how many parts
Arthur Guglick had good advice about this. He said that the general public want to interact with you but they don’t know what to ask except “how long did it take” and “how many parts”. So he said to just make up a number because hemming and hawing and admitting that you don’t know drags out the agony for both parties.
I invented another approach to this type of question at Cranberry. A kid asked me if I had named the elves in the Candy Factory, my honest answer would not have been helpful so instead I said “Yes! Can you guess what they are?” knowing full well that whatever he said was going to be right. So he thought awhile and said “Elf One.” I said “Yes!” but which one is Elf One. He chose the one on the extreme left. Then I asked if he knew the other names. He pointed to each elf as he named them, “Elf Two,” “Elf Three” etc. I expressed me astonishment at his ability to guess the names so quickly. In the background, his parents enjoyed this bit of deception immensely.
So I suppose when someone asks how many pieces, you ask them in a very confident tone, to guess how many there were. Then multiply that number by ten and tell them that’s how many pieces it took. Watch their amazement and the well-deserved respect you receive. Do not grace the “you must have a lot of time on your hands” type of comments.