New Yorker Puzzles - Review
New York Puzzle Company specialises in vintage US magazine covers and are considered to be one the best of the genre.
The Donkey’s Tale stocks a range of New Yorker magazine cover puzzles and we have taken one home to try it out and review.
Puzzle Reviewed: 1000 Piece – City Dogs - 48.9cm x 67.6cm
REVIEW SCORE 8/10
Did we enjoy this puzzle. – Absolutely. A fun image with interesting puzzle pieces. Great fun but not overly difficult.
The puzzles have sturdy space-saving boxes, thick puzzle pieces, a non-grid cut with lots of variety of piece shapes, and good image reproduction.
On the downside the piece cut is quite visible on the final finished puzzle which may limit your desire to keep the finished image.
The New York Puzzle company values environmental responsibility, as we do. The puzzles and boxes are made from recycled chipboard with the the plastic bag made from biodegradable plastic. Protecting is with Soy based inks.
The New York Puzzle company pledges 1% of revenue to not for profit environmental groups.
IMAGE REPRODUCTION QUALITY AND VARIETY: 9/10
If you like vintage magazine imagery then the New York Puzzle Company is the brand for you. Known for their vintage magazine covers, the New Yorker range present a variety of graphic images from the New Yorker Magazine.
Many of the covers reproduced could pass in the Americana, Primitive, and Fine Art categories with magazine lettering added.
The image reproduction is soft reflecting the vintage style. The image has a good level of detail however the images are not as high-res as some modern images. The colours are great with good image alignment.
The puzzle finish is a soft matt which reduces reflective glare whilst puzzling.
We would give the current range a score of 9 with lots of images on our “To Do” list.
BOX QUALITY - 7/10
The New York Puzzle Company boxes are attractive and quite sturdy. They are smaller than many puzzle boxes, taking up less shelf space. This does make for a smaller reference picture since the puzzle doesn’t include a poster. The 1000 piece box below is 8″ x 10″ x 2 1/4″.
The back of the box is provides information on the New York Puzzle Company.
QUALITY, FIT AND SHAPE OF PIECES – 8/10
In the puzzle bag, the pieces were completely separated, with no hanging chads or need to rip pieces apart. The image top is firmly adhered to the pieces with no lifting and no damage. The puzzle pieces were in good condition and there were no missing or extra pieces.
The puzzle pieces are a good thickness, comparable to any quality brand. The pieces also feel quite dense and had nice clean edges with no fraying.
The New York Puzzle Company, like many American manufacturers, use a variable, non-grid cut that produces a large variety of shapes and piece corners don’t necessarily line-up. We enjoyed the unique shapes which do help out on areas of the picture that have no distinct imagery (Skies and Oceans).
The piece size is standard, neither too small nor oversized. Since the cut is variable there are smaller pieces, but none of the pieces are too small.
The piece fit is good, neither too loose or excessively tight. The highly variable piece cut means you won’t place a piece where it doesn’t belong.