If you're a fan of Puzzle Crafthouse's Picture Frame Puzzles, like me, the Animals of Australia is another great design and challenging puzzle designed by Dave Janelle.

Represented in the puzzle are 10 native animals from Australia, which can all be packed into a 18cm square wooden frame (7"). The pieces are cut from a wide selection of different thick woods and the contours are deep-cut in one of the sides with perfect detail. Since several different woods are used in one single puzzle with a unique mix, yours might be a little different from the one pictured.

Being the fourth Picture Frame Puzzle that I have reviewed so far, I think this one is a little harder than the Noah's Ark and easier than the Wine Lovers Puzzle or even much easier than the Flower Garden - Hawaii. As a level 3 puzzle, you might expect to solve it within half an hour or so, but it may easily be between 1 and 2 hours. I took almost an hour to get them all inside the frame.

As with all puzzles from the Picture Frame category, there's just one possible arrangement to fit all pieces inside the frame... At least, in theory, because they were designed with that characteristic in mind. Note that the pieces are to be used with only one of their sides, so no mirror images possible. Last time, I had found an alternative solution for the Noah's Ark, but it wasn't the designer's intention to have more than one solution. After that review, the puzzle design was revised with new piece sizes and it's now back to one solution. In the event that you find a second solution for any of these puzzles, contact Dave to let him know so that he can fix it.

(Click to Enlarge)

Solution: In case you want to check how the puzzle looks like in its solved state, click here.

Closing Comments:

The Animals of Australia is yet another great theme for a Picture Frame Puzzle. Since it's not extremely difficult, it can be bought as a present for a casual puzzler, and it will make for a nice addition to any puzzle collection. Also great for display use.

Availability: The Animals of Australia is an exclusive puzzle from Puzzle Crafthouse and it's available for $25 USD. To browse through other puzzles in the Picture Frame category, check out their special page.