BCD House Party

February is always a winning month for me as a puzzler as it’s when the BCD gets together for their annual house party weekend - a whole weekend in a hotel just puzzling. Even better this year was that I was not working so could drive up early on day one and leave later on the final day. 

The weekend was marvellous and I completed so many different puzzles. I was part of the Club 3000 group who complete a 3000 piece puzzle each year, but also got to help with wooden creations and tackle some devilish cuts. 

I even took part in a group speed competition - coming 3rd with my team. 

Heaven. 

New year, new me!

So, after 20 years I have left teaching and will be taking a short break before new adventures. This has equated to more time to puzzle and January has been filled with lots of bright puzzles - including a glorious Wentworth and a beautiful Liberty complete with Liberty print on the reverse. 

 

 

It’s a mystery…

What a fun little puzzle to do. Inside the box was a short story which ended in a mystery to solve once the puzzle was complete. I needed to find a code somewhere in the picture. I couldn’t find it, but luckily the solution was in an envelope in the box. 

Christmas Advent Puzzle

For the last few years I have been getting my advent calendar from a well known British puzzle brand, and although it’s been nice, they don’t actually give you 24 puzzles and you end up with lots of small puzzles and not one large finished piece. This year I was gifted a new approach - a box of pieces each day which combined to make one large puzzle. There are lots of the market to choose from - some where the pieces fit at random and others where you build each day in sequence. I had the latter and really enjoyed it. The quality was okay, and I’ll definitely consider another next year. 

Busy November

It’s that time of year when I feel like I won’t have time for puzzles, and yet I always manage to find time. 

It helped that I had a BCD day with friends in the middle with the theme of light and dark. 

October afternoons

There is nothing better than a jigsaw puzzle when the weather starts to feel autumnal! Happy October! 

Cotswold Jigsaw Championships

 In Bourton on the Water where I live there is a local photographer who, like so many others, had to diversify during the pandemic and ended up making puzzles out of his photos of the local area. The business has continued to grow and he decided it would be fun to hold the first ever Cotswold Jigsaw Championships. Now, I’d decided back in 2022 that I’d had enough of competition puzzling. However, people who knew me kept tagging me in the social media posts being sent out and as it was for charity and just 10 minutes down the road I decided to enter - I mean, if nothing else jigsaw people are some of the best and it would be nice to meet others. 

I was surprised when I arrived to see some really serious jiggers there - including ones who had competed at the world championships in Spain this year. That actually relaxed me a bit as I had no expectations and decided to simply enjoy the puzzle. Well, what a nightmare the puzzle proved. It was a 500 piece map of the Cotswolds and as a group there was a collective groan - this sort of puzzle is never conducive to speed puzzling. Being one of a few locals I probably had a slight edge as I knew where places were, but it still proved to be quite the process. I ended up winning with a time of 2 hours and 37 minutes, some 30 minutes ahead of the next finisher. To put this into context, at 

‘Worlds’ the average finishing time for 500 pieces is around 45 minutes, so that gives some indication of puzzle difficulty. 

After we finished it was time for a chat and some networking with others before the team event after lunch. I had decided to stay and watch for a bit, but after seeing the beautiful puzzle I was persuaded just to sit and complete it for fun. The winning team of 4 completed this 1000 piece puzzle in just over 1 hour, with the next team of 4 coming in at 1 hour 33. You can imagine my delight then when I came in 3rd with a time of 1 hour 57 minutes. Just shows how much a puzzle picture can impact speed and time! 

Overall, a fantastic day and I’m already looking forward to next year.