Liz completes a mini puzzle while waiting for her flight home from the Anchorage Airport.
Liz and her puzzle team during the Holiday Derby.
Liz and Josh pose with the legally blind puzzle artist, after finishing 4th in Pairs at the Autism Awareness competition at the Mall of America.
Liz and her teammates staying “in the zone” between competitions at the Minnesota State Championship.
Liz’s Puzzle Story:
Liz N. (she/her) lives in Minnesota, and is one of the USAJPA’s top Speed Run winners from 2023! She has casually puzzled since an early age, but her first competition wasn’t until the 2020 St. Paul Winter Carnival. She is currently an accountant and previously served her country as an M.P. with the United States Marine Corps.
She says puzzles “just make sense to me”. Liz naturally and effortlessly sees where the pieces fit in - much easier than other parts of life which can be much more complicated! She won 1st place in the inaugural USAJPA Speed Run Individual competition that ended in October 2023, after a tight race with second place, Kelly S. (who will be featured later this month). By the end, she was completing the Intentional Kindness puzzle two to four times a night! She was ecstatic when her fastest individual time clocked in at 24:58, beating her goal of finishing under 25 minutes and clenching the win! She harnessed her expertise to also compete and win the Pairs division with her brother, Josh, completing the puzzle together in just 16:20! They also went after the 3- and 4-Person Team divisions and got close to winning but Kelly S. and team held onto those spots.
Liz purchased a “Max Groupie” subscription through SpeedPuzzling.com, and generally participates in those virtual competitions four times a month. She is looking forward to the annual St. Paul Winter Carnival, as well as competing at the USA Jigsaw Nationals, and the World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship in Spain!
Q&A Time:
What is your best advice for someone who wants to improve their speed puzzling abilities?
“Figure out what kind of pieces draw your eye and work on those pieces first, because they’re going to be easier to pick out. The remaining pile will continue to shrink, leaving you with the next thing that will draw your eye.”
Do you have a favorite brand, type, or style of puzzle?
“My favorite brand is PuzzleTwist. My favorite puzzles feature Pokémon characters, because they’re so colorful! I don’t care for puzzles with large pieces.”
What is the puzzle community like in your area?
“It’s great! I only started connecting with other puzzlers at the most recent Winter Carnival, but it’s been great getting to know the puzzlers in my area.”
How does Speed Running differ from traditional speed puzzling?
“The puzzling is completely different when you repeatedly complete the same one, since you memorize the image and individual pieces. Normally I can dump the pieces and start immediately placing whichever pieces I pick up since I know exactly where they go.
What did you learn from doing Speed Runs, and what do you enjoy about it?
“If you do the same puzzle several times in the same sitting, you’ll complete it faster than if you do it just once a day. I like seeing my time improve each time I complete the same puzzle.”
Connect:
Liz created a TikTok account solely to post time lapses of her puzzles: @the.devildog.puzzler