It got down to the wire, but we've officially launched the new Modern Metaphors puzzle in time for Christmas!
We worked with British artist Sam Hayward to illustrate 400 metaphors in the image and the whimsy pieces.
At 889 pieces and 12.5" x 34.5", it is big - here's how it looks on our table as co-owner Jim Muller puzzled the alpha-test version:
The puzzle has a straight edge, and curvy irregular pieces with really nice, unique knob connectors.
Plus tons of whimsies that illustrate yet more metaphors!
Here's a sneak peek - sorry about the lousy photo quality, this is a sneak peek!
You'll have to be a polymath to get everything we packed in here:
- everyday American idioms and a couple British ones ;)
- metaphors used in Law, Finance, Medicine, and HR!
- famous thought experiments from Physics, Computer Science, and Philosophy
- and more!
To give you a sense of what we did include, here's a few examples that we considered but didn't end up including:
- put your foot in your mouth
- don't shoot the messenger
- this place is a zoo
- spill the beans
- Thucydides Trap
- Ship of Theseus
- tall poppy syndrome
- sea lioning
How are you going to keep track of the ones you find? Good news - Jim put together a little website where you can enter the metaphors you find, and keep score to make a little game out of seeing how many you can discover!
If you track your metaphors on the website, you'll be automatically entered in our rolling contest: we'll award a $100 gift card to whoever has found the most metaphors by 5 p.m. Eastern Time on January 1, 2026.
We'll award another $100 gift card at 5pm Eastern time on February 1, 2026 to whoever has the found the most metaphors by then, and we'll do it again at 5pm Eastern on March 1, 2026.
You can only win one of the three times.
Teamwork is encouraged! Get your whole family helping this Christmas season - so much better than talking politics :).
Winners will be contacted by their log-in email and have until December 31, 2026 to claim their prize. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited.
Here's a link: Modern Metaphors puzzle
Well, I am over the moon and just bouncing off the walls! Admittedly, I’ve never done a puzzle this big, but it doesn’t look too hard, and I suppose I could use a big project this winter. Guess it’s time to finally clear off the dining room table.