I got so close. (NYC Subway, Boardwalk Puzzles, 500 pc, competition report)
Artist: James Poai
i got so close! Yesterday I went to the New York Speed Puzzle championships on Long Island and participated in the solo event. Unlike last year, the time limit was 1 hour 45 minutes instead of 2 hours. Also unlike last year, they had added a casual category where people would do 300 piece puzzles instead of 500. I didn't finish last year, so I was more than a little bit worried I would be dead last in the advanced category. I was also very sure I would not be finishing.
But I almost did! I needed 1-2 more minutes only. And I wasn't last! So a little bit disappointing to be that close, but it's all good. The Boardwalk piece cut is so confusing for me that thirty or so minutes in, I was wondering if I'd even have half of it done! But it kept getting better from there, until the very end when my brain kind of shorted out trying to place the last 50 pieces, which were scattered all over the puzzle. (This was the most chaotic solve I've done in a long time. Competition nerves? Nah, couldn't be!) I'd have done much better going spot by spot looking for pieces, I think, rather than piece by piece looking for the spot.
Anyway, here is the completed puzzle! It was a fun one, and I recommend it highly. I have no idea how objectively difficult it is, but it would have taken me about 1 hour 47 minutes.
Also, the camera picked up way more glare than there actually was. I didn't have any trouble with the visual aspect at all.