World's Largest Jigsaw Puzzle 'Wildlife' Features Fantasy Forest

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

We spotted something today on FARK. That's F-A-R-K. That's the website that collects news items that tend toward the bizarre. It's a gift idea for all your friends and loved ones who want, let's say, a cumbersome, frustrating, time-consuming present this holiday season, one that can take up an entire room.

ADRIAN CHESTERMAN: Yeah. It's massive.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

We're talking about a puzzle, a 33,600-piece jigsaw puzzle. It's 18 feet long, 5 feet wide and weighs more than 35 pounds.

CORNISH: Yikes.

SHAPIRO: The image on it is a fantasy forest with every imaginable animal. It's called "Wilderness."

CORNISH: "Wilderness" is the creation of Adrian Chesterton (sic). He's an artist living in Spain. He says he's done lots of other puzzles.

CHESTERMAN: But I've never done one this big. They're usually about a thousand-piece, 1,500 pieces. But (laughter) obviously, 33,600 is kind of an exception.

CORNISH: Chesterton (sic) says this enormous jigsaw puzzle is just the latest volley in an ever-escalating battle.

CHESTERMAN: There's a company in Germany called Ravensburger, and the company I did this for is Spanish, called Educa Borras. And Educa Borras and Ravensburger have been competing to who has the biggest jigsaw puzzle in the world for the last 10 years. So one produced one of at 8,000, and then the other produced one at 10 and then at 12. And it leapt to 16, and then it went to 18 and then 24. This is like a game of tennis. And the last one was Ravensburger - did a 25,000-pieces puzzle.

SHAPIRO: Adrian Chesterton (sic) would like his town to sponsor an event for charity and get schoolchildren to complete this monstrous puzzle. And then he wants the competition to make an ever-bigger puzzle to end.

CHESTERMAN: I mean. it's getting so silly. You'd need a house the size - I mean, you'd have to be the queen of England or - I don't know - live in a house the size of the White House.

CORNISH: That's Adrian Chesterton (sic). His artwork is featured on the world's largest jigsaw puzzle. It's called "Wilderness." And by the way, he hasn't assembled it himself because he's too busy. He told us the most recent jigsaw puzzle he solved had just 12 pieces. [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: In the audio of this story we mistakenly say the puzzle’s name is “Wilderness.” In fact, the puzzle’s name is “Wildlife.” Also, there was a mispronunciation. The artist’s name is Adrian Chesterman, not Chesterton.] Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.