Tapped threads

It is a jigsaw sold with a short crime story. The image on the box is deliberately wrong, the picture you build holds the clue the story withheld, and the sealed solution sheet in the box is the only place the answer appears.

Molded acrylic resin, cast clear or tinted. The pieces are solid rather than hollow, which is why a finished build has real weight and throws color when you stand it in a window.

The boxes say ages 12 and up, and we would hold to that for the Original line and above. Pieces are small, the order matters, and an eight-year-old usually meets frustration before the halfway point. Pixel puzzles are the shelf to start on instead.

A forty-piece Original build takes most people forty minutes to an hour on the first attempt and about half that on the second. Deluxe models of eighty pieces or more run to an evening.

Hanayama grades each cast metal brain teaser from 1 to 6 by how long it takes an experienced solver. Level 1 and 2 come apart in minutes, level 4 is a long evening, and level 6 is measured in weeks.

Every crystal puzzle ships with a numbered diagram folded under the tray. If yours went out with the packaging, write to us with the model name and we will send the numbering back to you.

Yes, and most people do once. The pieces separate with thumb pressure at the base. The second build is always faster, which is a slightly deflating discovery.

No. Friction holds a crystal build together and the base ring locks the bottom layer. Glue makes the model impossible to repair and we would not use it.