Sort before you search
Looking for one piece among ninety-six is slow. Sorting first makes every later search short.
Sort in three passes. First pull out the pieces with a straight edge: they belong on the outside, and the four with two straight edges are the corners. Build that frame and the puzzle has a size and a place to start.
Then sort the rest by color. Sky with sky, grass with grass. Now a piece of sky only has to be matched against other sky.
Last, look at the tabs. Every cut edge is either a tab that sticks out or a blank that takes one. Two facing edges need complementary shapes. This rules out some neighbors, but matching color and shape still need to be checked together.
Read one piece
Take the middle piece above. All four of its sides are cut, so it is not on the outside border of the picture.
Look at each side in turn and say whether it sticks out or goes in. Say it out loud if it helps, going clockwise from the top: in, in, out, in.
Now pick up a neighbor candidate. Its facing side has to be the opposite of yours. Your right side goes in, so its left side has to stick out. If it does not, put it down and take the next one.
This is quick because you are comparing two things, not looking at a whole picture.
Which pile
You tip out a new puzzle. The picture is a beach: blue sky on top, sand along the bottom.
You pick up a piece with one straight side. It is blue all over.
Decide where it goes before you look at anything else.
Try it
A piece has one straight side and is all blue. Where does it belong?
- On the outside frame
- In the interior of the picture
Show the answer
On the outside frame
The straight side puts this piece on the outside frame. Blue suggests the sky, but the sky can also touch the left and right edges. Color alone does not tell you which side of the frame.
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