jigsaw puzzle

noun

Also called picture puzzle. a set of irregularly cut pieces of pasteboard, wood, or the like that form a picture or design when fitted together.

any complex, confusing situation, condition, or item, as one composed of seemingly diverse or unrelated elements.

Origin

1905-10

Examples from the web for jigsaw puzzle

And once you've got the normal gene, you can try to figure out how it fits into the jigsaw puzzle of eye development.
If this addition is accepted, then all the pieces of the cosmological jigsaw puzzle will fit together.
Gamers can also collect gold coins and jigsaw puzzle pieces throughout the indoor and outdoor environments.
The final weeks of the fantasy season start to resemble a frustrating jigsaw puzzle.
Take a tea break with a customizable jigsaw puzzle-easy or difficult, it's your choice.
In digital translation, a jigsaw puzzle doesn't lose much.
These stands are interspersed throughout the refuge in a jigsaw puzzle fashion to provide a rich mixture of forest habitats.

British Dictionary definitions for jigsaw puzzle

jigsaw puzzle

noun

a puzzle in which the player has to reassemble a picture that has been mounted on a wooden or cardboard base and cut into a large number of irregularly shaped interlocking pieces

Encyclopedia Article for jigsaw puzzle

any set of varied, irregularly shaped pieces that, when properly assembled, form a picture or map. The puzzle is so named because the picture, originally attached to wood and later to paperboard, was cut into its pieces with a jigsaw, which cuts intricate lines and curves. Jigsaw puzzles may be very complicated vis-a-vis the number of pieces and the number of different cuts and thus take many hours to complete

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