Yep. Mom and her roommate (her BFF of 50+ years!) always have a puzzle or two going, year round. They have dedicated tables and all the accessories that go with their hobby. And they have to be HARD - as you said - 1K pieces, or no border to work with, or all the same color pieces, or it ends up being an Eagle in the shape of...an Eagle!
Wish I could get into it. I just don’t have the patience for it. And then when you’re done? W hat do you do with it? Only so much wall space for framing - but usually you just take it apart and pass it on to some other unsuspecting person to torment, LOL!
My ‘thing’ is crossword puzzles. Beau like Sudoku - but we’ve talked about that before. ;)
I do daily puzzles at least 4 a day on my laptop. And I try to do them as fast as possible. Then there is daily 3 or 4 mahjong games and a flip over and match game. Also I do most eveything else on that list.