Follow Edith to the World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship
Today was a jam-packed day of puzzling finals in Atlanta. Edith and her teammates all did some great puzzling and put up some excellent times.
Edith and Sarah finished their pairs puzzle at 43 minutes to place 61st!
Then Edith placed 129tb individually with a time just over 64 minutes!
Finally the Cincy Snap Squad assembled two puzzles in 91 minutes to finish 20th!
Great job to Edith and her teammates, and to all of the competitors this year.
Edith competed in her Pairs and Teams prelim rounds today, and as expected she and her teammates knocked it out of the park!
In the morning Edith and her partner Sarah “beat their seat” (ranking better than their table number), coming in at a whopping 16th out of 200 pairs! This was not an easy puzzle but they whizzed through it in just over 38 minutes.
In the afternoon the Cincy Snap Squad threw together two puzzles in just under 75 minutes to just squeak into the top 10!
This sets Edith up for a busy day of finals tomorrow. Here’s the rundown for Sunday March 29:
9-10:15am Pairs Final
Edith and Sarah get their chance to rank among the top 200 puzzling pairs in the country, completing a 500 piece puzzle. As far as the competition is concerned, after today’s showing all eyes will likely be on the youngest puzzler in the room Connor, along with his partner Josh.
Pairs Livestream
11am-12:30pm Individual Final
She’s qualified for the final – now she just needs to put up the best time she can on an unrevealed 500 piece to determine her placement this year among the nation’s top 200 solo puzzlers.
Individual Livestream
1:30-4:30pm Teams Final
With the tensions of the individual round behind them, Edith and her Cincy Snap Squad teammates can have fun together completing two 1000 piece puzzles back to back. Some of the teams have shuffled around, but the puzzlers in the top teams will look very familiar from last year’s competition.
Edith did great in her first round of nationals! With a time under 54 minutes, she is comfortably moving on to individual finals on Sunday.
Before that, Edith has two events on Saturday:
11am-12:15pm Pairs Prelim B
Edith is teaming up with her old pairs partner from Nationals last year, Sarah Meyer (n. Craig). They’ll be in a field of 200 pairs completing a 500 piece puzzle, and the top 100 will move on. They’ll be sitting at table 21.
Pairs of note in their round include Kelly and Jessa (Kelly won every event at Nationals last year), Josh and Connor (Connor is the speedy wunderkind still too young to compete in solo events), and an Ohio power pair, Rose and Colleen.
1:30-3:45pm Teams Prelim A
After a lunch break, Edith’s Nationals team will make their debut for the first Teams prelim round. This year Edith is teaming up with fellow Cincinnatians Sarah, Aubrey, and Kelsie as the Cincy Snap Squad at table 11. For this year’s team prelims, teams of four puzzlers will complete one 500 piece puzzle, put it away, and then complete one 1000 piece puzzle. The fastest 50 teams out of the 100 in each prelim round will advance to finals.
The competition will include a few reshufflings of America’s top puzzlers, breaking up some long standing teams. All eyes are likely to be on table 1 where Kelly Walter will be teamed up with the formidable Roiter sisters and up-and-comer Grayson, who won their solo prelim today.
We’re reporting from beautiful springtime Atlanta GA where individuals prelim A has just wrapped up. (Well, we’re in our hotel room but we did catch some Livestream action.) There’s a big field of new and returning USA puzzlers with lots of talent, and it looks like there are also some great improvements for spectators like overhead cameras for the top tables!
But anyway let’s talk about Edith’s first round that is coming up this afternoon.
Individuals Prelim D
March 27 4:15-5:45pm Eastern
The final prelim round of the day will decide the last batch of puzzlers to move on to finals, hopefully including Edith! 200 people will do their best to finish a totally unreleased 500 piece puzzle as fast as they can. Only the top 50 will advance to finals this year, which is a pretty steep cutoff! Edith is starting seated at table 24, which is based on previous competition rankings, so she does have a very good shot to move on.
Results page is here, which yes is on the same website that was used for nationals and worlds last year and tends to crash. Also a reminder that rankings won’t be final until a bit after the event is over, when they will add in flashing Qs for the puzzlers that qualified to move on to finals.
The competition
Occupying table 1 this round is none other than Alice Rowe, breakout star of Nationals 2024 who arrived as an unknown and ended up winning the whole thing. Emma Williamson will look familiar to any who were following along at Worlds last year – she had a stunning win in her individual semifinal round. There are plenty of other big name veterans who are sure to finish quickly, and you never know what unknowns could appear this year! We’ll also be rooting for Carley Lauer at table 50, fellow Cincinnatian and one of Edith’s teammates at 2025 Nationals.
Well let’s blow the dust off this thing so you all can follow Edith and her exploits once again. This weekend is the USAJPA Nationals Jigsaw Puzzle competition, with more opportunities to cheer Edith on as she puzzles against the nation’s best.
Edith’s Events
Edith will be competing in the Individual, Pairs, and Teams divisions. Each has a prelim round on Friday or Saturday, and then the finals all happen on Sunday.
Friday March 27
4:15-5:45pm Individual Prelim D Livestream
Saturday March 28
11am-12:15pm Pairs Prelim B Livestream
1:30-3:45pm Teams Prelim A Livestream
Sunday March 29
9-10:15am Pairs Final Livestream
11am-12:30pm Individual Final Livestream
1:30-4:30pm Teams Final Livestream
We’ll post more ahead of each event!
So it’s been almost a month since the end of the World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship. Edith and her team did great amid a sea of impressive puzzling talent, and had fun doing it.
No further puzzle news for now, but I wanted to share a collection of timestamped links to Edith’s appearances on the livestreams. The cameras were moving very fast so we didn’t get a lot of glimpses of her, but below you can see the finishes that ended up on camera.
Individual Group A – Unfortunately Edith’s finish at 57:16 wasn’t caught on camera. I didn’t find any great views of her in the video for this one.
Individual Semifinal A+B – Edith’s finish at 49:48 was off camera for this one too, but the camera caught her afterward attempting to hold up her completed puzzle.
Pairs Group A – Edith at Nick finished off camera at 40:00 but the camera caught them waving afterward.
Pairs Semifinal A+B – Edith and Nick finished off camera at 39:53, and left to get out of the heat before the camera could get around to them.
Teams Group A – The camera caught NEED for Speed’s first puzzle finish at 41:32, and their transition to the second puzzle received some well-deserved compliments from the commentators. The second puzzle finish at 1:29:04 was also on camera.
Teams Final – NEED for Speed finished their first puzzle at 1:02:58, but the camera didn’t catch that one. They then finished their second off camera as well at 2:00:05, but the camera did catch them waving afterward. While other teams were still working, they also got invited on to talk on the livestream, starting at just after puzzle time 2:12 and running until about 2:22.
Good morning sports fans. At 10AM (4AM Eastern), Edith, Nick, Elizabeth, and Darya make their second appearance as N E E D for Speed to face off with the rest of the world’s top puzzling teams in the Teams Final!
How’s it work?
For the Teams Final, each team will receive the two as yet unreleased 1000 piece puzzles and have one minute to examine them, remove.the plastic seals from the box, and decide what order in which to complete them. They then must complete one puzzle, put it away entirely, and then complete the second puzzle within a 3 hour time limit.
What’s at stake?
Well, they’re already in the final event. There is a cash prize for the top 3 teams and puzzle prizes for the top 10, and that would be incredible but given the competition a bit unlikely. Still, Edith’s team has the goal of “beating their table number” – performing better than they are seeded going into this round. This time that means being one of the top 30 teams.
How to watch
Here’s the Livestream on YouTube, which will also be watchable after the event is over. Edith’s team will be at table 31.
How did Edith do?
Here’s the results page, which will probably take a while to be fully updated and accurate. It may crash as too many people are trying to view it so please be patient. Also remember that rankings will take a while to be finalized as times continue to be entered, and not necessarily in the order they finished.
Who’s her competition?
This is the world final and we have some seriously strong teams to watch. Euro Jigsaw Jacks (EJJ) Squad, the supergroup led by Wiktor and Kathi, is a crowd favorite and definitely have a strong shot. Czech Puzzlequeens is a team that has been coming to, and winning, this competition for years now – they were barely unseated last year but should never be counted out. Aussie All Stars put on a great showing last year as well, and their first round this year was record-breaking. From the USA, Dome Sweet Dome and The Whimsy Pieces are both very strong teams that will be in contention for top 10 finishes. I’ll insert one dark horse pick as well: Peaky Puzzlers from Poland did not have a stellar first round (they came 17th in their heat), but they chose what were arguably the two harder puzzles on offer that round. This team contains Weronika and Anna, who (spoiler alert) won the pairs Final yesterday. They’ll be at a low table number due to their first round performance but I would expect them to be in contention for a top rank.
Good morning from Spain, where Edith’s team is already finished with their first round!
And the news is good. They needed to be in the top 25 times to advance to the finals. Being in the top 10 is just icing on the cake 🎂
Look at the time spread there – 7 more seconds would have cost them two places! Just shows that every puzzling second counts.
So what’s next?
Edith’s team will return for the Teams Final on Sunday morning at 10AM Spain time (4AM Eastern)! No more scheduled puzzling for Edith until then but maybe there will be some team practice, some chances to relax and spectate, and maybe even a chance to do some tourism!
At 9AM (3AM Eastern), Edith teams up with Nick, Elizabeth, and Darya to compete in the first round of Teams competition!
How’s it work?
For the Teams First Round, each team will receive the four 1000 piece puzzles and have one minute to chose which two of these puzzles to complete. They then must complete one puzzle, put it away entirely, and then complete the second puzzle within a 3 hour time limit. The order of the puzzles is up to them.
What’s at stake?
This time NEED for Speed needs to be in the top 25 times of their round to advance to the Teams Finals on Sunday. This is a bit of a steep cutoff, but it looks like there are only 65 or so teams in each first round heat.
How to watch
Here’s the Livestream on YouTube, which will also be watchable after the event is over. Edith’s team will be at table 10.
How did Edith do?
Here’s the results page, which will probably take a while to be fully updated and accurate. It may crash as too many people are trying to view it so please be patient. Also remember that rankings will take a while to be finalized as times continue to be entered, and not necessarily in the order they finished. We’ll know times are final and official when puzzlers who qualified have a flashing “Q” next to them.
Who’s her competition?
Puzzle Q’West from France and Swedish Piece by Piece from Sweden both made it to the finals last year and should put up a good show again. Lynpuslerne from Denmark and Ik Hoor Een Stukje Vallen from the Netherlands have some very strong puzzlers and should do very well. But I can guarantee the cameras will be trained on the Euro Jigsaw Jacks (EJJ) Squad, a supergroup of top European puzzlers Wiktor, Kathi, Chiara, and Hanna. These are regulars on the online European Jigsaw Jam competitions, thus the team name, but they are also definitely four of the fastest puzzlers here this year and one of the top contenders to win the Teams division.
Edith and Nick raced through their pairs Semifinals puzzle in just under 40 minutes!
… unfortunately in this fierce competition, that was a few minutes short of making the top 50 to advance. The last qualifying pair from their round finished at 37:01.
Edith and Nick are done puzzling as a pair at this competition, but they’re not done puzzling! Their first round of Teams competition is tomorrow morning at 9AM Spain Time (3AM Eastern).
Edith Puzzles the World 