddly for your hands or eyes.
Browse 500 pieces, 1000 pieces, 1500 to 3000 pieces or extra large pieces.
What is a good puzzle to give as a gift?
For someone who already puzzles regularly, buy a concept rather than a picture, because they have seen every kind of picture. A Wasgij Mystery is the strongest gift in our range on that basis. For someone new to it, a 500 piece illustrated scene beats a 1000 piece photograph, because finishing matters more than difficulty on a first puzzle.
Building and finishing
How do I glue a finished puzzle?
PVA-based puzzle glue, two or three thin coats spread from the front with a plastic card, dried flat on a surface it cannot stick to. One thick coat is what warps puzzles.
What is the fastest way to finish a puzzle?
Sort more before you build. Most people lose more time hunting through one big pile than they would ever spend separating it into eight or ten colour and texture piles first. Frame, then piles, then work the most distinctive regions.
Why is a Wasgij harder than an ordinary puzzle of the same size?
Because you lose the reference image. On a normal puzzle the lid tells you where a piece belongs. On a Wasgij the lid shows a different scene, so you are down to piece shape and colour blocking. Expect a 1000 piece Wasgij to feel like a 1500 piece conventional puzzle.
Brands and quality
Which brand makes the best quality pieces?
On cut and fit alone, Ravensburger is the benchmark, and most brands are measured against it. But "quality" splits into things that trade off against each other: piece thickness, tightness of fit, print sharpness, glare, and how much dust is in the box. Gibsons gives up a fraction of edge crispness to use 100% recycled board. Jumbo cuts tighter than Holdson. We are building a proper comparison from our own customers' reviews rather than asserting one.
Gibsons or Ravensburger?
Ravensburger for the best engineering and the widest choice of subject. Gibsons for illustrated British scenes with a story in them, and for formats nobody else does properly, like the 636 piece panoramas and the 4 x 500 multipacks.
Why does the same Wasgij exist as both a Jumbo and a Holdson puzzle?
Jumbo owns the brand and makes it in the Netherlands. Holdson makes the range in New Zealand under licence for this part of the world. Same artwork, different board: Jumbo is thicker with a tighter fit, Holdson is thinner, looser and easier to get here.
A question we have not answered yet
The honest gap in this page is data. Almost every question about difficulty, completion time and piece quality currently gets answered with experience and consensus, which is what every other puzzle site does too.
We are now capturing difficulty ratings and completion times from our own customers, puzzle by puzzle. When there is enough of it to stand up, the answers on this page stop being opinion and start being measurement, and that is a thing nobody else in the Australian market will be able to say.
Got a question we have not covered?
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Ask us on Facebook. We answer everything, and the questions that come up more than twice end up on this page.
Related reading
- The Puzzle Library, everything we have written, organised by what you want to find out
Sources and further reading
- Premium Puzzles customer enquiries and Facebook community questions, 2026
Last reviewed and updated 30 July 2026 by Michael, Owner, Premium Puzzles. We keep this page current as the range and the market change, rather than letting it age as a dated post.
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