Piece Talks

The last time Mari Black and Jim Eakins were on Piece Talks it was clear that one episode wasn’t going to be enough, so they’re back!
We talk about Mari’s experiences on the Wicked Quick and Whimsy Pieces teams, and then dive into the world of puzzle coaching
and puzzling theory.

If you listen carefully, you can hear my mind get blown at least once.

Dutch puzzlers are known for speed when it comes to busy puzzles.
In this episode we talk to two of the speediest puzzlers from the Netherlands - Inge Sinot and Maartje van der Meer - about what makes a whole nation excel at a skill.

World-class puzzler Caryn Knill’s usual approach to preparing for competitions was by doing puzzles, but at some point she decided that there was probably a better way, so she turned to the tool that’s apparently everywhere these days: AI.

Hanna Lehikoinen didn't stumble into competitive speed puzzling. She sprinted straight at it.
Growing up in Finland, Hanna was surrounded by puzzles and competition in equal measure, and it turned out that was exactly the right training ground. When she discovered speed puzzling, the switch flipped almost instantly: within days she had an Instagram account, a timer, and her sights set on Worlds.
In this episode, we trace Hanna's journey from casual Finnish puzzler to one of the breakout stars of the EJJ circuit, where she found herself finishing among the best puzzlers on the planet. We dig into what it was like to time herself from day one, how she thought about improving her skills, and what it actually feels like to be in panic mode during a competition when you're one of the fastest people in the world.
We also talk about the competitive gene that seems to run in the family, the challenge of balancing a sudden career in elite puzzling with the organized chaos of family life, and what her prolific Instagram archive reveals about the honest, unfiltered arc of someone becoming great at something. Not just the sunshine, but the work.

Emma Quirke won the UK Nationals in 2025.
Rachael Chambers won it in 2026.
Does that make them bitter rivals?
Quite the contrary!

In this episode we dig in to their intertwined history, how their differing approaches to puzzling land them within second of each other over and over again, do a deep dive into their World Series experience, and find out why they may be one of the strongest pairs out there.