It’s Really Puzzling, Isn’t It?

It’s hard to figure out exactly why I like puzzles, but I think for me it’s often more about the actual theme of the puzzle rather than the puzzle itself.

At the moment, I have three themed puzzles in my little shop, and when I look at them, I realise they all connect to things I’ve loved or been interested in at different points in my life.

There’s the 50 Must-Watch Scary Movies Puzzle, Murder Most Puzzling, and Map of the Stars.

So, why did I choose these three?

🎬 50 Must-Watch Scary Movies

I’m a massive horror film lover.

One of my earliest memories is from when I was about eight or nine years old. For my birthday, I had a horror film party! The film we watched was The Deadly Spawn.

I can remember my mum and the parents of everyone I’d invited watching it first, just to make sure it was OK for us kids to watch. If I remember rightly, there was one boy who ended up locking himself in the toilet! 😂

From then on, I was a lifelong horror fan.

My well-loved Hammer House of Horror collection - still a favourite after all these years 🖤

I still love some of the old classics, particularly Hammer Horror. A couple of my favourites are The House That Dripped Blood and Countess Dracula. I loved Ingrid Pitt — I thought she was beautiful. I liked Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde, I love The Monster Club with Vincent Price, and I loved Waxwork with David Warner. The list could go on and on.

Then there’s Hellraiser, the Freddy films, Halloween, the Hammer House of Horror TV series, The Legacy, April Fool’s Day, some of

the later Scream films, the Saw franchise… and I also really like American Horror Story.

I could probably carry on all day!

But one of the scariest films, in my opinion, is actually a Disney film starring Bette Davis — The Watcher in the Woods.

And yes, I still struggle to watch that film on my own to this day! 😂

So when I saw the 50 Must-Watch Scary Movies Puzzle, it was pretty obvious why it belonged in my shop.

Shop The Scary Movie Puzzle

🔎 Murder Most Puzzling

Murder Most Puzzling almost fits into the horror category, but it’s more about books, short stories and a little bit of TV.

What I love about this puzzle is the story — becoming puzzler and detective all at the same time.

It also takes me back to a collection of books I had when I was a kid, which I still own now.

You would read a page and, at the bottom, you were given a choice of two different paths to take. Depending on what you chose, the story would go in a different direction.

It meant you could read the books more than once and get a completely different outcome, and I was always trying different routes to see where I would end up.

I also loved the concept of Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, where you used your TV controller to make choices that changed the direction of the story and could lead to different endings.

And then there were some of my earlier computer games. I loved point-and-click games, especially the ones where you wandered around rummaging through people’s rooms, opening drawers and cupboards and looking for clues. 😂

Phantasmagoria - one of the PC horror games that terrified and fascinated me in equal measure.

I loved Shivers, Phantasmagoria, The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery… anything where there was a mystery to solve.

I’m not always the best at solving riddles, but I do love trying.

And that’s probably why I’m not a real detective! 😂

Shop Murder Most Puzzling

✨ Map of the Stars

Map of the Stars taps into another interest of mine — astrology.

I have quite a few books on the subject, and I even did a short course at the same place as Jonathan Cainer, the Faculty of Astrological Studies.

What I realised from doing the course was actually how little I knew! Astrology can become a lifelong study and takes an incredible amount of dedication.

My original Jonathan Cainer astrology report, bought for me by my grandad

But I loved going. I loved listening to everyone’s insights into astrology, what different things meant and the connections between the planets and Greek mythology.

I remember my grandad not really believing in anything to do with birth signs or birth charts, but he knew how much I liked them.

I often used to read the astrology page in the Daily Mail when Jonathan Cainer wrote it, because I always felt his horoscopes were very relatable.

There was an offer in the paper where Jonathan Cainer would create your birth chart, complete with explanations of the different positions of the planets. Because I loved reading his astrology page so much, my grandad ordered one for me.

I still have it now, and every so often I get it out and read it again. ❤️

So for me, Map of the Stars seemed like the perfect choice for my little shop.

It’s a 1,000-piece puzzle, so it’s definitely a challenge, but if you love constellations, zodiac signs — I’m a Taurus ♉️ — and the magic of the night sky, it might just be your kind of

puzzle too.

Shop Map of the Stars Puzzle

What About You?

I’d love to know…

What’s your favourite horror movie?

Do you love a good murder mystery?

And most importantly… what’s your star sign? ✨

Maybe the things we choose to puzzle over say a little bit more about us than we realise.

Zoe Loves Stuff 🖤