A Christmas miracle in New Zealand’s puzzle community

Darryl Batchem bought a puzzle of a blue-eyed baby husky next to some purple flowers from the online retailer Mighty Ape.

He got it to practise piecing together fur, a notoriously challenging texture for puzzlers.

Batchem, 56 who works in IT, completed the 500-piece puzzle in one hour and five minutes on Sunday morning (he timed it because he competes in speed puzzle competitions and this was practice or, in jigsaw lingo, a speed run). However, something happened that had never happened before: there was an extra piece.

"I have never had an extra piece or had a missing piece before."

"I was actually going to throw the piece out because I had no idea how I would find the owner."

But prompted by his own intuition - or invisible angelic powers - he decided to post an image of the piece to the New Zealand Jigsaw Enthusiasts Facebook group run by the New Zealand Jigsaw Puzzle Association.

Toni Edwards, a hobby puzzler, chuckled to herself when she saw the post. She had bought the same puzzle from Might Ape during the Black Friday sales. What if...?

"I'll let you know if I'm missing a piece!" she commented on Batchem post as a joke. The two had met at the World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship in Spain last year and stayed in touch through the Facebook group.

Edwards got out her husky puppy puzzle, titled Cute Husky from German puzzle maker Ravensburger, and got to work. On the top edge of the puzzle was one missing piece that matched the additional piece that Batchem had in his puzzle.

"Two people in the same country, in the same city, bought from Might Ape at the same time to have the matching puzzle pieces? The odds must be one in a billion," said Edwards.

On Thursday, Batchem's wife brought Edwards the missing piece of the puzzle. Now, there are two complete Cute Husky puzzles.

The unlikely story has played out on the Facebook group, giving the community the "warm fuzzies", Batchem said. The group has about 1800 members.

"They've been very enthusiastic about the story. It has a lot of input from them."

Batchem did puzzles in his youth and picked it up again during Covid-19. He competed in the New Zealand Jigsaw Puzzle Association's first national competition this year and placed seventh.

New Zealand's puzzle community is still "in its early days", said Batchem.

Edwards started puzzling last year after her daughter picked it up. It was her daughter who competed in Spain at the world championships, which was live-streamed around the world.

"It sounds boring but it was really interesting," said Edwards.

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