I’ve done one of the escape puzzles. The concept is pretty neat… like an escape room in jigsaw format. You make the puzzle, and the picture has a couple of things in it that you need to solve. The idea really spoke to me, as I really enjoy escape rooms. But unfortunately I didn’t quite follow their logic. So it was hard to solve.

Are you familiar with “wasgij puzzles”? Those are puzzles where the box art is just a hint and the actual puzzle image is “what the people in the box art are seeing” or “what happens a few moments from now”, there are a few variations. So you don’t really know what the image will be.

The box art is there, why not use it?
Timing sounds stressful.
But I do break apart pieces that are stuck together, and mix them in with the rest. Feels a bit like cheating otherwise.

(No right or wrong by the way, all just personal preference.)

Never been in this situation, but I would definitely be happy to find all the edge pieces already separated. Always start by sorting the edges, and it’s my least favourite part.