Free online jigsaw puzzles: how to pick a size and finish faster

What makes a good online jigsaw

Plenty of sites call a grid of squares a jigsaw. A real one has interlocking pieces, each a slightly different shape, and that matters: the shape of a knob is a clue, just as the picture is. Look for these:

• Pieces that join to each other, anywhere on the table. You should be able to build a clump off to one side and carry it to the board in one go.
• A table you can zoom and move. With a hundred pieces on a phone you need to work close up on one part, then step back.
• Your place kept. A 200-piece puzzle is not a one-sitting job for most people. It should be there when you come back.
• No adverts over the table. A puzzle is meant to be calm.

Yuzool's Jigsaw works this way. It is free, runs in the browser on a phone, tablet or computer, needs no account, and saves every piece's place as you go.

Choosing a piece count

The number of pieces matters more than the picture. Doubling the pieces more than doubles the work, because every piece has more places it might go. As a rough guide (your times will vary with the picture and with practice):

On a phone, a puzzle of more than about 100 pieces means zooming in to work, which is fine but slower. On a computer screen 200 pieces sit comfortably on the table at once.

The picture's shape sets the exact count: a 4:3 picture cut for "about 120" becomes 12 by 9, which is 108 pieces, so that each piece stays roughly square.

Corners, edges and middles

Every rectangular jigsaw has exactly four corners. The number of edge pieces is twice the columns plus twice the rows, less four: a 9 by 7 puzzle (63 pieces) has 28 edge pieces, nearly half of it. In a 26 by 19 puzzle (494 pieces) only 86 are edge pieces, about one in six, which is one reason big puzzles feel so much harder.

The order that finishes fastest

1. Corners and edge first. Pick out every piece with a flat side and build the frame. It gives you the picture's size and something to join to.
2. Sort the rest by colour. Make loose heaps: the blues, the reds, the pieces with writing or windows on them. You are not placing anything yet.
3. Build clumps of things you recognise. A boat, a lighthouse, a row of windows. Small, distinct things are quick, and each finished clump is one big piece instead of ten small ones.
4. Join clumps to the frame and to each other. Use the finished picture to see roughly where each belongs.
5. Leave the plain areas until last. Sky and water are slow when there are 80 pieces to try, and quick when there are 12. For these, look at the shape: how many knobs, and on which sides.

When you are stuck, change what you are looking for. If you have been matching colour, match shape for a while; if you have been working on the left, look at the right.

Edges, Sort, Ghost and Picture

An online table can do a few things a real one can't. In Yuzool's Jigsaw:

• Edges hides every middle piece, so only the corners and edges are left to build the frame from. Turn it off again and the rest come back where they were.
• Sort lays the loose pieces out in neat rows round the board, edge pieces first, so nothing is hidden under anything else.
• Ghost shows the finished picture faintly on the board. A piece dropped in its right place locks there.
• Picture puts the finished picture in a corner, like the lid of the box. Tap it to make it bigger.
• Fit shows the whole table again after you have zoomed in.

On a phone, pinch to zoom and drag the table to move around. On a computer, scroll to zoom. There is a keyboard cursor too: arrows move it, Space picks a piece up and puts it down, and N jumps to the next loose piece.

A jigsaw from your own photo

Tap Add a photo and choose a picture from your device. It is cut into pieces there and kept there: nothing is uploaded, and it works with no connection. The photos that make the best puzzles have:

• Detail all over. A market stall, a bookshelf, a garden, a crowd. Every piece has something on it.
• Several colours. You can sort by colour before you start.
• Little empty sky or wall. A third of the picture in one flat colour means a third of the pieces look the same.
• Sharp focus. A blurred background behaves like a flat colour.

A family photo makes a good present of a puzzle for a child at 12 or 24 pieces.

The Daily jigsaw

The Daily is one jigsaw a day, about 60 pieces, with the same picture and the same cut for everyone, so times can be compared. Your time is your score, a week strip shows your recent days, and finishing on days in a row builds a streak. It is free, and you can leave it half done and carry on later the same day. Play today's Daily.

Turning pieces

On a real table the pieces come out of the box facing any way. Online, most puzzles start with every piece the right way up, which is easier. If you want the real thing, turn on Turn the pieces (part of Jigsaw Pro): pieces start turned to any of four sides and a tap turns one a quarter. It roughly doubles the difficulty, so drop down a size the first time.