‘From that moment I got obsessed’: Meet the Irish puzzlers heading to the World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship
From left Alejandro Clementine Léon, Debra Daly, Emma Quirke and Ciara Godwin who make up part of the team representing Ireland in the 2026 World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship which takes place in Valladolid until Sunday, September 20.
With 1,300 jigsaws to her name and a room dedicated to the hobby, Ciara Godwin lives and breathes competitive puzzling.
The 32-year-old computer scientist from Dublin is among 10 Irish puzzlers preparing to fly to the 2026 World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship, which takes place in Valladolid, Spain, from September 16 to September 20.
2019 marked the first year a world ranking became available to jigsaw puzzle competitors. However, it was only last February that Ciara developed a love for the sport. Since then, she has acquired a total of 1,300 puzzles, which she keeps track of through a digital spreadsheet. The largest puzzle she owns has 32,000 pieces.
“It comes in eight bags of 4000 pieces,” Ciara told the “Of course it wouldn’t actually be possible to do the 32,000 pieces all at once but I have one that should join together in the end. My hope is to put it all together and display the puzzle in the garage where my car is.”
The World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship is an annual event organised by the World Jigsaw Puzzle Federation. Supported by national associations such as the United States Jigsaw Puzzle Association and Australian Jigsaw Puzzle, the championship includes three events divided into team, pairs and individual categories.
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Ciara, who is currently residing in Zurich, Switzerland, will be competing in all three categories.
Living in Switzerland has given her considerably more space for her growing collection. She has turned a large attic into a dedicated puzzle room, with a wardrobe originally intended for storing other belongings now packed with jigsaws. Despite having amassed 1,300 puzzles, she is trying to downsize and sell some of them.
The Dublin native is determined to succeed in the sport.
“I am constantly doing jigsaws. I do about five a day.”
However, a two-week trip to Iceland in August, during which she brought just three puzzles, actually saw her return home with improved times. The experience reinforced for her the importance of taking a break from practice.
“In some ways taking a rest is just as important as practising.”
Ciara has come a long way in recent months.
She only discovered that competitive puzzling existed in February, after her husband’s mother mentioned that his brother was involved. Two days later, she had bought a puzzle and quickly became hooked.
“From that moment I literally got obsessed and kept ordering more and more.”
She began looking for competitions and attended her first in May, after just two months of puzzling. Since then, she has gradually set herself more ambitious targets. Her initial goal for the World Championships was simply to complete all the puzzles in her rounds before she began targeting the semi-finals. Now, she wants to reach the final.
Her husband Cian has been supporting her as she prepares for the competition.
The couple originally met through speed cubing, although Ciara gradually lost interest in the hobby and Cian’s enthusiasm faded too. Her interest in competitive puzzling has since reignited his passion, and he has signed up to compete in the solo and pairs categories at the Worlds.
“There are some males competing in puzzling but they are definitely in the minority, I’d say around 15% at the most.”
Meanwhile, Debra Daly from Mullingar in Westmeath will also be competing in the event.
“This will be my second time competing in the Worlds. It all started one Christmas when I randomly decided I wanted to do a jigsaw.”
The puzzle had 500 pieces and, after completing it in under two hours, Debra became curious about the fastest times. That led her to speed puzzling and eventually to competitive events.
“You definitely get better with time and practice.”
Debra believes everyone has an upper limit, however, and points to Emma Quirke as someone who appears to have a natural aptitude for the sport.
“Like anything in life it’s the time you put into it that counts.”
She said the sport has an addictive quality.
Debra does not want puzzling to take over her life, but said a quiet weekend at home can easily turn into several puzzles in a row.
“Puzzling definitely has some kind of addictive quality. As soon as I do one I’ll want to do a second one and then one more.”
Debra particularly enjoys working in pairs, where she believes success depends on more than simply finding someone of a similar ability.
Communication, teamwork and compatible personalities are crucial, she said. When practising, she and her partner sit down afterwards to discuss what worked and what could be improved.
“You have to be working with someone you can talk to because you really do get better from practising with the same person.”
Debra believes matching expectations can sometimes matter more than having identical abilities. Partners can be highly competitive or equally relaxed, she said, but differences in temperament can cause problems.
“You either have to be really competitive or both quite chilled but if the temperaments are different then it just won’t work.”
Emma Quirke from Kerry is captaining this year’s Irish team. The primary school teacher co-founded the Irish Jigsaw Association and hosts national puzzle swaps and events.
Her social media page can be found under the handle @thequirkeypuzzler on Instagram, where she shares her speed times, puzzle recommendations and other details relating to the sport.
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