jigsaw puzzle

plural jigsaw puzzles

1. A type of puzzle in which the aim is to reconstruct a picture that has been cut (originally, with a jigsaw) into many small interlocking pieces.
2. crosswordingAn alphabetical jigsaw; a crossword in which the clues are not numbered and the solver must work out where each solution fits in the grid.

   The grid is designed so as to make this a genuine challenge: there are six words each of four to nine letters, and nothing longer – normally it’s the long lights that are the key to a jigsaw puzzle.

   2002 February 3, Watson, “Azed No 1550: ‘Jigsaw’”, in &lit

   1 more example

   There is also the restriction with alphabeticals that the online interactive program for solving puzzles cannot cope with them, because the software is written on the basis that every numbered clue corresponds to the matching numbered slot in the grid. As this cannot be the case with a jigsaw puzzle, when it is faced by one the system has a nervous breakdown.

   2015 March 13, Hugh Stephenson, “A to Z”, in The Guardian

   Synonyms: jigsaw, zigsaw, zigsaw puzzle