April 7, 2025 • 17 mins
Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: jigsaw puzzle YouTuber and influencer, Karen Puzzles!
Join host A.J. Jacobs and his guests as they puzzle–and laugh–their way through new spins on old favorites, like anagrams and palindromes, as well as quirky originals such as “Ask AI” and audio rebuses.
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"The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs" is distributed by iHeartPodcasts and is a co-production with Neuhaus Ideas.
Our executive producers are Neely Lohmann and Adam Neuhaus of Neuhaus Ideas, and Lindsay Hoffman of iHeart Podcasts.
The show is produced by Jody Avirgan and Brittani Brown of Roulette Productions.
Our Chief Puzzle Officer is Greg Pliska. Our associate producer is Andrea Schoenberg.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello puzzlers. Let's start with a quick puzzle. What word
commonly follows these words test feeding boobe and you? Test
feeding boob and you? The answer and more puzzling goodness
after the break. Hello puzzlers, Welcome back to the Puzzler
(00:30):
Podcast The accent brand powdered MSG in your Grandma's Secret
Puzzle casse role. That was a long one. I'm your host,
A j. Jacobs, and I'm here with Chief puzzle Officer
Greg Pliska. Before the break, we asked what word commonly
follows these words test feeding, boob and you. I could
(00:53):
also throw in pneumatic if that helps, and the answer
is tube, Yes, feeding tube, boob tube and YouTube, which
I thought was appropriate because today's guest is super popular
on one of those tubes, and that would be YouTube.
She is Jakesaw puzzle YouTuber, speed puzzling champion Karen Cavit,
(01:18):
better known by her nom to Influencer, the name she
uses on YouTube, Karen Puzzles. Welcome Karen, Thanks for having me. Ah,
I'm delightedly. We spoke a long time ago for my book,
so I have loved watching your career. Your audience just mushroom.
It's very exciting. How many followers are you up to
(01:41):
on YouTube?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Oh, I mean, I don't really keep track. I think
it's over three hundred thousand at this point.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
It is, I can tell you it's three under twenty thousand.
Well done. You passed the first test and you do
videos about how to jake saw your Face, puzzles, Puzzle
pet Peeves, and your adventures in the world of speed
jigsaw puzzling.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Yes, I've been to the World Jigsaw Puzzle Championships twice
now and you know, did okay did pretty well?
Speaker 1 (02:16):
What do you mean did okay? You came in third
last year? Was third like bronze medal.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
To be clear for teams, not an individual. But our
team did get third place in the world last year.
A very exciting.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
It was very exciting, and as you might remember for
my book, I actually was the first team USA in
that tournament's history and we actually we got second to last,
second to last. That's my wife's joke, and I think
it's a solid one. We were to.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Redeem the American puzzlers.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Yes, exact, thank you for restoring America to whis jigsaw glory. Uh.
I want to talk more about your YouTube channel, care
and puzzles. But first, of course we have to do
a puzzle. We don't have to we want to do
a puzzle. This puzzle, it's not quite a jigsaw puzzle,
but it is Jakesaw esque in one way, because jagsaws
(03:17):
are all about taking one piece and building on it.
It's the same with this puzzle. In this case, we're
going to be building on words by adding a letter
to the end of the words, and we'll end up
with three words at the end of each clue. So
if we'll start with a base word like plan, and
then we'll add an E to the end of plan
and we get plane, PLA and e, and then we
(03:38):
add a T to the end of plane, we'll get planet.
So that's the rhythm. And I'm going to give you
clues that will contain three blanks, and your job is
to fill in the blanks with three words in that pattern.
So if I had said I have hatched a blank,
we'll steal a jet blank and fly it around blank Earth.
That would be the four N to plan, plane, planet,
(04:02):
You got it?
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Yeah, sounds good. I mean, I like to think I'm
good at jigsaw puzzles. I hope I can do these
word puzzles. We'll see how this goes.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Well. I know you are also you dabble. You don't
have a YouTube channel on it, but you dabble in
crosswords and other word puzzles. So sure, but.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
I wouldn't say I'm the best at them, So we'll see.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
All right, I am. I feel much more confident than you.
And uh and by the way, each of these is
a little story, so even if you don't get the answer,
you'll get a little piece of mini fiction. All right,
are you ready?
Speaker 2 (04:39):
I'm ready?
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Okay. I went golfing and hit below blank, so I
celebrated by going for a walk in the blank. But
it was cold, so I needed to put on a blank.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Okay, I think I got it.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Oh, look at that fast.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
I believe it's going to be par.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Yes, park, And yeah, you believe correctly. That is right.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
When you said I'm going to celebrate, I thought you
were going for party, but then you.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Would right, yes, good one. Well I didn't even know
it was that tricky. That was written by Andrea Schoenberg,
associate puzzler, And it's very fictional because I have never
actually hit below par on a single golf.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Hole, so uh, even miniature golf.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Yeah, I've got I've got some holes in one people, Well,
all right, you ready for the next one. It is
uh after I said I blank. At my wedding, we
had some blank perignon and honeymoon at Houston's Astro blank,
very romantic place to celebrate. What do you think, darn?
Speaker 2 (05:50):
All right? I believe it's going to be do dom
and dome.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Correct, that's it. It's after I said I do. We
had some don perignon, champagne and honeymoon to the Houston's Asternom.
All right, I'm gonna keep going.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
You're making up some wacky scenarios here.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
I told you it would be a you would be
taking on a nice fictional trip. Thank you, though, for
acknowledging our creativity. I went to a blank to get
a massage and do some yoga, but I didn't have
the attention blank to do the exercise, so I didn't
lose any weight, and I went out that night wearing blank.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Dred always support him.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
So that's gonna be spa span and spinks.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
That is right, spanks with an X, the non gendered
sort of modern corset.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
I sort of feel like you're telling me about what
dreams you had last night.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
I do dream of wearing spanks someday.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
All right, well this this one was written by Andrea.
I think this one coheres as a short story. But
you tell me the chef flipped an omelet in a blank,
looked out the blank of the window, and was grateful
their house was powered by a large ECLO friendly solar
blank was powered by a large eco friendly solar blank.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah, I mean that one makes sense, So that's gonna
be panned pain Young panel exactly.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
That's right. So, Hers, I think you're saying Andrea's the
one she wrote makes sense and mine are complete. Mine
are more in the uh genre of like magical realism.
I like to think.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Magical fakeism. Really, I mean, I'm just trying to imagine
a wedding where you spring for the Dom Perignon and
then for your honeymoon you go to the Astrodome, Like
wouldn't you wouldn't that same wedding take you to like
the Bahamas at least.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Or they're huge fans of the Astros. All right, well
try this one. This one is I try to go
for a little short story here. It was a nineteen
twenties themed party. So I wore a feather blank, hunted
a wild blank, and played with the ouiji blank.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
I want to go to.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
These parties, right, Karen, I'm with you. I've never been
to a party anything like this one.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
So this would be a boa, a bore and a
board that is correct exactly. I thought you were ready
to go for and then we played some blank games.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Yeah, meja mejo.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
I didn't know how good you were going to be.
So I wigi because yeah, what comes after wigi? But bored?
So yes, Well, let me try this one. I'm sticking
with this same wedding. It's quite a wedding. Before the wedding,
I went with my best blank to get a blank
petty where he told me about his history essay on
tulip blank.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Wait sorry, say the last part again.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Sure, I'll say the whole thing. Before the wedding, I
went to my I went with my best blank to
get a blank petty where he and while we were there,
he told me all about his history essay on tulip blank.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
So I think it's gonna be man yes, manny, yes mania.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
It is tulip Mania, the Great historical Bubble. Netherlands.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Was it like, yeah, Dutch tulip mania. You know about
this Karen where that there was a huge boom in
the tulip market.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
I'll have to look into this.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Tulip bulbs became hugely popular. It was like a giant bubble.
It was like the tech bubble, right, but it was.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
For judy, which are much prettier than like hinge or whatever.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
But they still weren't worth the now dozens of dollars
or whatever it was. People were specting.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Gilders a couple more every morning. My wife Julie puts
on her blank, has a blank muffin and a glass
of tropicana, her favorite blank of orange juice.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
So that's gonna be her bra brand and brand exactly.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
I felt, if I'm going to talk about bras, I
should at least have it be Julie so it's less creepy.
But I'm not sure I achieved that. I think it's
just as creepy.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
I think we're getting to know each other a little
toe well here and I'm eventually.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
And I was gonna want I mean, does she really
do that first? Or does she go out and drink
the juice and have the muffin and then get.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
This is as I say, this is fiction, all right.
Last one, last one. While the thief was on the blank,
he broke into a barnyard and stole a blank and
then drove off in his blank.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
So, okay, this one I think I can get. So
it's gonna be lamb. Yes, lam And then the second
one is also lamb, but you had to be at
the end for the animal. And then a Lambo's Shorten't
it right?
Speaker 1 (11:20):
That's it. Lambeau is in Lamborghini. So there it is.
The thief was on the lamb, he broke in the barnyard,
stole the lamb, and drove off in his lamb. He's
a very successful thief. Because I assume he didn't buy
the lambo. He probably hot wire. Well, anyway, you did wonderfully.
You proved yourself good at not just jigsauce but others. So, Karen,
(11:40):
tell me what do you love about a jigsaw puzzle?
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Oh? I just think they're so fun. I mean, I
feel like jigsaw puzzles. So you work on a puzzle
which gives you the visual puzzle, and then you listen
to a podcast which takes up like the audio part
of your brain and then it fills up your entire
and so that's all you're focusing on. You know, you
can forget all of your other issues that you have
(12:05):
going on in the world and really just focus on
the puzzle.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Nice. Yes, And I actually quote one of your favorite
quotes in the book, which is, a jigsaw puzzle won't
solve all your problems, but it's a problem you can solve.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Yeah. I like that there's one correct answer and so
you know, every piece that you put in is another
step towards getting to that answer.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
And you are very talented, Adam. And in fact, I
think I mentioned this in the book. You once solved
the puzzle with your feet.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Yeah, that was a while ago.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
You moved on from the feet, okay, and you went
to Spain, as we said, and came in third. So
who was first and second? Who were the chap what
countries were the.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
So actually, for the first time last year in twenty
two twenty four, we had another American team win the team's.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Event, Oh go USA.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
So that was the Busy Birdies, which was Kathy, Jean,
Andrea and Becca and so they did amazingly well. Right
after them, like a minute or so later was the
Czech Puzzle Queens, and then another few minutes after that,
there were a few different teams that were all again
within a minute of each other, but my team happened
(13:28):
to be the fastest of that group, so we ended
up in third.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Oh, how much time overall did it take? Like? Is
are we talking?
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Hours?
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Are we talking?
Speaker 2 (13:38):
So what we're doing is two one thousand piece puzzles
back to back, and they're brand new puzzles, so none
of us will have ever done them before. So the
top team, the Busy Birdies, did both of them in
one hour, sixteen minutes and seven seconds.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Moly, that's crazy too.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Puzzles well, and so when you're in a minute within
a minute of each other, it's not like these were
ten minutes. You know, you're there for an hour and
a half or whatever it is, and that minute. That's
extraordinary that so many teams finished so close together.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Well, I will say, Karen, I mean it is impressive.
But when I did it, it was four puzzles and
eight hours.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yeah, you had a marathon year.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
I had the marathon year and we did not fin
We finished one of the four puzzles. The Russian team
finished all four in about four hours.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
So that was what I will say. I just got
back from doing two twenty four hour puzzle marathons, so
I think I have you beat you?
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Do you did? So you stayed up twenty four hours puzzle?
Speaker 3 (14:39):
No?
Speaker 2 (14:39):
So the way it works is you have an eight
person team and then you switch in and out, so
four people are always puzzling for the entire twenty four hours.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Gotcha. Oh that's hilarious.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
And do you win by getting the most number of
puzzles done in the time you're allotted?
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Yeah? So the last one whenever it ends, they count
how many pieces you've put in of the last puzzle
you're working on. Yeah, and then whatever team has solved
the most pieces after twenty four hours is the winner.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
It's very cool. Now, I would we're having you back tomorrow,
so I want to ask more tomorrow about strategy. But
let me just give us two pieces of JIGSAWCE strategy
for those who want to join the speed jigsaw world.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Okay, if you're doing it for speed, look at the
picture and determine if you need to do the edge
first or not. I typically do the edge first because
I like having that frame to work within. But if
the edge is all one color, then you're gonna want
to work from the inside out.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Oh well, they say that's good stuff. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
My second tip with the first thing, you're gonna dump
out all the pieces and you flip all of them
over so that you can see what you're working with,
because if you can't even see the pieces, then you're
not gonna be able to put them in.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Got it up?
Speaker 3 (16:02):
It seems obvious. It seems obvious, but that I you know,
I wouldn't. That's how how I normally start. So that's
great love, all right.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
You can even like time yourself of how fast you
can flip five hundred pieces. You know, you should be
able to get it down to maybe I don't know,
two and a half three minutes.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Are there? Hand exercises you do? Do you do any?
Go to the gym or toe exercises if you're solving.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Your well speed foot puzzling is not a thing yet.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Not yet, not yet. Well that's been had more tips tomorrow,
so you got to tune in tomorrow. I do have
an extra credit for the folks at home, which is
at the auction. I put in my blank. Then I
had to blank my time before I found out. I
won the King Louis the fourteenth Golden Blank. I won
(16:53):
King Louis the fourteenth Golden Blank.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
All right, you know I saw where you were going
and I wasn't sure how you were going to get there.
I'm very important.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Thank you. Yeah, now that is a great story. That
is a good all right, Well, thank you Karen. You
were great. Thank you listeners, And if you like the show,
I highly recommend checking out our Instagram feed, Hello Puzzlers,
where we post original puzzles and other fun stuff. Karen's
(17:22):
not the only one out there on social media, although
she has many more followers. So we need your help
and we'll be here tomorrow for more puddling puzzles. They
will puzzle you puddlingly
Hello puzzlers. Let's start with a quick puzzle. What word
commonly follows these words test feeding boobe and you? Test
feeding boob and you? The answer and more puzzling goodness
after the break. Hello puzzlers, Welcome back to the Puzzler
(00:30):
Podcast The accent brand powdered MSG in your Grandma's Secret
Puzzle casse role. That was a long one. I'm your host,
A j. Jacobs, and I'm here with Chief puzzle Officer
Greg Pliska. Before the break, we asked what word commonly
follows these words test feeding, boob and you. I could
(00:53):
also throw in pneumatic if that helps, and the answer
is tube, Yes, feeding tube, boob tube and YouTube, which
I thought was appropriate because today's guest is super popular
on one of those tubes, and that would be YouTube.
She is Jakesaw puzzle YouTuber, speed puzzling champion Karen Cavit,
(01:18):
better known by her nom to Influencer, the name she
uses on YouTube, Karen Puzzles. Welcome Karen, Thanks for having me. Ah,
I'm delightedly. We spoke a long time ago for my book,
so I have loved watching your career. Your audience just mushroom.
It's very exciting. How many followers are you up to
(01:41):
on YouTube?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Oh, I mean, I don't really keep track. I think
it's over three hundred thousand at this point.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
It is, I can tell you it's three under twenty thousand.
Well done. You passed the first test and you do
videos about how to jake saw your Face, puzzles, Puzzle
pet Peeves, and your adventures in the world of speed
jigsaw puzzling.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Yes, I've been to the World Jigsaw Puzzle Championships twice
now and you know, did okay did pretty well?
Speaker 1 (02:16):
What do you mean did okay? You came in third
last year? Was third like bronze medal.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
To be clear for teams, not an individual. But our
team did get third place in the world last year.
A very exciting.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
It was very exciting, and as you might remember for
my book, I actually was the first team USA in
that tournament's history and we actually we got second to last,
second to last. That's my wife's joke, and I think
it's a solid one. We were to.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Redeem the American puzzlers.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Yes, exact, thank you for restoring America to whis jigsaw glory. Uh.
I want to talk more about your YouTube channel, care
and puzzles. But first, of course we have to do
a puzzle. We don't have to we want to do
a puzzle. This puzzle, it's not quite a jigsaw puzzle,
but it is Jakesaw esque in one way, because jagsaws
(03:17):
are all about taking one piece and building on it.
It's the same with this puzzle. In this case, we're
going to be building on words by adding a letter
to the end of the words, and we'll end up
with three words at the end of each clue. So
if we'll start with a base word like plan, and
then we'll add an E to the end of plan
and we get plane, PLA and e, and then we
(03:38):
add a T to the end of plane, we'll get planet.
So that's the rhythm. And I'm going to give you
clues that will contain three blanks, and your job is
to fill in the blanks with three words in that pattern.
So if I had said I have hatched a blank,
we'll steal a jet blank and fly it around blank Earth.
That would be the four N to plan, plane, planet,
(04:02):
You got it?
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Yeah, sounds good. I mean, I like to think I'm
good at jigsaw puzzles. I hope I can do these
word puzzles. We'll see how this goes.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Well. I know you are also you dabble. You don't
have a YouTube channel on it, but you dabble in
crosswords and other word puzzles. So sure, but.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
I wouldn't say I'm the best at them, So we'll see.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
All right, I am. I feel much more confident than you.
And uh and by the way, each of these is
a little story, so even if you don't get the answer,
you'll get a little piece of mini fiction. All right,
are you ready?
Speaker 2 (04:39):
I'm ready?
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Okay. I went golfing and hit below blank, so I
celebrated by going for a walk in the blank. But
it was cold, so I needed to put on a blank.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Okay, I think I got it.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Oh, look at that fast.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
I believe it's going to be par.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Yes, park, And yeah, you believe correctly. That is right.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
When you said I'm going to celebrate, I thought you
were going for party, but then you.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Would right, yes, good one. Well I didn't even know
it was that tricky. That was written by Andrea Schoenberg,
associate puzzler, And it's very fictional because I have never
actually hit below par on a single golf.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Hole, so uh, even miniature golf.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Yeah, I've got I've got some holes in one people, Well,
all right, you ready for the next one. It is
uh after I said I blank. At my wedding, we
had some blank perignon and honeymoon at Houston's Astro blank,
very romantic place to celebrate. What do you think, darn?
Speaker 2 (05:50):
All right? I believe it's going to be do dom
and dome.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Correct, that's it. It's after I said I do. We
had some don perignon, champagne and honeymoon to the Houston's Asternom.
All right, I'm gonna keep going.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
You're making up some wacky scenarios here.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
I told you it would be a you would be
taking on a nice fictional trip. Thank you, though, for
acknowledging our creativity. I went to a blank to get
a massage and do some yoga, but I didn't have
the attention blank to do the exercise, so I didn't
lose any weight, and I went out that night wearing blank.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Dred always support him.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
So that's gonna be spa span and spinks.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
That is right, spanks with an X, the non gendered
sort of modern corset.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
I sort of feel like you're telling me about what
dreams you had last night.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
I do dream of wearing spanks someday.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
All right, well this this one was written by Andrea.
I think this one coheres as a short story. But
you tell me the chef flipped an omelet in a blank,
looked out the blank of the window, and was grateful
their house was powered by a large ECLO friendly solar
blank was powered by a large eco friendly solar blank.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah, I mean that one makes sense, So that's gonna
be panned pain Young panel exactly.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
That's right. So, Hers, I think you're saying Andrea's the
one she wrote makes sense and mine are complete. Mine
are more in the uh genre of like magical realism.
I like to think.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Magical fakeism. Really, I mean, I'm just trying to imagine
a wedding where you spring for the Dom Perignon and
then for your honeymoon you go to the Astrodome, Like
wouldn't you wouldn't that same wedding take you to like
the Bahamas at least.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Or they're huge fans of the Astros. All right, well
try this one. This one is I try to go
for a little short story here. It was a nineteen
twenties themed party. So I wore a feather blank, hunted
a wild blank, and played with the ouiji blank.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
I want to go to.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
These parties, right, Karen, I'm with you. I've never been
to a party anything like this one.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
So this would be a boa, a bore and a
board that is correct exactly. I thought you were ready
to go for and then we played some blank games.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Yeah, meja mejo.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
I didn't know how good you were going to be.
So I wigi because yeah, what comes after wigi? But bored?
So yes, Well, let me try this one. I'm sticking
with this same wedding. It's quite a wedding. Before the wedding,
I went with my best blank to get a blank
petty where he told me about his history essay on
tulip blank.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Wait sorry, say the last part again.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Sure, I'll say the whole thing. Before the wedding, I
went to my I went with my best blank to
get a blank petty where he and while we were there,
he told me all about his history essay on tulip blank.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
So I think it's gonna be man yes, manny, yes mania.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
It is tulip Mania, the Great historical Bubble. Netherlands.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Was it like, yeah, Dutch tulip mania. You know about
this Karen where that there was a huge boom in
the tulip market.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
I'll have to look into this.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Tulip bulbs became hugely popular. It was like a giant bubble.
It was like the tech bubble, right, but it was.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
For judy, which are much prettier than like hinge or whatever.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
But they still weren't worth the now dozens of dollars
or whatever it was. People were specting.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Gilders a couple more every morning. My wife Julie puts
on her blank, has a blank muffin and a glass
of tropicana, her favorite blank of orange juice.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
So that's gonna be her bra brand and brand exactly.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
I felt, if I'm going to talk about bras, I
should at least have it be Julie so it's less creepy.
But I'm not sure I achieved that. I think it's
just as creepy.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
I think we're getting to know each other a little
toe well here and I'm eventually.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
And I was gonna want I mean, does she really
do that first? Or does she go out and drink
the juice and have the muffin and then get.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
This is as I say, this is fiction, all right.
Last one, last one. While the thief was on the blank,
he broke into a barnyard and stole a blank and
then drove off in his blank.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
So, okay, this one I think I can get. So
it's gonna be lamb. Yes, lam And then the second
one is also lamb, but you had to be at
the end for the animal. And then a Lambo's Shorten't
it right?
Speaker 1 (11:20):
That's it. Lambeau is in Lamborghini. So there it is.
The thief was on the lamb, he broke in the barnyard,
stole the lamb, and drove off in his lamb. He's
a very successful thief. Because I assume he didn't buy
the lambo. He probably hot wire. Well, anyway, you did wonderfully.
You proved yourself good at not just jigsauce but others. So, Karen,
(11:40):
tell me what do you love about a jigsaw puzzle?
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Oh? I just think they're so fun. I mean, I
feel like jigsaw puzzles. So you work on a puzzle
which gives you the visual puzzle, and then you listen
to a podcast which takes up like the audio part
of your brain and then it fills up your entire
and so that's all you're focusing on. You know, you
can forget all of your other issues that you have
(12:05):
going on in the world and really just focus on
the puzzle.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Nice. Yes, And I actually quote one of your favorite
quotes in the book, which is, a jigsaw puzzle won't
solve all your problems, but it's a problem you can solve.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Yeah. I like that there's one correct answer and so
you know, every piece that you put in is another
step towards getting to that answer.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
And you are very talented, Adam. And in fact, I
think I mentioned this in the book. You once solved
the puzzle with your feet.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Yeah, that was a while ago.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
You moved on from the feet, okay, and you went
to Spain, as we said, and came in third. So
who was first and second? Who were the chap what
countries were the.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
So actually, for the first time last year in twenty
two twenty four, we had another American team win the team's.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Event, Oh go USA.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
So that was the Busy Birdies, which was Kathy, Jean,
Andrea and Becca and so they did amazingly well. Right
after them, like a minute or so later was the
Czech Puzzle Queens, and then another few minutes after that,
there were a few different teams that were all again
within a minute of each other, but my team happened
(13:28):
to be the fastest of that group, so we ended
up in third.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Oh, how much time overall did it take? Like? Is
are we talking?
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Hours?
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Are we talking?
Speaker 2 (13:38):
So what we're doing is two one thousand piece puzzles
back to back, and they're brand new puzzles, so none
of us will have ever done them before. So the
top team, the Busy Birdies, did both of them in
one hour, sixteen minutes and seven seconds.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Moly, that's crazy too.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Puzzles well, and so when you're in a minute within
a minute of each other, it's not like these were
ten minutes. You know, you're there for an hour and
a half or whatever it is, and that minute. That's
extraordinary that so many teams finished so close together.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Well, I will say, Karen, I mean it is impressive.
But when I did it, it was four puzzles and
eight hours.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yeah, you had a marathon year.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
I had the marathon year and we did not fin
We finished one of the four puzzles. The Russian team
finished all four in about four hours.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
So that was what I will say. I just got
back from doing two twenty four hour puzzle marathons, so
I think I have you beat you?
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Do you did? So you stayed up twenty four hours puzzle?
Speaker 3 (14:39):
No?
Speaker 2 (14:39):
So the way it works is you have an eight
person team and then you switch in and out, so
four people are always puzzling for the entire twenty four hours.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Gotcha. Oh that's hilarious.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
And do you win by getting the most number of
puzzles done in the time you're allotted?
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Yeah? So the last one whenever it ends, they count
how many pieces you've put in of the last puzzle
you're working on. Yeah, and then whatever team has solved
the most pieces after twenty four hours is the winner.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
It's very cool. Now, I would we're having you back tomorrow,
so I want to ask more tomorrow about strategy. But
let me just give us two pieces of JIGSAWCE strategy
for those who want to join the speed jigsaw world.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Okay, if you're doing it for speed, look at the
picture and determine if you need to do the edge
first or not. I typically do the edge first because
I like having that frame to work within. But if
the edge is all one color, then you're gonna want
to work from the inside out.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Oh well, they say that's good stuff. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
My second tip with the first thing, you're gonna dump
out all the pieces and you flip all of them
over so that you can see what you're working with,
because if you can't even see the pieces, then you're
not gonna be able to put them in.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Got it up?
Speaker 3 (16:02):
It seems obvious. It seems obvious, but that I you know,
I wouldn't. That's how how I normally start. So that's
great love, all right.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
You can even like time yourself of how fast you
can flip five hundred pieces. You know, you should be
able to get it down to maybe I don't know,
two and a half three minutes.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Are there? Hand exercises you do? Do you do any?
Go to the gym or toe exercises if you're solving.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Your well speed foot puzzling is not a thing yet.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Not yet, not yet. Well that's been had more tips tomorrow,
so you got to tune in tomorrow. I do have
an extra credit for the folks at home, which is
at the auction. I put in my blank. Then I
had to blank my time before I found out. I
won the King Louis the fourteenth Golden Blank. I won
(16:53):
King Louis the fourteenth Golden Blank.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
All right, you know I saw where you were going
and I wasn't sure how you were going to get there.
I'm very important.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Thank you. Yeah, now that is a great story. That
is a good all right, Well, thank you Karen. You
were great. Thank you listeners, And if you like the show,
I highly recommend checking out our Instagram feed, Hello Puzzlers,
where we post original puzzles and other fun stuff. Karen's
(17:22):
not the only one out there on social media, although
she has many more followers. So we need your help
and we'll be here tomorrow for more puddling puzzles. They
will puzzle you puddlingly
Hosts And Creators
Greg Pliska
A.J. Jacobs
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