AEDAN BRYANT

About Me

I take a deep breath in, then a deep breath out.

“I’m ready,” I say, signaling my judge to lift the cover and start the timer for the 15-second inspection period. My hands tremble. My heart races. I pick up the puzzle and start looking for a solution. I check both sides and after seeing two pieces paired together, I set the puzzle down with the paired pieces on top. With the puzzle in this orientation, it makes this case easier to execute. Lifting my hands off the timer I pick the puzzle up and quickly start executing the solution. Things immediately go downhill as I overshoot a move. Now I must fix my mistake, losing precious time. This mistake throws off my flow, breaks my concentration, and I overshoot another move. This second mistake costs me even more time. After flipping the puzzle over to the second side it goes relatively well, however, it’s already too late at this point. I execute the last turn and stop the timer. I look down. The puzzle is unsolved. I am one move off. The timer reads 7.93 seconds, my worst time of the average. My slowest official solve of the day. It wouldn’t have mattered if it were solved or not, my chances at an average under 6 seconds were doomed after the first half of the solve.