Autumn Canyon Jigsaw Puzzle

Autumn Canyon at every size

Par is the time your score is measured against at that size. The rest is measured from the picture itself: how many pieces have a near-twin by colour once it is cut.

What the picture shows

A canyon in autumn, seen from the rim. A muddy brown river winds from the middle of the frame round a bend and out at the right edge, lined with yellow cottonwoods and dark green trees. Layered red sandstone cliffs rise on both sides, with a big wall in the middle left and another on the right. Far off, flat-topped mesas fade to purple-grey under a grey sky with streaks of cloud. The foreground is pale red slickrock with sagebrush and junipers: a gnarled one leaning in from the left, a round green one in the middle, and a weathered wooden post with red stones round its foot on the right.

Solving Autumn Canyon

At 50 pieces about 7 pieces in 10 have a near-twin, because so much of the frame is red rock. It sorts a little better at 100 pieces. From 200 pieces up the slickrock and the cliffs blend into one red texture, and about 9 pieces in 10 have a near-twin. The river and the cottonwoods stay easy at every size, and plain pieces are rare: under 1 in 10 even at 1000 pieces.

Start with the river, from the bend in the middle out to the right edge. Add the yellow cottonwoods along both banks. Then the cliff walls: the big one in the middle left, the one on the right, then the far canyon. The mesas and the grey sky go along the top. The slickrock foreground comes last, placed round the leaning juniper, the round bush and the wooden post.

Autumn Canyon has the most look-alikes of the five mountain pictures at 50 pieces, then settles in the middle. From 200 pieces up only Mountain Village and Glacier Trail have more look-alikes.

More mountain jigsaw puzzles

• Green HillsA mountain hay meadow of fireweed and scabious, with a wooden hay shed and forested ridges behind.
• Alpine LakeA turquoise lake under a snowy peak, larches turning yellow on its shores and two backpacks on the rocks.
• Mountain VillageWooden chalets, a white church spire and three grazing cows below clouded snowy peaks.
• Glacier TrailA rocky trail with stone cairns above a milky glacier lake, one hiker far ahead.