2025-09-13

Today’s puzzle was my biggest challenge yet, in more ways than one. First, I’m quite sick. Nothing serious, but at the time of the speed challenge I had been fighting a cold for the past week and although I was on the mend, I still had to pause a few times to blow my nose or cough into my elbow. I also noticed that I got tired a lot sooner than I normally would, so it makes sense that this wouldn’t be my best performance. Still, I know I could have done better.

Right off the bat I knew this would be a difficult puzzle since it features both fur and flowers, two things that can be notoriously challenging. I had a strong start though, and was able to assemble the sky and the border relatively quickly. The cows themselves were also a bit easier than I expected, probably thanks to the patches of colour. About an hour in I still thought I could finish it, but I was really struggling to find the pieces I was looking for. In hindsight, I should have taken a few minutes to sort the pieces by shape and look for them that way. Instead, I would scan a hundred or so pieces every time I was looking to fill a specific spot, and it was very inefficient.

I didn't manage to finish this one in time and had 68 pieces left at the end of the 90 minutes. It’s my worst performance yet, but that also means I can learn a lot from the experience. In addition, for future time challenges I’ll be letting the timer run past 90 minutes so I can actually get a completion time, rather than treating every puzzle like I’m in the final at the World Championship. I’m determined to get there someday, but until then it’s ok for me to make up my own rules for training purposes.

Puzzle Stats

Brand: Ravensburger

Name: Loving Longhorns

Artist: R.W. Hedge

Time to completion: 90 minutes - 68 pieces