Review: “Sherlock and Co” by Gobel and Knorr, Heye 10/10
Publisher: Heye (Germany)
Title: “Sherlock and Co” by Doro Gobel and Peter Knorr, Heye, 2000 pieces
Released Jan 2016
Review by Jane
OUR RATING: 10/10
Box Quality: (10/10)
I have a thing for Heye triangular boxes, and I’m happy every year to add to my collection of them. Pretty much, if it’s in a Heye triangular box, I will get it. This year (2016) the boxes are as good as ever and, in fact, include more goodies inside the box than in previous years.
The box has an attractive closer view of the image on the two front sides and on the top, along with the name of the puzzle, artist, piece count, and Heye logo. The back of the box shows the full image.
The top of the box has a close-up detail from the image, the piece count, and the Heye logo. This is ideal for shelving top-out, as I do with these triangular boxes. You can see my Heye shelf here.
Inside:
Inside the boxes this year we have the very large poster, with pictures of other puzzles available in the 2016 line on the back. In addition, there is a guarantee card and a mini catalogue. Nice! Years from now, it’s wonderful to have this record of the other puzzles released at the same time so you can see what they were and track them down if desired.
Below is the poster front and back:
The Image: 10/10
I’m a huge fan of BBC Sherlock (no, really). It’s been my number 1 show since the first season aired and I’m pretty active in the Tumblr fan community. So the idea of having BBC Sherlock + Heye is sort of a geeky fangirl dream.
The image definitely appears to be BBC Sherlock specific, judging by the Sherlock Holmes and John Watson depicted in the puzzle (they look like Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman).
The image shows a vast cityscape with various characters. There are a number of police bobbies in the scene, looking for clues, people looking out windows or on the decks of the houses, and people on the street.
It’s a complex image that you discover as you assemble the puzzle. I like the art style too. Absolutely full marks from me.
Above: The completed puzzle. Click for closer view.
Puzzle Quality: 9/10
The quality of Heye puzzles is very good. The pieces have gotten a little larger in the last few years, and they are about the same size and thickness as Ravensburger. It’s a grid-cut puzzle, but has quite a lot of variation in piece shape, as you can see in the close-up below. There’s never a problem of a piece seeming to fit where it doesn’t actually go.
The only reason it scores a 9 instead of a 10 for me is that the fit is not particularly tight. You need to use caution when moving groups of assembled pieces around and you can’t lift the edge of the puzzle without it falling apart. Still, the final finish is flat and relatively seamless.
Assembly: 10/10
This puzzle is difficult to assemble but not frustrating. I started with the border and then the pink/red buildings. The building in the lower left that has the scaffolding on it is also fairly recognizable so you can easily pull out the pieces. There are a ton of buildings in the image though, some of which have the same or similar colors. There are lots of similar details sprinkled throughout, like the bobbies in black and the brick chimneys, which require you to really study the image and the piece to see where it goes.
Slow and steady wins the race, as they say. A 2000 piece puzzle like this isn’t designed to be completed in a day, but it’s nice to have a longer ‘project’ from time to time. I really enjoyed seeing the details in the image, like footprints, and the various characters, as the puzzle progressed. As I said, there was no one area that was particularly hard or frustrating, and it was clear where everything went once you looked at the poster. If you like bigger and/or a more time-consuming puzzling experience, you’ll enjoy this one. I did!
Additional Images:
Bonus Points
I gave this puzzle 1 bonus point for being related to BBC Sherlock and not being just photographs of the actors’ faces, like so many licensed puzzles are. I love the fact that this is an original, hand-drawn image related to BBC Sherlock and designed to be a perfect puzzle for Heye!
Conclusion
This is my favorite of the new Heye releases this year, which pretty much puts it at the top of the 2016 best puzzles list! I recommend it to anyone who thinks they’re up to a 2000 piece challenge!
JJ
