#21 - Aussie All Stars

If you’ve watched the World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship, you’ve probably seen Charlie Kendall. Officially he’s the onsite announcer, but he occasionally appears on the livestreams and the odds are good that if something needs fixing, he’s in the middle trying to fix it.

The last time we talked to Wiktor Kacprzak, we didn’t have enough time with him. We did not make that mistake this time. If you ever wanted to deep dive into a world-class competitor’s experiences at Worlds, this episode is for you!

If the first two episodes in this series were novels, this one is a collection of short stories of things we thought were interesting. We talk to Emma Williamson about her surprise win in an individuals semi-finals round, EB relays text conversations she had with Worlds Individuals Champion Weronika Huptas, and with her partner in winning the Pairs finals Anna Kazana. We talk to Andreas Heyerick and Daniela Berendsen of the European Committee for Jigsaw Puzzling, and EB reads about a unicorn named Silver. Here are the full transcripts of EBs interviews with Anna and Weronika: Anna Kazana Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16ZYOGoHjfwAoQoZzmOj5z1U4k5o0BEUj7N6hZ3jgAiM/edit?usp=sharing Weronika Huptas Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19dbDjDyuEPM8KNBnzR41KNQi8Q-pev8wlbKBRtMGJMQ/edit?usp=sharing

In the second episode of the Worlds Wrap mini-series, EB Caron and I check in with two-time World Champion Alejandro Clemente León to see if the 2025 Worlds ended up being as stress free as he thought it was going to be.

In the first episode of the Worlds Wrap mini-series (!), EB Caron and I talk to European Champion Kathi Reiner about the progress she's made since last year's Worlds and how she managed to place in the top 3 of every event at this year's Worlds. There may even be a stat or two.

EB Caron joins me once again to talk about some puzzlers you might want to watch for at the World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship this year.

Alejandro Clemente León was just a regular boy who liked playing sports and using puzzles to relax his mind, never suspecting the extraordinary destiny that awaited him. Until the fateful day stumbled upon a hidden world of competitive jigsaw puzzlers, and determined that he would join them. That bold step would propel him into the stratospheric heights of puzzle wizardry, where he would master arcane techniques and forge bonds with fellow puzzle wizards. But his greatest challenge would be defending the treasure he had unknowingly carried within him all along: The Joy of Puzzling In this episode we talk to the two-time world champion about his journey from being told he had a special gift at his first competition, to his feelings about the 2024 worlds, and his outlook on the upcoming 2025 world championship.

Leading up to Worlds 2024, there were quiet rumors about Poland being a secret puzzling powerhouse. As the competition drew to a close, it was clear that the rumors were true. In this episode, I talk with Polish puzzlers Wiktor Kacprzak and Weronika Huptas live, and weave in parts of a text conversation that I had with Krystian Niedziela to find out what makes them tick. You can find the transcript of my conversation with Krystian here: http://bit.ly/3H8sS7M I highly encourage checking it out as there was much that I didn’t get a chance to include in this episode, like how he would have done the Individuals Final puzzle differently at last year’s Worlds.

In this episode, I talk to the Aussie All Stars: Hannah Farthing, Katrina Coleman, Melissa Townsend, and Rhianna Eriksen. Formed on January 1st, 2024, their explicit intention was to bring Australia onto the World Championships podium; a feat their country had never achieved. We discuss how this elite team, spread across Australia's vast continent (with distances comparable to New York to Dallas), managed to train and build chemistry, often huddling in back rooms at state competitions. The episode also touches on the distinctive green-and-gold Australian team jersey, which has become the official uniform for all Australian puzzlers at Worlds, fostering a powerful sense of national unity and pride.

Michelle Kasper launched the Euro Jigsaw Jam virtual competition series within four months of having her passion for speed puzzling ignited by a YouTube video, despite never seeing an online competition herself. In this episode, we talk about what it took to bring the idea together, the vibrant community that makes it happen, and what led her to creating her own puzzles.