Edith Puzzles the World

Which events is Edith participating in?

Individual (by herself 😳), pairs with Columbus puzzler friend Nicholas (Nick), and teams with Nick and two lovely Californian puzzlers, Elizabeth and Darya on the team N E E D for Speed. There is a space between each letter in “NEED” because otherwise it was lowercase, and since it is our initials, we needed it to be uppercase.

Who are these people Edith is teaming up with?

Edith and Nick met at the Ohio Championship last year (2024), and Nick set up the OHJPA Discord channel for Ohio puzzlers to connect online. Elizabeth saw that Edith was about to finish her preliminary puzzle at the USA Nationals this April and there was no camera person nearby, so she recorded a video from the sideline and gave Edith the video after. Darya met Edith when Edith noticed her amazing hair at USA Nationals and complimented her for it. They are all very fast puzzlers, but more importantly very friendly people!

What is Speed Jigsaw Puzzling?

Competitors try to finish putting a jigsaw puzzle together as fast as they can. All competitors in a heat will receive the same puzzle, but they won’t be able to see the puzzle until the heat begins. From there they race to put it together!

Will Edith win?

No.

Are you sure? Not even a chance?

It cannot be overstated how much Edith will not come first in any of the events. There are folks, we’ll call them, “Elite puzzlers” who can do a 500 piece puzzle in 25-35 minutes. Edith has never done one in less than 45 minutes. There are new prizes this year like one for fastest debut puzzler, but Edith will not win that. There are not real prizes like best dressed, but Edith will not win that (even though the shirts Elizabeth made are awesome, and definitely prize-worthy!).

Oh. I want to cheer for the winner. Who should I cheer for instead?

Last year’s winner, Kristin, is taking this year off, so the field is open. Favorites include Alejandro from Spain (winner before Kristin), and several Polish puzzlers – Krystian, Wiktor, and Weronika. From the USA, Hannah has had a breakout year and Mari has been constantly improving. Or almost anybody* else could win, that’s what makes this exciting!

*Nope, still will not be Edith, but I like that you tried.

I AM HERE BECAUSE I LOVE EDITH AND DO NOT CARE THAT SHE WILL NOT WIN. SHE IS THE FASTEST PUZZLER IN OHIO.

Thank you. She loves you too. Things that it would be great for Edith to do include: make new friends, puzzle really well (subjective, but she’ll know it if she feels it), get a new personal best, make it to all three finals, and have fun!

OK, fine. So how is this competition set up? How does Edith advance?

The Individual division is broken up into a First Round, Semifinal, and Final. In each round puzzlers will have a 500 piece puzzle to complete by themselves. The best puzzlers from 6 First Round heats will advance to 3 Semifinal heats, and the best from those will advance to the Final.

Pairs is set up similarly, with 4 First Round heats, 2 Semifinal heats, and then a Final. The First Round and Semifinal heats will be a 500 piece puzzle for the pairs to complete together, and then Finals will be a 1000 piece.

For Teams, there are 4 First Round heats, and the best teams from each will advance to one Final. The Team competitions consist of two 1000 piece puzzles completed back to back by each team of 4 puzzlers; once the first is completed, it must be put back into its box completely before the second puzzle can be started.